Autism: A picture or 1000 pieces?

Autism is a tricky and complex disorder, and I can only imagine growing up as a child with Autism is challenging. Unfortunately, a lot of people with Autism end up with a secondary diagnosis. It doesn't really invalidate the original diagnosis, supersede it or make it any easier or harder; it just highlights the child's challenges.

Common secondary diagnoses for Autism include: Intellectual Disability, Sensory Integration Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Epilepsy, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Tourette Syndrome, Gender Identity Disorder, Language disorders, Dispraxia/Apraxia and many more. These conditions are often refereed to as co-morbid conditions, as they are not the main condition, but can contribute towards it.

While each additional diagnosis means the child has yet another burden to bear, do we break down the puzzle and look at every individual piece? Or do we look at the whole picture that little bit clearer?

A common theme I'm noticing especially in online places is for parents to list after their child's name all the diagnosis' the child has been given. Much like Arnold Rimmer BSC, SSC or what have you, you might see Alex ASD, ID, SID. Whilst I can understand on today of all days (when we have been handed two new labels of Severe Expressive Language Disorder and Severe Receptive Language Disorder) how each new diagnosis can be extremely distressing, surely the Autism badge is a heavy enough badge for your child to be wearing without all the extras. Also, are they genuine extras? Would your child still have these if they did not have Autism? Or do these extra pieces of information help describe your child's weaknesses?

Every child with Autism has a different sort of Autism, a flavour if you will. Each person's Autism is made up of so many different aspects that affect their life in a certain way. Autism without a language delay is usually Aspergers. If little Johnny down the street didn't have a language disorder and Sensory Integration Disorder, would he have been diagnosed with Autism at all?

While I think it's important for us as parents to know which aspects of their child's Autism are affecting them the most, I think it's also important not to get too bogged down in the detail, and look at the bigger picture.