Is there info on female AS please

Post Reply New Topic

I agree that it's frustrating and annoying when people present their opinions based on "intuition" as facts. This forum is a good example of why people shouldn't believe everything they read on the internet; they should read published papers and books on the subject to see what the facts really are.

So if I were to publish papers and a book on how the earth is really flat instead of round that would make it fact?

A great majority of scientific advancements and corrections to what was previously thought of as "fact" stemmed from the intuition of a single person and often from those who arent even "experts".

As for basing it off of "classical" autism ratios again those might be skewed due to the basic differences in brain function between genders.

The only true measure of ratio would be to isolate the gene that causes it and test on a large number of people then seperate the results by gender.

If the AS gene is there in say 0.05% of males and 0.05% of females theres your answer.

Looking at symptoms alone is pointless.

I've read allot about it and thats the conclusions i have draw. I have not done any scientific studies myself, i was merely stating my own opinion on the subject.

Another thing that i notice is that the experts are always coming out with another study and contradicting themselves. I take anything they say with a grain of salt. Because chances are next week they are going to say the opposite.

No, of course publishing papers and books saying the earth is round wouldn't make it fact. However, it would be unlikely that such material would be published in the first place. Information written in a published book or paper tends to be much more reputable than "information" written by anonymous people on message boards. The material in a published piece of work had to go through a lot of people including editors and and other experts in the field before it could be published. Anyone who has passed high school English knows that published material is considered more reliable than stuff on Internet message boards.

I am well aware of scientific history. However, people can't simply publish their intuitions without rigorous scientific experiments that provide evidence supporting their hypotheses. What may have started off as an intuition is not considered reputable fact until it has been thoroughly investigated and cross checked by other scientists.

I think that you are making the genetics of AS way simpler than it will actually turn out to be. It is highly unlikely that AS is caused by a single gene. If a single gene were the cause of AS, then AS would follow a simple Mendelian inheritance pattern, which it does not. It is much more likely that AS and autism are caused by multiple genes on multiple chromosomes as well as some environmental factors. Perhaps different combinations of these genes cause differences in the severity of the AS/autism. When we know which genes are responsible for the collection of symptoms we call autism and AS, then we will have a more objective means of diagnosis and the ratio of males to females affected can be determined more objectively. In the meantime the best epidemiological evidence for the incidence of AS can be extrapolated from the incidence of Autistic Disorder, as explained by Dr. Tony Attwood, a leading expert in the field.

I have done a lot of reading about Autism and AS myself over the years, which includes keeping up with the current theories and studies in the field. Yet I have never found a study published by a respectable figure in the field saying that ratio of males to females affected is 1:1. I find it hard to believe that such a study is likely to come out next week when the theory about the male to female ratio has remained constant for so long. Please provide the citation of such a study so that I can check it out for myself.

My only real point here is that no one has any hard evidence to support the *theory* that the ratio is 4:1 even the Mr. Dr. Tony Attwood person you seem to hold in such high regard is just guessing based on circumstantial and irrelevant data.

AS is not equal to autism.. while the symptoms may be vaguely similar theyre not identical conditions caused by the same factors so patterns observed in one are irrelevant in the description of the other.

I would be more than happy to concede that AS is more common in males if there was any evidence.

talk to any psychiatrist or psychologist and they'll tell you. it seems to me that you want someone to give you some kind of link on the internet or something

Again all they can tell you is that its more commonly diagnosed in males not that its actually more common.

In any case since there doesnt seem to be any proof to substantiate the claim Id prefer people stop thinking its a predominantly male disorder and go on to keep misdiagnosing females.

If it is a 1:1 ratio that means there are 4 times as many women out there as men who dont know whats wrong with them and may never know.

Well here's your the prof that its more of a male disorder

http://www.aspergers.com/aspepi.htm

*sigh* do you not understand the difference between ratio of diagnosis and ratio of actually having it?

Actually there is a link to a very interesting article written by Tony Attwood and posted by Featherway.
He seems to feel that there is a need for further "objective" research into this and lists several reasons why many females with AS may have gone without a DX...As with many areas of research concerning human psychology...."objective" is more difficult to achieve then in others forms of research.Human beings are influenced by their own place in time and culture and it is easy to be blinded by these biases...Psychology it self is a relatively new "science" as is understanding the human brain and genetics...Information and theories are fluid...it is not a "hard science" and I feel we should be open to alternative theories until science evolves to the point that it can verify or nullify them....keeping an open mind wont make your brains fall out(even though it feels like it at times)...


Just because an "expert" claims something...does not make it the TRUTH...question authority...not doing so has gotten humainty in a lot of trouble in the past and will do so in the future...the same experts you quote maybe the ones who think ABA is a great thing or electrice shock a positive way to "fix" autism....

so why would it be different if a female had asperger disorder? it is the same disorder that effects males right?

Waterdogs....please go to page 2 and click on the link that feather??? gave...it is very interesting.

Yes its the same disorder but the symptoms are not as pronounced.

Its the difference between looking for a white rabbit in a patch of snow or on black asphalt. Theyre both white rabbits but one is more easily overlooked than the other.

Yes, he thinks that many females with AS have not been diagnosed, which is why the ratio of males to females diagnosed with AS is 10:1. However, he thinks that the actual ratio if everyone were diagnosed properly would be 4:1. Not 1:1.

Let me quote:

"The boy to girl ratio for referrals for a diagnostic assessment is about ten boys to each girl. However, the epidemiological evidence indicates the ratio is 4:1. This is the same ratio as occurs with autism."

My question is: what epidemiological evidence?

Thats just a fancy term for how common a disease appears to be. What criteria is he using other than the fact that the ratio he came up with is the same as classical autism?

Again unless he has a foolproof genetic test for AS that hes administered to a large test group there is no evidence.