i find it all very interesting, and it is still months away from release (may 2013) but i was just reading info on new dsm5 criteria for newly changed definition/criteria for ASD autism spectrum disorder, and also for the newly created SCD social communications disorder...
as i understand it, under new ASD, asperger's and ppd-nos dx's disappear, it is just all ASD, but it is divided into 3levels, it will mean less kids dx'd but it makes individualizing treatment for the kids more difficult. they are lumping it altogether and anyone with an autistic child knows- each child presents as a unique individual...
and kids who don't fit into ASD might fall into SCD but even that has specific criteria. this new dx of SCD makes the main treatment component the speech pathologist- and most school SLP are not on board with pragmatics.
*DS6is ASD, regressive autism @12mos, and was dx by private psych @3 as well as a school psych- same dx of autism. he was mostly nonverbal during these interviews, more so with the private psych,
however, the school psych did i think question dx? but the private psych in question was well established and esteemed child psych, so school went along with hers... this meant my DS rec'd services as needed through the school. not the highest quality but allowed me to spend $ in other areas of therapy.
now with the new dsm5 i realize right now, today, my DS does not fall into ASD or SCD- so he would receive no services from any source. however, back at age 3 with the signs/behaviors/lack of communication he exhibited- if being dx today with his 3yo signs? with new criteria, yes he would still fall under ASD.
but right now. today. no he would not be labeled.
so does this mean he no longer is autistic?
*and fancy thinking here- some are now questioning whether he was misdx as autistic when instead he may be profoundly gifted. i just know he is intelligient, learns easily, and enjoys it...he gets very bored with repetition of stuff he knows (hence his kinder woes!)
re-gifted. he hasn't been tested.
i think ultimately he is autistic, i accept it, i'm okay with it, and i think for most part- treating a gifted child's social communication issues is very much same as treatment has gone for my high functioning autistic boy... but maybe the gifted child would also be given more appropriate academic challenges at younger age than i did for my son?
i purposely didn't work on academics with my son,instead pushing social... he taught himself to read shortly before age 3. he could speak written words better than he could speak freely. he has full comprehension of what he reads.
but now i am reading even more on gifted kids misdiagnosed as autistic and the injustice and harm it can do to these kids, and i am seeing my child repeatedly in various child cases presented. i know that when my DS is with older kids, he fits right in, he prefers them, he says they understand him, he is bored with same age peers. yet most of his friends are same age because we don't know many older kids. *sigh*
i always go round in circles. a child can be autistic and be gifted. maybe i should be asking,
**how do your higher functioning autistic kids show their giftedness??
**how do their social challenges impede their daily life in the academic setting? (if they do at all)
(my son is NOT aspergers, and i want to focus more on the aut kids, there is tons of info available re gifted aspergers 2Ekids, but not for auts who are gifted. i'm also not talking savants here....
****a sidenote--
i recently pulled DS from public kinder and during his IEP on his last day of school (coincided with last day of semester), his teacher made him out to be a bright, ideal, even model student! (this of course impacted my trying to get new goals for him).the fact i pulled him because she wasn't teaching his level and he was bored and underchallenged-- undermotivated and therefore eventually withdrawing from even trying (including withdrawing socially) was glossed over by her as though it wasn't happening! and so now, i just rec'd his report card for the semester and she has him basically barely meeting kinder standards and showing little to no effort in all areas, she actually has him down as flunking art! how does a 5/6yo even flunk art? really? everyone is in agreement it is sourgrapes on teachers part... and i don't believe that this report card really impacts his future so i am not going to even address it. i am just very thankful that he is no longer under that womans tutelage 6.5hrs/day!! **oh- his new teacher assessed him to be end 1st/beg 2nd grade in all subject areas. and yes that means he does meet all kinder standards.
