Rett syndrome-like hand-washing, developmental arrest and autistic symptoms in two Italian girls.

Two girls with autistic symptoms, developmental arrest and Rett syndrome like hand-washing are described and a review is conducted on similar cases reported to date. These girls are severely retarded, usually with a mental age of 2-3 years, have hand-washing stereotypic activities but are able to manipulate objects and have normal physical features. Some aggressiveness towards objects and other persons is usually observed.