Good Advice on PDD

PDD... is a wide spectrum. Each child is different, per their assessment/age/ areas they need work on. Not all children with PDD have the same exact issues.

How old is your child?
Does he/she have a specialist working with him/her?
Because if so, you'd ultimately want to ask the specialist, what specific things would benefit your child and for resources.
And then that way, as the parent, you can get specific suggestions as to what you can do, to help your child. Specifically.

all the best,
Susan

No - a child does not "grow out of" PDD. It is a neurological disorder that affects how children interact with the world. However, early intervention can increase a child's "success" of interacting with the world.

If your child was diagnosed with PDD, you should have received a number of options from the doctor that did the diagnosing such as theraputic interventions, school interventions, medication that may be helpful, etc. I would recommend that you seek the help of a good child psychologist/psychiatrist to help you find out what is available in your area. Also, you could contact your county mental health program and ask what services they provide. My sons have a mental health case worker and she has been invaluable with information regarding local resources.

Good luck.

Pervasive Developmental Disorder is better known as autism, but is specified with several different types of the disorder in the manual for these disorders under the PDD category.

Generally, when the diagnosis is PDD, you are talking about a child whose diagnosis is PDD-NOS, or Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. That is the less specific diagnostic name for kids who are on the autistic spectrum, but don't meet any of the diagnositic standards for a specfic autsistic disorder, such as Asperger (someone with this diagnosis could be said to have PDD- Asperger syndrome.)

For all ASD's (or PDD's) children are treated according to thier symtoms. Almost certainly, speech therapy will be neccessary (but each child's therapy would depend on their specific needs in speech and language.)

Most need Occupational therapy too, but thier treament plans will be dependent on the needs they have, sensory, visual motor, visual perceptual, vestibular, etc.

Many do well with play therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy, and most will do well will social skills groups.

For more severe cases, Applied Behaviroal Anayisis or ABA therapy is helpful. This therapy is done by professionals in a theraputic enviornment and may take up to 40 hours a week or more. It is very intensive therapy.

Medical care and psychiatric care is also based on the symptoms per the child, if anxiety, inattention, agression, mood, aggitation or depression are issues, as are common, then medical care is based on those specific needs.

The books are many, Tony Attwood is great if you have a high functioning kid or a child with asperger. Mel Levine writes many broader spectrum books about the kinds of issues that all children with brain disorders face. All Kinds of Minds is a wonderful book about many different brain issues and symptoms and how to treat them.

Most children do not outgrow autism, although early intervention is going to make their functioning level much better than it would be otherwise. Proper advocacy in school is going to help you get through too, www.wrightslaw.com will give you nearly all the information you need to learn to advocate well.

As for handling it, it is not an easy road, but you will make it. Be ready, just as you think you have it all figured out, it will change and you will need to go back to the drawing board; it is the nature of the beast. Developmental disorders are moving targets with moving goals, which is the nature of development. It is certainly never boring.

If you are a primary caregiver, you may find yourself needing psychiatric care, which is very common (more common than not) so if you feel hopeless or exhausted, seek care. Take very careful care of your marriage as well, developmental issues can be trying on marriage.

If you do not have an evaluation of your child from a Developmental Pediatrician that spells out a full treatment plan, then make an appointment and get one. It is worth the time and effort, and this kind of doctor will spend many hours with your child, and will call in every kind of professional they need from speech to genticists. If you do not have speech and OT yet, you can get evaluations and start that therapy while you wait for an appointment with the Developmental pediatrician, but keep that appointment even if you see progress, because you want to be sure that you are not missing any of your child's needs. Speech therapists and OT's are good to ask for toy suggestions that may help your child to progress. You can find Developmental Pediatricians at your nearest Childrens Hospital, and I would highly recomend one for evaluation, and then treatment through a very accessable board certified child psychiartist.

There are many of us on this site who have kids on the spectrum, you will find a lot of support and advice when you need it!

M.

No, they don't grow out of it on their own. There are many therapies available, from early intervention on. How old is the child?

This is very complicated but there are many steps you can take. One often-overlooked piece of the puzzle is nutrition. It is no coincidence that, as our foods have declined in nutrient value (even if you eat perfectly and organically) that the incidence of PDD, all forms of autism, ADD/ADHD, sensory integrative issues, allergies (food and environmental), diabetes, and much much more have increased exponentially.

I have worked with so many parents of autistic kids, and we have a great network of support that helps nutritionally as well as with various services provided. I'd be happy to help so please feel free to email me privately. There is more info than we can put in a post. Definitely pursue other avenues as well but don't leave this out.

The book I have found to be very helpful and informative is "A Parent's Guide to Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism" by Sally Ozonoff, Geraldine Dawson and James McPartland. I am assuming that with a dx of PDD your child is high functioning. Your child is 3 is that right? What a dx of PDD-NOS means is that he meets some criteria of autism but not enough for a diagnosis. My son is 8 and has a dx of adhd and pdd-nos but now I am being told that most of his "autistic-like" symptoms can be explained by anxiety or simply be part of the ADHD. The key is early intervention and making connections with other parents of children with similar issues. I am part of an online yahoo group called Shadow syndrome kids which has been very helpful and supportive over the last few years. feel free to send me a private message if you have any other questions!

My son who just turned 6 has PDD-Nos and it is not something that they grow out of. He was in early intervention from the age of 3.5 when he was given the DX. I could sit here and type forever about my son. I have read alot of books and finally realized that a book is not going to help me with him, it's the knowledge that you get from the book and you have to see what will work and what won't. All kids on the Autism Spectrum relate with different things. There are no 2 kids that are the same of the spectrum. If you have any specific questons feel free to email me at ____@____.com. I do agree with the other post that getting the help early on does make a huge difference. My son will be starting first grade next year in the general ed classroom with an aid and pull out time. He has made great progress over the years, but I won't lie when I say everyday is a struggle and by the grace of god we both get through it.