DSM-IV-TR Criteria for Asperger's Disorder
| A. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following: |
| Marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction |
| Failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level |
| A lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people) |
| Lack of social or emotional reciprocity |
| B. Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following: |
| Encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus |
| Apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals |
| Stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements) |
| Persistent preoccupation with parts of objects |
| C. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning |
| D. There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age two years, communicative phrases used by age three years) |
| E. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood |
| F. Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia |
Reprinted with permission from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2000.