In 1943, Leo Kanner, child psychiatrist and author of the first U.S. textbook on child psychiatry, published a paper in which he described 11 children "whose condition differs so markedly and uniquely from anything reported so far, that each case merits—and, I hope will eventually receive—a detailed review of its fascinating peculiarities" (Kanner 1943, p. 217). The following year, Hans Asperger described, in a German publication, a similar disorder (Asperger 1944/1991). Both reports had the word autistic in their title. Kanner's report was initially much better known in the West. Despite considerable interest, it was not until DSM-III (American Psychiatric Association 1980) was published that autism became an official and codified diagnosis. The DSM-III diagnostic criteria, which had been developed after numerous expert suggestions and field trials, were consistent with many, though not all, of Kanner's observations. Although the criteria have been adjusted through subsequent editions of DSM, the overall approach to the diagnosis of autism remains largely unchanged.