The online PDD assesment questionaire | Autism PDD

We (Luke and I) visited a different pediatrician today (since I refuse to go back to our other one) ... and he told me something that kind of gave me a knot in my stomach. He said that, since Luke was dx'd PDD-NOS at such a young age, he MIGHT be dx'd as PDD "otherwise specified" at a later age, when more behaviors may show themselves. As someone here was just saying, sometimes it's hard to differentiate between typical toddler behavior and autistic behavior. However, once the child reaches an age where certain behaviors are definitely abnormal, then they may given a more 'classic autism' diagnosis.

This distressed me be/c the devel ped who dx'd Luke a) did a less-than-thorough eval (from what I've read and heard since) and b) said that Luke would, in her opinion, not get any 'worse' -- especially once we began therapy. WHO to believe and WHAT to think? We're now considering taking him to a larger autistic center to get a more thorough eval (though I'm guessing our insurance won't cover TWO consultations for the same diagnoses in one year??).

Oh, and I filled out the online PDD questionairre and it rated Luke as mod PDD, but some of the questions were inapplicable to him for one reason or another. The devel ped told us Luke has 'mild autism' for what it's worth.

In time, things may change, my son is dxed pdd-nos but the school psych said he's looking forward to retesting in a few years, he seems to think he'll fall into aspergers.. but who knows, i just take one day at a timewow. That fragile X sounds just like PDD or Autism right? I wonder if I should get Joe tested. I cant find anything very different about it. Has anyone had their kids tested? I have read about it before but this particular website I have not seen before.Joes Mom Tyler was tested AFTER he was diagnosed with autism.. from my understanding because they are so closely related its one of the "usual tests" the Dr's recommend to rule out other things since autism is based on observation but Fragile X appears just like it (or can appear) and is genetic.Yes, Michelle. I had Jakob tested for the Fragile X the day he was first diagnosed. It came back that he was negative for the disorder. When the psychologist went over the test results with me...he explained that because Jakob is completely non-verbal and has no receptive language, the scale rated him with mild retardation and that he was confident that would change when Jakob starts talking. He's still too young to worry about that. And at this point, if he puts that in his report, and it speeds up the process of getting Jakob back to the states for better therapy...then I have no problem with it. But thanks for the "extra" concern...I really love it here!!

also,,it was just a simple blood test for the fragile xJakobsmom38499.3061689815

My son was tested... but to be honest, I'm not sure how they tested for it. We went through brain/CAT scans, EEGs and x-rays, blood tests, etc.

A good dr will rule everything out before coming to a diagnosis. It took about a year of differenting testing for my son's behavioural dr to finally make a decision (it would have been shorter if not for all the waiting lists :P)

I used brainchild survey more as a guideline when I went to dr. I stated I was not pre-diagnosising *but* there was enough to investigate more thoroughly for any disorder.

I just wanted to add that In my humble opinion, it is nearly impossible to state that a child is mentally challenged when 1: the child is very young and 2: the doctor only examines him/her for a brief period of time. I had the dr. who runs the autistic school program that my son will start attending this summer state that it is nearly impossible to test the IQ of a autistic child. and when watching the program onCNN, the dr also stated that the conclusion that 75% of autistic children are mentally challenged is grossly inflated.

Joe's Mom The other thing with the online test is the difference in how you evaluate your childs behaviors and how a trained Dr evaluates the behavior. You could be so used to certain behaviors and think they are no big deal and score him low on something and the Dr see it as a significant problem (like following directions for example - you think hes just bored and wont listen or defiant..... the Dr sees it as not comprehending the task) Also you may see a certain behavior (lets say picky eating) as being real bad and the Dr see it as being a typical toddler behavior. So thats where differences can be. The whole purpose of the evaluation is to tell you if there is a possibility of an ASD and to check it out with your child's Dr. Its always better to be safe than sorry.

Holly I have not had experience in getting a diagnosis that young, so I don't know for sure what they would diagnose with....In general though when a Dr can't find a specific label but knows they are on the spectrum I was told they usually receive a PDD diagnosis until the specific label is found.... when Tyler was diagnosed nearly 7 years ago I was told they usually don't diagnose until they are 3, he was 32 1/2 months....he received a PDD diagnosis until he was 4 ...... but he did start services for speech and behavior before 18 months so I guess it goes to show each place is different.....

Stephanie,.... the Dr diagnosing mild retardation..... have you had blood work done for Fragile x and other genetic disorders? (its usually pretty standard when they are diagnosed from what I gather) But the reason I ask about fragile X is it is genetic and can appear just like autism (from my understanding) and I believe has mental retardation heres a links for FACTS ABOUT FRAGILE X SYNDROME if you are interested http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/fragileX/index.ht m

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HOWEVER.... I was told by the child psyc at Tylers Special Ed pre school if tests arent done right, are done on a bad day, or are done by someone who doesn't really know the child; the child can appear mentally retarded even when they aren't. I guess what I am saying is if it were me I think I would go for a second opinion (especially with the different dx's) unless you felt in your heart of hearts that the dx fit.

When I used the questionaire at childbrain.com , I also came up with a score of mild pdd. But the dev. ped. dx'd him with mod-sev. autism and the child psychologist just recently (2 days ago) dx'd him moderate autism and mild retardation. Of course, their evaluation process was much more detailed than the one online..I think it's just to give you an idea if they are on the spectrum somewhere, the online form can't tell you exactly where.I just posted about the whole PDD/Autism diagnosis dilema and now I have another question! There is a PDD assesment questionnaire at childbrain.com ( I think) well Joe scored mild Pdd. so what does that mean? is it PDD-NOS or mild autism? has anyone done the questionnaire?How old is your nephew? I could be wrong -- the senior members here feel free to correct me -- but my understanding when my son was diagnosed is they gave him the dx of PDD-NOS because he was too young (being under 18 or 19 months) to fully evaluate whether he is autistic. I was told that they will be able to evaluate him at 3 yo. By then all of the 6 developemental milestones should be achieved and if they are not -- the dx will be short beind.

PDD is the umbrella of autism or in other words refers to the autism Spectrum meaning all 5 different (seperate) dx's---- autism (severe) PDD-NOS, Aspergers, Retts and Childhood disintegrative Disorder.

Mild PDD would mean there are mild signs of a pervasive developmental disorder doesnt necessairly mean he has the disorder... mild PDD could be any of the 5 specific labels depending on what he scored in and where