June 2012~snagglebox

Scenes From a Life

Overheard from the back seat today while driving Attie's friend home from a playdate...

One of the biggest changes proposed for the DSM-5 criteria is the amalgamation of Autism, Aspergers and PDD-NOS into a single diagnosis called Autism Spectrum Disorder.

I don't think anyone's mourning the disappearance of
PDD-NOS, but why do they want to get rid of Aspergers?

Because there might be no such thing.

A Minecraft Birthday!

Attie LOVED his Minecraft-themed birthday cake today!

Each block of the cake was a Minecraft block...

Grass - hedgehog slice with green coconut icing
Sand - rice crispie squares
Water - blue jelly (jello)
Snow - chocolate cake with white icing
TNT - chocolate cake with red licorice

Which came first,
the spectrum or the egg

If you've made it this far through this week's DSM-athon... congratulations! Look for your Certificate of Advanced DSM in the mail.

While you're waiting, let's get to the most interesting bit and look at why people are complaining about the DSM-5 changes, and what it all might mean for you.

DSM-V: Have your spectrum
cake and eat it too

Four years ago a panel of reviewers stood over the mangled body of the DSM-IV and said "We can rebuild it". They tossed some bits away, melded other bits together and stuck in a few new parts... and now here we are at the tail end of an 18 month review process, with our last chance to comment on the stronger, faster ~~Steve Austin~~ criteria for diagnosing autism.

So let's pop the hood and see what we've got here...

This is a handy dandy infographic summary of the proposed new criteria
(which we look at in detail over here).

This is graphic 3 of 3. Collect the whole set and trade with your friends!
The others are here and here.

This handy dandy infographic shows how the DSM-IV criteria will change

(which we look at in detail over here)

This is graphic 2 in a set of 3. It builds from this one and leads to this one.
Collect all three and win a cake!

UPDATE: I have eaten the cake. Will you settle for a cup of gratitude?
Mmmmm. Gratitude...

This is a handy dandy infographic summary of the current criteria

(which we look at in detail over here)

This one is the first in a series of 3. The other two are here and here. Grab 'em while you can, who knows how long this 'internet' thing is going to last.

Oooh, pretty drops of spectrum

It's clear that having uniform diagnostic criteria can be helpful in giving us a common platform for talking about autism, but there are issues with their use and it’s important to understand these before we look at the proposed changes coming in DSM-5.