Autism – Or A Lack Of Discipline?

[naomi24]

So many children are diagnosed as autistic now, but are they really all autistic?

A friend has two children age seven and four. The seven year old started school at four and was fine for a year. Come age five he refused to go and consequently stayed home for the next two years, having regular ‘melt downs’ whenever he was asked to do something he didn’t want to do. The NHS found nothing wrong with him, the original school spotted nothing, but the parents, both professional people very involved in fighting for all sorts of ‘rights’, convinced he is autistic, spent a considerable amount of money to have him diagnosed privately and fought the education department tooth and nail to have him allocated a place in a special school. They eventually got what they wanted and he went to school for a while but now again refuses.

The four year old has now begun to behave similarly, and again the parents are convinced that she too is autistic - along with a couple of badly behaved young cousins - and one or two adults of their acquaintance who happen to choose their company carefully rather than embrace the dubious pleasures of making friends with all and sundry. It seems that everyone around them is ‘autistic’.

I have my doubts. Is this a ‘fashion’ thing? I can’t help thinking that the four year old has learned this behaviour from her older brother. He gets away with it and now so does she. These children are never disciplined in any way. They are never told they’re wrong and they are never told ‘No’. They want sweets, they get sweets, and they cannot be told, for example, to put their coats on. It has to be broached as a ‘suggestion’. ‘Shall we put our coats on?’ Anything else results in a ‘melt down’. It seems to me that the children are making the rules and, because the parents are intent on preventing ‘melt downs’ and treating the 'condition' with understanding, the children have no borders and hence, no guidance.

Your thoughts?

[agchristie]

It's official, my son has been diagnosed with autism with a learning disability.

The team involved could not say where on the spectrum he is and a report will follow.

Deep down, I knew it was coming. Got a load of stuff to read.