What are the diagnostic criteria for Asperger's Syndrome?

DSM is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association. In 1994, Asperger's Syndrome was added to the DSM. Until a condition appears in the DSM, it does not receive much recognition in the US. Before that, it was sometimes called "autistic psychopathy", "schizoid disorder of childhood", "atypical autism", "social skills learning disability", "nonverbal learning disability", or whichever trait seemed to be causing the most difficulty, such as obsessive-compulsiveness. This breaks the criteria into six categories:

• impaired social interaction
• restricted repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities
• impaired social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning
• no delay in language development
• no delay in cognitive development
• does not meet criteria for other pervasive developmental disorders or schizophrenia disorders
  

The European equivalent of the DSM published by the World Health Organization is known as the ICD (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems). It included Asperger's Syndrome in the 1992 publication. This breaks the criteria into four categories:

• no delay in language or cognitive development
• abnormalities in reciprocal social interaction
• intense, circumscribed interest or restricted repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities
• does not meet criteria for other pervasive developmental disorders, schizophrenia disorders, or several other disorders

Lars Christopher Gillberg has done significant research on autism and Asperger's Syndrome, and the criteria he developed is considered by those who actually work with children to be more accurate. It was published in 1989. He has six categories of criteria:

• social impairments
• narrow interests
• repetitive routines
• speech and language abnormalities
• non-verbal communication problems
• motor clumsiness

Peter Szatmari also proposed diagnostic criteria for Asperger's Syndrome in 1989. He has four categories of criteria:

• social isolation
• impaired social interaction
• impaired non-verbal communication
• speech and language peculiarities

M. S. Garnett and Tony Attwood developed a questionnaire to identify Asperger's Syndrome, which is known as The Australian Scale for Asperger's Syndrome, which was published in 1997. It has a checklist divided into six categories: social and emotional abilities, communication skills, cognitive skills, specific interests, movement skills, and other characteristics.

Tony Attwood's and Carol Gray's criteria is listed as "discovery criteria", rather than diagnostic criteria, because it focuses on the strengths of a person with AS. It looks at Asperger's Syndrome from a different point of view.

Links for each set of diagnostic criteria are below.