I want to interject something into this thread. Think about the adults you know, perhaps especially hg/pg males, and think about their "position" on the autistic spectrum. I don't know about many of you but there is a significant number of extremely successful people that I know who would be labeled as children but are perfectly smart but odd adults. The fear issue around some of this childhood labeling is destructive.
My concern with over-diagnosis and mis-diagnosis is that an diagnosis is a subjective thing based on someone's opinion. The Asperger diagnosis can actually fit a lot of quirky, gifted kids IMHO. I honestly think that myself and my dh may have been labelled as AS, but were not since we grew up in the 1960's. I am not sure how that would have colored or changed our lives since we both have/had successful careers. I also wonder would Einstein or Bill Gates have been successful if they had been labelled in childhood.
OTOH, I believe that diagnosis can be a good thing since it allows for treatment. I worry that autism is increasing possibly due to some environmental or genetic causes. In the 60's, you did not hear of this or see this as you do nowadays
I just do not want to see a diagnosis or medication made in haste for children IMHO especially when behavioral modifications could be done.
My ds is a quirky, gifted child who educators have expressed concern about. We did have him evaluated privately and by the school. He does not fit all of the criteria for AS and the doctor really did not have any recommendations besides considering a social skills group. We chose to not get the diagnosis of AS. We figure if he needs it, then we can get it. My ds participates in boy scouts, soccer, homeschool co-op, etc. He is a lovely, friendly boy. We did pull him out of school to do public cyber charter school at home which allows him to advance at his own pace
We tried both a public and a montessori school and frankly, I think they were itching to put a label on him which my dh and I disagreed with since the doctor felt that even if he does have AS that it is "very mild."
