Hi, Is anyone familiar with this type of diagnosis in pre-school children?
Re: Pervasive developmental disabilities
Oh so many terms. Yes this term is one used for younger children who fall on the autism spectrum. Specialist are very reluctant to give the “A” diagnosis to such young children. They opt for the gentler terms of pervasive developmental disorder or disability, depending on the individual seeing the child. The problem with the autism spectrum disorders is the wide variety of presentation. Specialists have varying degrees of exposure to it, with some feeling comfortable giving a definite diagnosis of Autism and others not. The important thing to keep in mind is that all these children need intervention the earlier the better the outcome. A label really should not matter, intervention should be based on the childs individual strengths and weakness. The Autism Society of America has a good web-site that will give you some detailed information including how to write and effective IEP for such students. I hope this helps.
Pervasive developmental disabilities is a somewhat newer term that replaced an older term. I’ve never taught PDD children but I’ve seen them. What is it you need to know? These days if you do a web search, you can find most anything you need if it’s general information.