Asperger syndrome and "pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified," in which people have trouble with motor sequencing (developmental dyspraxia) clearly belong to an "autism spectrum" of neurological conditions. But people who have these conditions are not at the point of having obvious PDD.
People who interact with those having such conditions have a very unfortunate tendency to focus on any inter-personal communications symptoms that the afflicted people might have. But the truth is that the most serious handicaps these people have are very likely not related to any social-skill issues. The residual deficits of such people bear a striking resemblance to things like dyslexia and "attention deficit" (which seems to be more than one type of condition). But people with dyslexia or ADD tend to get little help. It is crucial to understand that, while they can be nearly invisible, the residual symptoms of relatively minor PDD-spectrum conditions tend to be orders of magnitude more problematic than dyslexia or ADD.
The first thing that needs to get done for your friend is to find a psychiatrist or a behavioral neurologist who will diagnose Asperger syndrome. Even if the person actually has few, or no inter-personal communications symptoms, and really has "pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified," they probably need to just lump it in with Asperger syndrome, since there is so little understanding of these conditions, even within the medical community. It is crucial for the afflicted person to be aware of the possibility that he may have neurological deficits that, while not entirely evident to him, might be far more severe than the symptoms of dyslexia or ADD.
It might be best to seek out small "groups" of folks who have PDD-spectrum conditions within the community. It can be somewhat stressful for people who share these conditions to communicate with one another. But these groups would tend to know how to find medical doctors and psychologists who have experience in dealing with these conditions.
Thanks, good luck, and keep posting!
