What's the difference between autism, pdd, pdd-nos, and aspergers?

Aspergers has been known as "Having a dash of Autism." What's the difference between autism, pdd, pdd-nos, and aspergers?
PDDm or Pervasive Developmental Disorder, is the umbrella under which all the others fall; it's also called the autism spectrum.



Autistic disorder has two major sub-groups, low-functioning (LFA) and high-functioning (HFA), but there is a large part of the spectrum between the two, and the line demarcating the two is blurry.



Asperger's disorder is a typically high-functioning form of autism, but to be diagnosed with Asperger's you cannot have had a speech delay in early childhood.



PDD-NOS is a catch-all category for those that are on the spectrum but don't fit neatly into the criteria for either Autistic disorder or Asperger's disorder; in general they are high-functioning, but there is some variation.



LFA-------%26gt;HFA--%26gt;Asperger's---%26gt;PDD-NOSWhat's the difference between autism, pdd, pdd-nos, and aspergers?
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th Edition (DSM-IV), which clinicians refer to when making a diagnosis, only supplies a list of behavioral symptoms and totally disregards the reasons for the symptoms. Consequently, distinctions between disorders are made solely based on the number and severity of symptoms. The biggest difference is how much the person is able to communicate with others.



Personally, I believe that the distinctions in the DSM-IV are artificial and not extremely helpful. As the mother of a 19 year old on the Spectrum (official diagnosis from a developmental ped was Asperger's despite a signiticant language delay prior to the diagnosis), I have learned to be more interested in underlying causes of symptoms.



For instance, people with ASDs often have complex sensory needs. Various senses can be affected and some could be hypersensitive, while others are hyposensitive. Knowing which senses are affected and how they are affected is important for determining an appropriate treatment plan. In addition, some people also have underlying biomedical issues (such as gluten and dairy sensitivity), which also impacts on how well they are able to function.



Once the underlying causes are treated, remedial programs for addressing the specific weaknesses in social interactions, such as Relationship Development Intervention or Floortime, are much more effective.



Edited to add: What if symptoms change or disappear all together? (It does happen. It happened to my son.) Does the diagnosis change, or was it incorrect to begin with? That's another reason I disagree with the criteria for diagnosing ASDs. Too confusing.What's the difference between autism, pdd, pdd-nos, and aspergers?
PDD-pervasive developmental disorder is the term that all of these are classified as autistic spectrum disorders. The autistic spectrum varies in impairment from very mild to very severe. All have the triad of impairments to some degree. Social interaction, social communication, and imagination.



At the most mild end of the spectrum closest to quirky typical behavior is PDD.NOS-not otherwise specified. This is some features but not enough to meet criteria for a specific autistic spectrum disorder. Generally those dx PDD.NOS have the best social skills of the ASD's and an average intelligence



The next dx is asperger's. Asperger's generally want to interact with others, but don't go about it in an appropriate way. Asperger's are more likely to be picked on. They excel at languages, and have more of an anxiety component than PDD.NOS. They can be very bright.



Autism is further broken down into HFA, MFA, and LFA. These are not yet in the DSM, but docs and teachers use the terms. What differentiates high functioning autism from asperger's depends on the source. Some don't think they are 2 different things.



MFA has cognitive impairments, and spends time in 'their own world'



LFA is generally non-verbal, maybe incontinent, and most of the time is in 'their own world'
autism is the classic -most severe form-causing difficulties in the areas of cognition/motor/social/self help/language skills

PDD/PDDNOS is characteristics of autism--but not fully meeting teh diagnostic criteria

Aspergers is mainly difficulty with social interactions