There are countless articles, blog posts, and books which explain what sets apart males and females on the autism spectrum. Without getting too down & dirty on the details, here is a brief list:
- “Coping” skills
- Diagnostic assessment results
- Gender behavior conditioning in child development
- Manifestation of autism (not more or less, but different)
- Path of behavioral development
- Personality traits
- Physical development
- Relationship development
- Social interaction & performance
However, It’s important to understand that there are a few similarities. Dr. Tony Attwood writes in his book The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome that “the language and cognitive profile of girls [on the autism spectrum] may be the same as those with boys.”(p.47) The females I have met and worked with are scattered all over the autism spectrum — females who are completely verbal and independent, females who are non-verbal and completely dependent, and so on. The variety in severity level in autism definitely exists in females, just as much as it exists in males.
Having said that, I’m still convinced that every female with autism does, in one way or another, display early behaviors that are unique to their gender. Not necessarily more or less, but different. And in an increasing number of cases, that either leads to misdiagnosis or not being diagnosed at all.
This supports the concern that there is still a missing gap in the realm of autism research. A lot of areas in autism research are being attended to, but the research focused on females remains, to this day, minimal.
The recent 15-minute Brain Scan study which could “help doctors diagnose autism by identifying structural differences in their brains” (source: Telegraph) released by the Journal of Neuroscience in the past week doesn’t seem to help in the female department. We will not get into the validity of the study (there are 2 sides to the debate, as presented here and here). Valid or not valid aside, why, considering the increase of awareness in females with ASDs, did they pick all male subjects to participate in their study?
It’s reading up on studies like these, hearing personal accounts from other women on their frustrations on trying to receive their diagnoses, and my own occasional experiences as a diagnosed woman being suggested by some that I may ‘no longer having autism’, that it serves as a reminder of the need to increase research on how autism manifests differently in girls.
