Expert: James Michael Roan - 5/5/2006

Question
My son was just diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (by a behavior specialist)and we were told he isn't autistic, he just has autistic symptoms.  But when I went to read up on it, everything says that asd is just the catagory.  It sounds to me like he is ppd-nos.  Is asd another name for it or what. I already know he doesn't have aspergers or autism. Thanks!

Answer
Hi Marie;

This an easy one! ASD refers to "autism spectrum disorder," which refers literally to a spectrum of behaviors typically associated with autism. PDD-NOS refers to a child who meets some but not all of the criteria for a diagnosis of autism. So it sounds like to me that your son has some of the characteristics associated with autism but not enough to qualify for a formal diagnostic label of autism. Many researchers now agree that PDD-NOS, high functioning autism (HFA), and Asperger's Syndrome may all be the same thing. That being said, if your son has significant language delay, then many of his behaviors that appear to these folks to be autism may actually be a direct cause of the language delay and NOT autism.

I hope I did not confuse you further.

Kind Regards,
James