Difference between aspergers and PDD-NOS?

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Pervasive developmental disorder is a condition that involves a group of challenges, mainly centered around delays or difficulties with social and communication skills. Symptoms may show before the age of three years and can include, but are not limited to, difficulty in using and understanding language, difficulty relating to people, objects, or events, and difficulty with adapting to changes in routine or familiar surroundings.

Pervasive developmental disorder is a subtype of autism spectrum disorder but we should note that PDD is diagnosed in individuals who meet some but not all criteria of ASD. In layman’s terms, people with PDD tend to display mild ASD symptoms. For this reason, PDD is often also termed atypical autism.

In the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-4), pervasive developmental disorders were divided into five subtypes, which included: autistic disorder, Rett syndrome, asperger syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and PDD-NOS.

Following updates by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to the newer DSM–5, autism disorder, asperger disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder are now classified under the single diagnostic label of autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Is PDD the same as autism?
Well, according to the updated DSM-5, the answer is technically “yes”. However, some people disagree with this as, although there is an overlap in the features or characteristics of autism and pervasive developmental disorder, there are distinct features that set them apart. For example, people with PDD do not typically meet the criteria for “classical” or “traditional” autism (Shaikh et al., 2020) but are framed as being on the autism spectrum. That is to say that PDD-NOS and asperger syndrome are both included under the same umbrella of autism spectrum disorder.

I would agree that PDD-NOS used to be diagnosed quite frequently when doctors "didn't know exactly what they were dealing with."

Sort of a catch-all, vague sort of diagnosis.

I've actually seen it diagnosed when somebody was severely impaired in all ways, yet did not meet all the criteria for autism.