Hi
My DS has just been diagnosed with severe specific language disorder. I had been expecting a diagnosis of autism but the SALT that he saw was fairly adamant that he didn't meet the criteria. He apparently scored quite highly on the social responsiveness scale and the area where his language disorder is most severe is in her experience not an area where autistic children typically struggle with the most.
Feeling very confused. We've been doing ABA/VBA for a few months now with some success but now I'm not quite sure what direction we should be travelling in. SALT thinks he should be in a school with a language unit but he has just got into the same school as his older sister (which I think very highly of) and I really would rather that he went there and got a statement specfying several hours of speech therapy and (ideally) VBA as well.
Mentioned his sensory issues to the SALT - she seemed to think they go hand in hand with language disorders very often and are not necessarily an indication of autism. She thinks he might need occupational therapy for that if SPD is diagnosed as well.
I am taking DS to see a well respected NHS paed who does private work called Daphne Keen at the end of July (mega waiting list) and will be really confused if he gets a diagnosis of autism now.
Sorry for the rambling post, just feeling a bit confused and not sure what the best thing is that I can do for DS at this point - other than applying for a statement which I will now definitely be doing.