don't understand

all i can suggest is asking them to clarify what they mean. which you are entitled to do, a letter with no acutal human contact and advice and with confusing contradictions isnt any better than having no diagnosis

as you wil be visiting her next week, you can do that, id just leave the letter out of it for the moment untill you can talk to her directly and ask her what that all means.

and you are entitled to say the letter isnt very clear and that even on the national autistic soceity board it was a debatable subject and maybe advise them to maybe consider making it clearer inthe future for other parents/familes etc, as their job IS to work with autistics making thing clear SHOULD be something they do already in my view

chezr102 said:

we would agree with you that my son meets the criteria for an autistic spectrum disorder they discussed there thoughts about him to senior colleagues woh confirmed ther view that my son is on the autistic spectrum

then it says although it is recognised that he has areas of strength and skill the purpose of this report is to determine whether these difficulties fulfil the criteria for an asd  therefore if this report appears skewed to my sons difficulties this is to enable those in his life to better understand his needs

 

id point out that these parts are the confusing parts, as you say, it says they agree with him having it, but then say the report is to determine if he has it, so it is contradicting

no there isent just a list of things he can do 

Hi Cherrie

From the first bit it sounds like they are summarising and giving your son a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. After that, perhaps they are detailing how they arrived at the diagnosis - exactly what his difficulties are in each of the 3 areas.

Did they do an ADOS assessment?

Is there a section in the report with the title Diagnosis?

Sharon

There's a whole spectrum of degrees from the most neurotypical to the most severe autistic, however, the medical profession draws entirely artificial lines within this spectrum and gives them labels, such as "Asperger's", "High-functioning", "Autism", and so on.

So, from what you've posted, it sounds like that, rather than saying they don't know whether your son is autistic, they're saying that the report only highlights those of his characteristics that are relevent to which of these entirely artificial criteria apply to him.

Or, in other words, rather than just say "You're son has Asperger's" they're saying "your son has this, that, and those other, characteristics of the autistic spectrum".

thank you for your replys it does help a bit i read up on it i get the typs and that but i just dont get what there saying that he is on the spctrum but dont know if he fits the criteria for an asd thought they where the same thing

hi Cherrie - yes, can imagine the letter was rather confusing, but I think KaloJaro's reply helps clarify things.  When you have your nxt mtg you can seek more clarification.....sometimes making a list of questions can be useful because it's easy to get sidetracked into discussions + kick yourself later because you forgot to ask something you wanted to....at least that's what can happen to me! When my son was 1st diagnosed, over 20 yrs ago, some professionals used the phrase "autistic tendencies".  I found this confusing - was he or wasn't he autistic??  Some professionals sd he was "a little boy with autism" but others were using different phraseology, altho it meant the same thing.  In the end I pushed the issue with the "autistic tendency" faction + it became clear they were trying to lessen the "impact" as they saw it, by softening the phrase.  So, yes your child will have his strengths + weaknesses, alongside his asd. It's helpful that they are pointing these out.   Take the time to reflect + think things thru before your nxt meeting - it isn't too far away.  bw

Hi Cherrie,

Basically, those three areas cover the aspects that those with varying types of ASD struggle with. So for example, someone with servere ASD will have significant issues in all three areas, but someone with higher functioning ASD such as Aspergers Syndrome, will -still- struggle in these areas, just not as much as someone further down the spectrum, e.g. your son might have effective coping mechanisms or might not dislay his true feelings, which is why they are seeing if he needs help via a diagnosis. If he is struggling but not saying so, or is very young, a diagnosis will help him in later life when differences between him and others become more obvious.

Hope this helped.