misscutandstick- we had a verbal dx of ASD from the pead last week, we were only in the room for a few minutes so i was shocked that she could say 'yes she clearly has Autism' from just looking at dd2. We have had many verbal dx's whilst being asessed (from SALT and peads), i have been told she may have classic Autism, language disorder ,High functioning Autism or even Aspergers (even though she's non-verbal). Now we have been told to expect a dx of ASD but they will not put in writing where she is on the spectrum until she is 5 .

So i think the term ASD is more general (on the spectrum somewhere) rather than stating High functioning, low functioning ,Aspergers or classic Autism.

hi i have a little boy and he is autistic or asd it stands for, autistic spectrum disorder,or autism thay all mean the same

Thanks for clarifying that misscut

I hope you get the answers you want x

I always assumed that ASD kinda meant that lots of 'traits' were present but in differing severity. Whereas {i thought} that Autism was meant more of the classic symptoms and more severe... thats why i was mystified when the Paed said both.

SLI = speech and language impairment. a kid can have language delay/disorder without having Autism.

misscut - oh dear, my suggestion seems to have made things worse. how strange for all these dx's to be stated separately.

Can I just ask what SLI stands for?

I just assumed that ASD and autism were the same thing. God, it's just all so confusing isn' it?

well rang his secretary - and TBH didnt get much more sense out of her:
"...I was wondering what the Dx was, ..."
"...well it says ASD, Autism and SLI..."
"...as he said ASD and Austism so was wondering if they were interchangeable or if it was one or the other.."
"...he has both. Hes also written letters to the GP and school to let them know..."

Ive asked for a copy of both letters to see what hes said on them, but perhaps she meant "asd/autism & SLI"?

Talking to the SALT, apparently DS4's paed hands out labels like Post-Its .

not even keen on the ADOS

SC13 - J's psych said something similar. She was always very reluctant to specify and says that she feels that putting an exact label implies it's an exact science, whereas a child can change and also an observer would just be putting a subjective label on it.

She's not even the ADOS etc. which are scored mathematically and as scientifically as you can get in something as uncategorisable as behaviour. Well, not not keen, but she doesn't give scores out to parents any more because she says it isn't helpful for people. She thinks that it's better to just say on the spectrum so that it doesn't sound like a fixed thing.

Hope that makes sense!

She only (reluctantly) categorised J because it was so vital for LEA and DLA purposes.

it is all so confusing. My DS had the ADIR test and ADOS test, he scored highly on ados and met all criteria highly for autism but underscored on one section on the ADIR and was diagnosed as atypical autism, before the autistic diagnosis we were told he had ODD and fully expected it to be taken off once the DX for Autism came but it has been left on.