Is a medical autism diagnosis needed?

[KimC]

Hi,

I was wondering if there is a benefit / need to attain a medical autism diagnosis if your child has the school classification? 

Thank you!

[Lisa Lightner]

It really just depends if it's going to open the door for you to get more services for the child, and if you want the services.

 

Here in PA, it's advantageous to do so, but every place and every family is different. I've written about this quite a bit, to explain the differences.

 

https://adayinourshoes.com/autism-whats-the-difference-between-medical-and-educational-diagnoses/

[KimC]

Thank you for the information.  I hope you don't mind a follow up question. We do live in PA so I'd be interested in hearing the PA specific benefits and, she has an intellectual disability classification as well from school. Does that change whether having the medical autism diagnosis is as important in order to access services or does the ID classification provide much of the safe resources? 

Thank you again!!!

[JSD24]

In PA, all disabled children are eligible for Medicaid (also called Medical Assistance).  With either an ID or autism diagnosis, there are adults waivers that that they could be eligible for as well.  (Good to get on the waitlist in your county now so they can plan for when your child graduates HS & needs the waiver funding.)  I'm not sure the medical autism diagnosis is really needed.  Providers should be told of the autism diagnosis because you approach a person differently when autism is present in addition to ID.

If your child is non-speaking, I'd encourage you to watch the movie Spellers on YouTube.  My friend's son was given an ID diagnosis.  It was given because there wasn't a good way to assess him because he's got autism and apraxia.  The apraxia made his speech & fine motor unreliable.  He spells now and is taking college classes.  Given what he says via spelling, I feel he should have had a GIEP.  He's Vince.  His story starts at 46:00:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h1rcLyznK0

[KimC]

Thank you so much for the information. I will definitely check out the video! My daughter is verbal and I was actually the one advocating for the ID classification based on her cognitive testing. My main reason for pushing for ID was because she didn't have the autism medical diagnosis and I was worried that she would leave school with no real options for accessing resources after graduation. I don't know if this makes sense or not but that was a worry of mine. Now that she has the ID classification, I just can't help but wonder if the autism medical diagnosis would still be a benefit for her moving into adulthood. But I know the cost to have her evaluated and that is really not financially an option for us right now. 

We have met with a representative from our county to get her name on the necessary lists. I just want to make sure I'm not leaving something on the table for her. 

Thanks again for the help!

[JSD24]

You can use medical assistance to see a provider who can evaluate for medical autism - or if she's covered under employer insurance, it can be done with a copay or 2.  A full neuropsych eval is nice to have but it's hard to get it covered and expensive if it's not covered.  A psychologist with the right training can do the assessment.  It might take a handful of phone calls and waiting for a few months to have it done but this is doable.

We had BHRS (now IBHS) services for my daughter.  They were the ones who evaluated her for autism when we were looking to renew the authorization for services.  It was a rating scale that I filled out.  And it's a good idea to have a backup plan.  What happened with my friend was she signed up for the ID waiver and they had ID supports lined up.  Then the school redid the IQ test and he was low but no longer ID.  He's also got autism so he'll still be able to get a waiver but the transition program was no longer a good fit.

With autism, my big concern tends to be social skills.  This is one thing that can hold a person back from being able to hold a job.  I'd definitely ask the school to evaluate this if they haven't already.