Jodi, I love Dr. Greenspan. I have a couple of his books i go to regularly. He was my first resource when we received an autism dx. The spectrum IS confusing. I know you and I have talked before. Zoe's speech therapist always said, she's not autistic. She has auditory processing disorder, possibly visual processing disorder, suspected apraxia of speech, gross motor delays, and motor planning issues. Whew!!
Here in Virginia, all any of that means, regardless of autism dx, or not, is minimal early intervention. When I say minimal, let me be clear. I'm grateful for her one hour a week of speech therapy, physical therapy etc. But then I read where kids in NJ get like 25 hrs a week of therapy. I'm jealous.
Zoe most certainly does not have classic autism. We're very blessed. She was dx'd at our Children's Hospital with high functioning autism. She's in special ed preschool with 6 other kids of varying needs. My question is: what should it be called when a child has difficulties that cross several areas?
Zoe's teacher and therapists agree she is not a good candidate for traditional ABA. They do a modified ABA when they work with her. I've seen enormous progress. Her speech is greatly improved. She's developed a keen sense of humor. I always thought humor was a more advanced state, whether talking about normal kids, or kids with delays.
If her therapies/education were very narrowly tailored, I'd agree with you more. There would be room for enormous error. However, in her general special ed setting, she's flourishing. As a matter of fact, her teacher is recommending she spend 1/2 time in a "normal" preschool class, and 1/2 time in special ed for next school year. They have "normal" kids come into her class throughout the day now, and she interacts well with them.
Please understand, I'm not negating your experience or anyone else's. Merely offering our own experience, which has been positive. BTW, our school system doesn't do dx's. They are very clear that they focus on the child's delays and needs. Their assesment doesn't even have a line for dx. They leave that up to the parents to pursue.