Childhood Disintegrative Disorder - Signs and Symptoms

Signs and Symptoms

A child affected with childhood disintegrative disorder shows normal development and he/she acquires "normal development of age-appropriate verbal and nonverbal communication, social relationships, motor, play and self-care skills" comparable to other children of the same age. However, from between the age of 2 through the age of 10, skills acquired are lost almost completely in at least two of the following six functional areas:

• Expressive language skills (being able to produce speech and communicate a message)
• Receptive language skills (comprehension of language - listening and understanding what is communicated)
• Social skills & self-care skills
• Control over bowel and bladder
• Play skills
• Motor skills

Lack of normal function or impairment also occurs in at least two of the following three areas:

• Social interaction
• Communication
• Repetitive behavior & interest patterns

In her book, Thinking in Pictures, Temple Grandin claims that comparing to "Kanar's Classic Autism" and to Asperger syndrome, CDD is characterized with more severe Sensory integration dysfunction but less severe cognitive problems. She also claims that comparing to most persons with Autism, persons with CDD have more severe speech pathology and they usually do not respond well to stimulants.