Autism moms: Medical vs educational diagnosis UPDATE IN OP

In my experience as a special ed teacher, when it comes to re-evals, a medical diagnosis is far easier to use to continue services. medical ? No question on label. they still have to meet educational impact, which your son would do here. Educational diagnoses are now harder to get, but a historical medical would make it easier.

Under the new DSM manual, an autism diagnosis is much harder to get. No more Aspergers. And the new social one (don't remember the name, but the school psych and I looked at it for my student) is even hard to justify.

He MAY also qualify under an emotional disorder label because of his continued symptoms and needs. OHI might work, as well.

Good luck.

I'm a speech language pathologist who works in public schools and the mom of a young man with autism.
It's great that you have the educational label now before he starts kindergarten. It's much more difficult to get services after.
You should definitely pursue the medical diagnosis as well. Have you been referred to a neurologist or developmental specialist?

The new DSM puts autism, aspergers, and PDD-NOS all under the new category of Austim Spectrum Disorder. Then there will be different levels (level 1, 2, 3)


School staff does not diagnose in the sense of a medical diagnosis. The special ed team must indentify a student as having a specific disability using the criteria under IDEA. Some people interchange diagnose with the process used to identify a child for special ed.
My guess is that this is the standard score. Two standard deviations below the mean is considered significant. The mean is 100 which makes 70 the 2 deviations. However, the team is supposed to use multiple tools and multiple points. They are not supposed to use only one test.

That is all the educational aspect. I have limited experience with the medical process.

I suspect one of my DDs is high functioning Asperger's. In her sophomore year, she began having a difficult time dealing with stress and change, and ended up under a doctor's care. During counselling, we learned a lot more about how her thought patterns seem to work.

Insurance wouldn't pay for an eval, so I looked into the out-of-pocket cost for a neuro-psych eval. It would be between $3000 to $4000 here in the northeast depending on how many tests they would need to run. We decided we didn't need to know that badly. I just assume she's wired differently and that there will be times she'll need help dealing with new situations. 

At the point when we started looking for help, there weren't any services available for her anyway, so her lack of a medical diagnosis had no impact on her education. Socially, she was good for the most part. We were hoping for the diagnosis so that she could learn more about herself, her strengths and weaknesses, learn to identify situations that are likely to trigger a stress response, and get in the habit of pre-planning for those occasions.

She doesn't always listen to us about the pre-planning, but she's a teenager. I diagnosed that much. I'm hoping she'll outgrow it.

OP, what private resources are you wanting to have access to? Is there some program in particular that you feel your DS would benefit from? I would speak with them and find out the names of doctors that have referred children to that program, and try to get an appointment with those doctors. Your pediatrician might not be the most qualified doctor to make that diagnosis. If you don't get what what you need from her, keep looking.

There are many possible routes to a DX.

If he's ever going to need medication, you will need a medical diagnosis and a medically-trained person qualified to write prescriptions.

DS has an accompanying seizure disorder. We have prescriptions written by a neurologist and a psychiatrist.

DS was diagnosed w Autism when PDD-NOS was a sub-heading. The diagnosis was made by a psychiatrist, who worked closely w his pediatrician and the school psycologist/counselor.

A couple of his teachers were asked to fill out a questionaire and rate certain areas. The questionaire has a name but I don't recall what it is. The answers were weighted and the scale was "likely Autistic", "not likely Autistic", "possibly Autistic"...and 70 was a feature but I can't remember exactly how.

ETA: it's called the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-2


Your access to services and the services available in your area is going to vary greatly by area and school funding. Do you live near a large university with an educational dept? We were lucky to live near a world-class university that was connected to a teaching hospital and the low-cost services they provided in the name of training and research was extensive and stellar.

Schools don't necessarily use the DSM and we definitely do not diagnose anything. We go by a set of written criteria each district and state comes up with for the disabilities listed as disabilities in IDEA. Each of those criteria, regardless of where you live, includes a component stating that the suspected disability must interfere with their ability to function in the school.

Again, it isn't a diagnosis AT ALL. It's a label that entitles a child to extra services. We are NOT saying a child has autism. We are saying the child meets the criteria to receive services under one of the disability categories discussed in IDEA. There is no such thing as an "educational diagnosis."

This is SO important mrgiedrnkr especially since your son is high functioning. If there's no history of a 504 and especially an IEP plan it can be very difficult to get services as an adult. Making it through school is different than living in the adult world of handling finances, living independently, jobs, school, social skills, and even things like hygiene or other issues they may have.

I give IQ tests so I get all that

My question is a 70 on what? On an academic measure? On an IQ? On an Autism rating form?

whatever your economics..buy the wrights" "From emotions to advocacy"... it explains tests, it is easy to read, it tells you how to deal with the school, it explains the special ed law. worth every penny.
buy it now!!!!!!

my child with autism is less and less functional. at 8, was brilliant. at 18, seemed college was a good idea. at 26, unable to handle any job, unable to go to school, has a hard time with showers and walking...and we are trying to get services for a group home. you don't know when they are young.