The gap is closing on Female to Male ratios in Autism
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The gap is closing on Female to Male ratios in Autism
There is no doubt that Autism in Females and particularly Female Asperger’s is harder to diagnose in girls.
A very insightful article from Autism Hampshire gives a good insight into how the gap is closing and why it exists in the first place. Likely related to how girls are so much better at coping and may not see their difficulties as something that need intervention.
The different ways in which girls and women present under the traditional ‘big 3’ headings related to
- Social Communication
- Social interaction and understanding
- Social imagination which is highly associated with routines, rituals and special interests
- are given in the examples below:
Girls are more able to follow social actions by delayed imitation because they observe other children and copy them, perhaps masking the symptoms of Asperger syndrome (Attwood, 2007).
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Gap Closing on Female to Male Autism diagnosis intervention Dublin Waterford Cork 087 387 6841
Girls are often more aware of and feel a need to interact socially. They are involved in social play, but are often led by their peers rather than initiating social contact. Girls are more socially inclined and many have one special friend.
In our society, girls are expected to be social in their communication.Girls on the spectrum do not ‘do social chit chat’ or make ‘meaningless’ comments in order to facilitate social communication. The idea of a social hierarchy and how one communicates with people of different status can be problematic and get girls in to trouble with teachers
Evidence suggests that girls have better imagination and more pretend play (Knickmeyer et al, 2008). Many have a very rich and elaborate fantasy world with imaginary friends. Girls escape into fiction, and some live in another world with, for example, fairies and witches.
The interests of girls in the spectrum are very often similar to those of other girls – animals, horses, classical literature – and therefore are not seen as unusual. It is not the special interests that differentiate them from their peers but it is the quality and intensity of these interests. Many obsessively watch soap operas and have an intense interest in celebrities.
Diagnosis is important but more so are the interventions to lead on for afterwards as girls need very different help to overcome their challenges than boys. 087 387 6841 info@waterfordpsychology.com