Autism Vox

Autism Diagnosis “vs.” PDD-NOS Diagnosis Over Time

by Kristina Chew, PhD on June 6th, 2006

According to a study in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry,

• An autism diagnosis given to a two-year-old child is likely to hold true when that same child is nine years old.
• On the other hand, a diagnosis of PDD-NOS (pervasive development disorder not otherwise specified) in a two-year-old child is more likely to be reclassified as an autism diagnosis or a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome or other ASD spectrum disorder.

In an article in the June 5th MedPage Today, the study’s investigators note that their findings raise “real questions about the usefulness of pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified as a categorical diagnosis” and further caution that “health care professionals should be wary of telling parents that their young children do not have autism, only pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified.”

Under Catherine Lord, Ph.D., investigators studied 192 children who had been referred before their third birthdays as possibly having autism. 22 children with developmental delays and no autism diagnosis served as controls. The children in the study were referred from a state-supported autism program in North Carolina and also from a privately-funded autism program in Chiacgo; the controls were referred from the same North Carolina sources. The children were studied over a period of time and with a variety of diagnostic instruments.

The children were evaluated at two, five, and nine years with standard instruments, including the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R, a parental interview), the Pre-Linguistic Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule/Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (an observational scale), and with independent clinical diagnoses made at ages two and nine.

Charlie has always had an autism diagnosis. He has never been considered a “mildly autistic child.” While it was not easy to hear the words “he has autism” or “he has classic autism” back in 1999, knowing that that was Charlie’s diagnosis impelled Jim and me to seek the best education and therapies for him when he was very young. Children all across the autism spectrum vary in their needs and in the educational techniques that work best for their learning, but they all still have needs that mainstream education and medicine do not always meet.

Health care and education professionals saying “it’s only PDD-NOS” ought to be wary in their words to parents, indeed.

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POSTED IN: Asperger's Syndrome, Diagnosis, Psychology