HARTFORD, Conn.When Caleb Geary was diagnosed with autism at age 3, he had never spoken or eaten solid food.
Now 6, the boy speaks and tests at his first-grade levelprogress that his parents attribute to insurance-based services at home and intensive behavioral intervention at the boys school in Hamden, Conn.
But they worry what will happen to Calebs diagnosis and the services that come with itif the American Psychiatry Associations proposal to change the definition of autism is adopted.
Lori Geary said she has already fought to get her son the help he needs. Tom Zwicker, Calebs father and the director of an autism center for the Easter Seals of Coastal Fairfield County in Connecticut, said he believes insurance companies will start requesting annual diagnostic evaluations if the definition is revised. As a result, his sonand many other childrenmay lose out on services to treat their conditions.
You have an entire group receiving services that would be left out in the cold, said Zwicker, who lives in Branford, Conn. Were going to lose a whole generation of children.
The autism community has been embroiled in a heated debate for the past few weeks over the proposal to dramatically change the criteria for autism diagnosis in the upcoming fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The DSM-5, scheduled to be published in 2013, is the first revision since 1994.
The revision would create an umbrella category known as autism spectrum disorder that would include traditional autism, as well as Aspergers syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). They currently are considered separate disorders. A new category, social communication disorder, would also be created.
What became very apparent is that there arent clear boundaries and that they really are all on a spectrum, said Darrell Regier, director of research for the American Psychiatry Association.
The current criteria, he said, are fuzzy, and as a result some people have been mislabeled as autistic, while others who need treatment cant get it because their symptoms dont match the current criteria.
The thing that we tried to do is be a little more clear about the different deficits that these people have, Regier said.
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Redefining autism questioned