Autism diagnosis may be missed in girls

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I think there is already a thread regarding this in the News and Current Events folder.

One of the biggest reasons my Asperger's went undiagnosed (dispite having all the signs) until I was a senior in highschool is because I'm a girl and it is relatively rare for girls to have asperger's compared to boys. Asperger's is not the only disorder that can be overlooked due to odds, just watch a few edpisodes of mystery diagnosis and you will see that any conditions that defies odds in anyway is often over looked by most doctors, it takes a special doctor to look past the odds and see the symptoms for what they really are.

I don't necessarily think it's more rare for girls to have Asperger's, I just think it's not recognised because our charactieristics manifest differently than in boys. I know that some of my my characteristics are definitely different than my son's. Some of the things are the same, but some are way different. Our sensory stuff is definitely different in a lot of ways. They sometimes seem as if they are on total opposite ends of the spectrum (so to speak).

Unless we are hugely antisocial and difficult we often don't get pegged or we are just awkward and shy, which for some reason is not considered bad in girls. Poor guys. If you are awkward or shy you get labeled as gay. It sucks.

For the record, I only had echolalic speech until I was four, I was slow to childhood empathy, no fear, and I obviously had sensory and social issues. My parents assumed that I was just a slow learner, and I was four in 1994. It really can be missed.

O, I agree. Albeit, it's not at the same level as Asperger's, but it can be missed [and then it's usually misdiagnosed as Schizophrenia in adulthood if the person makes it that far without being picked up]. As you said, if your parents don't see that there's anything wrong, other than perhaps being a little slow or different, it's easy for the child with Autism to be missed if they're of a normal level of intelligence when they enter school] (this is a rare event, but it happens).

For anecdotes, I've seen a few young girls with Asperger's, and my sister saw one [who stereotypically pointed out that my sister was "fat" due to being pregnant]; I didn't notice any difference between them and boys in behaviour. Some huddled around their mother and wouldn't play with others, and others would interact, but it'd be "inappropriate".

As some have said, and I believe the article mentioned such; boys tend to be scrutinized more in society for being different. This is wrong for both males and females.

However, I'm personally betting it's not much different in prevalence, only that females will take longer to be diagnosed as a whole [and they'll have to go through with a lot more drivel as they get there].

This actually makes total sense to me.

I am a female aspie, but diagnosed (at 12), and this whole obsessional relationships thing is very true for me. It took me 7 years to get over my first crush, then about 3 to 4 years to get over my second crush.

This is a post I wrote in thread elsewhere, in reaction to this same article:

Some of us (females) are too seemingly "girly" (so-called "normal" aka typical for majority of females) to be considered possibly on the spectrum. I'm not at all a "tomboy" sort of person (am not similar, in my activities/interests, to what is often associated with males), though in a few major ways I'm at variance with the expected behaviors/priorities of "most" females. This is just me, am not making generalization as to how other people are.

Yes, my obsessions have often been in relation to social situations/stimuli, individuals (rather than objects-physical/mechanical things) of interest to me.

Can also be hard to dissect why some of us didn't get dx until adulthood, because there's factor of AS not being in general usage in USA 'til after '94, but also the issue of how I "present" (come across/display/seem to a shrink): however I was as a kid, and how I am at this point, as a grown up with all manner of secondary, acquired, learned (due in part to no one-incl. myself-understanding the nature of my inherent differences & difficulties) co-morbids.

I can see where you are coming from. As a child my inappropriate social interaction was just assumed because I was an energetic tomboy. As a girl, the fact that I often hit other children probably didn't seem as alarming as it would for a boy. It's wrong, but cultural issues do affect the way people see interaction.



Wait, you mean that having a childhood crush for six years might be an ASD thing? I never thought of it that way.

Wow, I had two obsessions in childhood. Sailor Moon and the boy that lived across the street. Huh.

Other than the fact that ASD of the milder sort wasn't recognized until recently anyway, I might still escape diagnosis as a girl if I were in that age group. My traits weren't all that obvious really. Oh, maybe I'm full of it too. I didn't really have any academic difficulties other than an utter refusal to do homework, but I did have social issues. I also confounded my teachers by some odd things like plucking out all my eyelashes for some reason. I honestly don't know if my behavior as a child would be noticed today. My daughter's behavior is very obvious, girl or not.

its very true its one reason why i was not officially diagnosed until last year when i was 17 (but it was suspected by one of my pshycologists for a few years since i was about 13 or 14 but she didnt know enough about the spectrum to be qualified to diagnose me. (my current phycologist speciallizes in autism spectrum disorders and she is the one who gave me the official diagnosis of asperger's syndrom)

of course there are many other reasons why i was not diagnosed earlier. This is because of my many misdiagnoses of ADHD when I was 7, plus multiple anxiety disorders throughout the years. plus childhood bipolar when i was 12 uggggg all these stupid misdiagnoses sometimes i wonder especially considering the fact that some of symptoms are much worse now than when i was younger, if the meds i was prescribed when i was growing up effected my brain at all to make me this way now. : /

My 7 yo dd has been diagnosed with ADHD, but a short stint on meds didn't improve the social aspects one iota. I've convinced the school they need to look into ASD. But no meds. She shows ASD behaviors everywhere, but not ADHD.

I can vouch for that. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 15.

Yes I can see how boys are much less likely to display shyness and oversensitivity but it is more common in girls.

I agree with you

Autistic disorder/Classic Autism/LF Autism are almost impossible to miss.

My daughter has Classic Autism, I'm no professional but I knew there was somthing seriously wrong with her from around 18 months old. You can't miss the extremeness of Classic Autism.

However HF Autism and Aspergers can be missed. At a young age there difficulties are subtle.

I do agree when people say perhapes the traits appear different between male and females with ASD.

I personally think that the MD's need to be better educated. My husband and I had to push for my 3 year old to be evaluated. When she was 2 all she could say was "ice", she would spin around and circles, very little eye contact, lined toys, spinning toys, smashed her own fingers in doors and enjoyed it, tactile defensive, and would not respond to her name or point or look at anything pointed at. Its amazing the change that the last year and a half of therapy has done. She still spins and lines but has very good eye contact, will actually display some affection, has a large vocabulary, is potty trained (ok, its a schedule and she doesnt ask to go very often...but still). She is getting accustomed to having other children around and touching her...she is very tollarant. Also she does very little self injury now unless she is very very upset and she will pull her own hair. She loves princesses, colors, numbers and letters. We have all this because we knew she needed some help and not because the doctors recognised it. In the US if you dont get your child diagnosed before the age of 3 you will not get any of the early intervention services so I am glad we pushed when we did.
My pediatricians office has now put up posters about early warning signs of Autism but apparent to me the doctors themselves are still not very educated.
I took my daughter in about 6 months ago for her check up and I got one of the doctors that we dont see very often. My daughter was drawing with chalk (she likes to draw faces) and babbling. The doctor asked me if she carried a certain object around with her. I told her she did not.....then the doctor shakes her head and says "well, I think it would be hard to make that Autism diagnosis at this point"..............HUH????
I suppose I could take it as a compliment but at the same time it really makes me question how informed they are.

I really have to disagree with this. I know this a decade old thread but it's such a persistent myth even today. If you're really Autistic regardless of your gender or your race (that's another thing) you will be diagnosed. I was diagnosed at 4 because I had virtually no language skills and repetitive Autistic behavior. I am female. Remember, many people on this site have never been formally diagnosed and just self identify with the Autism label. Then they get angry when they go and pay to be diagnosed as an adult and are told ''you are not autistic''.