As new Dad Erik Linthorst points out in his recently released documentary, Autistic-Like: Graham's Story, the birth of his son started out as a perfect beginning. Around 17 months, something wasn't quite right.
Finding out what's wrong with our children after their developmental trajectory teeters and then plummets is a primal instinct. Being handed a label that we don't like, such as autism, makes it difficult for many to recover from the blow of the diagnosis and move forward to start immediate early intervention.
It was my worst nightmare when my son was handed the autism diagnosis. Like Linthorst, I felt that the diagnosis didn't fit my child's behavior. I sought a second opinion. It changed his diagnosis from autism to PDD-NOS, short for pervasive developmental disorder–not otherwise specified, or atypical autism.
However, I can't say for sure whether it would have changed his course of treatment. I didn't treat the label: I treated the symptoms.
Although I have not seen the documentary, just the trailer, it appears that Mr. Linthorst settled on relationship-based therapies, particularly Floortime, rather than therapies grounded in behavior modification. I'm also a fan of Floortime, as well as applied behavior analysis, particularly applied verbal behavior, both of which are based on the pioneering work of B.F. Skinner.
I think Mr. Linthorst did a commendable job with a well-produced documentary and chose a title, Autistic-Like, that will resonate with many parents who feel less stigma saying their child has a sensory processing disorder (SDI) rather than autism, which is a recognized disorder in the professional manual clinicians use to diagnose mental health disorders. SDI is not.
But I hope the message is to seek treatment early and not to debate the merits of one treatment or label over another. What worked for Graham or my son is as unique as the smiles on their faces.
