Where is PDD-NOS on the spectrum?

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I was told that PDD-NOS is more severe then aspergers but less severe then classic autism.
Can someone tell me if this is right or wrong because i am very confused by it all.
I am not sure what i am diagnosed with my mother is very vague about it and says im somewhere in a "grey area"

I think it's according to the 'symptoms' you display. Most people i've seen with PDD-NOS are more functioning than me, and I have AS.

PDD-NOS is not going to be in the new version of the DSM.

As Alex said, PDD-NOS won't be a new diagnosis soon; you'll retain it if you already have it, though, just like Asperger's.

That said, PDD-NOS is all over the spectrum. It's not definably "more" or "less" severe than anything - the point is that it doesn't fit into the spectrum that way. That's why it's "NOS" - "not otherwise specified."

Basically, it just means you don't fit any defined criterion on the scale. That could mean that you have almost all of the symptoms of autistic disorder, but are missing just one "required" symptom. It could mean that you clearly have some kind of spectrum tendencies, but you don't have enough total symptoms to qualify for any of the other diagnoses, Asperger's included. It could mean that you fit half of the Asperger's criteria perfectly, but don't have the other half. It could mean anything - more severe, less severe, in between, or almost exactly the same (with a tiny exception or two).

In general, in North America, it's used to describe something less severe than Asperger's, whereas in the UK, it's generally used the way you describe (something in between Asperger's and autistic disorder). I must stress, however, that these are not standards for "what PDD-NOS means," it's just how they're most commonly used in each place. PDD-NOS can, as I said above, mean anything with regard to "spectrum status."

Depends. It's to the left of AS unless you turn 180 degrees, then it's to the right.

I think it can be either. I can be milder than AS or worse than AS. It's just means you didn't meet the autistic criteria nor the AS criteria so they put you in that category. It is also used as a temporary diagnoses when the doctor doesn't know where to place the patient on the spectrum or when he or she feels the patient is too young for the AS label because it's hard to tell sometimes. Like I recently read that it's normal for toddlers to fixate on one thing and have narrow interests and that is all they ever do leaving their other items untouched. But then they are expected to outgrow it so if a aspie toddler has that, it can be hard for the doctors to tell if it's the AS or part of being a toddler because its normal at that age.

But it is still on the autism spectrum.

I agree. My son has been diagnosed PDD-NOS because he has a speech delay but not physycal problems as meltdowns and seizures. He also has few stims.
Your mother is vague because she really doesn't know where you are in the "grey area".
I still don't understand where my son is, but I realized that the important thing is to help him.

On Wikipedia:

"While PDD-NOS shares similarities with autism, it tends to be milder"

but also (as some people mentioned):

"In the proposed DSM-V, PDD-NOS would disappear, and be replaced by Autism Spectrum Disorder"

and:

"The boundaries between it and non-autistic conditions are not fully resolved"

It seems even doctors are not sure how to classify it exactly yet.

Shadi

Personally I think this matters most for insurance and getting the help you need. PDD-NOS seems pretty vague and without the glamour some put on AS. Frankly, I think Einstein would probably have a better chance at getting a PDD-NOS diagnosis than anything.

I personally like the ASD label, it's like we are all dogs in the pound getting our breed labels. We are all mixed breeds with traits that fit here or there more or less, but at least we all know we're dogs. Labels can't change that.

Here is what I wrote pretty comprehensively about the many possible meanings of PDD-NOS.

http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=347

In short, it can mean anything from someone who would otherwise be diagnosed with AS or autism but their traits are milder, to someone who is so severely impaired that they cannot do enough things to qualify for a regular autism diagnosis.

Something to remember about any -NOS diagnosis is this: It's not a "thing" that lies at any place on any particular "spectrum".

My doctor explained it to me like this once: There are a small number of neuromuscular disorders that have names. There are zillions of neuromuscular disorders that have no name, and they are all kinds, from mild to severe, and all affecting the body differently. Each of those disorders that has no name, is different from the other disorders that have no name, just as different as any two disorders that do have a name can be.

And what does -NOS mean? It means that it's one of those conditions that has no name. So it could be fifty different meanings, many of them with less in common than autism and Rett's syndrome have. You can't place "it" on a spectrum because it's not "it", it's "they". (Leaving aside the problems with "placing AS or autism on a spectrum", which are many.) Let's imagine that the only autism-related conditions that had names were autism and childhood disintegrative disorder, while Rett's and Asperger's had no names. So then Rett's and Asperger's would both be diagnosed as PDD-NOS. But are Rett's and Asperger's all that similar? No. They're usually quite different, to the point Rett's is probably being removed from the PDD section of the DSM. But in that imaginary world where they were both PDD-NOS, just imagine someone saying that PDD-NOS was a "certain place on the spectrum" because Rett's had that "place on the spectrum", and imagine how Asperger's would not have anywhere near that "place on the spectrum" even though it would be PDD-NOS. And then maybe you'd not want to try and give an -NOS diagnosis a single "place" on anything.

I was diagnosed with PDD with autistic charateristics. I think there was only one part of the criteria that I did not fit. As I mentioned before on here I was rather low functioing as a kid and as I grew up, with alot of social skills training, dalily living skills training, PT, OT...etc etc, I am now much higher functioning.

I am more aspie than autie nowdays, but I still dont fit the critera like a glove. However, I think the critera is too rigid and does not make room for personality differentials.
I also truely suck at math and some logic. I have this total disconnect when it comes to math and any math related problems.

I agree - I never understood how the internet is full of articles diagnosing the "late talkers" Einstein and Wittgenstein with Asperger's.