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Mattoid
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09 Oct 2016, 12:28 am

What are the differences between the two? Can someone get misdiagnosed with one while having the other?


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Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 114 of 200
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You seem to have both neurodiverse and neurotypical traits

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teksla
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09 Oct 2016, 3:37 am

yes. if you have PDDNOS you can be high functioning, or very low functioning, PDDNOS is a "catch-all" category, so if your symptoms are too mild for an ASD diagnosis, you can get a PDDNOS diagnosis


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somanyspoons
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09 Oct 2016, 3:34 pm

Mattoid wrote:
What are the differences between the two? Can someone get misdiagnosed with one while having the other?


Oy! There is no such thing as either of these diagnostic categories.

There is no such thing as mild aspergers. There was never a thing called mild aspegers. There are plenty of people who will use that phrase because they are afraid of the stigma of aspergers. So they'll say that to separate themselves from people with "real" aspergers. But really aspergers is like the chicken pox. Your symptoms may vary, but you either have or you don't have it. The diagnostic code for any aspergers dx is above average IQ, but that was frequently ignored by diagnosticians, some of whom diagnosed every autistic who has spoken language with aspergers instead of autism.

PDD is a little more complex. It is rapidly becoming out of use. It is no longer a part of the DSM (the manual they use to standardize these labels.) It is still in the ICD codes in the US, but fewer and fewer doctors use it.

The reason these labels are not being used is that they are being used completely inconsistently by doctors. Doctors had wildly different ideas about what each one mean, and that showed in how they were using them.

As a teacher, these codes meant absolutely nothing. I could get a kid labeled aspergers who needed moment-to-moment assistance with basic skills and a kiddo with PDD who was only invisibly impaired. I saw brilliant kids with aspergers labels and teenagers who need diapers who have PDD labels. Completely meaningless categories. It did, however, tell you a lot about the parents. If you had a kid with high needs who carries an aspergers label, watch out! Those parents are very anxious about their kid and the stigma of autism.

Your question is exactly the question that the US psych association was asking when they decided to roll all these labels into one - autism spectrum disorder.

You can have ASD without intellectual impairment. That makes a huge difference in our life experiences. It really does. But we all, intellectually impared or not, share certain experiences - certain ways of experiencing the world.

To answer your question, yes! You can most certainly get diagnosed with one when the other would fit better. In fact, I'd say that is quite common.

ASD, on the other hand, is more broad and therefore a little harder to misdiagnose. But there is still a problem with girls and missing it.