New Autism Definition Will Exclude 3/4 of Diagnosed Asperger's Kids {Yay! Their Cured...wait what?}

     So have you read the New York Times article on the New Definition of Autism that is being kicked around for the next issue of the DSM?  If not then you should take a skim through to learn about the awesome way that they are going to help with state & school budgets that are stretched thin & how they are going to deal with the large number of kids diagnosed with high functioning ASD/Asperger's by being more specific with the diagnosis of a disorder that is anything but specific! I know I'm standing on a soap box here & not only that but my ranting that my poor wife has had to put up with is probably a mix of fact, hear say, speculation, & just plain "oh no you didn't!"
     In all honesty they DSM will not be finalized til December so a lot can happen between now & then. If this happens like this article talks about it's going to suck for a whole lot of families! Being the parent of an Aspie that will, I'm pretty sure, ingrained enough in the spectrum that he would be re-diagnosed as Autistic I really pisses me off that there is a possibility of 75% of aspergers kids & 85% of PDD NOS kids that will be thrown to the wolves with no IEP or help! What do you do? I know their doctors, have lots of schooling, & a few extra letters after their names but I wonder how many have kids let alone special needs kids! I know there are probably a group of kids that get diagnosed when they are boarder line that are lumped in with ASD kids but this seems pretty sweeping! It seems odd that you start off before the kids is born by praying that your kid is just healthy & painfully normal, then after autism you learn how to help them & work with the system to get the help needed. Now this will come out & all of these parents will have to pray that it's "Real Autism" so they don't loose all that they have worked for to help their kids! But then again your reading the opinion of a guy who put PJ pants on his head & chased three kids of the stairs acting like a PJ Headed Zombie less than an hour ago! So like Lavar from Reading Rainbow said "You don't have to take my word for it!"

2 comments:

  1. I completely agree. By the way this sight is really cool!
    The new DSM is terrible I hope the psychologists do not keep the current diagnostic requirements on DSM V because all the Aspergers kids I know and work with are few and far between, that fit the criteria in DSM V for autism. Teachers will not have something for them to work with, Ed therapists like myself will have to work around the system convincing the schools, hay this kid really does need help, and get them diagnosed under other learning disability and OTs will not be able to bill insurances for high functioning autistic that do not fit the new criteria. :(
    Basically I get the feeling that instead of looking at aspergers to understand it, they are eliminating it.

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