Presented is a summary of the Final Report of the federally funded Project on Classification of Exceptional Children. Reviewed is the scope of the project which emphasized such aspects as the effects of labeling on individual children and the technical adequacy of diagnostic and classification systems. Among limitations ascribed to categories and…

Attempts to define interrelationship of personality disorders. Discusses relationships between and among three major groupings of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Suggests that passive aggressive, avoidant, and borderline personality disorders serve as bridges between these groupings. Discusses placement within groupings with…

The Rimland E2 questionnaire was applied to three groups of children diagnosed with Infantile Autism, Autism with Associated Symptoms, and Mental Retardation, as well as normal controls. Results confirmed that the scale accurately differentiates autistic from nonautistic children, but it may not permit clear differentiation of infantile autism…

Advises child psychiatrists to use personality disorder diagnoses sparingly; to be aware of the constraints on adaptability of normal variations of temperament; and to positively diagnose those rare pathological impairments of personality brought about by minimal cerebral dysfunction, schizoid traits, and traits of excessive shyness. (RH)

Investigation supported by a Public Health Service Fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health and by a grant from the University Committee on Research, The University of North Dakota.

The authors conclude that previously reported neuropsychiatric correlations based upon "pure" electroencephalographs (EEGs) may be the result of chance finding only. (Author/DB)

This paper reviews 20 studies that investigated the internal or external validity of various subtypes of autistic spectrum disorders. At least three groups could be distinguished from autism on clinical grounds: an Asperger syndrome subtype, and two atypical subtypes characterized by either low intelligence quotient or high intelligence quotient.…

This article on medical diagnosis of the sexually abused child summarizes clinical research on physical findings in nonabused children, abused children, and abused children with independent confirmation of abuse. A classification of physical findings is proposed along a continuum of certainty that sexual abuse has occurred. (Author/JDD)

This paper describes current neurological knowledge regarding the recognition, diagnosis, and classification of frontal lobe seizures, and then critiques a study by A. Gedye which suggested that self-injury may be involuntary and related to frontal lobe seizure activity. (JDD)

This study compared four systems for diagnosis of autism (Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals of Mental Disorders III, III-R, and IV, and the International Classification of Disabilities-10) with 2 empirically derived taxa and 3 social subgroups (aloof, passive, and active but odd) in 194 preschool children with social impairment. Findings support…

The validity of intuitive classifications of experienced diagnosticians was examined for 10 experienced diagnosticians evaluating child behavior problems. Results showed that intuitive prototypes corresponded poorly with empirical core syndromes in the assessment system of T. M. Achenbach and others. Reasons for differences are discussed. (SLD)

In 1994, the American Association on Mental Retardation with the DSM-IV has come to a final definition of pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), in agreement with the ICD-10. Prevalence of PDD in the general population is 0.10.15% according to the DSM-IV. PDD are more frequent in people with severe intellectual disability (ID). There is a strict…

This article presents compelling evidence, both from the literature and from their study, that attempting to improve the DSM-IV criteria for pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) can be quite frustrating. DSM-IV is a categorical system. While the diagnosis of autism is quite robust, diagnostic agreement for PDD-NOS is…

Objectives: Increasing numbers of young children referred for a differential diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) necessitates better understanding of the early syndrome expression and the utility of the existing state-of-the art diagnostic methods in this population. Method: Out of 31 infants under the age of 2 years referred for a…

Background: Attaining a developmentally sensitive nosology for preschool disruptive behavior requires characterization of the features that distinguish it from the normative misbehavior of this developmental period. We hypothesize that "quality of behavior and its pervasiveness across contexts" are critical dimensions for clinical discrimination…