Does a child with pdd-nos have hope of being normal in the future?

my 22 month old son was diagnosed with pdd-nos a month ago in april of 2009.. i hear pdd-nos is like a step away from not having it at all..(whatever that means). i was just wondering can pdd-nos go away wit the program,early intervention, he will start getting soon or is this something he will definitely deal with for his entire life?Does a child with pdd-nos have hope of being normal in the future?
That is supposed to mean like barely being on the autistic spectrum. Unfortunatly, that isn't accurate. PDD-NOS is usually diagnosed when your child doesn't quite meet all the criteria for Autism.



Your son will learn and grow, and early intervention is one of the steps towards overcoming his symptoms of pdd-nos. It is way to early, and there isn't nearly enough information here to suggest any type of prognosis for your son. Working with early intervention, the school, and on your own with your son are all important in helping him overcome as many of his symptoms as possible.



The following is what I've done that has helped my daughter. No matter how young your child is, start using social stories! Get used to making them up on the fly. Get familiar with the format. Go to http://www.thegraycenter.org/ to learn more and to see samples. Basically, a social story is a script for your child to help them understand proper behavior in a situation, give words to the different feelings they might have, and give them a resolution/solution. Since social situations are so difficult for our kids, they need concrete information to learn to navigate.



I remember when my daughter was 3 and this advice was given to me. Absurd I thought, she's doesn't have the receptive language to understand...The stories are to complex and long. She won't get it. Finally, after hearing enough people talk about it, I gave in and tried.



As an example, daughter had a huge issue with me making right turns on a red light. She had just connected the fact that red light means stop! If you're walking and you see a red light...STOP. If you're driving, apparently you were supposed to stop in place when you saw red. Turning on red was absolutly forbidden in her mind, we're talking major tantrums in the car over this. Yes it would be easy just to stop making right turns on red lights, but the world doesn't revolve around her. She needed to learn the rules of the world. I started by pointing out other cars that were making right turns on red lights. I repeated over and over "Right turn red light ok". A very simple social story. Eventually she got the message that it was ok, and the tantrums stopped.



At first the social stories were very simple, and verbal. As her reading skills quickly developed and showed to be a strong learning channel, I would write them as well. I can now make up social stories on the fly, and give her the script. They don't work immediatly, but do soak in over time and make a difference.



2.

Understand that people will stare when your child is having a tantrum. People aren't necessarily mean, but they're often ignorant about autism. People will offer you all sorts of unsolicited advice on how you should handle the situation at hand... I've heard everything from "She needs a nap" to "It's ok to spank her you know" as well as some really awful obnoxious comments. How much you tell others is your personal choice. Me, I'm an open book and I've educated many in my community about my daughter and her autism. Many at the stores we frequent know her and have watched her grow up. They're more tolerant, and have been known to shut down rude shoppers who have commented on my daughter's behavior when she's been "off". You need to learn to develop a thick skin, and to shut out the world around you to focus on your child. Don't be afraid to get down on the ground with your child when out in public and they're really upset. Stay calm and focused on helping your child. It gets really easy to tune everything else out, and it's kind of amazing. When you act this way, you actually get more understanding from strangers. They can tell by your actions that you've got the situation under control (whether you do or not) and are not a neglectful parent with a bratty kid.



Along those lines, to develop that thick skin and ability to tune out the ignorance, take your child EVERYWHERE that you can. YES it's very hard work, but if you think of it as therapy, which it is, you'll understand the importance. It was way easier for me to go grocery shopping alone, but I took my daughter as often as humanly possible. Expose your child as often as possible to a variety of situations. Use the social stories to explain in their terms what they're experiencing. The more often you can do this, the better. Again, this is HARD WORK! But so worth it. If it's really really hard, don't make it a grocery shopping trip, but just a trip to buy milk or cereal. One or two items then work your way up.



The more exposure to the world the better. This helps with rigidity issues as well as learning social cues and scripts.



Don't always drive the same route or follow the same routine. Although routine is so very important to children with autism, trust me, you don't want to get to entrenched. Flexibility is also an issue, children with autism tend to be rather inflexible. By changing routines frequently, your child will learn to live with change without too much trauma.



I know you didn't ask for all the above information, but knowing what it's like to be in your shoes, wondering what to do, I thought I'd offer it up anyways.Does a child with pdd-nos have hope of being normal in the future?
Hi, its always difficult as a mum to be told there is something different about your child, especially when you go home and feel a little overwhelmed by the information and powerless to do much.

Don't be disheartened though, there are many families and many people who can help. Perhaps a visit to this site will give you a base to start from. http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.j鈥?/a> or this http://www.autism-help.org/. They both have contact details so perhaps a little reading, but mail them and find out specifically for your child.

Best of luck to you xoxDoes a child with pdd-nos have hope of being normal in the future?
each child is different--some make minimal progress----otehr become indistinguishable--I have worked with children diagnosed with PDD thathave become indistinguishable--



many are successful while still having signifificant symtpoms (some academic skills, able to take care of tehir basic needs)
"...like a step from not having all." It's the first time I heard this but it seems very true. Autism is a communication disability. Without the ability to communicate, the person is lost in our world as we know it.



Early intervention is the only way to teach your son some basic means of communication. It will involve different therapy seesions targeting behavioral modification (useful for those never understood tantrums), speech therapy (to develop the use of words and convey ideas), physical therapy (to develop motor skills to know how to walk and move properly), and occupational therapy (for fine motor skills like holding a pencil and writing). Later, when he is ready, he will begin social skills training with other children of his age. It would basically be a course filled with excursions as they go out to the real world and practice how to behave at the mall, in the moviehouse, at McDonald's, at the bowling alley, in a concert, perform in a concert, do charity work and many more. They will be taught simple tasks like how to ride public transport, how to buy something, how to greet people, what to say if its your birthday, etc. These are very simple things we learned without giving much thought. The autistic person however would not see any connection automatically because of their social disability.



Autism is for life but if your child goes through the therapy sessions and complete all of them, there is a chance that he can live a life as normal as posible. There would always be quirks but it will reach a point that his behavior will be more or less accepted in public. Anyway, most of us normal people have our own quirks in our own way. Autistics are only more defined.



My son is entering first year high school and has completed all those therapy sessions I mentioned. He is only one year behind his age group but is capable of starting and carrying a short conversation. He still has a lot to learn in social skills so he still attends a tutorial class in Reading Comprehension that is targeted at teaching social skills at his therapy center.