This article by Shoshana Levin Fox has been published by Mad in the UK. It begins:
“The All-Purpose Diagnosis
The one-size-fits-all Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis, as configured in the Revised Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM- 5-TR), is a clinical catastrophe.
Well-meaning child practitioners who take the current DSM autism criteria at face value likely assume that the widely-used Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis provides them with understanding of and insight into children’s developmental difficulties and a reliable basis for making educational placement and treatment recommendations. Nothing could be further from the truth.
During my extensive career, I have encountered literally thousands of young children whose developmental challenges had been misdiagnosed in other clinics as autistic or, more currently, ‘on the spectrum.’ Victims of what I consider the promiscuous use of the autism diagnosis, actualization of their developmental potential was compromised when treatment decisions were based on the current clinically ill-conceived autism diagnosis, which most often proved to be a misdiagnosis …”
You can read more from here.
