Criteria

ANS

I. The client has obvious and consistent problems with social interactions, as described by at least 2 of the following:

A	Does not use body language when interacting (e.g. no eye contact, no change of facial expression, maintains a rigid body posture)
B	Does not develop relationships like others of his same age-group (e.g. a student makes friends with his teachers but not his classmates)
C	Lack of spontaneous emotional expression and sharing with others (e.g. does not point at objects; does not play with, touch, and chit-chat with others by his own initiative)
D	Lack of social or emotional playing (e.g. preferring to be alone, not participating in social games, or reluctantly involving others only as tools or "mechanical" aids)

II. The client keeps repeating certain limited activities or pursuing certain specialized interests, described by at least one of the following:

A	Constant and persistent behavior that cannot be explained (e.g. keeps counting coins, watching bottle cap move, or watching the same video clip again and again)
B	Insistence on following specific, useless routines and rituals (e.g. must eat the same food prepared the same way in the same way; must always go to school on the same time along the same route doing the same things)
C	Keeps making the same useless movement without reason (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
D	Obsession with certain parts of objects (e.g. keeps playing with wheels of a truck or fan propeller)

(III) The client finds that he has serious social problems with both his personal and professional life

(IV) The client learns to speak at about the same time as most children (e.g. single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years)

(V) Other than difficulties with social interaction, the client has no other problems developing his other mental abilities (e.g. being curious about the environment)

(VI) The client does not suffer from another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia

probably NOT autistic