Toward specifying pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified. Mandy W, Charman T, Gilmour J, Skuse D. Autism Res. 2011 Feb 4. doi: 10.1002/aur.178. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21298812 Towards specifying Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified. William Mandy DClinPsy Tony Charman PhD Jane Gilmour PhD David Skuse MD Running title: PDD-NOS Drs Mandy and Gilmour are at the Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London, UK, WC1N 6BT. Professor Charman is at the Centre for Research in Autism Education, Institute of Education, 15 Woburn Square, London, UK, WC1H 0AL. Professor Skuse is at the Behavioural and Brain Science Unit, UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London, UK, WC1E 1EH. Correspondence to Dr William Mandy, Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, UK, WC1N 6BT. Email
[email protected] Telephone: 00 44 (0)207 679 1675 Fax: 00 44 (0)207 916 1989 1 Towards Specifying Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified LAY ABSTRACT Pervasive developmental disorder – not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) is the most common and least satisfactory of the PDD diagnoses. It is not clearly defined in the diagnostic manuals, limiting the consistency with which it is used by researchers and clinicians. This in turn limits the amount that we have learnt about people with PDD-NOS. In a sample of 256 young people (mean age = 9.1 years) we aimed to implement a clear, transparent definition of PDD-NOS, and then to describe those receiving this diagnosis (n=66), investigating whether they differed from people with autistic disorder (n=97) and Asperger’s disorder (n=93).