This may be simplistic but the more research I do, the more I come to the conclusion that the professionals are just using different labels for describing essentially small variations of the same thing: ADD/ADHD/ASD/EFD/OCD/ODD/SPD/LD etc etc. Over the past 8 months since I started frequenting this site, I have read so many parent descriptions of their child's issues and thought "yep, that's my DD" but then the wide variety of diagnosis-es (SP?) received for practically identical issues leads me to wonder if we are all just talking about varying degrees of the same phenomenon.
I think many of those diagnoses stem from conditions that can fit into a "lagging skills" model. Children develop skills or abilities according to as timetable, and some kids develop more slowly than others. If they don't fit into developmental norms, they really stand out,m especially in a classroom setting, and can cause difficulties depending on how they and those around them react to their lack of skills in that particular area.
The reactions (shutting down, acting out, refusing to try, giving up, or developing coping strategies that may or may not be useful) can look similar across children, even if the reason for the reaction is different for each child.
I think it's only been recently that the "lagging skills" model has been used to understand some kids who might otherwise be termed Oppositional Defiant or something else -- kids who have difficulties in the area of shifting cognitive set (switching gears) or keeping track of time, or who have very very high persistence/perseverence (i.e. STUBBORN!!!) and just can't see another's point of view (low empathy skills). If you see their behavior as not being willful, but stemming from a lack of skills, it gives you a starting place to go back and teach thoise skills (perhaps at the preschool level) and hope that now that the kids are older they can pick them up more quickly.
