Autism or Dyspraxia?

[Carly]

I'm from the UK but living in Australia. I have a 2 year old (almost 3) whom I've always had concerns regarding his development even during the pregnancy as he rarely moved. He began not hitting his milestones. His father was said to have dyspraxia but was never formally diagnosed but his uncle has been formally diagnosed with dyspraxia when very young.. My husbands an academic at the university but has sensory (touch, light, temp) issues. For example if I touch one arm he will ask me to touch his other arm. He generally hates touch but has body balance issues. He has poor spatial awareness, very observant, ambidextrous, clumsy, high pain threshold, problems driving, problems with right and left, etc. My 2 year old appears to be very similar. Very observant, sits a lot, poor pencil grip, poor balance and co-ordination, used to forget motor movements and would often sit on a ride-on toy, back-to-front, side on, forget how to climb, although this has now improved greatly. He now has issues with a severe speech delay. He appears to be of a high IQ with a very good receptive but no expressive language. He has a sense-of-humour and enjoys games and playing but appears to be struggling greatly with physical movement from head to toe.

My issue is that he was diagnosed with Autism when very young but basically they gave him the diagnosis when he was still a baby without any proper testing. Here in Australia there is money for early intervention for Autism but none for dyspraxia. Even although I would like him properly assessed for dyspraxia and autism I'm finding medical experts just want to convince me to accept the Autism diagnoses as they claim that having motor planning issues qualifies him for autism. The public sector then pass you to the private sector for therapies through the children with autism package. People say it's just a label but it is also a misdiagnosis if the child with dyspraxia is labelled autism for monies. This autism label lasts for life and is practically impossible to remove.

To be able to assess all the therapies I believe that he may have to be labelled with moderate to severe autism or so I've been told. My question is this. How would someone with dyspraxia feel being labelled with severe autism for the rest of their lives when they know they're not?

[Carly]

cont.......Also after he was labelled with Autism they then removed it because he was too young apparently and was not given the proper tests. He now has Global Developmental Delay with suspected severe autism and now is the time that they wish me to accept the autism diagnosis which appears to be based on his poor physical skills despite the fact he has good eye contact, good social skills, good sense-of-humour and is incredibly messy and disorganised.

[agsiul]

It would seem like a daft set-up to be just giving him a diagnosis for Autism just so he can get the resources but it's not the only place such things happen. The language delay may be why they are giving him the Autism diagnosis. Who has he been assessed by? I presume he's been to a speech therapist & pediatric Occupational Therapist or physio?