Thursday, March 19, 2020
Autism, Asperger Syndrome (AS), and Pervasive Developmental Disorder †Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) Essay Example
Autism, Asperger Syndrome (AS), and Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (PDD Autism, Asperger Syndrome (AS), and Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) Essay Autism, Asperger Syndrome (AS), and Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) Essay Autism, Asperger Syndrome (AS), and Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)            Autism, Asperger Syndrome, and PDD-NOS are all kinds of mind disorders. Mind disorders are illnesses in which the normal function of the mind is hindered by some reason, depending on the illness. They disrupt daily activities and may at some point turn a person into a dysfunctional individual. Although these illnesses all occur in the brain, all possess characteristics that distinguish one from the other. Autism, Asperger Syndrome, and PDD-NOS are all mental disorders which have symptoms that identify each accordingly. Autism            Autism is a disorder which affects all the mental developments. Unlike Asperger Syndrome and PDD-NOS, autism’s symptoms and characteristics that a patient exemplifies may vary depending on the age. Due to this characteristic as well, the only means to recognize autism immediately is by comparing a patient’s action and comprehension to the typical ways of thinking of a person of the same age as the patient. When a person’s brain functions do not tally with the typical brain functions and development of people in the same age bracket, autism disorder may be diagnosed (Frith, 2003).            People with autistic disorder may be distinguished from those with Asperger Syndrome as the latter does not have significant delay in language development. An autistic person also has a hard time comprehending the actions and words of other people interacting with them. Autism also has symptoms similar to PDD-NOS (First, Frances, Pincus, 2002). Asperger Syndrome Disorder            Compared to autism, Asperger syndrome is considered as milder. It also hinders normal brain functions, but unlike autism, Asperger does not cause as much dysfunctionality as autism. As stated earlier, it does not significantly delay the language development of a person. However, people with Asperger also have difficulty in speaking. Mostly, inflection and repetition occurs. Another one of its characteristics is that most patients of the disorder isolate themselves from society and they are more eccentric than usual. In other countries, Asperger is considered as another name for PDD-NOS (First et al., 2002). PDD-NOS            PDD-NOS or Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified is a condition in which some characteristics of autism is exhibited. In the fourth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) (2002), a person is diagnosed with PDD-NOS only if the full symptoms or features of autism are not met. This suggests that, like Asperger, PDD-NOS is similar to autism. It is also a developmental disorder. It has no direct and distinguishing feature. The patients suffering from this disorder also have a hard time socializing with others. Communication is also difficult for them. They are also hypersensitive. However, like Asperger, PDD-NOS may be regarded as a milder form of autism.            From the given characteristics for each illness, it may be found that the three given disorders are quite similar. They only vary from each other in terms of the severity of the non-development of the brain and the dysfunctionality each disorder causes to the person suffering from it. Autism may be considered as the worst among the three. It causes severely impaired social interaction and speech disorder. Unlike Asperger and PDD-NOS, autism greatly delays the brain development. On the other hand, Asperger syndrome does not cause a significant delay in language development. However, socialization is still impaired. This is almost similar to PDD-NOS. It also causes social impairment, but compared to autistic disorder, the impairment is only mild; there still remains hope for better communication and socialization. In addition, PDD-NOS is not commonly diagnosed unless the patient exhibits symptoms that do not qualify as symptoms of autism. Table 1 – Similarities and Differences in the Symptoms of Autism, Asperger Syndrome, and PDD-NOS Autism and Asperger Syndrome Autism and PDD-NOS Asperger Syndrome and PDD-NOS Symptom Similarities social interaction impairment speech impairment underdeveloped communication skills Brain underdevelopment speech impairment social interaction impairment Milder speech impairment milder impairment of social skills milder communication skills impairment Symptom Differences Autistic patients exhibit worse underdevelopment charcateristics inability to interact is worse speech defects are more pronounced asperger patients have milder communication defects PDD-NOS exhibit speech defect that are milder and brain underdevelopemnt signs are not as pronounced autistic patients have slower comprehension skills Asperger patients tend to repeat and stutter speech defect is more pronounced but not as much as it is with autism PDD-NOS exhibits underdevelopment signs in a milder way References First, M., Frances, A., Pincus, H.A. (2002). DSM-IV-TR Handbook of Differential Diagnosis.            Virginia: American Psychiatric Publishing Frith, U. (2003). Autism. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell
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