There are a lot of different studies that have gone on over the years. And they are all trying to find out why autism is more common in boys than girls.
In 1943, Leo Kanner, a psychiatrist, studied a group of children with autism. He found there were 4x boys to girls with Autism. His observation has been confirmed many times since through different researches.
There was also Hans Asperger. He first stated that women and girls were not affected by the syndrome. But, he did later retract this and change his mind.
In 1993, there was a bigger study of Asperger syndrome in schools in Sweden. They found there was again 4 x boys to girls with autism.
More recently, in 2009 there was a survey done in England that found 1.8% of males had a diagnosis of autism and 0.2% of females.
But, the resounding question is – why? And again there’s been a lot of research into why where researchers try to find the reason.
Some of the reasons are stated below;
- many researchers think that the differences genetically between males and females is why boys are more likely to have autism.
- diagnostic tests for females should be modified. As the profiles that are currently used for males don’t fit.
- autism traits are under reported in girls. They can also mask/hide their difficulties better than boys.
- researchers have stated that there are many differences between male and female brains on a basic level. And male brains are usually larger than females.
- scientists in Germany found a link between a think cortex and being more likely to have a diagnosis of autism. Females have a thicker cortex than males which could affect this.
Many professionals and autism groups will tell you to do this day, that autism in girls and women is still misunderstood. This is resulting in autism being missed in girls – so they don’t get diagnosed. Or, many females are being diagnosed later in life. There’s also been reports of misdiagnosis in girls.
One of the main differences is that girls with autism can present their traits differently to boys with autism. On top of that, we need to remember that every individual can present traits of autism differently.
So, what does it look like in girls?
Well, like I said above, this can look different in every individual. And also, if your daughter has one of the traits below, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are autistic. I’m going to share some of the traits that girls with autism may have below;
- Special interests. And I don’t mean like ‘She loves spiders’ I mean like, she LOVES spiders. She collects them, talks about them, looks for them, knows everything about them – a very thorough interest.
- Amazing imagination skills. I’ve seen girls with autism have the most wonderful imagination. And be very creative and engrossed with it.
- Arranging and organising objects.
- Prefer to play alone or be in charge of playing.
- They may copy others around them, especially in social situations.
- Limited conversation skills. They may be able to talk endlessly about something they love. But, she may not share a conversation with anything other than their interest.
- Like many other individuals with autism, they may present behaviours differently in different places. At school they may never have any behaviour issues or meltdowns. But at home, it could be a whole other story.
- Very sensory.
- Passive. Will let things go past them. They don’t mind being missed out.
- Epilepsy – this is an interesting one. Although they have found that autism is more common in boys than girls. What they also found was that epilepsy was more common in girls with autism than boys with autism.
I Want to Know More!
Do you want to know even more about autism in girls? Maybe you have a personal interest in this. Or, it may be professional. I respect anyone who wants to learn more about anything that interests them. There are lots of great training opportunities, books and webinars to take part in that will help you learn more about autism in girls.