Posted on 07/15/2008 5:08:57 PM PDT by jazusamo
"New Ways to Diagnose Autism Earlier" read a recent headline in the Wall Street Journal. There is no question that you can diagnose anything as early as you want. The real question is whether the diagnosis will turn out to be correct.
My own awareness of how easy it is to make false diagnoses of autism grew out of experiences with a group of parents of late-talking children that I formed back in 1993.
A number of those children were diagnosed as autistic. But the passing years have shown most of the diagnoses to have been false, as most of these children have not only begun talking but have developed socially.
Some parents have even said, "Now I wish he would shut up."
I did absolutely nothing to produce these results. As a layman, I refused to diagnose these children, much less suggest any treatment, even though many parents wanted such advice.
As word of my group spread, various parents would write to ask if they could bring their child to me to seek my impression or advice. I declined every time.
Yet, if I had concocted some half-baked method of diagnosing and treating these children, I could now claim a high rate of success in "curing" autism, based on case studies. Perhaps my success rate would be as high as that claimed by various programs being touted in the media.
If a child is not autistic to begin with, almost anything will "cure" him with the passage of time.
My work brought me into contact with Professor Stephen Camarata of Vanderbilt University, who has specialized in the study of late-talking children— and who is qualified to diagnose autism.
Professor Camarata has organized his own group of parents of late-talking children, which has grown to hundreds, as compared to the several dozen children in my group. Yet the kinds of children and the kinds of families are remarkably similar in the two groups, in ways spelled out in my book "The Einstein Syndrome."
The difference is that Professor Camarata is not a layman but a dedicated professional, with decades of experience— and he too has expressed dismay at the number of false diagnoses of autism that he has encountered.
What Camarata has also encountered is something that I encountered in my smaller group— parents who have been told to allow their child to be diagnosed as autistic, in order to become eligible for government money that is available, and can be used for speech therapy or whatever other treatment the child might need.
How much this may have contributed to the soaring statistics on the number of children diagnosed as autistic is something that nobody knows— and apparently not many people are talking about it.
Another factor in the great increase in the number of children diagnosed as autistic is a growing practice of referring to children as being on "the autistic spectrum."
In other words, a child may not actually be autistic but has a number of characteristics common among autistic children. The problem with this approach is that lots of children who are not autistic have characteristics that are common among autistic children.
For example, a study of high-IQ children by Professor Ellen Winner of Boston College found these children to have "obsessive interests" and "often play alone and enjoy solitude," as well as being children who "seem to march to their own drummer" and have "prodigious memories." Many of the children in my group and in Professor Camarata's group have these characteristics.
Those who diagnose children by running down a checklist of "symptoms" can find many apparently "autistic" children or children on "the autism spectrum."
Parents need to be spared the emotional trauma of false diagnoses and children need to be spared stressful treatments that follow false diagnoses. Yet the "autism spectrum" concept provides lots of wiggle room for those who are making false diagnoses.
Real autism may not get as much money as it needs if much of that money is dissipated on children who are not in fact autistic. But money is money to those who are running research projects— and a gullible media helps them get that money.
interesting article and interesting comments. another possible bias is what docs are paid to diagnose these conditions. I believe psychiatrists are paid more to diagnose and treat bipolar patients and some have said many of these diagnosises are being given out more often than appropriate. Don’t know if this is true or not, or if so, if something similar might be in play for autism. It may also be the case that medical care has advanced to such an extent that people are simply more educated about the disorder and more likely to seek out help to check on children experiencing some delays.
And this, in the geographic locale-central of "Say No To War". ha.
I still have a copy of the checklist. And made at least 200 copies of it. I posted it online. I handed it out at supermarkets, I handed it out at church, I gave it to doctors and dentists, I handed it out to my neighbors.
And absolutely 100% of everyone who did the checklist tested positive for add/adh/. This was in 1993/1994. Before the morph to "autism spectrum".
How much this may have contributed to the soaring statistics on the number of children diagnosed as autistic is something that nobody knows— and apparently not many people are talking about it.
I thinks its conclusive then, that autism is contagious. It spreads from the child to the parent by way of money.
When I was a Cub Scout den mother of 8 boys in the early 70's, including my own son, not one other mother would volunteer to help me.
The wildest of the bunch were two brothers, who were on Ritalin. And it was their mother who always, without exception, "forgot" when it was her day to send refreshments. So, I made sure to have something on hand. (Beware, though, never top anything with a marachino cherry.)
Finding the right games for them to play was a test of my ingenuity. If you find yourself in this postion, try tying blown up balloons to the back of their waists, give them rolled up newspapers, and let them swat away!
I guess today that would be called abusive. Then, it was just plain fun for everybody.
Why wouldn't other mothers help out with the troop?
(And yes, the sickening irony is seeing children being drugged, ill-raised, when it is so obvious the parent is simply not being adult, by choice).
Well damn.
It also suggests that the bulk of autism cases are of women of color.
My son was mistakenly diagnosed in Kindergarden with Aspergers syndrome. The doctor told me that because he was overly interested in dinosaurs, trains and space and the fact that he could watch a movie once and then quote you whole scenes from memory this qualified him.
I came home and looked up the syndrome online and it didn’t seem to fit him properly. I spoke to the doctor again and she then told me that he also had ADHD.
Again, I looked up more information online and it didn’t quite fit.
One night while searching for natural treatments for ADHD or Aspergers, I stumbled upon an article that suggested that children with sleep apnea were being misdiagnosed as having ADHD because due to lack of quality sleep, the children were distractable in class and caused disruptions.
I spoke to his pediatrician (different doctor) and informed him that my son did infact snore and had episodes where he choked and stopped breathing. The pediatrician chose to treat him with an allergy nose spray and an asthma medication.
Within a week all symptoms of ADHD and the alleged Aspergers syndrome were gone.
Just goes to show you that those doctors don’t know everything.
One mother told me, "I'm not good with kids." Her son developed a little crush on me.
The mother of the two boys owned a shoe store, and I gave her some slack.
They lived in a two-story home and the oldest son set fire to a trash basket and threw it down the clothes hamper chute. A ploy for attention?
The other mothers just said they were too busy - maybe they had smaller children, I don't remember.
One thing sticks out in my mind was when we were having a parade in downtown Yorba Linda. My husband "volunteered" to teach our Scouts to march. He called them "Troops." (He used to be a Marine Corps D.I.)
They paid strict attention to him and marched like little pros.
Another time, we took two cars and drove to Knott's Berry Farm and Liberty Hall, a replica of Independence Hall, for our group only. If I recall right, there was a speaking robot. I think he read the Declaration of Independence.
Inside, they were wiggle-worms, sliding from one bench to another. Nobody told them to sit still, as they weren't harming anything, or talking. Next day, some mothers called to say how much their son enjoyed it. I could have sworn none of them heard a word said.
Children want attention and they like discipline. They accept authority when it is for their good.
Yes, it is sickening to see what is happening to our youth - our future. And I think it is deliberate.
I know I was pooped out after blowing up all those balloons.
That is funny!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
There are at least ten different neurological functions that could be impaired in the fetus of women who are vitamin d deficient. It is certain that a greater number of people of equatorial genetic history (darker skin) will suffer impaired neurological functions in their children when they reside in the higher latitudes.
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