Worried about diagnosis

Thank you spotty!  I had never heard of it myself, my first google search came up with various hits and only one autism related, to do with deficiency in the Diet? I had to type “Autism and SCD to get a good hit.

The more research I do into autism and associated traits the more I worry! They are trying to blend all into one heading?! No doubt so they can stop help or benefit easier?

No more Aspergers? Now using SCD to cut down on ASD ,we all know that stimming  or repetitive movements Are not seen in all autistic people!

same applies to having fixed narrow focus on specific interests,

Did you see the two links I posted about how a lot of females are misdiagnosed using Male orientated criteria?

hope you are ok? 

Take care x()x()x()x()x

You are a diamond Lone, kept coming across SCD and being very frustrated not knowing what it was. I can't keep up here at all. This seems like a depressing no-mans land of a diagnosis, I'm scared for all of us, older and very young, in the hands of clinicians (not all I'm sure) who seem more interested in their own cleverness than the human beings they are 'helping'. xx ()()

What is SCD?
SCD is a new diagnosis in the 5th edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). As the name implies, SCD involves difficulties in social communication. Social communication includes adapting how you speak and otherwise communicate to fit a social situation. For example, we expect children to talk politely to a teacher. We expect conversation between friends to have a more casual style. Related expectations include speaking more quietly in a classroom than on the playground. Individuals with SCD have difficulty understanding and following such social-communication “rules.”

Typically they also struggle with rules of conversation such as taking turns. They may have problems understanding the underlying meaning conveyed by tone. For example, being able to tell whether someone is being genuine or sarcastic. As you can imagine, this type of disability can make it difficult for a person to make “small talk” or otherwise communicate comfortably in new situations.

Clearly, many individuals with autism share these difficulties. But to receive a diagnosis of ASD under DSM-5, one must also have the repetitive behaviors and/or restricted interests typical of autism. (You can read the full DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for SCD and ASD 

Hi Robert123, I also have difficulties understanding each new one I come across, maybe five months ago I attempted to to give a list of them in a thread, I wasn’t successful and not many added to it!

I also asked the NAS admin if it would be possible to have a permanent link to an area to show what each one stood for, no reply!

It is so easy for someone to forget that not every one knows them especially as parents have to focus and immerse them selves so much when struggling to work out all the complex criteria needed to get a diagnosis,

The parents have to learn them all as the relentless battle for any kind of movement towards diagnosis grinds  slowly along. Either that or get left behind in any understanding of what is actually going on.

I see so many careers or parents come here looking for advice for just what they all mean, 

I do try not to use them but some are quite long and laziness sometimes wins.

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I don't want to sound facetious but all these acronyms are enough to do my head in.

I'm sure that most people with ASD have SCD.

I had to google SCD, upon doing that I found an article about it and how it is being used within the criteria more now.

And may I add a paper I came across that may shed some light on it potentially?

https://www.autismspeaks.org/blog/2014/01/31/social-communication-disorder-parents-seek-guidance

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5509825/

And something else that may give a potential for wrong diagnosis?

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../

I am no expert but there seems to be a big problem in using Male diagnostic criteria when assessing females.

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Thanks Heather, I've had a read through and whilst some of it is starting to make sense it seems complicated. I'm still not clear whether my daughter needs to meet every subset of the different criteria or just some of them. 

Hi NAS35868,

I'm sorry you've had a difficult experience with the diagnosis process, you might find it useful to look at the NAS page on diagnostic criteria, it includes links on different autism profiles, misdiagnosis and how to complain:

http://www.autism.org.uk/about/diagnosis/criteria-changes.aspx 

If you have any other questions, or wanted some advice, you may like to contact our Autism Helpline team. They can provide you with information and advice on your issue. You can call them on 0808 800 4104 (Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm, Friday 9am to 3pm).Please note that the Helpline is experiencing a high volume of calls and it may take a couple of attempts before you get through to speak to an advisor.

Kind regards,

Heather - Mod