Any disadvantages on an asd diagnosis?

[wishiwasonthebeach]

For a 6 year old child with mild autism. He's doing fine at school but socially he is very immature and doesn't read social cues very well.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a formal diagnosis?

I cannot think of a single downside.

has your DS actually been assessed and you refused a formal dx or do you only have suspicions that he me have ASD.

Fwiw, the threshold for a dx is pretty high (not sure there is such a thing such as 'mild' autism) and if you decide to get him assessed, you will only get a dx if he meets the diagnostic criteria

He has been assessed but I'm unsure about it. The more I read, the least I can identify his behaviour as asd, apart from a few social issues that are getting much better. I wonder if he's just too young and immature. I know it sounds as I'm in denial, I'm not and I don't mind accepting a formal diagnosis if it doesn't have any disadvantages.

Will teachers lower expectations or treat him any different?

Polter, I understand what you're saying. What I wonder is if it's necessary to have the diagnosis in his school file and what impact that might have, positive or negative. If I knew that he would get extra support, I wouldn't think twice, but from what I've been told he won't need any extra help. So what's the point of having it formal ? The current school is aware of the diagnosis, I just worry about the impact of when he moves to secondary. If there are no disadvantages, then I'm happy to keep it in his records. I would just like people's opinions here.

Polter, cross post. I posted in reply of your previous post. It makes sense what you're saying.

When in reception he wasn't playing much with other children. He is now, but is selective with his friends when in school and very dominating, quite inflexible. Outside of school he would play with other random children and join their games. It was the school who advised me to get him accessed. A lot of the issues have improved, so I was very surprised when he got the diagnosis. He was into clocks and engines at the time of the assessment, so I wonder if that contributed to the dx. He's moved on from that now.

I think their special interests and obsessions can change? Not 100% sure though. :)

I forgot to add that he gets easily distracted and distracts others at school. He's a summer baby and a boy so that could also play a part. I'm very confused. He's doing well at school, had no developmental delays, has interest in other children, good eye contact and good imagination. He can be very immature, loud, dominating, get frustrated easily, clingy and doesn't read social cues very well, but (so far) I've not had the problems I often read here from other parents, hence my confusion.

My DH has Aspergers, although not formally diagnosed. His assessment was in the 1970s when it didn't exist as a diagnosis. His 'diagnosis' was 'unidentified pervasive development disorder', although we all now know it's Aspergers. He won't get it formally confirmed and is relieved it's not on his records because he works in an area where it would affect his security clearance.

I was diagnosed abroad. Thankfully I already had my driving licence because in here, like some other places, it's not straight forward if you have AS and regular retesting is common.

Hedge, thank you for your perspective. That's the sort of thing that worries me. I want to weigh the advantages vs the disadvantages of having it formally diagnosed, particularly if he won't be getting/ needing much support.

I didn't even know about the driving licence difficulties.

I'm really on the fence now if I should not accept a formal dx and get him reaccessed when he's older if his symptoms get worse?!

For my two problems didn't arise till juniors (year 4) when the gap between their social skills and those of their peers really widened. In infants whilst they didn't have many friends there were no behavioural problems (apart from fighting each other a lot) and they did well academically. When problems did occur in juniors things escalated downwards very quickly because we hadn't investigated the possibility of AS just assumed they were a bit quirky. I think if we had had the diagnosis at that point we and school would have been better at putting in interventions that might have helped them cope better. If he doesn't need help then it can stay hidden as a bit of paper that no-one reads in his file BUT if you do run into problems later on you can use it as a tool to get the school to make adaptions. I have told my two that when they reach adulthood it will be their choice whether to tell people but at the moment they need the extra help that a diagnosis signposts.

Does anyone know what kind of jobs would need medical clearing?

Noble, it's good to get the perspective of a teacher. At secondary level, what can a teacher do to better support an autistic child?

if there's a chance you may wish to emigrate to another country - i think Australia and Canada have had recent examples of this - your application may be rejected if you have a child with Autism.

Longdivision, that's awful. It's not on my plans to move to either of those countries, but who knows.

Some countries, eg Germany and France (if I remember correctly), still see autism as an acquired mental health illness. DH travels to a lot of high security places there (proper aspie science uber-nerd) which he says he wouldn't be cleared for if he got officially diagnosed. Doesn't make sense really. In the event of international nuclear meltdown who do you want in charge, the logical, emotionless, knows all the procedures inside out, fearless, stand alone robot like/Mr Spock aspie or the emotional run around like headless chickens NTs?

Other countries, eg Japan, see it as a shameful genetic fault so bad that parents choose to have it labelled as bad parenting so their entire family isn't shunned.

Autistic students at my school get taken out of one lesson a week for a social skills support group. Unstructured time can be an issue so they also have access to the SEN base at lunchtime as a place to hang out, get help with homework, organisation etc.

In the classroom it depends on the level of autism. Some students have 1-1 support, others don't need any, but I'd be aware of where they are sat in the classroom (I might let them choose where to sit or who to sit next to, or if they wanted to sit on their own). I'd be careful when placing them in groups for group work. They might need a bit more support with organisation of homework. I'd be careful with use of metaphors and things being taken literally. I might notice stress build up and suggest time outside the classroom. Every child is different though.

In a primary classroom teachers get to know the children very well and can adjust to their quirks quite quickly. In a secondary school your child will have many teachers, some of whom won't even learn their names for a long time as they see them so rarely. A diagnosis on the system will put them on the teacher radar.

Both my DDs did well at primary but fell apart at secondary and once they were diagnosed all the support that was offered was too late. We are homeschooling now.

We are starting the process with DS even though he's managing fine at school for now so that he doesn't go in the same direction.

We were told the only thing a diagnosis might prevent is them joining the army. Fine by me.