About this blog.

My son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at 24 months. I created this blog to bring meaning to the often-confusing label. Sometimes I have answers. Other times, just more questions.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Quick Hit

Final research is under way to support inclusion of sensory processing disorder in the DSM-V. For DSM-V junkies, this falls under the Disorders of Childhood and Adolescence work committee (as opposed to the "neurodevelopmental workgroup" which is overseeing the autism revisions).

4 comments:

Saja said...

Well, great that it's under serious consideration, but not so great it's filed as a children's issue...IMHO SPD, like autism, is something permanent, not something one grows out of. Something one learns to accomodate rather than something one eliminates.

Kris said...

I think the biggest hurdle to overcome is the idea (as described in the link) that SPD is its own diagnosis and not just part of other diagnoses like ASD and ADHD. This idea does not seem to be accepted by psychologists/neuropsycholgists who specialize in these disorders. At least not the ones my child has seen.
I think the reason my little guy was given the ADHD dx was b/c he didn't meet the criteria for ASD and the doctors he saw do not diagnose SPD. As I stated on a previous comment, I was told at Kennedy Krieger that "most of these kids have sensory problems". As if it is just a symptom of the larger diagnosis. I humbly (without my PhD or MD) disagree!

Elizabeth Channel said...

Thanks for keeping us updated!

Nyx said...

Wow, what a weird process this seems to be. Initial thoughts:(1)given all the children out there with their string diagnoses, I seriously wonder whether they have previously required proof that the other disorders in the manual can be found in isolation. It is hard for me to believe that you could take a child with ASD and subject him to the battery of tests they are subjecting these SPD children to and not find SOMETHING else going on. What exactly are the odds that a child has 1 thing different about his or her nervous system and nothing else? (2) They have already said that sensory processing issues are linked to social problems. Shouldn't the focus be on figuring how and why they are linked rather than inventing boxes to put the children in? (3) 16.5% of the children in the referenced study had significant sensory symptoms? 16.5%? At a certain point, isn't it kind of hard to characterize something as a "disorder" if nearly 2 children out of 10 exhibit the "symptoms"? (4) Shouldn't the purpose of diagnosing a person's problems be to help figure out how to help the person with the "diagnosis" -- either help them recover or help them cope? Does a diagnosis of ASD today actually lead to good help from the medical establishment? How many of us had any idea what to do to help our child once we got a diagnosis? How many of us had to figure out on our own that our child is nothing like the vast majority of the other children out there with ASD? On the other hand, once you figured out (on your own, probably) that your child had sensory processing deficiencies, did you then have some clearer idea how to help him or her? I think the idea that SPD has to stand alone to have merit should be reconsidered. Not that anybody's asking me, of course ....