Concerns About the DSM-V

dsm As always, Emily Willingham does a great job illuminating concerns about proposed changes to the DSM's criteria for diagnosing autism. With the goal of reducing false positives (people diagnosed with autism who don't actually have autism), the new criteria might actually exclude a not-insignificant number of people who actually do have autism. This begs the question, which is worse: false positives or false negatives?

I've read conflicting accounts as to the potential impact the new criteria might have on diagnosing autism, but one thing is clear: there's a lot of confusion. And where there is confusion, there are bound to be problems.

Wouldn't it be better to treat someone who has issues that may or may not add up to autism, rather than deny treatment to someone simply because the new criteria are vague and open to broad interpretation?

In her conclusion, Willingham makes a fascinating proposition: perhaps the goal of trying to affix a label or specific diagnosis is in itself problematic.

In her words, "We all have gaps that need mitigating. If we addressed specific gaps instead of wholesale labels, we’d all overlap with each other in some way, for anxiety, attention deficits, compulsive or obsessive or impulsive behaviors, depression, mania, intellectual disability or learning differences in specific areas, or addiction–and it would be a lot harder to stigmatize what we have in common, regardless of our overall neurobiology. Furthermore, we wouldn’t have to worry about applying lists of criteria that result in the wrong labels or therapies for the wrong people, or–worse in my mind–overlooking entirely the people who need help and support."

Well put. Read her full post here.

Fear Itself

Losing one's hair can have its advantages: in my case, it's been accompanied by the understanding that some emotions are mostly useless and often harmful. Here I refer in particular to regret and fear.

As parents of a child on the spectrum, we regret not noticing the signs earlier, or losing our temper, or feeling ashamed. We fear a future of loneliness and despair, of financial ruin, or simply the bullies lying in wait.

But that's no way to live. I try to learn from my regrets and move on quickly. As the Buddhists say, acknowledge the thought like holding onto a balloon momentarily, then let it float away.

As for fear, I can only do so much to control what could or might be, and dwelling in anxiety often means missing all the good that's happening here and now.

I was inspired by this excellent post. Give it a read.

What Autism Sounds Like

Not having autism myself, I can't attest to the accuracy of this audio clip. What I can say is that it supports what I see in my son, that is, someone who finds the world distracting and loud. Tip: To play the clip below, hover your mouse over the black box until you see the "play" icon. It's a blank YouTube video.

98

98 Above: a nighttime, deep sleep oxygen reading of 98%

C has not had any supplemental oxygen in over a month, and he's doing great! The school nurse checks his O2 levels every day, and we check them at night when he's in a deep slumber, the time when oxygen levels often drop. His levels are always 97% or above. As a point of reference, anything above 94% is considered healthy.

According to his last pulmonary function test, his lungs still have room to improve. In terms of oxygen delivery, however, they're getting the job done! If we can make it through flu season with no setbacks, it should be smooth sailing henceforth.