PDD Nos???

[mich03]

I was wondering if anyone had experience w/ PDD? my 4 y.o. son is quite the puzzle. I must say I am new to this, am NOT educated in special needs and everything I know I have "googled", researched, input from others.We are awaiting to see the Ped neuroligist in Jan. but in the mean time I find myself really anxious wondering what could be wrong w/ my son.. After reading up on the different childhood disorders he seems to have a bit/ characteristics from a few different disorders but does not match any to a "T" (I'm sure not all kids do)  Reading up on PDD it actually seems to fit my son more then the others....I was just curious if anyone knew or has a child w/ PDD and could
give any input?

[tinybubbles3266]

My daughter was dianosed with PDD-NOS 17 years ago.  They toldme back then that 1/3500 kids would get it.  Now I hear it is 1/150. Children with PDD do have certain autistic traits, but usually never enough  to be labeled Autistic.  Leah is 19,  She has 5 traits.  I think back then you needed 9 or 11 to be labeled autistic..She was mainstreamed in "normal" classes until 7th grade. Then moved to a votech/special needs group.  She graduated from highschool and now has one more year left at her life skills center and we are hopeful that she will live with assistance, and work at a repetitive job of her liking. She loves working at hospitals and nursing homes with the elderly.
Leah was very social when she was young,  Even though she never talked much,she liked to be included in circles and conversations, she touched and pulled at people alot to get attention.  started speech therapy at 3 and to this day , understands all we say to her, but her auditory response delay(about 5 seconds) so we usually get a "no" for all her answers at first  she processes the question we asked and then gets the right answer out.  Her sentences are 3-8 words broken, but gets her message accross with everyone.  She has learned and can speak paragraphs when singing, but not talking. She loves to dance as well and is riht on the beat! She is very high functioning with living skills and showering, making bed, etc,,,but reads by memory( only single words) writes only her first name with accuracy, and knows her birthday.  Ironically her memory is exquisite!  She is my personal PDA.  If I need to be reminded of something, I tell her. She is very methodical, systematic and does not bode well with change. Eats all of one food pile on plate and then the next. great appetite.  She does not like soft touching on her skin and does not wlike to wear a seat belt or have anything constricting her in any way.  She has super human strength to help her out of any situation she does not want to be in. She is accecpted widely by the community and I am sure your child will be too.  Iff you ever want to chat more just write back.
Good luck and may you have lots of patience!

[tomel]

PDD is on the spectrum....its just a lesser version of autism. PDDnos kids seem to outgrow it better and they are not as obvious as kids with low functioning Autism or mabye Aspergers. But they still pretty much need all the same types of therapy.