Yes, so I asked for a second opinion lol!
My son scores v. poorly on 2 aspects of the triad (social imagination & interaction) but is clinically borderline according to ADOS on social communication. This meant the local team just diagnosed him as " social communication disorder with autistic traits" to start with. This was as much use as a chocolate teapot for accessing services btw.
The second opinion bods did other standardised tests a year later, as well as repeating the ADOS, which gave v. similar results. However when they compared them with the other tests (DISCO was one but I can't remember the others) They gave him a new diagnosis "Autistic Spectrum Disorder". They also looked at the NEW criteria for diagnosis which will be officially in place from next year, which takes into account sensory & motor issues for the first time in diagnosing Autism. (He has issues in both these areas)
Apparently "autistic spectum disorder" is coming into use to replace the following labels - aspbergers, HFA, PDD-NOS, PDA & Atypical Autism. The idea is to make it simpler for everyone as they report on severity of the different areas specific to the individual. Children being diagnosed from now on are likely to get one of just two labels - Autism or Autistic spectrum disorder. A more minor label of social communication disorder will be used only for those children who ONLY meet the criteria for that one corner of the triad.
Both of these new labels will be recognised by "the system", so no longer will we get the sort of silly situation where "Aspbergers" means you are not entitled to help from social services, or to access an ASD outreach team or unit, but "High functioning Autism" means you can. I'm all for it as the last thing parents need is this kind of sillyness when trying to access help. Also depending on the individual child, interventions etc often the old labels given at 5 didn't match the adult iykwim. This allows for the fact that it's a spectrum and lots of children seem to slide along it as they grow up in multiple directions (its a developmental delay disorder, not always a full stop iykwim).
It is definately worth chasing a second opinion, imho. The second opinion team didn't have local service budget concerns, or local politics, in the back of their minds. As a result I think they took a more thorough look at my individual child.