The long process of diagnosing a disorder culminates in a name — a single word, or perhaps a few, that sum up a person's particular set of symptoms. This name suggests that doctors know what's wrong and may have treatments that could help.
But in the case of neurodevelopmental disorders, a name may be a distraction, says Eric London, head of the Autism Treatment Research Laboratory at the New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities.
In an editorial published in December in Trends in Neuroscience, London argues that names such as autism, schizophrenia and intellectual disability are 'umbrella' terms that muddy the search for the true causes of various symptoms1. He calls for researchers to come up with an alternative.
Giving loosely linked disorders different names negates their similarities and ignores important symptoms that may not be part of the 'core' diagnosis, London says. Instead, he proposes that researchers note only whether or not a person has a neurodevelopmental disorder and proceed to carefully document their symptoms, or phenotype....
SFARI.org: "Questions for Eric London: Alternative diagnoses for autism" (January 2, 2015)
http://www.sfari.org/news-and-opinion/q ... for-autism 
26 May 2015, 11:24 am
