pdd-nos or asperger’s????? | Autism PDD

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Great info as usual michelle thanks! Helped me too.

Amber

Our school psychologist told me last week that they are reconsidering the definition of Aspegers and may change defintition to include those with language delays.

Anyone else hear of this???

I have, as we have been told several times that my ds's diagnosis may end up to be aspergers.  They are actually wiating for the speech delay to resolve before anyone will diagnosis (they want to see what behaviors disappear when the delay goes away as he has a mixed expressive/receptive delay which can also cause some of the signs of autism).  The only thing I can think of is that the doctors beleive the speech delay is presupposed over the aspergers becuase of the high amount of ear infections and fluid in his ear drums.  We asked them how it could be Aspergers instead of PDD-Nos and they basically said that given the child Aspergers seemed to be a better fit despite the delay.  I also think they are having difficulty placing a pdd-nos label on kids with higher IQ's even if they have a langauge delay.

ok i have to vent, know i'm even more confused than i was before. will i ever get myself straightened out.got papers back about the ai cert. a big fat NOOO!!!!!!! ok here's were i'm confused he has a dx of pdd-nos but the school gave me and my husband alog with his current school the gilliam asperger's disorder scale. the teachers score was 92 and our score was 96 which indicates that the probabilty of asperger's is high. so now what should i have him retested or what???? thanks mom2carlo

Depends on when he was tested first.  How long has it been?  Also I thought I read somewhere where the schools cant' diagnose a child, can only determine whether he has a learning disability.  It seems like there is a battle between the school and his doctor. 

Tammy

The biggest difference between PDD NOS and Aspergers is whether or not there was ever a significant speech delay. Aspergers kids tend to be more like little professors.... BUT PDD NOS kids who are high functioning can appear to have aspergers especially on issues of particular interest. Tyler will go on for HOURS about a pokemon or a fav video game like an aspergers kid,,... but he was pretty much non verbal til he was 4 so he will NEVER have an aspergers dx no matter how much he progresses!

If carlo ever had a significant speech delay he will nOT receive an aspergers dx but can be PDD NOS with aspergers like tendencies.

try this..............

The DSMV IV criteria for the autistic

    1. Asperger's syndrome
    2. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:
      1. marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction
      2. failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
      3. a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest)
      4. lack of social or emotional reciprocity

    3. Restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least of one of the following:
      1. encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
      2. apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
      3. stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole body movements)
      4. persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

    4. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
    5. There is no clinically significant delay in language (e.g., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).
    6. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood.
    7. Criteria are not met for another specific pervasive developmental disorder or schizophrenia.

    PDD NOS
    This category should be used when there is a severe and pervasive impairment in the development of reciprocal social interaction or verbal and nonverbal communication skills or when stereotyped behavior, interests, and activities are present but the criteria are not met for a specific pervasive developmental disorder, schizophrenia, schizotypal personality disorder, or avoidant personality disorder. For example, this category includes "atypical autism" – presentations that do not meet the criteria for autistic disorder because of late age at onset, atypical symptomatology, or subthreshold symptomatology, or all of these.

    • Review of the different PDDs
    Asperger's syndrome
       These are kids with a form of autism that affects language less, yet there are difficulties with appropriate speech and communicative development. Mostly, however, these children have social interaction difficulties and impairments related to a restricted, repetitive, stereotype behavior. These kids may have very high IQ's, may do very well academically, have a superior memory for "unimportant" details, such as the birth dates of all baseball players, some historical or geographical trivia, yet they lack the skills to care for themselves and live independently. These individuals may talk repetitively about a certain topic without understanding that it may be boring to others. The "amount" of memory of these individuals is incredible and one may expect different degrees of impairments with Asperger's syndrome. This may involve more or less memory and more or less social communicative impairment with regards to being able to live independently. As long as a child or individual seems "different" or "odd" and has a thought process that doesn't fit the way everyone else thinks, yet shows some of the required autistic characteristics, Asperger's syndrome should be considered. Many people with this condition remain undiagnosed because of their ability to compensate with their memory or excellent academic abilities, yet they are considered by others to be "socially inept," "weird," "nerds," "bizarre," "eccentric," etc.

    A typical example of a child with Asperger's syndrome would be that of a child who has some odd behaviors, poor eye contact, "sluggish" social interaction abilities, and an extreme interest in a central topic such as a washing machine. The child likes to sit and watch the washing machine door rotate, knows everything about it including its operative and professional manual and may spend hours perseverating about it. Such a child when he has a play date, may try to involve his "friend" in his most exciting interest (the washing machine) without realizing how boring it is to others and that will be the end of the play dates forever. This pattern may present itself in different degrees and circumstances, but the prinicipal is the same: the lack of the ability to understand how other people perceive what you do, say, or express with body language and facial expressions.

      PDD NOS or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified
    PDD NOS will present similarly to the kids who have autism (some people argue that these conditions should be combined as one), but will have a lesser degree of a severe impairment. These kids are more likely to be verbal and have some degree of verbal or non-verbal effective communication, yet they must have the autistic features (as per the DSM IV criteria) and a severe impairment in social interaction, communication, or repetitive stereotype behavior. This term is reserved for children with a severe impairment who do not fully qualify for any other autistic diagnosis, due to age of onset or combination of autistic features

    Childhood autism
    Always presents before 36 months of age, these children may have some speech developmental and social interactive regression, usually around 18 months of age. The diagnosis of childhood autism must meet the specific DSM IV criteria and will therefore present with poor eye contact, pervasive ignoring, language delay, and other features. Per definition, these children will have a severe impairment in speech, communication, or social interaction. Many of them will be completely non-verbal and "in their own world

    1. Childhood autism
    2. A total of six (or more) items from (1), (2), and (3), with at least two from (1), and one each from (2) and (3):

      1. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:
        1. marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction.
        2. failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
        3. a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest)
        4. lack of social or emotional reciprocity
      2. Qualitative impairments in communication as manifested by at least one of the following:
        1. delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language (not accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative modes of communication such as gesture or mime)
        2. in individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
        3. stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language
        4. lack of varied spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level
      3. Restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least of one of the following:
        1. encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
        2. apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
        3. stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole body movements)
        4. persistent preoccupation with parts of objects
    3. Delays or abnormal functioning in at least one of the following areas, with onset prior to age 3 years: (1) social interaction, (2) language as used in social communication, or (3) symbolic or imaginative play.
    4. The disturbance is not better accounted for by Rett's disorder or childhood disintegrative disorder.

    How does a typical child with autism present?


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