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Well they are factually incorrect in "differentiated disorder from that of the recognised Autistic Spectrum Disorder" because they should have said other ASDs, not just ASD, because PDA is an ASD and then: "there appears to be a need for greater research and practitioner debate, before a substantial decision of this nature should be made" just confirming the government's pathetic response is agreed with, so entirely unhelpful to the cause. And if that's how they feel, why do they admit being aware of PDA and offering local families support with it!
There are definitely increasing numbers as the public becomes more aware. Born Naughty was probably responsible in part for heightened awareness. Trouble is, professionals who don't want to acknowledge PDA even twist that into parents seeing something on TV and then wanting to excuse their poor parenting with a handy diagnosis. They completely undermine the Eureka moment, of a parent with a child with such a condition finally having the penny drop moment and realising it completely fits and most parents have tried everything already. It's just the snide, parent-blame culture that continues unabated which riles me.
"A young person with ASD may have a co-existing mental health condition
(anxiety, depression, attachment disorder) that risks being misidentified as PDA."
"5.3.2 Concurrent Difficulties
There is some evidence to support the contention that children with ASD commonly have concurrent difficulties with attachment, not attributable to the way they were parented.
The research found that the children who went on to be diagnosed with ASD exhibited more disorganised attachment and less involvement than those who did not. However, the parents of these children were found to be equally sensitive as the parents of children who did not subsequently receive a diagnosis. Hence, later impairments in the attachment behaviours of these children could not be attributed to poorly attuned parenting.
This pattern was not found in the group without ASD, in which the sensitivity of parents
positively correlated with the security of their children. In addition, the research found that the level of severity of autistic symptoms displayed in the social domain predicted attachment security, with more severe symptoms predicting less attachment security. The authors contended that these findings called attachment theory’s validity into question, challenging the purported link between attachment security and parenting (Ainsworth et al., 1978).
Further, they suggest that children with ASD may have a biologically limited ability to form secure attachments (Van Ijzendoorn et al., 2007). If attachment difficulties are, as this study suggests, a feature of ASD, this has implications for the diagnostic process.
Differential diagnosis employing a measure designed to assess whether a child’s behavioural presentation is more in line with one or the other difficulty would not be valid."
"- PDA is described as a “pervasive development disorder”
Providing a biological explanation for behaviour may limit engagement in evidence based interventions (such as parenting programmes). Good clinical practice would consider biopsychosocial models for understanding and responding to the behaviour."
So many of us have been there, done that and got the T-shirt (and the cement mixer of wine)...
"identification with ASN might lead to unnecessary labelling of transient difficulties with potentially stigmatising effects."
"middle class parents may be able to engage more actively with educational professionals, enabling them to secure better support for their children and challenge local authority decisions. Children with less assertive parents, often from less advantaged
backgrounds, may have their difficulties ignored and parents may lack the social and
economic resources to secure the type of legal redress associated with a CSP"
"Children from the least advantaged neighbourhoods are more than twice as likely to be identified with social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties, a particularly stigmatising label."
They assume everyone living in a deprived area is a crap parent who doesn't give their child boundaries and needs to go on parenting classes.
"identification with ASN might lead to unnecessary labelling of transient difficulties with potentially stigmatising effects."
Rubbish. It's not as if it would be announced to all their peers. If a child needs support they need support, you can't not give it in case they get teased. And all of this attitude is down to the cock-up that is inclusion. If children with certain needs were in specialist schools there would be no 'concerns' about stigma!"middle class parents may be able to engage more actively with educational professionals, enabling them to secure better support for their children and challenge local authority decisions. Children with less assertive parents, often from less advantaged
backgrounds, may have their difficulties ignored and parents may lack the social and
economic resources to secure the type of legal redress associated with a CSP"
Blatant elitist discrimination."Children from the least advantaged neighbourhoods are more than twice as likely to be identified with social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties, a particularly stigmatising label."
Well that describes autism, so they could be admitting that children in those areas are less likely to be correctly diagnosed!
They assume everyone living in a deprived area is a crap parent who doesn't give their child boundaries and needs to go on parenting classes.
"identification with ASN might lead to unnecessary labelling of transient difficulties with potentially stigmatising effects."
Rubbish. It's not as if it would be announced to all their peers. If a child needs support they need support, you can't not give it in case they get teased. And all of this attitude is down to the cock-up that is inclusion. If children with certain needs were in specialist schools there would be no 'concerns' about stigma!"middle class parents may be able to engage more actively with educational professionals, enabling them to secure better support for their children and challenge local authority decisions. Children with less assertive parents, often from less advantaged
backgrounds, may have their difficulties ignored and parents may lack the social and
economic resources to secure the type of legal redress associated with a CSP"
Blatant elitist discrimination."Children from the least advantaged neighbourhoods are more than twice as likely to be identified with social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties, a particularly stigmatising label."
Well that describes autism, so they could be admitting that children in those areas are less likely to be correctly diagnosed!
"Prevalence of autism-spectrum conditions: UK school-based population study" 2009 study by Simon Baron-Cohen et al.
"By adjusting the estimate derived from the SEN register (that is, based on whole classes and not a 29% response) for the additional number of cases that would be expected if all the children were directly observed, the prevalence estimate is 157 per 10 000 or 1 in 64 (95% CI 99–246).
Overall, for boys and girls together, for every three known cases, there are at least two undiagnosed cases of autism-spectrum conditions in the primary school population, or a ratio of 3:2 (known:unknown). There is no evidence of a difference in the undetected estimate of cases for boys and girls, despite a clear difference in the overall ratio of boys:girls with autism-spectrum conditions."
So...good old foster carers got PDA support that the birth parents never did, along with a hefty weekly payment that likewise, the birth parents never did...
"PDA is not considered a disability in isolation and in order to have a PDA diagnosis there requires, in the first instance to be a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)."
"PDA is not considered a disability in isolation and in order to have a PDA diagnosis there requires, in the first instance to be a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)."
Bizarre comment however, because this means they see it as a behavioural issue and not an ASD sub-type, which it is!
It means they think it's a pattern of behaviour in some children who have typical ASD. This is incorrect.
I just wouldn't let it lie would I!!! ;))
Call me a pedant...no actually don't because this is way more important than being pedantry, it's simply incorrect in a very significant way. It confuses the issue and feeds into the misunderstandings and rejection of PDA as an ASD subtype or a condition at all, that is rife everywhere.
I only wish they had left the original separate diagnosis, e.g. Aspbergers, PDA, ADHD. It's so much easier.
(*)
"We believe that any objective and impartial reader of the evidence would agree that PDA is either a stand lone diagnosis or is located on the autism spectrum."
"We hope that the Committee agrees with us that the Scottish Government must take action and in our view, given the weight of evidence, the Government would be negligent if it did not do so."
"Here is a clear expression of current best practice. Whilst we would say that we believe that PDA does stand on its own, the fact that the East Ayrshire Partnership understands the condition and is prepared to countenance responses to it as part of the autistic spectrum is most welcome."
So glad you're kicking butt in Scotland Pat! ^:)^
Hi Pat
I do hope you can clarify with the Committee on 15th that PDA is an Autism Spectrum Disorder.