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Diagnosing Children With Specific Disorders

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Diagnosing children with any disorder is difficult, due to the fact that development occurs rapidly in the first years of a child’s life in social, emotional, and cognitive areas (Barlow & Durand, 2012). A child’s development can be influenced in many ways, such as socioeconomically or by how emotionally supportive the parent is (Combs-Orme, Orme, & Lefmann, 2013). Diagnosing children with specific disorders proves to be more difficult considering the overlap of symptoms that occurs between the conditions (Phetrasuwan, Miles, Mesibov, & Robinson, 2009). Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a category of disorders that characterizes those with severe impairments in social …show more content…

RF uses repetitive and ritualistic behaviors, such as rocking and flapping his hands, and he has a severe need for things to stay the same, which is termed as the maintenance of sameness. This maintenance of sameness is exemplified when RF gets upset and throws temper tantrums due to the blinds being open or the dinner table not being set in a certain way. While RF meets the criteria for Autism, other children display the same symptoms of ASD, only not as severe, which leads to the diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome. Although one feature that differentiates Autism and Asperger’s is communication impairment (Thede & Coolidge, 2007), Kozlowski, Matson, and Sipes (2012) tested the differences between the two disorders with respect to verbal communication impairments. In both Autism and Asperger’s, verbal communication impairments are prevalent, and correlated with challenging behavior, however, in Asperger’s these symptoms are less intense. Children diagnosed with Asperger’s and Autism also share the symptoms of lack of communication, and repetitive behavior; however, they differ in their cognitive ability. Due to these shared traits, Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome are placed under the same disorder (ASD), with differing levels of severity. Childhood disintegrative disorder

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