Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

My 7 year old son was just diagnosed with this. There is not a lot of information out there about it. Can anyone help me with any information? Thank you.

Cassandra Sines

Hi Cassandra, and welcome to IAN.

You were saying your little boy was just diagnosed with Childhood Disintegrative Disorder or CDD. CDD looks a lot like autism, but occurs later. Generally, a child has developed normally, acquiring language and many other skills, when they regress, which is to say, they lose skills. This regression takes place much later than it does for children with autism - after toddlerhood, and sometimes up to even age 9.

You can read about CDD here: http://www.iancommunity.org/cs/about_asds/childhood_disintegrative_disorder_cdd

There is little information available specific to CDD because it is so rare. It is at this point considered an autism spectrum disorder, and a child with CDD would likely have an intervention program very similar to other children who are on the autism spectrum.

To learn more about the autism spectrum in general, see...

About ASDs: http://www.iancommunity.org/cs/about_asds/

Challenging Behaviors: http://www.iancommunity.org/cs/challenging_behavior/

You may especially want to look at our Newly Diagnosed section: http://www.iancommunity.org/cs/newly_diagnosed/

CDD is rare, but ASD is not. I hope you will remember you are not alone, and that many families are walking the same road. Remember that there are advocacy organizations to help, too, such as Autism Speaks -- http://www.autismspeaks.org -- and the Autism Society of America -- http://www.autism-society.org. All my best wishes to you and your family.