My ears perked up last week when listening to a news item about changes in the definition and service of those diagnosed with Autism. For some while I have found the growing number of those given the autistic label disturbing. The disturbing question in my mind was, "How could this many children born within a given number of years be afflicted with autism?" What is really going on in how we "grow babies" that so many could be autistic? It made absolutely no sense to me. As a seasoned educator having seen any number of children with developmental delays and having worked with and among many levels of special education, all of these diagnoses of autism seemed suspect. For some years I worked in an area that served students with the Asperger's diagnosis. I am very familiar with these characteristics. I can understand readily that area being removed from the autistic label. Children with Asperger Syndrome show little to no linguistic or cognitive impairment. Quite to the contrary....they do show some fixation or fascination within some subject areas that they find particularly interesting. Sometimes they are physically clumsy thus achieving high levels of success in sports may be difficult. And I have worked with some students with Asperger symptoms who were less than patient with their peers who were slower to achieve. Their nonverbal cues and lack of empathy with fellow students sometimes caused them trouble. But all in all......these children generally improve as they grow up, age and learn to cope with their own limitations which can be considered minimal compared to developmental impairments and delays found in others. I can see where some would consider them "quirky" or unusual... but people are so different that if we allow for individual differences we make no issue of these developmentally.
With all of this being said I continue to believe that the Autism label is being muddied. It causes me to wonder ....which delays, developmental differences, behavior disorders, and voids are considered autistic??????? For years we have had levels of Special Education (students who were leveled according to their cognitive impairments), and some for behavior disorders. How are these two areas being confused or meshed together? Does it appear that it is easier for parents to accept the autism label rather than the labels given to cognitively impaired children? or behaviorally / emotionally impaired children?
Somehow, I have believed that truly Autistic children were wired a little differently neurologically and processed a little differently..... in a manner quite unlike Special Education children. But....I am now believing...that I am totally confused.
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