A PDD-NOS diagnosis is given when a child does not fully meet the criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Asperger’s Syndrome, Rett Syndrome or Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, but has several of the characteristics.

What are the common features of Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)?

Children are generally 3 to 4 years old before they exhibit enough symptoms for a diagnosis. There is no set pattern of symptoms or signs in children with PDD-NOS. Children with PDD-NOS may exhibit some of the following features:

Social and Emotional:

• Poor social skills
• Experience difficulties interacting meaningfully.
• Reluctant to give eye contact.
• Appears to lack desire to share activities with others.
• Prefers to be alone.
• May want to make friends, but doesn’t know how.
• Lacks an understanding of issues from another person’s point of view – social empathy.
• Difficulty understanding that other people have their own beliefs, desires and intentions, which guide their behaviour.
• Difficulty in taking turns and/or sharing with peers.
• Difficulty differentiating between familiar and unfamiliar people.
• May be unintentionally aggressive in an attempt to be social.
• Treats people as tools or equipment – something to use to open a door, get food, get carried by or lean on.
• Is limited in their play skills and may become fixated on only playing with specific toys in a particular way.
• Has poor imaginative play skills.
• Has low self-esteem

Language and Communication:

• Difficulty understandingor using appropriate forms of communication including verbal language, body language, facial expression, tone of voice and gestures.
• Difficulty in developing and understanding other forms of communication, such as gestural systems or picture-based systems.
• Limited or no speech and/or lack typical communicative gestures.
• As babies, a child with PDD-NOS may not babble or when they do learn words, they exhibit “echolalia” repeating words or phrases over and over again.
• Children with PDD-NOS often take language literally and do not understand when someone is joking or being sarcastic.
• Speech may develop to varying degrees but rarely develops to an age-appropriate level of ability.
• Does not always clearly communicate wants, express concerns or fears, or answer questions reliably.
• Sensory Processing
• May experience great difficulty processing information received from senses (e.g. touch, sound, visual information).
• Over-sensitive to surroundings and unable to screen out irrelevant stimuli.
• May appear to ignore some sounds but over-react to other sounds.
• May focus intently on the small visual details of walls, furniture, objects, prints, pictures or body parts whilst not seeing the whole picture.
• May show intense interest in light or shiny reflective surfaces (e.g. may filter light through fingers or stare at lights or reflections in glasses or watch water going down the plughole).
• May explore by smelling or mouthing objects, people and surfaces.

Adaptation to the Environment:

• Finds it very difficult to interpret and process new information.
• Small changes to routine, activity or surroundings may cause stress and anxiety.
• Has difficulty coping with change.
• May avoid strangers or new activities due to fear and anxiety.
• Develops routines and rituals and may stay involved with them for long periods or be upset if interrupted.
• Becomes very concerned about doing work perfectly and may become unwilling to attempt work that he/she feels they cannot do perfectly.
• May want to be in control of situations and may become very successful at manipulating people in order to maintain control.

Cognitive:

• May have learning difficulties.
• May have poor memory and attention span resulting in difficulty persisting with activities.
• Requires repetition of instructions or directions and may require time to process before responding or acting.
• May have difficulty understanding concepts such as turn taking, sharing or how to enter into play situations.

Common difficulties often (but not always) experienced by those with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS):

• Poor understanding of the conventions of social interaction.
• Immature play skills/interests.
• Resistant to change and very rigid in routine.
• Poor non-verbal communication.
• Poor understanding of instructions, questions and/or jokes.
• Difficulty with fine and gross motor skills.
• Difficulties accessing the school curriculum.
• Poor conversational skills and may talk too much or too little.
• Poor ‘listening’ skills, despite intact hearing.
• Fails to notice that other people are not interested in what they are saying.
• Finds it difficult to understand the non-verbal language/cues of others (such as facial expressions, gestures and/or body movements) or the rules of social behaviour.

CAUSES:

Finding all the causes of ASDs is a big topic of research. Scientists know that genetics are one of the risk factors. But they don’t have all of the answers yet. There’s not one “autismgene” that’s at work. Many things, in addition to genes, may be involved.