Asperger's vs. PDD-NOS

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Does anyone know if there is a difference between PDD-NOS and Aspeger's? If so what is the difference?

I believe PDD NOS is given when you are obviously impaired but don't fit all the diagnostic criteria for Asperger's. Which bugs me, but that's another thread.

Is it not a good diagnosis? My son is having a bunch of testing done to see if he has Asperger's but he is so "high functioning" a woman told me that he may not be Asperger's but PDD-NOS and i'm just trying to make sense of it.

It's a personal opinion of mine-I just think it either needs to be incorporated into Asperger's or given a better term. Don't listen to me on the value of a diagnosis-I'm not qualified.

ASD is a spectrum; PDD-NOS being at what is generally considered the higher functioning end of the spectrum, where an individual expresses elements of the Autistic criteria but not in sufficient quantity or grouping to make a full diagnosis. From what I understand, it is more definitive than the term BAP (Broader Autistic Phenotype) in which a person may have a small number of shared characteristics. It isn't a 'bad' diagnosis, but as it is "not otherwise specified" there is not as much information for therapy and approach.


M.

It depends on the Doctor as the vaule of the diagnosis. With my younger son jake who is a non-verbal autisic who at the time of his frist diagnosis spend hours breaking anything made of glass in our house , putting odd things in his mouth and tossing things out our 3rd story windows at 4am. The first thing were were told was PDD-NOS, then maybe AS then Autism and last thing the doctor told us as he ran past us in a hallway with a box of his belonging was your son is profoundly retared you should place him in a home... This was what was on a report he had given the famliy sevices on the overseas base we were living on at the time. If you feel this doctor isn't giving you the right answers find a new one don't waste years laboring with what some dipwap with a MD tells you if you think it isn't right.Best of luck and much love to you and your child .

PDD-NOS is a diagnosis given when

a) don't meet the requirements for AS or Autistic Disorder but are obviously impaired / on the spectrum.
b) the person is at a young age and it is unclear where they are on the spectrum at the time. This will change when appropriate.

PDD-NOS can be mild or it can be severe or in between. It is typically or most commonly viewed as higher-functioning.

PDD-NOS is a diagnosis, as others have said, that is given when a child meets some of the critera for being on the autism spectrum, and it is viewed as being "higher functioning". Even so, your child will still qualify for therapy and help from either the state or the school district or both. Even though your child may have been diagnosed as PDD-NOS, they may be able to get wraparound services, ABA therapy, or whatever kind of therapy may help prepare your child for entrance into school and to help them socialize. Then, at school, your child may qualify for an aide, or speech therapy that will help with pragmatic language, or special ed classes, or the ability to take a longer time on tests, or a different room for tests, etc.

This can actually be a good diagnosis to have.

My son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, and he did fit all of the criteria for autism, just the more higher functioning end. He would have been diagnosed with Aspergers but he has a language delay.

I had a friend who's son was asking about why my son did certain things, and acted certain ways. I bought several childrens books about HFA, and Aspergers and he didn't really fit into the HFA book, but the AS hit the mark. I personally think he has AS with a language disability, probably caused by being born 15 weeks early.

I call him AS. It seems to fit.

My son has had three dx's high functioning, AS and pdd-nos. Dr's gave him the Hf and AS school gave him pdd-nos. I think he's AS but someone told it's all the same.

My stepson was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at age 4 and with NVLD at age 12. Like your son, he fits AS in so many ways but he had a speech delay, he didn't speak until he was 4 years old. He is also 'Math Disabled'.

You may want to look into NVLD because it shares, they say, 80% of the same characteristics as AS. The main difference they say is that kids with NVLD really want to be social and make friends, but don't know how whereas AS kids are fine being by themselves, it doesn't really bother them. I don't know if this is true, this is just what I read.

Is it AS? FINE, it is AS
Is it Kanners? OK, it is kanners!
Is it any other PDD? OK., it is it...
Is it a PDD? It is PDD-NOS!

So PDD-NOS is what pothers aren't and, by definition, DIFFERENT!