Autism Misdiagnosis - Can a Child Have Autism Symptoms, But Not Be Autistic?

Children can be misdiagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder when they're not actually autistic. In fact, there are other disorders that share certain symptoms with ASD but those symptoms are caused by different disorders, not ASD.

In this video, David Velkoff MD, Co-Founder and Medical Director of the Drake Institute of Neurophysical Medicine explains the problem of Autism Misdiagnosis, including how to tell if your child may be exhibiting symptoms of ASD, or symptoms from a different disorder like ADHD, Anxiety Disorder, Selective Mutism, Reactive Attachment Disorder, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

[orbismworldbuilding]

The "can't " language is inaccurate, its really more like "difficulties with"

[szervosz]

Our son never attended a daycare till age 5. Therefore, he suffered social awkwardness and anxiety. At age 4, the visit to the doctor resulted in a mild autism diagnosis, leaving us shocked and our lives upended. Yet, my intuition insisted otherwise. We relocated to our parents' house, and he started engaging in social activities. Two months later, we gathered the courage to consult a pediatric psychologist. After thorough testing, she assured us it wasn't autism but merely anxiety from limited interaction – a significant revelation and immense relief. Today, he's a healthy, typical kid. The first doctor, who misdiagnosed him, won't be easily forgiven for the pain and stress caused.

[XXTHETHMANXX]

Had this happen to me. Suffered from severe domestic violence and child sex abuse as a child. As a result i became developmentally delayed. My providers never asked about my past and diagnosed me with Autism and it made ny life much worse. Then my psychiatrist heard about my abuse and diagnosed me with PTSD. And not autism and my life got considerably better.

[theesunnlightt]

One of the BEST explanations/clarifications about Autism EVER.
Thank you so very much!

[AG-pgrb]

I have seen many children with anxiety and ADHD predominantly inattentive who come for a psychological evaluation with a diagnosis of autism. And some parents, when informed that their child does not have autism, are not accepting it. I believe that there is a lack of understanding by professionals to differentiate the behaviors, and in Brazil there is an impressive increase of children, adolescents, and adults diagnosed with autism. It is unbelievable!

[andyrey]

Thank you for this. We had to deal with an overwhelmed first year kinder teacher trying to tell us our son was on the spectrum because he had never been to school prior and was only around mom and dad. It was so sad seeing a teacher try target him because she just wanted to have an easier day at work.

[sorchaoreilly]

Thank you!
It's been difficult to find such info until now and near impossible to find anyone like me.
I probably had Selective Mutism but it was the opposite to most - I could interact with peers but not teachers or parents. This is because they had authority and spoke confrontationally whereas with peers, we spoke shoulder to shoulder". I'd freeze if a parent or teacher was watching us so they could easily be convinced that I wasn't interacting normally.

One MAJOR thing to always consider is THE HOME ENVIRNOMENT.
The family is the Primary agent of socialisation. If the child appears to have difficulty with socialisation, the first place to look should be home. My whole family is autistic so I hadn't the opportunity to learn normal social interaction until I started preschool. WITHIN peer environments, I quickly caught up.
The home and family environment may be conditioning a child to appear to have autistic traits.
Abuse and neglect will often create similar symptoms. Remember this can be very low key and not look like abuse or neglect. The child could be very well fed and clothed but constantly belittled by a sibling so they withdraw and lose confidence and look down.
While one shouldn't go to far on the "blame the parents" approach, one does have to consider whether it is actually the parent projecting their own symptoms or deciding that their child is "wrong" because they don't live up to their expectations.
TRAUMA might not be obvious. The parents may not be aware. The child mightn't be either. It can come from unexpected sources.

MEDICAL should always be considered. A child with medical discomfort may be stuck in a state of overwhelm and anger and be unable to develop typically until resolved. Some medical conditions may not show up in tests. My hearing and eyesight were not ok and this was missed. I didn't know people could SEE eye contact so couldn't make it. My ears are prone to wax. Auditory processing is difficult but I don't have APD.

SELF-ESTEEM must always be looked at too. A child who has no confidence may be unable to look up or interact and may not try new things.

[nickmagrick]

None of these included the sensory overload that people with autism universally get

I would consider it a criteria that someone needs to have some sort of obsession or extreme avoidance to some sort of stimulus at least earlier in life (you can improve this as you get older)

[GroundhogBaby]

Thank you very much for this infornative video. I have 2 severely autistic sons, nothing bugs me more than these adults who run out and get an autism diagnosis, just to be getting it, the say "autism is a gift" Having autism is NO GIFT. If you have a child who is severely affected you would agree with me. So far I have found nothing good in my boys being afflicted with this disorder. In fact, I feel cheated in the fact that my boys will never interact with me or anyone else normally, drive, have a girlfriend, give me grandchildren. None of this is in the cards for our family and people really get on my nerves when they tell me that they are level 1 autistic and it is "autism is a gift". Maybe for you, but for us it is a 24 hour, round the clock hindrance to our family living a normal existence. People act like having autism is a fad. It's not. It's raw and it's real living our new norm. Live our life for just one day. Thank you. I don't mean to complain, but I just had to vent on this one.

[JediNiyte]

For SURE!

I'd put money on most "autism" disorders these days being a lack of parental boundaries, social retardation caused by early access to digital screens, and the fact that being "neurodivergent" is WILDLY fashionable.

[swaziswimmer]

This video REALLY needs to be seen by physicians!!! Pediatric, family care, neurologists, etc etc
It is a real problem the way they are way too quick to diagnose autism when it could be such a multitude of other difficulties.
Have you found the EEG brain mapping to be helpful in diagnosis or treatment of ADULTS as well as children?

[jkka]

Conditions that are misdiagnosed as autism in children

1. Pediatric depression
2. Rett syndrome (especially zapella type)
3. Social communication disorder
4. Hyperlexia type 3 (the variant where you read, have autism traits, but not have autism)
5. Sensory processing disorder
6. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
7. Obsessive compulsive disorder
8. Intellectual disability
9. Reactive attachment disorder

Those are just 9 examples! I could name more, but I don’t want this comment too long. Not all social issues are caused by ASD. Some of these can co-occur with autism, some cannot! Some of these examples are not listed on the video

[DeborahAnnsuperversatile]

My daughter has Anxiety and ADHD, but she can do alright sometimes but other times look like she is Autistic. I thought she was for a long time. She got diagnosed with Anxiety and ADHD, and it makes sense now.

[amybruscato]

This is the problem I have been seeing! Developmental clinics need to stop just doing autism diagnosis but developmental assessing to find the best and correct diagnosis.

I had a client diagnosed with autism. They had a whole chromosome missing!!! That isn’t autism.

[afollowersfight]

I wish you would be a little more careful with the way you’re wording things. I get we have to have some kind of guideline or else we could call anything Autism, but straight up saying “An autistic child can’t do this.” can be misleading and come across as if you’re trying to put limits on autistic people’s abilities.

[ashagnanaolivu]

Thank you so much Doctor, I work with children with Autism and this is great information for misdiagnosis

[truthmerchant]

Many autistic children can have reciprocal conversations. That's partly why they miss out on diagnosis, particularly girls.

[karlabanks]

I thought Autism was a wide spectrum which included these symptoms.

[raisingwildflowers]

No, this is such outdated information. People with ASD absolutely can have normal social interactions and reciprocity. If that is the main diagnostic criteria you are sticking with, you are missing so many ASD diagnoses. This is why girls especially are not getting diagnosed. It is MUCH more likely the ASD diagnosis is getting missed, and instead the child is being misdiagnosed with anxiety, selective mutism, OCD, etc.

[redblack]

Sir, U are a gem 💎 I really needed this information ❤️ may God reward u immensely for what Ur doing for the humanity. ❤