“At least eight of the following sixteen items are present, these to include at least two items from A, one from B, and one from C.” This ensured that fewer children would slip through the diagnostic net because they failed to exhibit one behavior or another on evaluation day. The descriptions of these behaviors were also made less absolute. In the A list, for example, Kanner’s “pervasive lack of responsiveness to other people” became Wing’s “qualitative impairment in reciprocal social interaction.” It was left to the clinician to decide whether the degree of impairment was sufficient to make
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