p.s. I love labels, and so do my kids. Understanding for themselves why they struggle is hugely helpful to their motivation, confidence and ability to work through those struggles.
Us, too. I think it's more of that "needing a conceptual framework" piece.
All a diagnosis really does, IMO, is capture some patterns and give us some language with which to describe (and, ideally, support/remediate) them. To me, a "label" is, in some ways, *more* humanizing. It lets one know he/she isn't alone.
DS13 really struggled to accept the ASD label, initially. But now he makes jokes about it--if he's having trouble with something that appears related, he'll say, "I'm just so autistic!" We have also identified several friends/family members who (at the least) fit the "broad autistic phenotype," and since they are all people DS really enjoys, that helps.
We also have frequent discussions about how this is just language that describes certain traits and is not the sum whole of personhood.
