Labelling a child with autism or TS etc without careful and well-informed consideration or objective appraisal, is risky especially when it is done by people who think they have a special understanding of such things but have only picked up a few concepts. Symptoms may or may not belong to one disorder or another. It is the holistic picture that counts with diagnosis. There are many shared symptoms and 'difficulties' that can occur in several 'disorders' but it is the grouping of those symptoms that matters together with collateral evidence from family members etc. People with an interest in psychology or even qualified graduates of psychology frequently have a distorted and non-organic perspective of autism, TS, ADD etc that lacks the biological/medical grounding needed to properly understand the basis of those conditions. The most dangerous are the Freudian's who interpret things wholly in terms of life experiences and early childhood disturbances.
Most responsible paediatricians and neurologists will hesitate to label a developmental disorder initially but will advocate a period of watchful waiting in order to develop a better picture of a child's development, behaviours and symptoms. The best approach is to merely describe what is seen and record the facts and allow time for a clearer picture to emerge before attempting (or announcing) a synthesis and diagnosis. Diagnosis needs a tentative approach.
I worked with and still know many people with autism and have been amazed at what I learn from them (from their perspective) and how wrong some of the explanations and misconceptions about ASD are, as well as the formal teaching I received about this disorder. This is a good reason for those who have TS, or live close to those who do, to 'take control' and become the rational voice of TS. It is also important that a more accurate, inclusive and consistent definition of what TS is, and the spectrum of difficulties that it may involve, is presented by the TS community. Part of the problem is the splitting approach (alphabet soup) favoured by many which makes TS very difficult to explain in a cohesive way and can make the person sound like a living psychiatric diagnostic manual.
