Reliability and Accuracy of Differentiating Pervasive Developmental Subtypes

by William Mahoney and colleagues (1998) Jr. of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 278-285.

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“The DSM-IV criteria for Asperger Disorder (AsD) state that the child must meet the social impairment and repetitive behaviors criteria for autism but not meet full criteria for the latter diagnosis. Applying these criteria, we had found (using an earlier sample) that only 1 of 21 children (who were given a clinical diagnosis of AsD) met DSM-IV criteria. We concluded that these criteria were unworkable, a finding confirmed by Miller and Ozonoff. Therefore, the DSM-IV criteria for AsD were modified as follows: if a child met criteria for both autism and AsD, the child was given a diagnosis of AsD.” (p. 281).