I stumbled across this article after encountering the "Effect of Preemptive Intervention on Developmental Outcomes Among Infants Showing Early Signs of Autism" study by Whitehouse. I can't quantify how horrified I was reading that paper.
I can say that as an autistic adult with a late diagnosis I would do ANYTHING to have been diagnosed young. I don't think there is a late diagnosed autistic adult on the planet that wouldn't want the chance to be diagnosed earlier; be that as a child or before starting highschool or even university. The longer you go undiagnosed the more you suffer because of it.
I can not imagine what logic would lead anyone let alone a scientist to think that avoiding diagnosis could ever be a good thing; and lets be honest, its delaying the diagnosis not avoiding it. Maybe 0.00001% could live their entire lives without being diagnosed but what about all those undiagnosed autistics that commit suicide or survive the living hell that is an undiagnosed childhood and adolescence?
Thanks for sharing your experiences. You bring up a lot of points about the importance of early diagnosis for many people (as well as the gatekeeping that comes with getting a diagnosis, since assessments are timely and expensive). As scientists we need to be careful about the ways we talk about this stuff - it's important to figure out who an early diagnosis is helpful for, and not just assume that avoiding a diagnosis at a critical time is always beneficial for all children.
I stumbled across this article after encountering the "Effect of Preemptive Intervention on Developmental Outcomes Among Infants Showing Early Signs of Autism" study by Whitehouse. I can't quantify how horrified I was reading that paper.
I can say that as an autistic adult with a late diagnosis I would do ANYTHING to have been diagnosed young. I don't think there is a late diagnosed autistic adult on the planet that wouldn't want the chance to be diagnosed earlier; be that as a child or before starting highschool or even university. The longer you go undiagnosed the more you suffer because of it.
I can not imagine what logic would lead anyone let alone a scientist to think that avoiding diagnosis could ever be a good thing; and lets be honest, its delaying the diagnosis not avoiding it. Maybe 0.00001% could live their entire lives without being diagnosed but what about all those undiagnosed autistics that commit suicide or survive the living hell that is an undiagnosed childhood and adolescence?
I stumbled across this article after encountering the "Effect of Preemptive Intervention on Developmental Outcomes Among Infants Showing Early Signs of Autism" study by Whitehouse. I can't quantify how horrified I was reading that paper.
I can say that as an autistic adult with a late diagnosis I would do ANYTHING to have been diagnosed young. I don't think there is a late diagnosed autistic adult on the planet that wouldn't want the chance to be diagnosed earlier; be that as a child or before starting highschool or even university. The longer you go undiagnosed the more you suffer because of it.
I can not imagine what logic would lead anyone let alone a scientist to think that avoiding diagnosis could ever be a good thing; and lets be honest, its delaying the diagnosis not avoiding it. Maybe 0.00001% could live their entire lives without being diagnosed but what about all those undiagnosed autistics that commit suicide or survive the living hell that is an undiagnosed childhood and adolescence?
Thanks for sharing your experiences. You bring up a lot of points about the importance of early diagnosis for many people (as well as the gatekeeping that comes with getting a diagnosis, since assessments are timely and expensive). As scientists we need to be careful about the ways we talk about this stuff - it's important to figure out who an early diagnosis is helpful for, and not just assume that avoiding a diagnosis at a critical time is always beneficial for all children.
I stumbled across this article after encountering the "Effect of Preemptive Intervention on Developmental Outcomes Among Infants Showing Early Signs of Autism" study by Whitehouse. I can't quantify how horrified I was reading that paper.
I can say that as an autistic adult with a late diagnosis I would do ANYTHING to have been diagnosed young. I don't think there is a late diagnosed autistic adult on the planet that wouldn't want the chance to be diagnosed earlier; be that as a child or before starting highschool or even university. The longer you go undiagnosed the more you suffer because of it.
I can not imagine what logic would lead anyone let alone a scientist to think that avoiding diagnosis could ever be a good thing; and lets be honest, its delaying the diagnosis not avoiding it. Maybe 0.00001% could live their entire lives without being diagnosed but what about all those undiagnosed autistics that commit suicide or survive the living hell that is an undiagnosed childhood and adolescence?