note about pdd vs aspergers and what is our next step

This is a response to an email I sent a friend who counsels families with pdd, autism, aspergers and various other disorders/syndromes...he was so helpful...I'm mostly posting it here so it doesn't get lost but maybe it will help someone else too.


first I asked him if he could help me understand what it was.


PDD is an autistic disorder. In all categories in mental health there is a NOS diagnosis. Meaning Not Otherwise Specified. It basically means that in the professionals opinion that the diagnosis is in the Pervasive Development Disorder family (like Mood Disorder or Anxiety disorder is a family) but it doesn't fit any of the specific criteria of the other diagnoses. There are 4 main autistic disorders that vary in severity of functioning: Pure Autism, High Functioning Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, and PDD NOS. Aspergers Syndrome and PDD are very similar. With A.S. there can never be a speech delay which usually kicks kids out of that diagnosis entirely but still have very similar symptoms. Having said all that, I would wait til a developmental pediatrician saw him before you get too worried. This is not a neurologists area of specialty.
Nevertheless, a PDD diagnosis is not a death sentence just a package of looking at the delays. Social, language, and OCD/repetitive behaviors. These are the main areas the disorder affects.


Here I asked him if a neurologist is the right doc to diagnose this, and if JR's current level of treatment is appropriate.
The neurologist is not generally specialized in developmental delays. The treatment at this time is not different. The only time that matters is when he is enrolled in public school (which I hear is up in the air) after he turns 6 years old his diagnosis can not be "Child with Developmental Delay" for them to provide services. Even if you home school you will want them to be providing the services that you just described so you don't have to pay for it. He can have an IEP at school with a PDD diagnosis and they can pay for it and you can still home school if you want to. Children's Mercy does a great job but that is a long time to wait. Dr. Lyn Hoffman (male) does a very good job and is a bit cheaper as well. His wait list is probably more like 3-4 months.


Sometimes God puts people in your life for very specific reasons...my friend....I'll call him M....also helped me when I was struggling with the oldest son's add.