specific language impairment is stated on my DS' report but he has ASD. Would you challenge this?

[genieinabottle]

Hi, me again rambling on about the EP report (previous thread about non-verbal communiactions skills) we received last week. I have re-read the damned report and i'm fuming!!!

DS is 5, he has a dual dx of autism and speech and language disorder.
At the begiing of her report, EP states that she understands B has recieved a dx of autism.

Then all she goes on about is his expressive language delay and his speech sounds problems. No mentions of his other problems with routines, anxiety, rigidity, sensory issues,...
She even writes that "Genieboy has specific language impairment". Why would she writes that?
This isn't what he has been dxed with. That is however pre-dx what the EP belived he had and by the looks of things she still thinks that.

Should i querie this and demands it is amended? or shall i just leave it and asks for a different EP to be involved with DS from now on because it seems this EP is not going to accept his DX and most importantly isn't recognizing the whole of his needs.

Thanks for advice.

I'd try and speak to her or write a brief note back asking if she had time for a very quick word - I wouldn't go on the "attack" to begin with as there may be some rational explanation and she may avoid getting back to you if it sounds as though it will be trouble for her. Call me devious but I'd say that I didn't understand everything in her report - I was wondering if I could have a word when she has a moment?
Maybe she thinks that the language situation has much more impact on his ability to access the curriculum OR could she be focusing on it because it is possible to address teh language difficulty, while there may not be much she can recommend for the other issues?

.... but without speaking to her, who knows?

Thank you for the advice.
Now i have calmed down a little i can see attacking isn't the way forward. I will contact her after the hols to ask if she could clarify a few points in her report as i'm not quite understanding it.

Like you said whithout speaking to her first, i just won't know.

Genie, if it helps at all ,bear in mind people dealing with your child are drowning in reports, all of which are pretty formulaic.

It won't make any difference either way is my opinion.

All this stuff is so subjective anyway.

Moondog, i appreciate your opinion that is based on your experience as a professional.

But drowning in reports nor not, if her opinions are subjective, then it shouldn't be presented as a fact.
And she has written in black and white that DS has SLI, which implies that his issues are associated with language only and that isn't the case.

I would not be too bothered by the sli phrase being used as it is a part of asd but would want the other non lang issues addressed. Agree with mad about asking nicely for an explanation

I just wrote a long reply and lost it - grrr!

I have no idea why your EP is saying SLI so am responding with a bit of an adjunct here.

Just want to say, SLI is not a "lesser" diagnosis than ASD. It sounds very much like there are "only" issues with language, but language is pretty pervasive and involves all manner of things. Children and young people with SLI can have significant difficulties processing information, have behavioural difficulties, peer relationship issues, motor clumsiness, difficulties understanding tone of voice, emotions of others etc etc.

In some ways, the "debate" about what is SLI and what is ASD is one for academics, arguing about how many angels fit on the head of a pin. In real life, individual profiles can be strikingly similar across these diagnoses. I can think of three individuals I know who started off in an SLI unit who went to the ASD unit at secondary, and two who started in ASD units but ended up in SLI units as their profile of need appeared to change over time.

There is no blood test. No brain scan. It is medicalised as "diagnosis" but in reality, these labels are based on behavioural assessments and observations so are always open to interpretation (and subjectivity).

What will happen to provision? That's the key. Here, if you had an SLI dx you would get more SLT specific help. So if that was a primary concern, that "diagnosis" might be appropriate for the time being for the purposes of statementing, where "diagnosis" is simply a code that loosens a purse string..

Thank you for all of the replies.

I' m guilty that i tend to read too much between the lines when it comes to reports.
I ponder too much on what is written.
And yes, speech and language issue is the area that DS has the most problems with, he has other difficulties but to a lesser extent in comparison to the language impairment.

So that may be a reason why the EP has written about SLI or it could be because he has a dual dx that is ASD and sp. and lang. disorder, and she could have been refering to the lang.disorder by calling it SLI.

I agree that provision is the key. DS isn't statemented atm, he is on action+.
We are now going down the road to having a CAF for DS. Which i think (hope) will be useful.