Brief report: a comparison of the diagnostic criteria for Asperger syndrome.

Asperger syndrome (AS) was first described under the title of autistic psychopathy by the Austrian physician Hans Asperger (1944). Despite the growing interest in it, its nosological status remains uncertain. It is not clear to what extent it differs from autism, although some authorities have proposed that it is part of the "autistic continuum" (Wing, 1981). The DSMIII-R (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1987) has no separate category for this disorder, and the DSM-IV has not yet decided whether or not to include it (APA, DSM-IV Options Book, 1991). However, the ICD-10 (World Health Organization [WHO], 1988) has included it as a distinct category within the pervasive developmental disorders, because it does not "fulfill the usual criteria for autism and because it remains uncertain whether or not the syndrome is truly synonymous with autism" (Rutter, 1989, p. 504). According to the ICD-10, AS is characterized by a qualitative impairment of reciprocal social interaction; a lack of clinically significant general delay in language or cognitive development; and restricted patterns of behavior and interests. In addition, the disorder is not attributable to the other varieties of pervasive developmental disorder (WHO, 1988). Most publications have not used any operational criteria for the diagnosis of AS while others have introduced substantial changes to the clinical features described by Asperger. For example, Asperger believed that the patients he described were of normal intelligence. However, some authors have since described patients of Asperger syndrome with mental