Can a child be misdiagnosed?

Post Reply New Topic

Can a child be misdiagnosed?

I was told by the speech therapist that something was wrong with my child and she referred me to a psychologist. The psychologist tested her and said she was autistic.

After that, I spent more time getting her to make eye contact, things I did not bother to do for about a year, thinking that my child will just automatically pick up things. But being a fist time mom, you do tend to do stupid things unintentionally.

I spent the other night on her bed playing with her for about 20 min. I played peek-a-boo, clapped hands, and lots of talking. I was amazed at the amount of eye contact I received by just peeking her interest. She also grabbed my hands after clapping with me, and held them, opening and closing my hands (putting together and taking my hands apart- prayer format)

I went to the Autistic Association of Western Cape, and played them the video clips I’ve made, and the lady and the man that was there told me that their gut feeling is that she is not autistic, because she was able to establish eye contact on several occasions during the 20min, she also interacted, she did not mind being touch, and she showed interest and imagination by playing peek-a-boo.

I was told that the three things they look out for is language and communication, social interaction and imagination, she has all of it except language.

My opinion is, because she did not get the necessary stimuli, taught how to do things, all of a sudden she is diagnosed autistic. Also they expect a child to interact with a stranger in a strange environment the same way they would at home with someone they are familiar with.

I will be getting a second opinion this Tuesday; it will be interesting to see what they say.

Does your daughter show any other signs of autism? The National Autistic Society is an excellent source for information on autism. I recommend their page on the Triade of Impairments (click here for link).


PS: I'm also a SAffer!

Yes. It's probably more common now as they're quite proactive in diagnosing and ultimately treating the child (as early treatment seems to be the best for outcome). One thing of note, she may in fact have Asperger's Disorder, as children with such usually interact quite well with their parents; the parents never usually notice anything until the child enters schooling and their problems arise due to interacting with people outside of the family.

It's best to see how someone is when they're a young adult to see what disorder they have or don't have; Autism, Asperger's, Residual Autism, PDD-NOS, no PDD, etcetera.

How old is your daughter? I didn't think there was anything different about my son, except for minor speech delay, until he started kindergarten. They tried telling me in preschool that were was something really wrong with him, but I disagreed. And, I still actually disagree...but he is on the spectrum.

I've had to teach him so many things that come naturally to a typically developing child. He makes wonderful eye contact, but I did teach him that. He plays with toys creatively, but didn't start doing that until age 5 after 7 months of me working with him on that skill.

Since AS is a spectrum, the markers you mention are not going to be there for all kids. My son, who is considered mild Asperger's, always interacted and always enjoyed touch. And, yet ... he was somehow different. To us, in this marvelous if exhausting way, and everyone kept saying it was because he was so off-the-charts bright but, yes, he was different.

It was when he hit kindergarten that down sides started to show up and interfere with his education. I honestly do not think he could have been diagnosed earlier.

All that said, many children are incorrectly diagnosed. It is so difficult to tell what is really going on with a toddler.

ASD is more a different wiring of the brain than anything. The diagnostic criteria are an attempt to figure that out without being able to do a real brain map, but they are far from exclusive, all-inclusive, or completely accurate. Most of us parents, somewhere along the way, after reading and talking to other parents, seem to intuitively know when AS is suggested that it fits.

Given that labels are only worth what they can do for you, perhaps you can set it all aside for a while and just enjoy your daughter as she is. When things arise that seem to be of concern, address them then.

The best thing you can do for your spectrum child in the preschool years, IMHO, is to spend a lot of time with your child, get to know and understand her quirks. Isn't that good advice for parenting any child?

She was a year and 1 month old when I decided to come home. She said mamma prior to that, but it stopped. When, I dont know.

I and my husband love to be in front of the computers.

I did take time to see to her physical needs at the time, but she was mostly in front of the TV. She would come to me if she wanted her nappy changed, or wanted a bottle, or wanted something to eat, or wanted to sleep.

She is now 23 months old. It is only in the last few weeks that we have made the effert to inforce eye contact. It seems as if she has begun to bloom since then. She is googling a little more. She makes eye contact when you call her or talk to her. She acknowledges you.

She drinks out a cup, but you have to hold it, otherwise she spills.

Also found that she likes to take food in with a fork, not a spoon.

She likes to do what the big people do.

She is still on normal cow's milk and wheat breakfast. She was only off it for a day or two, before I decided to put her back on it and seek a second oppinion.

ASD do not always lack eye contact if fact some can have excessive eye contact.

I have to say my daughter has wonderful eye contact.

What qualifies a child to have ASD?

I work in a child development centre and assist in making ASD diagnoses every week

1. Lack of eye contact or presence of eye contact does not indicate ASD - it may or may not be present - normally the key is " inappropriate eye contact " ie .. too intense.. or not there when you would expect it to be.

2. You taught your child to play peekaboo ( this is a game that an 8- 9 month old would learn from one or two demonstrations )

3. Lots of kids with ASD love to be touched and cuddled - not all have sensory issues around being touched.

There is a list of criteria - but not all apply to all children .. they are all different.

A child that was not on the austim spectrum would be unlikely to do this .. they would be demanding your attention .. not just coming to you to have needs met. Children NEED and WANT contact with others, a child with ASD is more likely to be content with their own company ( social aspect )

Not all children with ASD have language delays at an early age - particularly if they are mild .. they can sound very articulate .. it is often only on the surface though, as soon as you reach a stage where more astract language and thought is required it becomes difficult.

ASD is not necessarily a disability .. to my mind it is a different way of being in the world and a different way of interacting with the environment - those are not always compatible with what the majority of NT's expect.

She had lack of eye contact at first. She would mostly play with the animals. We have 3 cats and a dog.

She has known to play peek-a-boo since before she was able to sit. I still play it with her because it makes her laugh, and it is a good way to get her attention sometimes.

She is making eye contact now. I dont think there is any unapropriate or excessive eye contact. She did not just come to me to have her needs met, but she did come to me to have my attention as well. As I am typing now, she is standing right beside me, with a toy animal, and moaning, grabbing my arm.

I think the lack of language (able to speak) as made a huge difference in her ability to move forward.

I think if you are at all uncertain then seek a second opinion from someone well qualified that is making these diagnoses all the time. Eg a pysch or an SLT in a child development centre. Do not seek information from people that are not qualified to be giving it. It is not common for a misdiagnosis ( at least here where I am ) we are normally very, very careful and take a lot of time before we make a diagnosis like ASD- we would hate to be wrong. I've been working with children on the Autism spectrum for the last 25 years, and there are varying levels of competency within the professional circles.

For children on the mild end of the spectrum they will often have what appears to be imaginative play.. but when examined more closely they are household tasks etc that they see and are replaying , they are snippets from TV shows etc ( often with the script verbatim ) Your daughter is quite small at the moment so the imaginative play aspect would be hard to assess.

If I were you .. I would be listening to what is said to you about the qualities that they see about your daughter that they feel are different with an open mind, but if you do not think they are right, if your gut feeling tells you that they have it wrong ( not just that you would like it to be wrong ) then seek a second opinion.
The danger in wishing that it is not correct and then carrying that through to the next step ( where you do not take action on it ) is that your child may not get the assistance they need. However if they are right, then your child's therapy will be able to be directed appropriately to help her in the best way possible for her. It sounds like she is already having regular speech language therapy and that's terrific, ask your SLT what qualities in your daughter make her think that she has ASD.

There is no harm done in making sure that the professionals that are working with your child know what they are talking about. I wish you all the best with your daughter and her therapy

Thanks for the advice.

Just one more thing. She is not in speech therapy yet. She will hopefully start this Friday.

There is nothing on this earth that you can't be misdiagnosed as. You could even walk into the doctors office and end up being misdiagnosed as a paraplegic due to error, carelessness, or even misunderstanding

But as for eye contact, do you notice this when you are not playing games. It could be that she wasn't making eye contact as much as it was that she was looking at the surprised movement made by your eyes

And there are a lot of adult aspies on here who say they don't mind being touched - so long as its by someone they have deep feelings for. So a loving mother would be okay, a grandmoter you saw once a month would need to keep her hands off you

If I were you, I'd just keep doing interventions for children with autism and wait to see what happens. Better to do the interventions and be wrong about her being an autie, than to not do them and find out she definately is one in a few years time

I agree 100%. The good news is, the interventions won't hurt her. If she's not autistic, you'll know in time, but it's really just a label. If your child needs help with any aspect of her development, then she needs help; that's really all you need to know. It's easy to get hung up on the label - I'm having that problem myself - but just look at the individual symptom/delays and treat them.

I have to admit that I have my doubts about my son's diagnosis, but he's responding so well to the interventions, and enjoying them so much, that I keep reminding myself not to get hung up on the label. The word autism makes any parent's blood run cold, but even if our kids are autistic, it doesn't mean what it once did. With early intervention and the proper support, diagnosis or no, the sky is still the limit for our little ones.

Thanks, I will keep your advise in mind Janie08