DSM Diagnosis Criteria Discussion and Response

1. . Review “Autism Spectrum Disorder” and discuss how the DSM-V diagnosis affected the eligibility for special education services in schools for students with autism spectrum disorders.

https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/…

Review the DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria, located on the Autism Speaks website

https://www.autismspeaks.org/dsm-5-criteria

2. Respond to student disscussion board: (JK): The DSM-5 fact sheet stated that “Under the DSM-5 criteria, individuals with ASD must show symptoms from early childhood, even if those symptoms are not recognized until later. This criteria change encourages earlier diagnosis of ASD…is an important change from DSM-IV criteria, which was geared toward identifying school-aged children with autism-related disorders, but not as useful in diagnosing younger children.” The Barton & Harn text states that “The medical profession uses the autism criteria based on the DSM-IV-TR or ICD-10 for consistency across professionals and to assist in health insurance billing. The educational field uses federal and state eligibility criteria that is often more vague, but its intent is to determine if the child needs to receive specialized services (special education) to be successful in early childhood or school settings” (Barton & Harn, 2012, p.33). Even if there is an outside diagnosis of ASD, the school still determines, based off of their own criteria, if a student will qualify for special education services under an ASD disability. IDEA does not require a medical diagnosis of ASD for a student to be eligible for SPED services, but in some states a medical diagnosis is a needed step. So, knowing what each state requires and the individual educational requirements is key to determining placements for students (Barton & Harn, 2012).

Reference

Barton, E. E., & Harn, B. (2012). Educating young children with autism spectrum disorders. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin.

DSM–5 Fact Sheets. (n.d.). Retrieved February 1, 2019, from https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/…