What do you think about this film?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnJpqrNTASU.
Title: "Social learning disability".
Description: Discussion with Steven Sussman, Ph.D - Child and Adolescent Psychologist Co-Founder of the Child and Teen Success Centers in NY and NJ.

I strongly disagree with men who speak in this film.

I think that this film contains dangerous idea of giving "more palatable names" to conditions which can be diagnosed as Asperger's, pervasive developmental disorder, autism spectrum disorder.

Condition described in this film is for me a sort of AUTISM (although no "traditional" one (Kanner's)), not a sort of learning disability. Not every autism has to be "Kanner-like"!

Just another label. I bet it's social communication disorder.

For me it looks to be a condition which can be diagnosed as autism spectrum disorder according to DSM-V, not as social communication disorder. That condition is a sort of autism for me, not a learning disability. Named it as "social learning disability" would be a disservice (in Polish there is a phrase "niedźwiedzia przysługa" (literally: "bear's service" or "ursine service") to name service, which caused harm instead of help) for individuals with it.

"Social learning disability" or "socio-emotional learning disability" for me should mean rather theory of mind deficit (a cognitive iompairment associated with socio-emotional area), NOT something like "different way of functioning", "having other social needs than typical person".

Its an interesting angle.

Interesting way to look at it.

If "non-kanneric" sort(s) of autism (like misnamed "social learning disability" from film mentioned in first post in this topic) can be decomposed to "not autisms", why not to "decompose" Kanner's syndrome ("classical autism") into many other neurological or mental disorders, such as:
- sensory integration disorder,
- social learning disability (theory of mind impairment),
- social communication disorder
- speech and language impairment,
- intellectual disability (can be absent in Kanner's syndrome),
- executive functioning disorders,
- stereotyped movement disorder,
- obsessive-compulsive disorder or obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (?)

But it is better to name autisms as autisms. One word gives useful, well-fitting descrpition of the conditions like my autism (a schizotypal one?) and Kanner's autism (and other autisms, such as Mendelsohnn's syndrome and pathological demand avoidance syndrome)

My mom told me I had a learning disability and when I was first given the AS diagnoses, she told all our neighbors she trusted that it was a learning disability than an ASD. She knows now it's a an ASD. I think she knew that then too but still called it a learning disability. I guess it was better than having autism and autism still had that negative stigma back then. There is still a stigma to it but it not as bad as it was 20 years ago.

For me autism is different way of feeling and functioning, not something associated with (severely) intellectually disabled children or even a cognitive deficit (such as impairment in theory of mind). For me autism is "rather" a sort of personality, temper, character, not a cognitive style. Not every autism have to be linked with Kanner's syndrome.

^I agree.

Another example of NT's judgeing based on the NT priority of social presentation. "Little obsessions" are not a minor part of the main social issues. Of course sensory issues are not even mentioned. So typical.

I agree with two earlier posts.

My sensory problems are small and not like these seen in typical ASD. But my nature is "uninterested" in socialisation. I had quite strange special interest in childhood.

Autism is not a learning disability. It has not to be associated with sensory issues. It is other way of feeling, functioning. It is pervasive and it has impact on general functioning in life, not (just) learning. Someone with it tend to be "odd", "strange" in the eyes of "typical" person.

Why do they feel the need to over complicate things? Why use several words when one will suffice? It's autism, a name that's simple and already familiar to most people.

I suppose that some parents may be unhappy when their children (especially if the childhren have normal or above-average IQ) have diagnosis containing words "autism" or "autistic". Autism may be associated with nonverbal, severely disabled intellectually children, who will never live indepndently in their minds.

The parent might feel autism doesn't fit their kid so they use other terms for it like learning disability.

I remember when I let my school district evaluate my child last year, they said he was on the spectrum and I was shocked because he doesn't even seem close to being on it and they went through it with me and I realized he acted different in school than he does at home and my mom read the report they made of him and debunked it all to me explaining why she disagreed with it what they wrote about him (it's all in my blog in my sig). So even though I thought for a day he was on it, I still didn't see him as autistic because he didn't show any classic signs or any textbook symptoms of AS and he seemed normal to me.

But since the report he has been acting better at home too. He is doing very good in school as far as I know while last year it was always concerns from the teacher every school day but not this time. The psychiatrist we took him too back in June said she thinks he is just immature and said yes he is hyper and has attention issues. Sometimes immaturity does cause significant issues in school for the kid like it's an impairment.

Naming the problem of child as "autism" or "pervasive developmental disorder" instead of "learning disability" can give more care and benefits for him/her. Learning disabilities are relatively common, but PDDs are rarer and tend to make more difficulties in life in general.

I think that many people with nonverbal learning disability should be labelled as having pervasive developmental disorder, not (just) LD. LDs are not so "odd" as the conditions often named as "NVLDs". I think that category like "pervasive developmental disorder" should go back to DSM and ecompass for example "social NVLDs", social communication disorder from DSM-V and autistic spectrum disorders (there are other types of autism than Kanner's syndrome; one of the symptoms of schizophrenia is called "autism", there is article about schizotypal autism in Wikipedia (I think that there can be other types of schizotypal autism than Mendelsohnn's syndrome and an article about a PDD named as pathological demand avoidance).

From my perspective autism as a very serious disorder.
To me it's a serious disorder just as epilepsy, cerebral palsy, schizophrenia etc are serious disorders.

Sorry but I have seen many people describing their autism in a way that I can not relate to, who say things like,
"So what if I have trouble socializing, that's just a difference, not a disorder". Yeah I agree, meaning you just may not have autism spectrum disorder after all.

Autism generally makes people "odd" and tends to be really problematic in some ways of life, like finding a job. It is significant disability in this area. Because of it autism is a disability, a disorder. Autism does not have to be physically painful, I think that there is possible to have autism without sensory issues.

Condition from the film from first post is a sort of autism for me. Lack of social skills, fixative interests can have disastrous impact on someone's life, especially in areas like job career or being "socially useful". It is something more serious than just a difference. Such a person might live "in our word". Someone with autism may be like a child who can't lead typical life despite above-average IQ.