Doesn't seek to share achievements, interests or pleasure with others . Lacks social or emotional reciprocity. Persistently preoccupied with parts of objects. The symptoms cause clinically important impairment in social, occupational or personal functioning. The patient doesn't fulfill criteria for Schizophrenia or another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder.
Some disorders have similar symptoms.
The clinician, therefore, in his diagnostic attempt has to differentiate against the following disorders which need to be ruled out to establish a precise diagnosis. Not Otherwise Specified. Asperger's Disorder is a milder variant of Autistic Disorder. Both Asperger's Disorder and Autistic Disorder are in fact subgroups of a larger diagnostic category. This larger category is called either Autistic Spectrum Disorders or Pervasive Developmental Disorders.