Pervas. Dev. Dis. VS Pervas. Dev. Delay?

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Registered: 07-22-2004
Pervas. Dev. Dis. VS Pervas. Dev. Delay?
2
Sat, 04-01-2006 - 1:52pm

Hi Everyone,

We just received a copy of the report the Ped. Neur. sent to Rachel's pediatrician. In his initial report, he writes that "Rachel may have one of the Autistic Spectrum Disorders, such as Pervasive Developmental Delay (PDD)". In his follow-up letter, he writes "Rachel continues to exhibit behavior associated with Pervasive Developmental Delay".

My question is this: I want to get Rachel some type of behavioral services which must be based on an Autistic Spectrum Diagnosis. Since the neurologist used the term Pervasive Developmental Delay instead of Pervasive Developmental Disorder, will this cause a problem? It seems very likely that he is referring to an Autistic Spectrum Disorder since he used the same terminology in both reports. However, I am dealing with a school district who is very budget conscious and I am worried. I don't think these reports were meant for our school district but the neurologist is very back logged and Rachel's Annual Review is coming up and I need some type of documentation to at least get started.

What do you ladies (or men) think?

TIA!

Robin

Avatar for cathby
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-16-2003
Sat, 04-01-2006 - 8:17pm

Hi Robin,

Well.... It's clear to me that since he identified it as "one of the Autistic Spectrum Disorders" he is talking about Pervasive Dev. Disorder. Now, why he would call it delay, I dunno'. I have never heard it called that (and my DS has it).

My fear would be that he is using incorrect terminology and if your SD are jerks, they might jump on that fact, so it discredits him.

Cathy

Avatar for googolplex
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Sun, 04-02-2006 - 9:48pm

If I understand right, all of these diagnoses have a number in the DSM. Like, for instance, Autism might be 295.0, and PDD is 295.1, and Asperger's is 295.2. Something like that. (Those probably aren't the actual numbers, but they are something like that.) Whether it's "delay" or "disorder" probably isn't a bit deal, as long as the number is the same, if that makes sense.

Evelyn