What is PDD-NOS???? A must read!!!!!!!!

[Angiecarnick]

What is PDD-NOS and How Is It Diagnosed? By Gary Mesibov, PhD © Plenum Publishing Corporation, 1997

This article was originally published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp 497-498, 1997. It is provided to Asperger Syndrome Coalition of the United States, Inc. for use on its website with the express written permission of Plenum Publishing Corporation. It may be downloaded and printed for personal reference, but not otherwise copied, altered in any way or transmitted to others (unless explicitly stated otherwise) without the written permission of Plenum Publishing Corporation. Hypertext links to other Web locations does not constitute any endorsement or authorization by Plenum Publishing Corporation. Parents are understandably confused by some of the terms we use in the current American diagnostic classification system, DSM-IV. One of the most elusive of those terms is PDD-NOS which stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified. In the current diagnostic system Autism is defined as a Pervasive Developmental Disorder. This group of disorders is characterized by severe and pervasive impairments in several areas of development: reciprocal social interactive skills, communication, and the presence of stereotyped behaviors, interests, and activities. These impairments are relative to an individual’s developmental level or mental age. Autism is, of course, the most common of the Pervasive Developmental Disorders. To help with the diagnosis, DSM-IV 12 characteristics that one frequently sees in autism, 4 from the social interaction area, 4 from the communication area, and 4 from the stereotypic area. An example of a social impairment is the failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to one-s developmental level, a communication deficit is lack of varied, spontaneous, make-believe play, or social imitation play appropriate to developmental level, and a stereotypic characteristic is persistent preoccupation with parts of objects. A diagnosis of autism is given if 6 or more total characteristics are present in an individual with at least 2 from the social area and 1 from both the communication and stereotypic behavior areas. Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) was introduced to classify individuals showing problems and disabilities related to autism but that fall short of the number of characteristics or range of impaired areas that is required for a definition of autism. A child could have a diagnosis of PDD-NOS if he shows only 5 of the 12 characteristics listed under autism or if he has more than 6 characteristics spread over the 3 areas but only 1 in the social area. Another way to think of PDD-NOS is as subthreshold autism or a child who has atypical symptomology that does not quite fit with the 12 characteristics one assesses under autism. Given the definition of PDD-NOS it should follow that the diagnostic instruments should be very similar to those for autism. The reason is that the purpose of a diagnostic evaluation for PDD-NOS is to examine the same symptoms that interest us in autism. Clients ultimately receiving a diagnosis of PDD-NOS tend to be higher functioning and with better language skills than one typically sees in the average child with autism. Therefore batteries assessing more advanced intellectual and language skills are generally the most appropriate.

[JustInCase]

Hi Angie,

               Thank you very much for this post, I really appreciate it!!

Take care,

[Christieann]

Great post!  THis is helpful when people ask what is the difference beteween PDDNOS and classic Autism.  I never know what to say now I do!  Thanks

[VickiB]

This is great..Thanks for posting this.

~VICKI B

Happy Fall!

[Jenn3kidz4me]

thank you!! It is always so hard to explain pdd-nos!

[Traci2boys]

Thank you for posting that. I always have a hard time explaining PDD NOS to people and this gave me a great way to do it. :)

[Mommyocooltwins]

Thank you - I will use this when people ask me "what is the difference between classic Autism and PDD-NOS"... it happens a LOT as you all would agree I'm sure.

 

We're going to see some extended family Saturday and I am bracing myself, I want to talk to them about the Autism Speaks walk I am involved in, but am not looking forward to the inevitable questions and discussions that might raise.

ugh. the never ending walk it seems... but at least we all can "walk" together, right?

 

Peace, Teresa

[farfromanangel]

Thanks for this post, I didn't find this group until tonight. Both my son and myself have been dx'ed with PDD-NOS and it makes complete sense.

[GoodLuckBear]

Finally a explanation!! My 3yr. old son has pdd and no explanation other than it is under the same umbrella as autism was given to me. I now know what it is and what it consists of, I hope this site can shed some light on some of his behavior. Thank heaven for it!

[go-get-it]

Hi, still learning a lot. My Daughter Molly is 2 and she has had occupational and physical therapists. She is now meeting all guidelines for physical ability but is still behind with speech. She has a genetic translocation . Found during amniocentesis . So far the teachers believe she is PDD but no official diagnosis at this time. I have 2 other children 12 Newt and Susan 5 with no delays . I am trying to learn all I can .