diagnosing ASD traits
I live in the UK. I have diagnoses of dyspraxia, ADHD and aspergers traits.
In the UK, in mental health care, if the traits are not substantial or severe, a full diagnosis is not given.
My mother says, there is no evidence of social interaction difficulties. The only evidence from childhood is a slightly pedantic voice.
My father does not care.
There is not enough evidence to give a diagnosis of ASD just ASD traits.
To get a diagnosis of ASD, there has to be evidence from the parent or childhood records or both to give a diagnosis ?
Is this correct ?
To be diagnosed with ASD in the US under the DSM-5, there needs to be evidence these traits are present from an early age. This becomes complex with an adult diagnosis as the only source for this information would be records, such as school records, or people that knew you, your parents. THe other criteria is these traits need to be severe enough the they cause problems. From the DSM-5: Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.
What often happens is, parents are resistant to the idea that their child may be autistic if they managed to get through childhood OK and had a few friends.
But when they get questioned in detail or have to fill out a questionnaire about behaviours you might have displayed, they end up ticking a lot of the boxes for autistic traits - they just hadn't understood that was what they were. Parents often know very little about autism.
The diagnostic process is not solely based on parental reporting, either, you will be tested to check for current behaviours/traits.
Having said that, it's true, if you are on the milder end of the spectrum you might not get a diagnosis.
If you're having difficulties which you believe are from autism and need treatment, though, it's probably worth going through the process, to avoid wasting time with therapies which aren't appropriate.
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