Opinions please :)

Well lots of different professionals have differing oppinions on this one. Many are moving to using the term autism spectrum disorder to cover all of these milder ASD's because there is so much overlap. For instance, my dd has had diagnosis of asperger's, PDD-NOS, ASD, and HFA, so which is right? She is still the same girl with the same symptoms, it just depends on who is doing the diagnosing at the time.

Personally I like moving to a ASD classification instead. My first reason is that each of these kids on the milder end are so different, most don't fit a certain one of the diagnosis to a T and many overlap, yet they are all related so ASD seems a better diagnostic term.

My second reason is treatment. There are many places out there that still don't consider AS or PDD as requiring treatment like "kanner" autism and as such many of the children with AS or PDD can miss out on neccessary services. I have heard of professionals using the term Autism for a child who they normally would diagnose with another ASD just so the child would qualify for services. For some reason simply changing the diagnostic term to ASD seems to make getting services easier. I know it is true for regional center clients here in CA. There is even research out there and recomendations by the national association of sciences that all children on the autism spectrum, regardless of diagnosis, recieve early intensive treatment and yet many districts and service providers have not caught up with that.

Renee

I think it goes to show just how different the medical professionals opinions are in an area that hasn't been studied sufficently. With the medical community broken into groups for and against AS, it makes it incredibly hard for parents to feel that they have been given the correct dx. To get good services, you need a specific dx and that is so hard on families. My wish is for the medical profs to learn more about autism so that in the future, the newly diagnosed high functioning kids get better help.

Larissa