Severe PDD-NOS or LFA/HFA, Whats the difference?

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So I was just wondering something, what is the difference between severe pdd-nos and lfa/hfa...I met alittle boy the other day, and i swear he had to have just classic autism, he rocked back and forth while standing, non-verbal, looked like he was in his own world, the mother goes yea hes autistic, well actually he just has severe low functioning pdd-nos. She goes which is still autistic. Now after that I met another family whom I thought had Low functioning autism, wrong again, severe pdd-nos.

I was first diagnosed severe pdd-nos, they said I was more autistic then aspergers, and told my mother that i would probably never ever be able to live in a normal society or ever get married and have children. When my mother asked her if this means she autistic, she goes very much so. The Psychiatrist and Autism specialist both told my mother that Aspergers means more mild autism(which I don't always agree with, because I also met a low-functioning aspergers boy), pdd-nos can mean borderline, but severe pdd-nos means more classic autism. Ok so why didn't I just get diagnosed with classic autism in the first place. Later on I did get rediagnosed HFA. Now that gets me wondering though, why are some children diagnosed low functioning autism and some diagnosed low functioning pdd-nos, what is the difference?

PDD-NOS means they don't match autism in some way, like they are socially adept, or the doctor was too lazy, or unable, to refine it.

LFA means they lack enough communication/self help skills to get by, or are below a certain IQ. HFA is people that are autistic, but not LFA or AS. Frankly, you sound like you were LFA just because of communication, and nothing else.

I am starting to feel that people are telling those on the autistic spectrum that they will never marry or have kids as a subliminal way of "combatting autism" to entice the person into perhaps following their self prophecy. Their wishes.

I think Im more low functioning also, my neurologist described me as just "functioning autism". Yet, I'm dating an nt for almost 2years with a lot of struggles, can handle a job, and i help run autism carnivals, a big sister to an pdd-nos girl, work with all types of disabilities, including severe autism, and work with abandoned/abused children, and homeless. So I can function in society. Hmm, but my communication does suck, your right, my pyschiatrist explained that my repressive language is so bad, i can't comprehend a lot of stuff. Who knows, i know im autistic, see a autism specialist at least twice a month to make sure of that haha, he also thinks im more on the low functioning side, oh well haha. Its funny though, the reason i asked this is because, i know a lot of parents are claiming there child is LFA when in reality he/she is severe pdd-nos. It doesn't add up. I think pdd-nos is being thrown around as either borderline, or just too autistic to even fit the criteria of classic autism.

Probably, i love to prove ppl wrong though haha..

You should because they are wrong. That should not even be a criteria for diagnosis but so far people have told me their shrinks said "Oh you are in a relationship, you aren't on the spectrum then"

What hogwash. They are just either really ignorant or they are trying to promote their quit breeding campaign using this subtle hateful game that they play.

My shrink mentioned PDD-NOS with me, and my therapist said maybe a bit Aspergers. I have sensory issues and some autistic traits. However, I love fiction and write fiction (and I'm quite good as per a college creative fiction writing professor). I also understand humor and have always been sarcastic. Writing is actually my only special interest.

I wonder what an actual autism specialist would diagnose me as, but that's curiosity only. I see no reason to get a diagnosis.

Usually with children, a dx of PPD-NOS is given when there's too many unknowns about the presentation of the symptoms. That simply means they don't wish to label a child with the tag "autism" if they cannot rule out another underlying condition that would exclude autism.

Dx'ing autism is a lot trickier, especially with very young, verbally delayed and non-verbal children, then I think a lot of you realize. There are dozens of conditions that appear on the surface as autism. I once met a kid who I assumed was austistic only to find out that the kid had cerebral fibrosis, and that clearly is not autism. It made he act very much like an autistic child though.

This is not quite right. The whole lower functioning, higher function is because of some meaningless and crude IQ cut off set early last century on their idea of that the considered to be ‘retardation’. It isn't tat useful in practice or necessarily a good estimate of how well an individual can function. There are various autistic conditions which are recognized under somewhat arbitrary diagnostic requirements (including Asperger's Syndrome/Disorder) because that is what historically has been worked on, and I am grateful for that contribution. There hasn't of yet been much joinined up thinking on the matter. There is a body of consensus of people (including where I was diagnosed) that are becoming aware of the limitations in these terms and the idea that autism is in fact very multidimensional anyway. Unfortunately there are still diagnosticians who are giving misleading advice like ‘PDD-NOS/NLD is like Asperger's light’ or any such nonsense when it is quite clear the evidence shows that there can be complete variation.

I'm of the opinion that anything 'Not Otherwise Specified' as a diagnosis is flawed and it only be used in situations where things could change for instance when the early onset of childhood schizophrenia is the same as autism. A diagnosis is only a good as the clinical judgment and it is sole purpose is to identify and eliminate conditions where it would be useful to do so.

As science progresses, what seemed obvious or likely can become wrong once new evidence or perspectives become available.

If I'm not mistaken, modern psychology as a real science is not that old. It's about a century old if I remember correctly.

Modern physics is centuries old yet there has been many changes in what was considered real physics throughout that time. About a century ago many physicists were even recommending potential physicists to look for other jobs because supposedly all of physics was going to be understood pretty soon. Einstein then showed up and proved otherwise. Also during that time, Boltzmann was ridiculed for believing in the existence of atoms, which was a controversial view among scientists back then. He ended up killing him self in part because of that. Now many of his concepts are used in modern physics and chemistry.

All sciences work this way. In a science as young as psychology, we should probably expect quite a bit of this. The concepts of AS and autism seem to be young even in psychology.

I have no doubt that much of what passes for science now will be considered BS in the future. According to one of my general chemistry professors, he would not be surprised if 2/3 of current chemical understanding was shown to be off the mark. I would not be surprised if the same applies to psychology, psychiatry, etc.

I think it is good to remember something Einstein (I think) once said: "Our science is primitive and childlike but it's the best we have" or something to that effect.

Unfortunately, our psychologists and psychiatrists, along with all other scientists, are working with imperfect knowledge. This applies to even the best of them.

From what I understand low functioning, and high functioning are just descriptive terms that psychologists, and educators use to describe where on the spectrum an individual may be at that time. They're not actual medical terms. That's why it's not in the DSM. They're only an opinion, per se. It's really subjective. I mean high functioning at what exactly? Some nonverbal autistics have better writing skills than I do. Does that make them more high functioning then me? Or the fact that an individual may be able to do one thing, but not another? It's not clear cut. People never are. With ASD, either you have it, or you don't. There's a clear set of criteria to meet to be defined as having one of the 5 of PDDs.

Personally, I really don't like the terms high/low functioning. It's too subjective when considering the diversity of human ability. It also sets people up for predetermined outcomes. Such as what the OP mentioned, "you'll never be able to..." or it could go the other way for high functioning "you should be able to..."

This seems contradictory.

ETA: Nevermind. I understand now given the original question.

I was DXed with pdd-nos then got hfa at 24years of age go figure?! Doctors and their bullsh*t...haha just lazy if you ask me...because if you take the time to know someone you will find things out...

Quoted for agreement.
PDD-NOS exists because there are people that exist that have autistic traits but aren't autistic. My one example that I know of personally is a boy who had a stroke in utero. He suffered massive brain damage. He had intensive therapy from infancy on and by 7 years old "presented" as an autistic. He was diagnosed PDD-NOS so he could receive autism services and special ed. He really benefitted from an educational approach for nonverbal people.

The definition of 'higher' and 'lower functioning' is actually quite specific. IQ less than 70 lower IQ, 70 or more is higher. That is from those that use such terms, though some use 50 or 60 as the marker. It is all pretty meaningless. Anyone with half a brain can work that one out. It doesn't matter if you can complete an IQ test if practically it is of no use to you in terms of you life. I'm exaggerating a set scenario but the point remains nonetheless.

Sorry, can you speak coherently?

I come up with the dumbest quotes:



I rest my case