anxiety is not autism….however it may be a symptom within the classification to determine autism…we do not have empirical, collected or observed data that helps truly describe a prevailing pattern. Ockham’s Razor may be being ignored by many newly released opinions… many of the current studies are racing to get observation and voice are being released in varying and uncontrolled outlets….
Example, just a decade ago the same children or persons would have been merely diagnosed with ADHD and placed on adderall…as new data emerges, new theories and explanations will be tested, observed and hopefully substantiated…
to be frank, sometimes it is not directly one label or diagnosis, rather it is the mis-diagnosis that is the ultimate problem….for various reasons we are seeing many more in the ‘spectrum’ of concern or identification…to that end, it is my concern that many are attaching and adhering to tertiary factors and not the underlying factors.
Identification seems to be a desired factor but may not be the best indicator (perhaps it is, jury is still out) of how parents or educational professionals can assist in the development of the child while young and oft-times under or mis-diagnosed….children do not come with manuals, however they are exquisite modelers of their environment… I sense that sometimes whilst looking in the mirror and that lens is pointed directly back at self and some of these diagnoses are masking the underlying problem that perhaps I, the parent helped push certain development behaviors that manifest themselves similar to a label within the spectrum of diagnoses. This is exacerbated by the tendency of humans to then justify questionable parenting behavior which t hen renders the child in a state they did not choose, but have then been burdened to accept…..
I do not want to assert that the diagnosis is not real, rather we have a lot of popcorn type folks that are clinging to diagnoses to justify underlying conditions that continue to be left unresolved: for example some may be attributed to
- Parents that are under prepared for parenthood (age, maturity, other factors)
- Parents health at time of conception (weight, drugs, alcohol, proximity to detrimental toxins, stress etc)
- Lack of behavior modification and encouragement skills (no child comes with a manual and I hope all do the best they can)
- Parents that have been mis- or under diagnosed themselves and clinging to a favorite or predictive diagnosis also
And so goes the list. I think as more substantiated data comes forward, those that study the field will be better equipped to provide options to parents and to the children that at least while young must accept the associated diagnosis.
There was a recent family that passed through our church congregation with a beautiful little girl that was quite properly diagnosed with autism. That little girl is amazing and with the help of a visibly frustrated mother (one that has a great husband and a good set of friends) reminding mom she is doing the best she can despite her good/bad days. This little girl has been given tools and an environment to succeed, where others may not.
I applaud the parents that are blessed with this endearing challenge and feel privileged to know a few of these folks in my life. Sometimes you just want to punch them (children), and other times you just accept their clinging hugs to remind you of the frailty of the human experience. How lucky we are to be privileged to associate with such great people (labels, diagnoses and all).
#2013
