help figure out/ "diagnose" friend's child?

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I would like to ask the wrongplanetists to give thier opinion on my friend's child... she is really struggling with how to help him and can't figure out what's "wrong" with him, if he might have AS or something else. Right now his diagnosis (which he got at age 4, he is 9 now) is Sensory Integration Disorder. So here are the facts...

--Slight developmental delays as an infant (including speech) but nothing severe.
--On the first day of preschool, the teacher and principal pulled her aside and asked "Is your son autistic?" She then had him evaluated by a neurologist who diagnosed Sensory Integration Disorder.
--Her son had a lot of discipline problems in school but now in grade 4 is doing much better.
--He is very "hyper" and she describes him as "a human tornado."
--He can play with other kids but will often scream at them.
--He will repeat/scream the same phrases/ talk about the same topics in a loop.
--As a younger child he would spin in circles, but does not presently stim, but he will do "nervous" things like chew on his clothes and shred tissues.
--Is obsessed with things that spin, but less so as he gets older.
--He has meltdowns (he is 9).
--He is an extremely difficult child to manage... he is always screaming, getting into trouble, it's very difficult just being in the same room as him. Her BF says he is the most difficult child he's ever known.
--Does not have awkward body language or posture. He is in karate and does really well.
--Does not have "weird" modulation in his voice, other than the screaming.
--Does not have hand/ arm flapping or awkward hand posture.
--He is very intelligent.
--He makes good eye contact.

I myself can't figure this one out.

he sounds like my son who is 7 and autistic. However, he has required a lot of specialized help to stay in regular ed class. He stays in that class unaided though he is officially enrolled in the special ed class. He does currently get special supervision during recess because he tends to "parallel play" and mimic the worst behavior. (he is the one that gets caught)
My son had significant speech delay.

He might have SID! It CAN look like autism, and TECHNICALLY, most autism has SID as part of it. I figure I'm AS and I clearly have SID. With me, it is hyper sensitivity to light/sound, and maybe smell, and hyposensitivity to cold. I used to have issues with touch also.

It IS possible he has HFA, but hard to tell. The lack of stims and social problems make it more doubtful.

Steve

Absence of any sort of physical clumsiness, good eye contact, those things are atypical among autistics. The other things you say make the kid look like a severe case of ADHD. Obviously it would be a good idea to have a clinical psychologist take a good look at him, rather than leaving it to us amateur diagnosticians...

Probably on the spectrum. The last few things: being good at karate, not hand-flapping, etc., doesn't rule out AS/HFA.
Everything else sounds like sensory issues which in my mind is autism spectrum.

The question is, and I haven't looked this up, WFT is sensory integration disorder? That sounds like what all of us OTS experience.

She is having a lot of trouble because everyone is blaming her "for not disciplining him enough."