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Autism diagnosis may be missed in girls

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XFilesGeek
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24 Aug 2018, 10:29 am

I was DXed at 26.

Autism and ADHD are most certainly overlooked in females.


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Joe90
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24 Aug 2018, 11:43 am

I didn't have any language delays, I reached all my milestones at the average stages, made normal eye contact, interacted well with other children, and didn't display any peculiar repetitive behaviours or stims - yet I was diagnosed with Asperger's when I was 8. It's so rare for a female with a mild form of autism to be diagnosed so early in life.
Just because I was shy in class, needed extra help with schoolwork, expressed anxiety, and cried at the fire drill, the school decided to observe me closely. It made me feel like a bug under a microscope, and the other kids assumed I was "insane" just because I became the special needs kid of the class, and so decided to start to exclude me like I had the plague. Diagnosis in childhood may sound a huge help, and it is in some ways, but it doesn't help your social life, and having friends was more important to me than anything else, so it made me miserable. I just didn't like having a label. It no longer made me feel normal. I don't know why but as soon as you get a label that gets blabbed out to the whole class, kids suddenly don't like you any more.


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lostonearth35
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24 Aug 2018, 11:51 am

Something I've known since my diagnosis in 2001 and a recent study *suggests* it may be true?

And in other news: water is wet! :roll:



AnneOleson
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24 Aug 2018, 7:38 pm

XFilesGeek wrote:
I was DXed at 26.

Autism and ADHD are most certainly overlooked in females.

I was just diagnosed with ADHD a few months ago, at 61. My son was diagnosed at 8.



crazychick10793
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29 Aug 2018, 7:15 pm

I was literally diagnosed as a child with “Learning Disability Not Otherwise Specified- Autism Charactaristics” by my childhood doctor because “girls don’t get full blown autism.” 8O I even went to him at 16 and said “I think I may just have autism” and he said “no, girls don’t have that. They just get charactaristics of it.”

Age 19 I move on to a new psychiatrist and within two sessions she tells me “hun, without being offensive, I can see the autism in you a mile away. How did you not get diagnosed earlier?” I’m a little more than a month from my 25th birthday, and doing well now.

So yes, whether it be different characteristics in males and females, or just plain ol’ Doctor stupidity, females are most certainly overlooked.



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29 Aug 2018, 8:18 pm

bethannny wrote:
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''.

There are many people who did not think they were autistic before they were diagnosed at a later age so they couldn't possibly have sought out a diagnosis, and yet they still were diagnosed later. Also, it is not a myth. There have been quite a few studies on how females are overlooked in high functioning autism diagnosis. Science does not propagate myths. Also, not all autism involves language delay and obvious repetitive behaviors. A lot of people with HFA did not have these things but still are autistic.


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