PDD-NOS

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I have always thought of myself as having Aspie traits, but not necessarily enough for a diagnosis (and I'm too scared to go in to try for one, in case I don't make it...).

I noticed some of you say you have PDD-NOS. I always thought this meant you were on the autism spectrum, but had traits DIFFERENT from AS, or anything else on the spectrum.

However, I talked to somebody about this recently and they said PDD-NOS means you are not severe enough to have AS...which could be me...

Can anyone explain PDD-NOS? Is it the "mildest" form of autism? I'm going to do some research on it, but I could use all the info I can get...

I was diagnosed with PDD-NOS in 1988 at age 9, before I was diagnosed with AS in 1996, at age 16.

Tim

I've heard PDD-NOS is the diagnosis they give to children too young to diagnose with AS.

*slightly off-topic*
Is PDD-NOS recognised like AS? I mean, are employers supposed to accomodate people with PDD-NOS? Is it legally a disability?

pdd-nos is the "varia" of the autism spectrum.

there are countless possibilities of configurations an individual could have, higher up or further down on the spectrum. there are some fields that carry certain names, such as AS, HFA or LFA - and everything inbetween those fields is NOS - not otherwise specified.

some say pddnos is more severe than aspergers,but that is only because the label is also given to the more kanner-like who don't quite meet AD criteria-as well as the AS-like types.
pddnos is not neccessarily a less severe form of aspergers,it's just the PDDNOSer hasn't fit the criteria of AD or AS.
eg,an aspie with more traits- can have milder autism than a PDDNOSer who has less traits.

it can be hard in places to get understanding or support for PDDNOS [even less than AS it seems].

just means theryre not positive you have AS... but it's somewhere in the neighborhood. i may be this. i dunno. im not DXed.

PDD-NOS just means that an individual does not present enough characteristics to meet any of the other 4 PDDs. The old name before it was changed in the last DSM was atypical autism. I wish they'd kept that name as it was quite self-explanatory. It has no baring on severity of symptoms, or functioning. I've seen people with PDD-NOS that have wonderful language skills, some are nonverbal, some require 24 hour assistance while others live independently. My 5 yo is PDD-NOS, and I expect that will change as his verbal skills improve. He will most likely be eligible for an AS dx as an adult if his language skills, and self help skills keep improving as they are. From what I've seen the biggest difference between someone with AS, and PDD-NOS is with AS there is no developmental delay. There typically is with PDD-NOS.