To be annoyed at ASD assessment

[TEH82]

So DS 7 was diagnosed with ASD a few months ago and it takes a few weeks for it to come through. It has come today and in 2 separate places it refers to him as ‘odd’ in the context of ‘child’s eye contact and interaction is extremely odd’
I work in health with children and would never dream of writing this about a child let alone in a report that will follow him for years- but not sure if I am being precious?

My dc have been described as 'quirky' in various assessments. I read that as a euphemism for odd or weird. I didn't care for it at first, it felt judgemental. But the truth is that, compared to their peers, they are quirky, they are odd, and sometimes they even are weird.

So what? As ds says "If I wasn't weird I wouldn't fit in so well with my family. People who aren't weird are boring."

I think they write these reports so parents can easily understand them, thats the feeling I got from my sons reports for both asd and for adhd. Odd doesn’t bother me personally, I probably described some of my ds’ behaviours to the professionals as odd myself

Professionally I would think odd but write atypical.
I would mean odd in something that jarred a little and wasn't expected in standard behavioral responses.
It isn't professional language to use.

Personally Neither ds or I are NT and we would both happily admit to being a bit odd so I wouldn't worry too much about reading it in a report about either of us.

@TableFlowerss You do realise atypical means ‘not typical’ which means unusual, which means different, which means odd.

As a parent I think I would prefer the word atypical but actually looking at the dictionary, the word odd means ‘ differing in nature from what is ordinary, usual, or expected’.

I hope you and your son are doing well.

DD is currently on the autism pathway and it wouldn't upset me if her mannerisms were described as odd - I know they are.

It's not as if they said he was odd himself, they were describing a behaviour and it's just a synonym for unusual.

The main problem with ‘odd’ is that it’s highly subjective because it’s so non-specific.

‘Child’s interaction is extremely odd’ - I mean, that could mean anything from ‘child has limited eye contact’ to ‘child licked my face and his head spun around 360 degrees when I asked if he wanted a biscuit’.

The lack of specifics means it feels a bit, ‘why is my child odd to you, exactly? Because I may disagree’. I speak as the mum of an autistic boy who I did not know was autistic until he had problems in school.

They detailed further on (next paragraph) he made next to no eye contact and when he did it was an intense stare with a blank facial expression but that was only momentarily.
It’s not ODD as in the defiance disorder as that is not how he manages his behaviour- he tends to withdraw rather than act out

I was diagnosed autistic as an adult, and would describe myself as odd. I am. So this wouldn't bother me whatsoever.

Its got me wondering if this is something that almost autistic people wouldn't think twice on, but clearly relatives would be super-upset for some reason?

Or is it just me and most people would be hugely offended, and I've misunderstood how massive an insult this is in the neurotypical world?

The Camhs woman who assessed my DS for ASD used the term “odd” to describe his behaviour in the assessment then used it in her diagnosis report. Yes he was diagnosed with ASD, yes her use of odd still irritates me 10 years later.

@LennyMurdoch

ASD has been rebranded to ASC these days,

According to who?

My local health authority, I’m now assuming. I was surprised to see everyone referring to ASD in this post. Where I live it’s been called ASC for well over 18 months and I assumed that was what it was now called everywhere. I must be wrong! Never assume, eh?

I would say inappropriate language, yes. Who diagnosed him, OP?

[quote PixieLaLa]@TableFlowerss You do realise atypical means ‘not typical’ which means unusual, which means different, which means odd.[/quote]
If you genuinely can’t understand why the OP would be miffed then there’s no point in me explaining, there’s no hope.