To find the growing narrative of over diagnosis (autism, adhd and mental health) upsetting and draining

[Frazzlesforever]

There seems to be a drip drip of press headlines and change in the conversation that too many people are getting diagnosed. And that some parents are being too pushy to get extra help or trying to get be benefits etc.

As the parent of a high masking autistic girl I had to push for diagnosis although the school just saw a highly compliant, quiet anxious child. My daughter is now extremely mentally unwell through not coping in school, has had to drop out of school missing her gcses, emergency CAMHs involvement - devastating for her and us.

She is exactly the type of child who would fall under the radar. Just an anxious child with over anxious parents. Apparently seeming to cope until she just couldn't. Surely if anything we need better understanding and support for these types of children not less. Otherwise we also risk kicking the problem down the road To severe problems in adulthood. - poor mental health/outcomes etc.

And when we get to the point that the majority of the population have a “condition”, then what?

And you’re dissing the autism diagnoses of everybody else based on that. 😆

As an aside private providers liaise with schools, schools don’t have in house Ed psychs and if there was an Ed psych report it would have been passed on and quoted by said school.

You sound a little obsessive over somebody else’s child and really shouldn’t be diagnosing and ripping to sheds any child.

Well considering how only 1% are diagnosed with autism and even though the actual true number is deemed to be double that due to under diagnosis that would raise it to 2% so I think we’re way off that don’t you. ADHD is only 3-5% and many people have both autism and adhd so are the same people.

No.
She’s saying that there is pressure on medical professionals to diagnose where they don’t believe that is the issue.

She’s not saying ALL. She’s saying SOME. And that SOME are a huge problem.

No I don’t.
It’s 1% of the population
not 1% of the school age population.

And I’m not saying the majority will have autism but we will get to a point where the majority will have some form of diagnosis.

I'm not dismissing everyone's diagnosis. You clearly struggle to comprehend. I'm saying that there are times when a diagnosis should be questioned, for both autism and adhd. There are times where parents need to parent.

I teach plenty of children where they clearly need and benefit from a diagnosis.

I don't think I've ripped the child to shreds either. I've said they had issues, which they did, but they weren't autistic.

That's got to be quite unusual though?

DD2 sat in her ADOS. She loves animals and dogs are a special interest. The assessor tried to engage her in conversation by telling her about her 'naughty dog' (I don't for one minute think she has a dog). She tried everything to get DD2 to ask what the dog had done. She was saying "My dog was so naughty at the weekend..." "I couldn't believe how naughty my dog was...." "I just couldn't believe what he'd done...." DD2 just said "MmHmm..." and carried on with what she was doing. It didn't occur to her to ask. If they wanted to tell her they would.

The assessor asked her to copy a shape made out of tiles, but didn't give her enough tiles to copy the shape. DD2 just stared at the tiles behind the assessor's hands and looked at her shape, confused.

That sort of thing isn't curated. Often it's what the person doesn't do that reveals their difficulties, not what they do.

I think there more additional needs children actually. We aren't sure wr. Maybe older parents? Who knows? Comments like this though make me want to keep quiet about my son's likely diagnosis because people like you think it is lazy parenting that he is not toilet trained yet, uses reins and doesn't speak very much before he starts school.

Sadly many schools and teachers are hugely behind and ignorant as regards autism and adhd. You don’t get either an autism or adhd diagnosis for bad parenting, you cat parent away autism or adhd and spreading this is just misinformation.

No we won’t, the numbers simply don’t add up to that and both are under diagnosed in this country anyway.

You think there is a surge in children being unable to speak in the last 5 years because people are suddenly much older and having children?
Is there any evidence that the children who are unable to speak have older parents?

Also, it’s perfectly reasonable for this conversation to make you feel uncomfortable and for you to not want to be involved or share your own experience.

It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be allowed to have it though.

It is possible to parent a child poorly which results in their behaviour being similar to that of a child with an additional need though.

Professionals ( which such a child will be in contact with)and diagnosticians are more than capable of being able to observe and diagnose accordingly.

An Autism diagnosis involves a lot more than than speech difficulties.

Where did I say anything different?

A child who can’t speak when they start school will definitely be flagged and put down the pathway of a diagnosis though.

And being unable to communicate by the age of four will have impacts on other areas of their development…

No I think one of the reasons for a rise in autism is partly due to age of parents amongst many other factors. I genuinely don't think there are as many children who cannot speak as you think. Maybe some are delayed but not completely non speaking. That involves serious neglect unless there is autism involved. If a child is not speaking amongst other difficulties I would say it is SEN and not lazy parenting.

Why would a child with no other potential autistic traits be put down the path of autism diagnosis?

True but a child that barely speaks at four is a red flag for autism.

Or not at all.

Really.That’s a bit short sighted. One would hope professionals would be a little more thorough and look for other indicators.Particularly so given that boys are more likely( double) to have speech difficulties than girls but girls (who make up half the population )can have autism too.

Oh I forgot in MN world girls aren’t allowed to have autism.

How?

You have a four year old who can’t speak, or interact with other children, who can’t use the toilet, who gets overwhelmed and has meltdowns when something changes.
How do you know the cause of that?
How do you know if it’s poor parenting or a neurological issue? How do you know it’s not both?

Not being able to speak in full sentences at four will lead to other difficulties. Whether there is an additional need or not.

So no professional can differentiate?

Starting to see why girls are being missed and left to get seriously unwell.

Then they get accused of being falsely autistic years down the line.

This 💯💯 percent. Successive governments have increased the expectation that all students should head to higher education. Historically its aim, for many pupils, was that they became functionally literate and numerate before heading to the workplace. No more children today will be academically able enough to be rocket scientists that previously.
Society is changing and new skills are required but none of that is going to mean that children are automatically ready to be trained in these skills; some will still only be able to be functionally literate and numerate and others may have the ability to be rocket scientists. Expecting all children to sit in the classroom so that they can train to be rocket scientists is unkind at best and a complete waste of time and money, at worst.
We should be considering what level
of education is appropriate and giving schools the tools to tailor education for the needs and wants of the children not try to shoehorn them all into the same mould.
Providing there is robust adult education no adult who missed out because they weren’t ready would then be denied the chance for career progression. In my opinion, with this approach all children/adults would have access to education when the time was right.