Michaels admitted that the clinic’s approach seemed like “more of an art than a science.” But he recognized that the ambitions of this art went beyond the mere formulation of a diagnosis. Instead, he wrote, Asperger and his colleagues aimed at nothing less than “to determine the innate capacities of the child, the alterable components of his personality, the causes of his pathological behavior, what will best assure his personal happiness, security and social welfare, what his right place is in the family, society, what are his personal goals and ambitions, and how these can all be realized.”
