The hypothesis of this paper is that play therapy has a positive potential role in treating Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDDNOS).
First used in the 1980s, the term Pervasive Developmental Disorder refers to a class of disorders defined by ôimpairments in social interaction, imaginative activity, verbal and nonverbal communication skills, and a limited number of interests and activities that tend to be repetitiveö (Tsai 1998). Biological and behavioral studies
have suggested that neurological abnormalities are responsible for PDDNOS, but the cause or causes are presently unknown. Because the disorder is diagnosed behaviorally and not biologically, there may be more than one underlying physical condition responsible.
It is important to remember that there are a wide variety of symptoms included in a diagnosis of PDDNOS, that they vary in intensity, and that any given child suffering from the disorder may exhibit only one or several of its characteristic behaviors. Furthermore, there is currently no valid biological test for PDDNOS, such as a blood test or X-ray, so a diagnosis is an educated guess. And finally there is no way to clearly discriminate PDDNOS from other autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in an infant or young child. ôAll these disorders are characterized by varying degrees of impairment in communication skills, social interactions, and restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviorö (Strock 2004).
The most important fact about therapies used to treat PDDNOS is that ôthere is no known cureö (NINDS 2004). Medications can be used to treat specific behavioral problems, but therapy for children with PDDNOS should be individualized based on a childÆs specific needs. It is in the realm of education where the characteristic deficits of children suffering from this disorder manifest themselves most clearly, because they sharply reduce a childÆs ability to learn at an age...