Brief report: a reappraisal of clumsiness as a diagnostic feature of Asperger syndrome.

Asperger syndrome, first described by the Austrian physician Hans Asperger (1944), is an uncommon disorder whose clinical features overlap with those of autism (Kanner, 1943) and schizoid personality disorder (Wolff & Barlow, 1979; Wolff & Chick, 1980). Some authorities regard it as part of the "autistic spectrum" (Wing, 1981), while others have argued for the need to separate it from autism (Rutter, 1988; Tsai, 1991). One possible reason for the controversy surrounding the status of this syndrome is the lack of consensus about its clinical features. It is generally accepted that the core features of the syndrome consist of social isolation, odd and pedantic speech, poor nonverbal communication, and preoccupation with certain idiosyncratic interests (Wing, 1981). In addition, clumsiness has been proposed as one of the diagnostic criteria. Thus, based on the description of cases by Asperger, Wing (1981) noted that gross motor movements are clumsy and ill-coordinated in this syndrome. Most of the patients are said to be poor at games involving motor skills, and sometimes show impaired ability to write and draw. In a subsequent paper (Burgoine & Wing, 1983), she stated that "clumsy and ill-coordinated movements and odd posture" form one of the major clinical features of Asperger syndrome [italics added]. Other writers have concurred with this view. For example, after a review of the topic, Tantam suggested that the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome should be used for those autistic children who "use language freely but fail to make adjustment to fit different social contexts or the needs of different listeners, wish to be sociable but fail to make relation-