Is the autism spectrum too small? I'm reading a book right now that suggests ADHD should be added to the autism spectrum, and there's another book on my to-read stack that appears to support the same notion. I've also heard it conjectured that Sensory Integration Disorder (or Sensory Processing Disorder, or whatever we're calling it this week) ought to have a spot on the spectrum, too.
Yet at the same time, if you listen to all the conflicting voices of those already on the spectrum and their families, it seems that the autism umbrella may already be too huge to handle, as people huddled under it get into fistfights over the cause, severity, and philosophical symbolism of that very varied disorder. It seems possible that the current spectrum -- far from expanding further -- needs to be broken up into several smaller spectrum-lets, distinguished perhaps by causation, severity, and treatment protocol.
A spectrum can be a really useful analogy for understanding the ways that disabilities with similar features can differ among individuals. I think it's been extremely useful, for example, as a way to put a finger on the damage caused by fetal alcohol exposure. It's certainly an improvement on the old "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/the bad kind" and "Fetal Alcohol Effects/the good kind" dichotomy that existed when my son was first diagnosed, especially since it turned out that kids with "the good kind" had the worst outcomes because nobody really believed they needed help.
For Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, there is at least a clear and common culprit. Lacking that, the autism spectrum can get stretched pretty far out of shape. If you're looking at symptoms in common, a whole lot of neurological disorders could squeeze their way onto it. There's certainly an interesting SuperSpectrum to be made, tracing brain similarities differences over a whole sky-full of diagnoses. Not all that useful, though.
Do you think the autism spectrum is still a useful concept? Should it expand to cover more diagnoses, or instead tighten its focus? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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