Add on sensory integration dysfunction and ADHD. (I have both those)
Some people have some categories without having autism. Your idea to break autism down like that might help people who have some things but not enough to have it called autism to get help without being told to just grow up or just outright ignored. It also might help bridge a gap between people with autism and people with other disorders that might be similar in some ways. You are right about insurance companies... I'm sure they'd up rates for those with more subdisorders.
Good luck if you try to propose it to the medical community... they are slow to change anything.
I'm not proposing it to anything really. I'm just throwing it out there. I guess a brain fart more than anything...
It's sort of a pet peeve of mine about the different names and things describing very similar things...
For instance with me I believe I have Nonverbal Learning Disorder and possibly a degree of Central Auditory Processing Disorder. That seems to describe me pretty accurately, but...
When I read up on the criteria for those disorders, there is no speech delay with those disorders... I think it's somewhat silly they broke it down that way. It's the same thing with PDD NOS and aspergers.
Speech delay or not there are many crossover symptoms. The speech delay should be noted, but as far as dividing up into completely separate dx's, perhaps that's where there is more confusion than necessary.
Then again I don't know. I'm just rambling off the top of my head. Any of this makes sense? Perhaps it'd make a good debate anyway.
I'm thinking what I am speaking about will eventually happen, and it is starting to happen in other areas. In the US, it's a bit slow...
Where would people be breaking it down into these sub-categories? In their diagnosis, IEPs, ER/RRs, other paperwork, etc? All of your sub-categories need to be able to be measurable and observable to be noted. As an educator, it is most important to me to know the strengths and needs of a student as well as additional needs related to my student's autism (such as obsessive compulsive tendancies, hyperlexia, multiple disabilities such as CP...). I am just curious as to where you are going with this train of thought.
It was just sort of a random brain fart without any real logic. It seems to me PDD NOS is sort of a "catch all" for various things that may or may not be occuring.
In my opinion PDD NOS needs revision done more than anything else in the autism/developmental concerns. I joke it's the DSM's verson of "I don't know what the heck you have but it's pervasive and affecting your development." It also seems to be a concern for insurances and getting services... It's not viewed as severe enough to fully get all the benifits (training/programs/therapies, etc) associated with autism, but at the same time such people can't be left with nothing. I'm fortunate enough I've had support, but it was something my parents really had to fight for and really do some major a$$ biting.
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I was looking up nonverbal learning disorder and Central Auditory processing disorder and thought such conditions described me almost to a "T" even more than the criteria for the PDD NOS I have (which really seems to be weak imho).
But once again I find myself cut off because the criteria for those two conditions requires there to be no language delay. So in the end, the PDD NOS stays... I'm stuck in the "other" category. I think it would be wiser to just take out the no language delay being a criteria for both conitions and say they can come with or without language delay.
Once again, this likely only makes sense to me. I'm just rambling on and doing a poor job at trying to explain what I am thinking.
Yes, I think that approach would be more helpful. For example, I keep being told by professionals that there is no point doing other assesments etc 'because we know children on the spectrum have these types of difficulties'. But that is a cop out. There are many reasons why a child may struggle with a certain aspect of learning and it doesn't always fall under the umbrella of autism. But without looking you won't find any answers.