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Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Not to defend McCarthy, but Autism is often a diagnosis made by doctors when they have no other explanation for the symptoms.

I'm not sure you know how autism is diagnosed.

Everyone I've EVER talked to (and there's been a lot) understands that a diagnosis of autism (or Aspergers or ADHD etc) is simply a label for a set of observations that fall under a common grouping of symptoms, is not written in stone, and in lots of cases can be just the first diagnosis in what becomes a very long journey.

It's not like a diagnosis of a single pathogen that has a specific treatment.

Sometimes there are other things that can cause the same set of behaviours, and the only way to find that out is to continue to work with pediatricians and the support community as the child grows and changes and receives different types of treatment to see what things change and what things don't. A diagnosis can and does change as a result.

Because you can't just take a blood test and say "yup, autism", it's like other complex things where getting to the root cause (if even possible) can take a lot of time and effort because one has to eliminate possibilities.

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Many kids with "autism" have been misdiagnosed over the years. This is changing of course, but it still happens.

It's not like a doctor just decides "oh, autism" after a brief visit. A good diagnosis is much more involved than that, involves a lot of observation of behaviours.

And even if true, so what? A diagnosis of autism opens many many doors in terms of support and resources, that's a good thing. Who cares what the diagnosis is if the child receives help that improve their quality of life and that of their parents. Does it matter what the word for the original diagnosis is?

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

At least that is what I was told by someone who is a care worker for children with behavioral and mental disabilities.

I've also been told by care workers that vaccines cause autism...