Very simple questions.

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Long story short:
About a month ago I was in inpatient at the hospital. A list of [mental] things sent me in there, which is worthy of a whole different post. Anyways...

The initial diagnosis is PDD-NOS.
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I have some of the traits of having AS from what I have seen during my research. There are a couple things that would point to the fact that maybe I don't and would like to get some input:

1. Not understanding peoples emotions:
It seems I can try to understand peoples emotions based upon a series of processes that I go through. Often when trying to figure this kind of thing out I usually over analyze anything having to do with what I am trying to figure out. The more frequently or if I observe certain emotions of individuals, the faster I can process and figure it out.

2. Unable to make friends:
Even when I was younger I was able to make friends. Usually the friends I made were the result of a common interest or similar situation. These friends I would hang out with were a small handful of people though.

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BS, I had friends when I was little. They came to my house to play and we all played together but it was hard to play with them at their house and connect. I could only connect to kids if we were doing what I was doing or wanted to do.

Hi cr8tive

Just my ideas....

1. It's not uncommon for aspies to learn how to figure out other people's emotions. But the fact that we do this intellectually, rather than intuitively, is what makes us aspie. An NT just "knows", whereas an aspie has to rationalize it - but that can have it's advantages in some situations, and I know a couple of aspies that can be super-empathic, even more so than NTs, in certain situations, because we've actually thought about what our response is.

2. It's not unusual for aspies to have friends. Some aspies find it hard to make friends, but some have a bit of a social network around us - just that maybe we don't spend nearly as much time on it as NTs would. I had friends as a kid, normally the other kids on my table in class-times, but this didn't always help me in the break periods. I did have one close friend, I'd say. That's also an "aspie" pattern - to have one or two close friends, rather than a larger circle of "acquaintances".

There's some good information on all of this in Tony Attwood's "Complete Guide To Asperger Syndrome" - worth a read if you're into it.

The person I know with a PDD-NOS diagnosis has always had friends.

No part of any of the DSM PDD DXs require an absence of friends. Neither is a failure to understand the emotions of others, although an impairment is generally predicted. If your description is accurate it's not necessarily true that you do not have impairment in this area.