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How are kids going to get services without being diagnosed?
If they really have a disability, then teams should dig deeper to accurately diagnose it, rather than throw taxpayer money away providing too many services under an autism label.
Getting any label opens a wide door of services and benefits in K-12 paid for by the school districts.
I was shocked at the number of students in schools on IEPs and labeled SPED.
And so many are on drugs these days too.
As a nation our kids are getting sicker and sicker as time goes on.
OTOH, the article cites other studies which say that what is happening is not overdiagnosis, but reclassification of other dxes. Note that the diagnostic criteria has changed considerably over the past few years as well. The study does not say what the article suggests in its headline.
The study does NOT suggest that overdiagnosis is the problem.
Quote:
Conclusion
The results of this study suggest that some children with developmental delays, attentional flexibility problems, or other conditions may be receiving provisional yet inaccurate diagnoses of ASD from nonspecialists, even when their parents do not present with concerns about verbal skills, nonverbal communication, learning, and unusual gestures. This could be a natural consequence of changes
in ASD awareness among healthcare professionals and the push by national organizations such as the AAP to increase the use of developmental screening tests by general pediatricians with all young patients regardless of parents’ presenting concerns (CDC, 2014b; Johnson and Myers, 2007; National Center for Medical Home Implementation, 2012).
However, this cross-sectional study cannot be used to determine whether overdiagnosis and other reasons for lost diagnoses have recently become more common. It should also be noted that their estimated prevalence is too low to explain recent increases in the estimated prevalence of ASD (Blumberg etal., 2013; CDC, 2014a). Nevertheless, this study confirms that ASD diagnoses can and some-times do change as children mature and overcome delays, and as new information is assimilated by their healthcare providers.
If they really have a disability, then teams should dig deeper to accurately diagnose it, rather than throw taxpayer money away providing too many services under an autism label.
No one is providing too many services under the autism label. Autistic children and adults are actually quite underserved. In particular, the population of poor people who are served well is relatively small.
Although our understanding of the cause, course, and prognosis of ASD has developed greatly in past decades, there has been a significant lack of research focusing on sociodemographic factors that may influence rates of identification and subsequent treatment. This is of particular concern because significant social disparities in autism services have been identified (Mandell, et al., 2009). Families of racial/ethnic minority, lower levels of education, and those who live in non-metropolitan areas experience greater limitations in accessing services for ASD (Thomas, Ellis, McLaurin, Daniels, & Morrissey, 2007).
Overdiagnosing, possibly. But that does not explain the huge spike of kids with low functioning autism. I look back to when I was a kid, and I don't remember a single person who had a family member with autism. Now I could name off at least a half-dozen people whose children have LOW functioning autism.
I have a child with high functioning autism. I am positive my FIL has it as well, and he was never diagnosed. I wonder how the quality of his life would have been different had he been diagnosed earlier. A diagnosis has allowed me to help my daughter have a richer, fuller, and happier life. Had I been willing to just dismiss her as being "dramatic", "shy", "selfish", "antisocial", etc, she would have been a much more miserable kid.
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