But there’s more. To top it all, the two clinical pictures appear to overlap. A recent study, focusing on a group of nearly 1500 autistic children showed that 20% of them had received an initial diagnosis of ADHD.
Compared to other children, young children previously diagnosed with ADHD would be more likely to receive a late diagnosis of autism. Therefore, we should be expected to keep the diagnosis of autism in mind when confronted to symptoms that do not point to it, and make sure that an ADHD diagnosis is not concealing autism.
The issue of autism is becoming more and more complex. Now, in order to anticipate a proper diagnosis, we should be thinking of something that is not suggested by clinical observation! And at the same time, we should be offering specific and early care for a disorder that is yet to appear. It all boils down to saying that what is a frequent diagnosis is ultimately something else in the making.
Locked-up inside himself, the autistic patient ends up being part of something that is not autism and that conceals it : a surprising topological image…