So DS got ASD diagnosis couple of weeks before his 3rd birthday. He is minimally verbal or is it non-verbal (has a few words, uses them ocassionally)
There is a family history of speech delay (dad & uncle spoke first words at 3-3&1/2 respectively- both are doing well & don't have any autistic traits except they can be bit reserved). Also DS has had glue ear since baby days- not quiet resolved as Grommets keep falling. His comprehension is good- both us & Nursery feel that- however during assessment he was not in a mood to listen (he was tired during all the assessments due to them being close to his nap time)
He used to be social/ used to imitate gestures etc & still does when he wants to please you- but when his grommets fell & his hearing detoriated he became withdrawn (around 2.3yrs). He does have hyperactive tendencies and in the absence of stereotypical behaviours the diagnostic team labelled his running & jumping repeatative- he doesn't do any of these for hours but does tend to do them when he is bored. It's easy to distract him from these- so I never thought they were repeatative & restrictive. He does play appropriately with toys, but only briefly- his attention span is short (but they said he was too young for ADHD diagnosis)
I still think his glue ear can have impacted on his speech which could make him withdrawn which in-turn make him seek stimulation from running / climbing etc. wether there is an element of ADHD in addition to the speech delay.
I am not sitting & doing nothing- we are doing PECS & interaction as per NHS advise -I have read ABA can be good for ASD as well as developmental delay & we are looking into it.
But guess on some level I am worried wether the ASD label will harm DS's future where he maybe rejected based on it without actual assessing his potebtial. I am not in denial, I do know he has issues. But also I feel he has so much potential. I am also concerned how the so called 'specialist health visitor' tried telling me how all his beahviours were autsitic on her first visit- I feel as they had sent her to do the parent interview the panel gave too much weight to her opinion.At ADOS he wasn't his normal self, but they didn't particularly hear me out when pointed it out- for example he does have joint attention but if he is distracted by all the toys in the assessment room- he doesn't listen.I feel the problem is inability to process auditory stimuli. (APD secondary to glue ear)
Sorry for the long ramble, but my question is can children can be misdiagnosed as autistic when the underlying problem is something else. Anybody with any experience of this? I felt the panel of 'experts' were in a hurry to give him ASD label.