I am hoping that someone has some experience. I tried looking it all up on the web but could only come up with

Question

general definitions and not details. If you know of a web site where I can get details I would be glad to look it up.

Well, here is the problem. My daughter has been diagnosed with PDD. Pervasive Developmental Delay. She is NOT MR. Although some of the test scores do reflect that.
Apparently to be DX with Autism or Aspergers she has to have ALL the crietia for either of those disorders according to the psycologist. Her clinical therpasit said she didn't HAVE to meet them ALL.

So here's the question. Which one is right? If you were to come down with such and such a disease - you don't have to meet ALL the crieteria of that disease - so is it different in mental health? I keep getting different answers. Does anyone know? Does anyone have experience with this?

Answer 1

Well there are different tools in diagnosis. Mental Health professionals use a book called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Health Disorders (DSM-IV). This book has a list of criteria for all the mental health disorders, and explicitly says how many of these criteria must be met. So according to the DSM, your daughter would have a Pervasive Developmental Disorder, which is a broader category containing Autism and Asperger's. So it's possible they just aren't sure which she may have. The source I have listed should help explain it as well.

Answer 2

I've been doing a little poking around myself, and from what I've read, it all depends on who you talk to. Some go strictly by the book when deciding what a patient has. So a psychiatrist strictly following the DSM would diagnose a patient as having PPD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified) if he or she didn't meet all the criteria for either autism or Asperger's. Others simply use the DSM criteria as guidelines, relying more on whether he or she feels the patient fits a particular profile. I read about one case that was considered to be Asperger's before DSM-IV was published, making the diagnosis of Asperger's official in the US. It's now considered to be a case of autism simply because the patient didn't speak until age 4, and then only single words when he did start, eventually progressing to more advanced language use (the DSM requires that there be no significant delay in language development in order to make an Asperger's diagnosis). The criteria themselves are subjective and rather aribritrary. For example, what constitutes a significant delay in language development? Where do you draw the line between having a language delay and simply being a late talker? So even if you have two psychiatrists that follow the DSM exactly, they may interpret or define the criteria slightly differently, which could mean the difference between autism or Asperger's. Not to mention the writers of the DSM may decide to modify the criteria when they write DSM-V, which is tentatively scheduled to be published in 2011. So a patient could have a diagnosis of autism according to DSM-IV but wind up having a diagnosis of Asperger's according to DSM-V. Having all the symptoms of a phyiscal illness is not important as long as the physician has some idea of what might be afflicting the patient because the physican can always have tests run to confirm whether or not the patient has the illness. Unfortunately, with mental health, there are no such tests to determine what disorder a patient might have, so psychiatrists have to solely rely on the sytmptoms to make a diagnosis. Since I have yet to come across something that says a psychiatrist must follow the DSM exactly, and that there are specific consequences if it's determined that he or she doesn't, I'd say no one is right or wrong since it appears to be open to interpretation and how strictly or loosely one wants to follow the criteria. If I were you, I'd find out as much as I could about autism and Asperger's, if you haven't done so already. Then I'd talk to people with autism and people with Asperger's, as well as parents of children with autism and parents of children with Asperger's. Then you'd probably come to some conclusion as to what you daughter has, if you haven't done so already. As a mother, you probably know your daughter better than any professional does or ever will (you know she's not mentally retarded even though tests indicate otherwise). Once you're sure of what she has, it would probably be best to find professionals that agree with your point of view and work with them (I imagine it would be fustrating working with someone that has a completely different opinion than you do).

Answer 3

In some ways both of them. In order to be diagnosed with a disorder like Asperger's typically you need to have a certain number of symptoms out of a longer list of symptoms. Sometimes you have to have a certain number of symptoms from each of a couple of groups of symptoms. There is another diagnosis called PDD-NOS (NOS stands for not otherwise specified) which means that her behavior is like those of the diagnoses in the PDDs, but doesn't specifically meet the criteria for any specific diagnosis. I bet that what's happening is that the therapist and the psychologist disagree about whether she fits in that category or not. If you're looking for more info about PDDs - I really recommend the book "A parent's guide to high functioning autism and asperger's."

Answer 4

In order to be classified as "autistic" or "Asperger's," she must meet all the required criteria.

But she doesn't have to meet all the criteria to benifit, even require, the special therapy her clinical therapist offers. Or perhaps she means your daughter doesn't need to meet all the criteria to qualify for an "autistic" program.

Or maybe she is refering to the way the criterian is written out. They list something like 6 symptoms. A child doesn't have to have all six symptoms. But to "meet all the criteria," she has to meet two of the six.

Not knowing exactly what the therapist said, I'm not sure which of the above she means.

Anyway, PDD-NOS (not otherwise specified) is on the "autism spectrum" therefore children with PDD-NOS are often refered to as "autistic."

Answer 5

There is a continuum of symptoms, and for "scorekeeping" reasons (insurance, rational for medicating) when enough of the symptoms pile up, bingo: a diagnosis.

This does not mean that her symptoms, even though not enough to compel a diagnosis, are not important.

Personal experience: Step daughter, always "quirky", didn't nurse well, afraid of lights/noise, people...in special ed since second grade. No definative diagnosis, although several suggested, like bipolar, OCD, ADHD, etc....medicated with all sorts of stuff for several years, behavior and other aspects worsened. Mood swings, violence, crying spells...finally hospitalized and tentative diagnosis of Asperger's made. Weaned off all meds, next 5 years drug free and with diet and supplements much improvement in all areas, but depression appeared all too often. Teachers/biodad and therapist pushed for drugs again, 5 weeks after starting lexapro, commited to adolescent psych unit due to suicide risk. 10 days in unit, tentative dx "schizophrenia", 7 more drugs tried with poor results. Finally took her to the Pfeiffer Clinic in Naperville, Ill. 8 months ago. Tests showed low histamine and high copper. Treating with specific supplements, good results within a week and nothing but improvement ever since. Best report cards ever this year. Recent MMPI shows NO pathology, no bipolar, no depression, no schizophrenia.
Oh...she does have mild asperger's, but so does Bill Gates! It's more of a personality than a pathology.

Answer 6

This might be helpful
http://sensitive-psychoworld.blogspot.com/