even more confused now....
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| Wed, 11-29-2006 - 10:18pm |
Joey had his MRI and genetic blood work done yesterday and I'm even more confused. When he has his appt to be diagnosed, the dr told us that he didn't meet the criteria for autism but fell under the ASD umbrella. She said that doesn't mean anything though. That was in October. When he had his test done yesterday, we had to walk across the hall to get his blood work tubes and so I peeked at his tests they are doing and there is a diagnosis window that states autism. How in the world can the dr say he's not autistic to me, but have it on every piece of paper we have had lately sent to other dr's etc??? Our ped said that he is asd ppd nos and to leave it at that. I'm so confused.
As for the MRI, they put him under general anestetic for that and he did wonderfully!!! He even watched the tech do his IV without freaking out! What a wonder my precious boy is.

Congrats on your DS for doing so darn well. What an awesome boy!
On the diagnostics, often for things like school and maybe even medical billing purposes (not as sure on that one) they just use the umbrella of autism for all autism spectrum disorders.
Honest, I was talking to someone the other day and it is all the same darn thing. I was reading a few studies that mention this. One study specifically found that all the participants who were diagnosed with Aspergers also met the criteria for autism. Another study was studying something else but specifically stated that they did not discuss kids with Aspergers in the study because all those children fit the diagnostic criteria of autism and as such they counted in the autism group. This study did find a difference with some with PDD-NOS however. I think that is because there is such a range with PDD-NOS and honestly I HATE that diagnosis because of it's vagueness.
Renee
I'm not sure how it works in your region, but around here...we have to call anything related to ASD "autism". We spent months trying to convince our kids' psych of this because our insurance was not paying for their monthly visits. (Now we watch her mark the Dx box BEFORE leaving her office.) For insurance purposes, they have to code it as "autism" because they insurance provider won't reimburse for "PDD-NOS" (his original Dx) or "ASD". For the school district, my son with AS has a educational Dx of "autism" in order to get services via the IEP.
Having said that, if you're confused, I'd simply ask the MD what the deal is. Chances are he'll explain that for payment purposes they call it all "autism".
And Renee's right...kudos to your ultra-brave boy!
Amy
Same here. For school purposes and state services, my kids have dx'es of autism from both of those agencies. (School and regional center). Cait's original dx was PDD-NOS and current with her psychologist is Aspergers. The Psych doesn't quite know where to stick Mike so she calls him ASD. He spoke early enough and has a high enough IQ that he should be AS but presents more autistic now, his language scores have dropped and he has a dose of comorbids mixed in.
But on school records and regional center they are both "autistic"
Renee
Same with Liam.