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Home › Articles › Special Needs Kids › Pervasive Development Disorder

Pervasive Development Disorder

Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Childhood Disintergrative Disorder, Rett Syndrome and PDDNOS

By Lisamarie Sanders

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

Childhood disintegrative disorder is extremely rare and very severe. "These children are hit very, very hard," says Dr. London. Areas of regression include language and social ability, motor development, play skills and bladder and bowel functioning. "Not much is known about this disorder because it's so rare that it's hard to study," he says.

Rett Syndrome
Rett syndrome is another disorder where a child appears normal then gets progressively worse. However, the period of normal development is much shorter than in childhood disintegrative disorder. Usually, the child will lose previously acquired skills and begin demonstrating autistic-like behaviors around her first birthday.

Unlike the other PDDs, this syndrome most often affects girls. Also, while the other PDDs reach a certain level of impairment and then plateau, Rett sufferers continue to deteriorate, often resulting in shortened life spans. Fortunately, this is the most rare form of PDD.


PDDNOS
Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified is the most common subset of the PDD classification. "This term is used to describe an individual who exhibits milder forms of social and communication impairments that are of a brief duration, develop later in life or are insufficient to categorize under another PDD diagnosis," says Palomar.

Diagnosis
Diagnosing PDDs is very difficult because of the varied symptoms and severity levels. Additionally, medical testing is usually not helpful in making the diagnosis. But, according to Palomar, genetic and neurological tests can rule out other syndromes before the diagnosis of PDD is given.

A child suspected of having a PDD should be evaluated by a variety of professionals, including a psychologist, speech-language pathologist, child development specialist and neurologist. "In addition to standardized psychological testing, behavioral and observational scales should also be completed," says Palomar. She adds that parenta input and developmental history are also extremely important.


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