AS different for girls and boys?

[Guppyfry]

I'm reading some previous threads on the forum, and I see mention that Asperger's is very different in girls and boys. How is it different? This is the first time I've heard of it.

 

[Warmheart]

 

[Mia]

http://www.help4aspergers.com/pb/wp_a58d4f6a/wp_a58d4f6a.html

http://www.aane.org/about_asperger_syndrome/asperger_syndrome_females.html

http://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is/gender.aspx

There haven't been many long term studies done related to females with Asperger's, as a result there's not a lot of accurate scientific information about females on the spectrum. Females tend to be diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, bipolar disorders and the like, before the symptoms are looked at in their entirety.

 

[Suzanne]

I think it is more to the point, that female aspies are able to hide better or put on the mask, to cope in difficult situations. They seem to be better at social interactions, over male aspies, but that is really rather general, as there are going to be male aspies who are astonishingly social, which certainly would defy the "professional" rules on aspergers.

When I first discovered aspergers, I was shocked to find that it is all about male aspies and just occasionally, female aspies. Which has to mean that, again, we are able to pretend better than males.

I found a list of "symptoms" for female aspies and my husband was astonished on reading it and said that for just a couple, it was like he was reading about me!

 

[Guppyfry]

Patti, thanks for that video! It is so bang on, almost all of it I can recognize myself in it and in the articles linked. YES!! I did the watching soap operas and practicing conversations, intonations, facial expressions, body languange. But I didn't really start watching and copying people until I was in my early 20's - I was pretty cluless as a teenager.

I felt much like what Mr. Atwood is talking about in that video - I created an outside persona so I could function and be a member of society, but inside, I was hollow and dead. It did lead to emtional collapse, deep depression, and anxiety issues. Took me ten years to climb out of that hole, and find the real me.