Question Is PDD Autism - Autism Spectrum Message Board

fila75 · 09-26-2006, 06:04 PM

I am asking this question for my sister she wants to know is PDD a form of autism or on the spectrum of autism?? If anyone knows we appreciate it. Thanks.

elmhar · 09-26-2006, 07:48 PM

Autism is one form of PDD. There are several other PDDs, and all PDDs share a commonality of some sort of difficulty with socialization & communication.

But PDD-NOS is on the autism spectrum. Could they make it a little more confusing?

9CatMom · 09-26-2006, 08:27 PM

PDD is on the Autism spectrum. At one extreme is severe, classic Kanner's autism, at the other, mild high-functioning autism or Asperger Syndrome. PDD and PDD-NOS are somewhere in the middle.

nakama3 · 09-26-2006, 08:29 PM

Hi,

This is always a confusing one. Think of PDD as the "father" of the disorders.
Under him is Autism, Aspergers, PDD-NOS, Childhood disintigrative disorder, and Rett's Syndrome. All of the disorders share similar symptoms, but the most commonly diagnosed are autism and PDD-NOS (which is usually made because the child doesn't fit neatly into any one of the diagnoses).

But, to add to the confusion, a doctor will sometimes label a child "PDD" because he or she doesn't exactly know where the child fits, maybe because of a young age, or to make it sound like a milder label.

Hope that helps a little.

nakama3

jeffreys mom · 09-27-2006, 05:02 AM

I was once told that PDD which stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorder is the Umbrella term for all the varying degrees of the spectrum.

As the last posters mentioned, there's HFA, AS, PDD-NOS, Classic Autism(Kanner) and Retts. It depends on how the child presents which catagory they fall in under the "umbrella".