Is pdd nos less severe than asperger's?

No way to know, 'cause you're looking at it the wrong way.

PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified) is an umbrella category. People in this category display some autistic symptoms but not enough to make a specific diagnosis. At a later point someone with PDD-NOS will be retested to see where they fall on the spectrum (anywhere from Asperger's to severely low-functioning Classic Autism), or, if indeed, they are Autistic at all (e.g. misdiagnosis).

The idea of such a diagnosis is to allow early intervention treatment to begin even before a specific diagnosis is confirmed. The earlier treatment begins, provided you believe in the veracity of the concept (many older Autistics themselves do not), the better the outcome for the autistic child. But such interventions will not have a detrimental effect on children later found to not be on the Autism Spectrum.Is pdd nos less severe than asperger's?
the actually category is PDD

in that category there could be asperger's, autism, pddnos, retts, childhood disintegrative disorder.

USUALLY, they will refer to someone as having pddnos if their symptoms are less severe than autism, but more severe that aspergers....so that would mean aspergers is less severe...

BUT, technically it could be used for someone with aspergers like symptoms---but not severe enough to be called aspergers

many people stay with the pddnos diagnosis throughout life