Newbie to all these : Autism , Asperger , PDD , HFA ...HELP

Post Reply New Topic

This week my soon to be 7 yo was dg with HFA with Asperger tendencies . The Dr said it might turn into Asperger when he will be older .
From searching online, he fits more of a profile of PDD or HFA. Now I am so confused .Can anyone explain the difference ? Or help me properly dg my son ? Also, I would like to know what will happen to him in the future ; will he be able to be independent, have a job, a normal life ?

First let me tell you the concerns I had that brought me to have him evaluated. I had these concerns since he was 2 1/2 but my husband and our pediatrician as well as a developmental pediatrician, never , never agreed with me : all these yrs between 2-almost 7 yo they said it was not autism or any ASD ! We went this week to a team of specialist that are experienced in ASD and they confirmed he is in the spectrum.

Language : He was and is still language delayed . We can't have a meaningful conversation with him but he is verbal and expresses his needs.

Social& play : he does not talk at church , school or other social places , except for yes or not. Does not interact with other kids at parties , he likes to play by himself. At home he does play ( a little) with the three siblings , all close in age but never initiates play. He does not do pretend play except when he imagines he is on one of the rides at Disney ! He does not play with legos, blocks , etc . He is very weak at solving puzzles and logical games. He used to line up cars& books but does not do it anymore.

Obsessions :He is obsessed with attraction parks such as Disney , Universal Studios and has maps for all of them. He knows by heart all the rides and which number they represent on the map. Note that Universal and Disney's four parks have way over 100 attractions altogether . He is also obsessed with rollercoasters and snow although he has NEVER seen the snow before.

He does have good eye contact, never had tantrums and does not mind if he has a change in his routine. Never flapped hands.
Academically , he is doing very well in spelling , memorizing and reading but has problems comprehending . Math is average, the computation is easy for him (knowing addition/sub. time,etc) but the part that requires thinking skills is very difficult for him.He is a very concrete thinker .

So what do you think, which labels fits him best ? I think it is rather PDD or HFA than Asperger . I read that aspies don't have language delay or cognitive delays.

What is the outcome in the next years? Will he be able to have a normal life? What can I do to help him? I have already put on hold at my library everything they have on this subject.

It is odd that the psych said his diagnosis might change to Aspergers in the future. I didn't know that could happen, but anyway, all separate labels are being done away with and all are being combined under the umbrella term Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)--so there technically will be no Aspergers.

Anyway, HFA is not an actual diagnostic term (there is no "HFA" in the DSM). What it is is a sometimes ambiguous term used different ways by different people. HFA can refer to people who have classic autism but are high-functioning. It can also refer to people who are on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum (either PDDNOS or Aspergers).

Aspergers is a high-functioning ASD, but that does not mean it is always mild. (All mild cases are HFA, but not all HFA cases are mild). There are other differences between Aspergers and Classic Autism, but the main notable difference is that there is no speech or communication delay in Aspergers, while there is with Autism. This is often in the form of a language delay, but it does not have to be. Any social communication delay counts.

PDD is simply an umbrella term like ASD. It means pervasive developmental disorder and currently includes Autism, Aspergers, PDDNOS, Retts, and Child Disintegrative Disorder. (When ASD becomes official, Retts will no longer be considered part of the group...and I don`t know what is going to happen to CDD).

PDDNOS is Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. These are kids (and adults) who are definitely on the spectrum but who do not fulfill all requirements for autism or aspergers. From the description you gave, it would seem this would be the proper label for your son: Not quite fulfilling all the criteria for Aspergers, but close to it and still a spectrumite.

Your comment about HFA fitting him but not Aspergers can be true in some ways but not for others. In the one sense I mentioned, all people with Aspergers are HFA. He would not qualify as classic autism HFA. But PDDNOS is also a HF form of ASD. I would use PDDNOS, but that's just my opinion...

PDD-NOS sounds better.

[quote="dandelion4"] Also, I would like to know what will happen to him in the future ; will he be able to be independent, have a job, a normal life ?

Yes. He can be helped with an appropriated speech therapy for his language skills and an appripriate education with his other issues, if they exist.

Just want to point out that no, no one online can help you diagnose your son (that's for a professional to do only), and no one in the world can tell you what his skills and abilities will be later in life.

There really isn't a difference. Asperger Syndrome is just a label given to higher functioning autistic people because of the stereotype that autism is always severe. It's a spectrum really, the same difficulties but present to somewhat different degrees.



No one can predict that for sure. I've known some autistics whose adult functioning would never have been predicted from their childhood functioning - either much higher or lower functioning than you'd expect. Others went on a steady path, being roughly equally different from normal at each age.

Regarding having a 'normal life' - he may not want one. I'm asexual, for example, which means I'll probably never get married because I don't feel sexual attraction towards anyone. The important thing is whether he has a happy and productive life, not whether he has a normal one.

You getting a good understanding of autism spectrum conditions and knowing how to help him will do a lot to improve his future prospects. My best advice for ensuring a good adult life for autistics is to make use of his interests - pretty much every successful adult autistic I know of has made a career out of an obsessive interest of theirs. (Maybe he could be a theme park designer?)

I think PDD sounds right.
Change in my routine has always been a big deal so I am on the border between HFA/AS.
It's really hard to make the distinction between the two but AS to professionals is the more capable disorder.
HFA is either what they call someone who has recovered a bit from a severe form of autism or someone with speech and developmental delays.
Depending on which doctor you see they will all have different definitions of AS. Some say that it has no language delay (not always true) and that these people usually always want to have friends but struggle with social skills (also not always true).

The merge into autistic disorder will save many an individual with autism, their parents and medical professions from a headache and possibly hair loss from scratching their heads so much.

Now to the future. Take it from me as someone who still hates change - it has held me back so very much. I have made so many improvements in life that I could drop the autistic diagnosis and just have a diagnoses of 'Aversion to Change disorder' and 'Sensory Processing Disorder' or 'Socialising Ain't For Me syndrome'.
So, knowing that he doesn't mind change is a good thing. Social skills can be worked on as can academic and self care skills.

Yes. SO much. I was going to lecture on this, but then you beat me to it!

You've got this kid and you love him for who he is, the way he is, right? You love him, not his hypothetical non-autistic quasi-twin. So, since he's different, "happiness" for him may be different from typical happiness. I'm autistic, and for me, happiness is learning new things, having a place of my own, interacting with my cats, making and designing things, and doing volunteer work. Note the distinct lack of financial success, romance, or stylish-thin-and-pretty ideal looks. You're his mom, so of course you want him to be happy; the interesting thing when the mom has got a different brain from the kid is that the definition of "happy" will be different from one to the other. So, you teach him how to go through life his way, on his own terms, neh? Teach him how to go after his own dreams, not the ones the world says he should be chasing after. True for any kid; especially true for autistic ones.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about his specific diagnosis. As has already been mentioned, the spectrum is so smudged and fuzzy as-is that diagnosis as one type of autism or the other is neither an art nor a science--it's a blindfolded dude throwing darts at a psychology book. Just say "autism spectrum disorder" and leave it at that. Or, if you don't want to be so wordy, say "autism". It's what I do. Everybody knows what "autism" is. Hit them with "pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified," and they tend to look at you like you're speaking Greek. (Unless they speak Greek, in which case they look at you like you're speaking Russian.)

I know, you're probably freaked out because of this big scary label; but don't be. This is still your kid, the same one you've raised and loved his whole life. All you have now is this word that says "Hey, this kid is different, and he's going to need extra help." Not that you aren't going to have to poke his school and whatnot to get off their butts and make the (usually ridiculously small) adjustments he needs to learn properly. But just wait--once they realize they are dealing with Momma Bear, most schools will realize that trying to stop the two of you is more trouble than it is worth.

straight up? it's going to get more obvious as he ages and people will probably become less accepting, with his difficulties probably peaking as a teen (as they did for most of us).

No he wont be able to have a normal life because, to be frank, he isn't normal and never will be..and I think that's wonderful and if you do this right, treat him well for it you can teach him that not being ordinary is OK because it makes him extraordinary.

Autistic people weren't meant to have normal lives. If I had one, I'd hate it. It's just not my thing.

So, yeah, your kid's going to be eccentric. That's not the end of the world.

The teen years usually are the hardest. You're old enough to figure out that there are a lot of asshats out there who think you make a good bully target; but you're young enough that you haven't yet become as confident and self-knowledgeable as you will be when you're an adult.

Best thing a person can have, growing up different, is to have people around who like them and like their differences, and don't want to try to squish them into the "normal" shape.

My definition of normal life equals "independent life"... I recognize I was superficial. My mindset considers normal all differences that don't affect self-determination.