(warning - soap box being erected) I think that mis-diagnosis is quite a problem with certain subsets of kids - particularly late talking kids. My three oldest kids were all late talkers, so we've been around the block on this issue. My two DS5's had no words until around 3 y.o. One of them had head-banging tantrums from the frustration, along with an obsession with lining up toy cars, etc. Fortunately now he's very normal (he's the one whose preschool teacher complains is "underachieving"; he was too social last year lol). The other one took quite a long time to talk and is still in speech therapy at 5.5 y.o. - they start K next week and he has an IEP. He is very introverted, has few friends, etc. My own mother called me to say she had seen a TV show about autism and wondered if he had it. Irritating, to say the least.
The idea of the spectrum seems to expand continuously - I have yet to see a concrete definition of what constitutes PDD-NOS that really has finite meaning (all of my older three kids would have fit under this at some point very early in their lives, it's so vague). Everyone seems to think they know what it is, but the key to the diagnosis of autism itself ("spectrum" aside) is the severe lack of emotional empathy - I can't remember the exact words. I'd go by the DSM criteria (available on-line). There is an excellent chapter in The Mislabeled Child by Brock and Fernette Eide on autism and the other issues with overlapping symptoms (sensory processing disorder is a prime example). I guess I think it's a bad idea to lump autistic kids together with PDD-NOS kids as far as statistics go because they are not the same thing; I guess I think it's inaccurate that PDD-NOS is often referred to as the autism spectrum.
I think the expensive treatment is called Applied Behavioral Therapy, or something similar, and my understanding is that it can be harmful for someone who doesn't actually have autism. Imagine if a gifted, extremely introverted young child were forced to sit for *hours* each day doing repetitive things with a therapist. I can only imagine what my own kids would do - they would feel abused, I think. And, overdiagnosis may take away resources from the truly autistic kids who really, really need them. I also wonder whether the supposed benefit from starting the therapy very young may be skewed in the research by misdiagnosed kids - the old mantra from a late talkers group I used to read is that if the symptoms go away when the language comes in, it wasn't that the therapy cured them, it's that the child wasn't autistic to begin with. The trouble begins with the fact that symptoms related to speech/language delay are the primary early markers relied upon. I can't stress enough how good the chapter is in The Mislabeled Child - things like eye contact issues can be caused by other problems.
Food for thought: there seems to be a right-brain-strength connection with autism, and part of me wonders whether it's some sort of extreme form of visual-spatial, right-brain thinking with extreme left-brain weaknesses. As in, the far end of that continuum. Moreover, I wonder whether right-brain thinkers/visual-spatial learners are generally on the increase in society due to whatever evolutionary factors, and accordingly, whether the rise in autism is merely a reflection of that.
I hate hearing about kids who were "diagnosed" by speech therapists and OTs, etc., rather than a competent neuropsych. Our speech therapist has similar concerns about some of her patients and has said that misdiagnosis can affect lots of things down the line - we all think we have problems getting our kids into the right classroom, think about what a school does with an autistic student, keeping them in special ed classes where the academics might not be all that challenging, and how hard that would be on a misdiagnosed student! - and then there are insurance issues, etc. Apparently it is very difficult to have that label removed once it is there.
So to answer the original question, yes people have considered autism with regard to some of my kids, though not for their giftedness, as they are late-bloomers (and we haven't even really clarified whether either one of my DS5's is gifted). But it would not surprise me one bit if people were to go around speculating that certain gifted kids were autistic. ok off my soapbox - sorry, this can be a bit of a sensitive subject for me.
