Question about PDD-NOS

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What is late age of onset, atypical symptomatology, or subthreshold symptomatology, or all of these in PDD-NOS (Atypical Autism)?

My guesses:

"Late age of onset" Means you got the medical condition later in age in life then when you're supposed to get it (if you get it). Like if you got through your teen without getting acne, but suddenly became a crater face at 30.

If theyre talking about autism then thats weird because you're supposed to be born with it. But if you were NT at birth and stayed that way until say 15, and THEN got autistic then that would be "late age of onset" for autism (because its long after birth).

"Atypical symptomatology" probably means you're set of symptoms dont match the condition you're supposed to have. The "a" in front of word negates the word. So "atypical" means "not typical". So you "dont have typical symptoms". You have oddball symptoms.

"Subthreshold symptomatology" probably means that you have the right symptoms but not severe enough to be classified as having the condition. Like if your overweight, but not enough overweight for the docs call you "obese".

Atypical is to me an alarm/sign/ or a trigger for suspecting possible misdiagnosis.

So many autistic folks get diagnosed first with "something else" such as Borderline, Schizoid conditions, Bipolar and more. But we are told we have "atypical" presentation.

The people doing the diagnosis may not know about autism and that we are "typical" autistic adults, so they give us that "atypical" title in the diagnosis they saddle us with instead.

In my opinion (everybody has one, so that's all its worth) people given a diagnosis that includes the word "atypical", and whose "treatments" don't work (" atypical" response to treatment!) should probably explore the possibility of misdiagnosis and look at alternative diagnoses that might actually fit the struggles we are having.

I read a book by a parent of a kid diagnosed with Down Syndrome and PDD NOS, with the atypical onset thing for PDD NOS. He basically acted like a typical Down Syndrome kid until his teens, and then suddenly started acting like he was low functioning autistic as well. Also developed epilepsy around the same time, so I'm guessing some brain damage was involved.

My impression is that you cannot just "get" PDD-NOS later than something like toddler age.

PDD-NOS is an outdated diagnosis "officially,", anyway, though I find it still valid in at least some cases.

I believe a person acquiring "autistic" symptoms very late----like adolescence----when this person was an "absolute NT" previously---would lead this person to be diagnosed with some sort of acquired neurological disorder----not autism.

You always had symptoms of ASD to begin with, but when it comes to mild PDD-NOS, you can also have neurotypical traits, and social skills might be easier for you until you are a teenager or an adult, and that is when your symptoms of ASD seeps out, but you always had symptoms of ASD, you were developmentally always like that, it is just your social skills is more developed.

That's only true for relatively "high-functioning" people with PDD-NOS.

I didn't explain it correctly, but that is what I meant to say. Thank you! But, other than that, it would be a neurological disorder or head injury if PDD-NOS is ruled out.