New Definition of Autism

[Lena75]

New Definition of Autism Will Exclude Many, Study Suggests | Autism Support Network

Has anyone read this yet? What are your thoughts?

I'm going to be honest, I've never thought it to be fair that high-functioning autistic/aspergers kids receive the same treatment as the lower to moderate autistic kids.

My son is moderately autistic and moderately intellectually delayed and it makes me wonder what the "new" definition might be, or if it will also come to Canada.

 

[Look Up]

I admit that I am not an expert and may be factually off base. As far as I understand, however, in recent years in the US (and maybe Canada), the term "autism" has covered an increasingly large set of health conditions as compared to more narrowly recognized conditions of some years ago.

Secondly, in the US at least, insurance codes and what the insurance industry recognizes as health conditions warranting money and treatment is limited to a certain list which is far less nuanced and much shorter (the list, that is) than --I think-- in Europe, for example.

But pressure is on under recent Obamacare measures to make the US list correspond instead to the longer list. And as far as research goes, in time new terms may be brought to bear upon health conditions that are, shall we say, autism-like, assuming some conditions now labeled "autism" are broken off from the "autism-proper" label and code. I do not know what Canada's status and practices are.

Meanwhile various autism-like health conditions constitute genuine familial stresses regardless of label and insurance codes while the threat of cutting off insurance funding is real, not least because of bear market pressures to cut spending. Similar funding problems arise among those many varieties of health challenges which are rare, unstudied or under-studies, and unrecognized by the medical establishment.

Established practice cannot keep pace with all the complexities of biologically related causation even were no vested interests hampering the execution of the Hippocratic Oath. Some research that could be helpful if applied fails to make its way into medical practice, probably for reasons practical or unsavory. What, for example, does one make of statistical correspondence between autism cases and the production of various industrial toxins? Or what about over-medication to the benefit of pharmaceutical companies and the doctors in their pay?

And in my understanding, mental health conditions are determined by a "panel of experts" in such a way that sometimes (not always), "expert" opinion is backed by at most fuzzy science. Autism, if it goes through, will not be the only label to have undergone DSM re-classification on dubious scientific grounds, although attempts at various levels have been toward greater scientific rigor. The marriage of science and psychology is relatively new in western history, and human behavior is often more challenging to measure than pH and microbes.

But in such cases as yours, Lena75, who knows what the future holds? Maybe something I have written will trigger a useful question you can pose to your doctor or insurance provider. May the Lord provide for you and give you peace in the storm.

 

[Lena75]

Actually, autism is one of the branches under the PDD umbrella (Pervasive Developmental Disorder). I've read many blogs from parents who have special needs kids and while alot sound genuinely autistic and challenging, there are those who blog that their child is autistic or aspergers, which is a high-functioning form of autism, and as I read those blogs the child sounds mostly NT (neurotypical). Now I know that I don't personally know everyone's story, but most autistic children have the classic symptoms of no eye contact, limited speech, difficulty with fine motor movements, often in their own world, running/wandering.... etc... I find that alot of high-functioning autistic (aspergers) kids do communicate, do know how to colour and draw BUT may have sensory issues and be slightly delayed due to that hence the "autism" label.

My take on the article is that they are just trying to sort all those out. It's gonna be a hefty job because so many people are on the spectrum and are receiving government assistance and they're afraid of being cut off. I don't know, I could be way off base here.

I still have mixed feelings because I know alot of families are really genuine yet alot of parents like to take advantage of government assistance and will use their child's "crutch" no matter how minimal, to get a funding of some sort.

I'm not worried about my son. Any doctor will tell you he really is autistic and if you met him yourself, you would see it plain as day. He meets many of the classic autism criteria.

 

[Sabertooth]

I (and some of my children) have Asperger's Syndrome. I also have a nonverbal 17yo daughter with a mental age of 18 mos. and a 24yo HFA son with a mental age of 6-10yo. If I were to compare our conditions to degrees of blindness, AS would equate to color blindness; HFA, legal blindness and LFA, total blindness.

While we on the AS side of the spectrum are comparatively well off, we are just enough different to be marginalized in society, especially in this economy. We [with AS] have always been here. It is the rise in cognitively disability, a.k.a. Kanner-type autism, that is unprecedented.

If you exclude those with AS, the Kanneresque autism rates are about 1 in 200-250.

 

[neutralino7]

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[Look Up]

As a general rule, subsidization and free money does create more selective demand than would otherwise be the case. And as a general rule, those in genuine need do not have needs met if their circumstances fall outside certain government-defined criteria (income bracket, protected status, or whatever). Inevitably, some are "more equal" (per Animal Farm) than others.

The redistribution of tax dollars from each according to his ability to each according to his need (alluding to Marx's slogan) solves some problems and creates others. The more government micro-manages private matters (including health insurance), the more some problems are solved and others created.

In the US, the Constitution once forbade the redistribution of federal tax dollars for "charitable" purposes and the church and (extended) family had a proportionately larger role in the general welfare of society (and lower taxes), not that there were no problems in practice.

What we most need overall in my view is the leavening influence of the gospel of Jesus and progress of the Holy Spirit to alter our human nature for the better.

 

[hwyangel]

I have a son, now 27 years old, with autism. Honestly I can't keep track of how many times this definition has changed. When my son was diagnosed there was autistic type A, B, or C.