'Agricultural specialisterne': rural employment revolution for those with Autism

[Visionary7903]

The girl depicted in the book, Awakening Ashley: Mozart Knocks Autism on Its Ear, met the criteria for pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). The autism spectrum includes three categories: autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and PDD-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)…

…Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) is one of the autism spectrum disorders and is used to describe individuals who do not fully meet the criteria for autistic disorder or Asperger syndrome.

PDD-NOS may be thought of as ‘subthreshold autism,’ or a diagnosis one can give a person who has ‘atypical symptomatology.’ In other words, when someone has autistic characteristics but some of their symptoms are mild, or they have symptoms in one area (like social deficits), but none in another key area (like restricted, repetitive behaviors), they may be given the PDD-NOS label…

(sources: http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2008/feb/03/can_music_aid_an_autistic_child_02_03_08_wpn-ar-447378/; http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/pdd-nos)