Prior to that, the DSM-IV recognized five distinct autism spectrum diagnoses, including Asperger’s syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), Rett syndrome, and childhood disintegrative disorder.
While ASD is used as the official diagnosis, as well as for insurance coding purposes, healthcare providers can still use one of the previously recognized diagnoses in a patient’s medical records.
Here is an explanation of what these outdated diagnoses meant and how their specific symptoms are accounted for within the broader ASD diagnosis.
Children with this diagnosis develop language skills on the same timeline as typically-developing children, but have difficulties with appropriate social communication; these problems become more obvious as they get older and social expectations increase. Children with ASD often have sensory issues as well.
Many people in the autism community continue to identify as having Asperger’s syndrome because of its usefulness in describing a very specific group of people.
However, while level 3 ASD applies to all children who have severe deficits in language (including being completely nonverbal), social function, and sometimes motor skills, CDD was used to describe a specific group of children who developed typically until around age 3 and then—sometimes suddenly—lost most or all of those acquired abilities and skills.
Because there was no easy way to define the symptoms of PDD-NOS, which may range from very mild to very severe, the diagnostic category no longer exists, though a new diagnosis introduced in the DSM-5, social (pragmatic) communication disorder, may become a similar catchall category.
Children with Rett syndrome develop numerous physical symptoms, such as seizures, and a profound inability to use their hands usefully.
