![]() ![]() Mandy said in an email interview.Īs a group, girls are more likely to control their behavior in public they are less likely to have public meltdowns, make socially inappropriate comments or speak too loudly. “In that sense, the finding that girls are especially likely to fly under the radar at school does fit with my clinical experience, and with the reports of quite a few parents I have spoken to,” Dr. Are girls better able to blend in at school, while falling apart at home? It’s not clear why teachers, clinicians and parents see girls with autism so differently, from the preschool years on. In one of Hiller’s studies, teachers reported no concerns with conversational skills in half the girls with autism clinicians, on the other hand, had no such concerns in only 17 percent of those girls. Interestingly, teachers may miss more autistic symptoms in girls than clinicians or parents do. They call it the 4 o’clock explosion,” says researcher William Mandy, senior lecturer at University College London. “For many kids with ASD - but especially girls - parents say that their child manages to hold it together at school but then comes home and has to release the pressure built up during a day of pretending to be someone else. But some girls have an edge on boys when it comes to using gestures and maintaining a conversation. 4,7 Boys and girls have similar problems with understanding social situations. Nonetheless, girls with autism are just as impaired, or more impaired, in their social and communication skills, according to some studies. Teachers appear to focus more of their attention on boys with autism, who reportedly struggle with hyperactivity and classroom behavior. 2 That is “possibly because boys are more disruptive,” Young said. 2,3,4 Teachers are much less likely to voice concerns about girls than boys. ![]() Girls control their emotions better at school, where they act far differently than they do at home, according to several studies of children with autism and average-range IQ. 2 A separate study, of children in the Simons Simplex Collection, added irritability and lethargy to the list of problems that affect girls more than boys with ASD. In fact, the boys’ parents tended to be more worried about their sons’ isolation, while the girls’ parents reported more concerns about emotional outbursts such as meltdowns. Also, they tend to obsess over friendships and can develop them, or one or two close and like-minded allies,” says Robyn Young, an associate professor of psychology at Flinders University in Australia and a member of Hiller’s team.īoys are more likely to withdraw and isolate themselves from others. “They often develop a way to camouflage their symptoms. Little girls were reported to be more likely than boys to mimic others in social situations and to want to fit in with other kids. The result? Boys and girls with ASD look different as early as the preschool years, according to their caregivers. All had autism but not intellectual disability. 2,3 In one, her team surveyed parents or grandparents of 92 boys and 60 girls about their children’s behavior. Psychologist Rachel Hiller, now at the University of Bath in England, led two studies of gender differences in Australia. Several researchers said they began studying girls after hearing firsthand about their struggles to get a diagnosis and find services for ASD. And, particularly in the teen years, girls with autism appear to suffer anxiety and depression more commonly than either boys with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or typically developing girls.ĮXAMINING GENDER DIFFERENCES FROM AN EARLY AGE 2,5,6,8 Some may not be diagnosed at all. According to research by the Interactive Autism Network (another online autism research community) and others, girls with milder forms of autism are diagnosed later than boys, possibly delaying intervention. 2,3,4 Although that may sound like good news, it can have a downside. They appear to have less severe symptoms than boys and to be better able to mask their social challenges at school. Why are so few girls diagnosed with autism? Are girls simply less susceptible? Does autism look different in girls, making it harder to detect or diagnose?Ī growing number of studies suggest that girls with autism, particularly those without intellectual disability, may be hiding in plain sight. ![]() They began with questions that have dogged researchers for years. But now some scientists are making discoveries that challenge common assumptions about autism, girls and gender. 1 In fact, almost everything we know about autism comes from studying boys. Īutism primarily affects boys, right? Officially, boys outnumber girls with autism by four to one (and ten to one in “high-functioning” autism). A version of this article first appeared in. ![]()
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