My child recently went to the doctor. The visit summary stated that he has “Active Autistic Disorder” and that they recommended a follow up visit in 6 months for an Autism Check up”. This made me LOL and it also made me really sad. I let the doc know that my son has been Autistic every day of his life and that if it were to become inactive he would be dead because it is his neurotype. When he was younger, and struggling to survive behavioral modification interventions (that his mom didn’t understand were just making things worse) he was labeled with Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Disruptive Behavioral Disorder, and a mood disorder. All these labels did was describe his externalized behavior and lead to more judgement. I would love to see a move away from slapping labels on struggling children, and towards looking underneath the tip of the iceburg at each child’s individual sensory, emotional, cognitive, and learning style, so that we can start supporting them in meaningful ways.