social communication disorder

[devientenigma]

can someone explain what this is? TIA

Yup.. We were told SCD by the comm paed and confirmed by the neuro paed as ASD.

It is currently planned to appear in the new DSM-V as a separate condition, though, isn't it, so presumably does officially exist without being autism although there will be cases where you start there and end up in ASD.

I guess the plan was to hoover up a number of the wishy-washy PDD-NOS diagnoses (those that had the social elements of autism without the routines/rigidity/obsessions for example) and give a proper diagnosis.

Whether or not that is helpful/appropriate/accurate as a re-categorisation I don't know, but SCD certainly now seems to exist 'officially'.

Initially the pead told us that DS had a social and emotional communication disorder but he is complex.

DS has AS and ADHD and in his reports it says social communication disorder. So I would say its another trait within autism devient x

DS is very social however its the missunderstandings of social rules that are an issue ie personal space, reading non verbal language from other peers, lack of understanding of verbal language due to being so literal, how to react in certain situations ie jokes, teasing, playing and can take offense easily due to not understanding which results in anxiety and frustration and in some cases meltdowns. They also mentioned his eye contact is to fleeting so he is unable to use eye contact to initiate, sustain or terminate a converstation with someone which of course also hampers reading non verbal language.

Dont know if that helps. x

yeah, been googling lol.............seems as though they have to rule out ASD before diagnosing SCD. Apparently the repetition, patterns, behaviours etc isn't there with SCD. The pead has emphasised his challenging behaviour a few times along with the possibility of ASD and PDA.

Thanks everyone x

he is not a normally developing child anyway lol, he's already challenging and complex before this, suppose it's just the start or the pead differentiating the 2 for others...............I think x

We were told DD has problems with social communication but does not meet the criteria for ASD.
She's 4 with a diagnosis of severe speech delay and mild/moderate developmental delay.
I am totally confused, more so than when we started this "journey" with all the terminologoy.

Aliceinboots it's all very confusing isn't it.... For my ds (GDD at the moment) private psychologist specializing in early intervention for asd kids thinks ds is not on the spectrum and has an excellent joint attention and eye contact ( his private therapist thinks the same) however all the Nhs staff are convinced he is on the spectrum (they cannot engage him very well - Salt and Ot) so I'm debating at the moment if it would be beneficial for him to get the label ( maybe more help at preschool/ school one day) or not.... Maybe you could ask for second opinion, but don't know if that ever helped anybody and made the issue of diagnosis clearer or murkier...

i'm thinking this is what they are hinting at with ds, they are saying no asd but hes behind with social communication??? hes diagnosed with mild GDD (12months) immature speech (12-18month delay) wth speech disorder

Bonzai my ds is year and half behind and classes as severe delay.. I guess all these labels don't have such an importance as us the parents contribute to them...

My DS (now 8) was diagnosed by a paediatrician with AS last year at the age of 8. He had been in the system (SALT, EP, outreach from SureStart) since the age of 2 and those professionals described him as having social communication disorder from the age of 2, as did pre-school and school when writing his IEPs, I assumed it was because they can use that as a description without it being a formal diagnosis, which none of them are qualified to make.

My DS is 11 primarily down syndrome, obvious medical, extreme challenging behaviour, social phobia, school phobia and autistic traits as some of his dx's. He functions around 4 year old. Maybe what the pead letter is suggesting is factor in his behaviour etc when looking into autism?

His cardiologist and GP have fought for years to get someone to look at the possibility of ASD and the SW also thinks he has PDA as well. We have had a professional opinion on him and the outcome was he meets all criteria for ASD, PDA and something else requiring more obs. He also suffers PTSD with his needs not being met.

The GP is busy securing the funding for him to be seen at the Elizabeth Newson centre as all profs here are at a loss with him.

at the end of the day I suppose any child with DS could be dxd with SCD?

As I understand it, the SCD would be if there was a social/pragmatic language delay that was over what you would expect from the language delay caused by having DS. If that makes senses. But personally I agree with ZZZ's comment, that having language delay will inevitably impact socially anyway!