For context, I have a young child. I’ve spoken to his PCP (we’re lucky enough to see a doctor regularly because of my job) about screening for autism but she’s so far only given them general developmental milestone screenings. I don’t know whether my child is autistic. I am, though I was never officially diagnosed, and there are people on both sides of the family with either formal diagnoses or identify as autistic but can’t access medical care (including a diagnosis) for various reasons.
My question for y’all: is there value is pushing harder for autism-specific screenings for my child? If this becomes a diagnosis, would there be value in that, particularly for a child? What resources at school would they get access to, if any? Are there potential harms to a formal diagnosis?
As an adult and given my level of functioning, I don’t see any value in seeking a formal diagnosis for myself. I’m…different*…from neurotypical people, and being able to put a label to that has very little practical impact.
*This is the kindest way I would describe myself. I don’t and have never had a healthy self-perception. Yes, I’ve gone to therapy. It ended up being a catch-22 sitatuation: the issues I was hoping to fix prevented therapy from effectively helping me.
Something not many people have mentioned… What country do you live in?
I was planning on trying to get diagnosed, but then RFK “Brainworm” Jr. announced his little “autism registry” plan. He went back on that, but it still has made me far more weary about being diagnosed as an adult. I have also heard, although this is purely conjecture and may be wrong, that having an autism diagnosis can make it harder to migrate to another country if shit hits the fan.
However, for your kid, I do think there are benefits that outweigh the downsides. I have also been diagnosed with ADHD since I was a teenager, and it allowed me to get academic accommodations in college that were pretty invaluable. I can imagine they would have had an even bigger impact as a kid in school.
US, unfortunately. Yeah, the whole registry bullshit was terrifying, but just because RFK has shut up about it (or at least, the news has stopped reporting on it) doesn’t mean they’ve walked that idea back.