Maybe another reasons girls are less likely to receive a diagnosis??

[Pats]

I'm thinking, actually one of the main reasons for this is because autistic girls are easier than autistic boys. Autistic girls experience the same things inside and have a hard time dealing with things, can't figure out why they feel different than their peers, etc. Maybe seem OVERLY shy, OVERLY quiet, etc. But these things are easier for parents and teachers to deal with.

2 boys and 1 girl.
The girl won't join in things unless an adult leads her to join. She's super quiet and doesn't talk to anyone except a handful of people (talks to mom, dad, grandparents, siblings. doesn't talk to aunts, uncles, friends of family, most peers). She feels left out because her 1 friend sat with someone else, and though she could sit with them, does not because she doesn't know the other person. Has a harder time understanding and learning, but mimics her older sister, and probably spend most the evenings working on homework. It takes her the entire evening because of distractions, difficulty understanding what she's supposed to be doing, etc.
I could go on, but the point I'm making is that these things may be difficult for the girl, but it doesn't make life more difficult for anyone else.

The 2 boys are hard. Calls from teachers almost daily. Hits siblings and won't share - just grabs things from siblings or others. Won't listen, therefore won't behave as told. Non-stop busy with no limits they understand. Makes noises at inappropriate times. Again, I could go on and on.
Point being that these things interfere with the adults life and time having to supervise and it IS difficult for everyone around.

So, yes, it's more obvious in boys, but also it's just harder and the parents and teachers just realize they don't know what to do and need help and seek help from professionals. With girls, it's "aww, poor thing, you can see she's struggling." With boys, it's "HELP! I can't deal with this."

 

[Pats]

After writing this I was looking to see if I could find anything and ran across this short article: https://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/...ith-autism-fare-worse-than-boys-study-finds#2
There's one statement that I found interesting. ""It's interesting and certainly worthy of publication," said Bartoshesky. "I guess I was a little surprised that girls with autism are more different from girls without it than boys with autism are from boys without it. There's very sophisticated epidemiology in this paper, but it's not definitive." "

 

[Pats]

Oh, and I'm not categorizing boys and girls. There is a reason I'm thinking about this today. My oldest daughter with 4 kids (3 girls and 1 boy) called me this morning asking about how to go get an assessment for autism. The boys and girls I'm using are grandchildren. The girl IS easy and the problems she faces may be problems she'll end up having to deal with on her own. The two boys are both very difficult, the youngest being 3, who I got the call about this morning, who is especially difficult.

 

[Varzar]

An interesting idea..

Essentially young boys may have a higher propensity to externalize their feelings (with hitting, yelling), where young girls tend to internalize their feelings.. Young boys would likely receive more negative feedback as a result.. Which is perhaps why we see a reversal of this in adulthood. It's most often women who are capable of expressing their feelings, and men who internalize them..

Yes, lots of broad generalizations here too.. I was actually probably more like the young girl described above.. Likely to sit on my own, and not talk to most people, especially strangers, but a lot of family too.. Immediate family on the other hand I would talk non-stop to.. lol

Not sure if any of this is especially particular to the AS neurotype though.. Except that AS kids might be more extreme about their responses to emotion (whether internalizing or externalizing), leading to more issues in adulthood, like severe anxiety or agoraphobia..

 

[SolarPoweredNightOwl]

Autism has traditionally been understood in terms of how autists are different from and cause problems for allists.

 

[Streetwise]

I'm thinking, actually one of the main reasons for this is because autistic girls are easier than autistic boys. Autistic girls experience the same things inside and have a hard time dealing with things, can't figure out why they feel different than their peers, etc. Maybe seem OVERLY shy, OVERLY quiet, etc. But these things are easier for parents and teachers to deal with.

2 boys and 1 girl.
The girl won't join in things unless an adult leads her to join. She's super quiet and doesn't talk to anyone except a handful of people (talks to mom, dad, grandparents, siblings. doesn't talk to aunts, uncles, friends of family, most peers). She feels left out because her 1 friend sat with someone else, and though she could sit with them, does not because she doesn't know the other person. Has a harder time understanding and learning, but mimics her older sister, and probably spend most the evenings working on homework. It takes her the entire evening because of distractions, difficulty understanding what she's supposed to be doing, etc.
I could go on, but the point I'm making is that these things may be difficult for the girl, but it doesn't make life more difficult for anyone else.

The 2 boys are hard. Calls from teachers almost daily. Hits siblings and won't share - just grabs things from siblings or others. Won't listen, therefore won't behave as told. Non-stop busy with no limits they understand. Makes noises at inappropriate times. Again, I could go on and on.
Point being that these things interfere with the adults life and time having to supervise and it IS difficult for everyone around.

So, yes, it's more obvious in boys, but also it's just harder and the parents and teachers just realize they don't know what to do and need help and seek help from professionals. With girls, it's "aww, poor thing, you can see she's struggling." With boys, it's "HELP! I can't deal with this."

The problem is it’s a sweeping generalisation that could hurt somebody, a girl could be medicated incorrectly the presumption being she is mentally ill, I was diagnosed because I was presenting classically autistic Signs .
so you can’t take from data by non-autistic people that because a percentage of people display this behaviour that! that is the hard and fast rule for diagnosis, it’s the same narrow mindset that says everything has to be the way we think it is.

 

[Pats]

I agree with all these things - just saying, often times the girl may not be taken for an assessment to begin with because they are not disrupting others. Who's going to complain about someone being too quiet, or in there room all evening trying to do homework? They're more likely to take the boys sooner for assessments and evaluations because - well, wow, they're hard.

 

[Varzar]

I agree with all these things - just saying, often times the girl may not be taken for an assessment to begin with because they are not disrupting others. Who's going to complain about someone being too quiet, or in there room all evening trying to do homework? They're more likely to take the boys sooner for assessments and evaluations because - well, wow, they're hard.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease..

 

[Thinx]

Yes I agree with this, and I would add that the cultural norm is to think of males as more powerful and to raise boys as more powerful than girls. This is part of why girls internalise and boys act out. Hopefully over time this is changing.

 

[Rasputin]

I don't actually think any of these generalizations work. I was generally quiet and stayed to myself growing up. I did not fit in with other kids. I was too shy to even talk to a girl, even if I was interested in her.

So, I am not convinced that autistic boys and girls are that different.

 

[Streetwise]

I agree with all these things - just saying, often times the girl may not be taken for an assessment to begin with because they are not disrupting others. Who's going to complain about someone being too quiet, or in there room all evening trying to do homework? They're more likely to take the boys sooner for assessments and evaluations because - well, wow, they're hard.

yes But I was taken for an assessment because I was doing what a boy should do and Girls can do it

 

[Rasputin]

Having read comments by others, let me just say that I know next to nothing about why girls are less likely to be diagnosed. The ideas expressed by Pats and Thinx may have validity. I just know that not all autistic boys fit the stereotype discussed.

 

[Streetwise]

it probably depends on the type of mental illness you have whether you have PTSD depression along with comorbid conditions like ADHD

 

[Pats]

Squeaky wheel gets the grease..

YES!! exactly. The boys are usually (not always) the squeaky wheels.

 

[Streetwise]

Oh, and I'm not categorizing boys and girls. There is a reason I'm thinking about this today. My oldest daughter with 4 kids (3 girls and 1 boy) called me this morning asking about how to go get an assessment for autism. The boys and girls I'm using are grandchildren. The girl IS easy and the problems she faces may be problems she'll end up having to deal with on her own. The two boys are both very difficult, the youngest being 3, who I got the call about this morning, who is especially difficult.

The problem is you are still using the English language which in the modern world doesn't give you an alternative to girl or boy because you were actually talking about and name and another name who is an individual the next autistic person could present classically whatever sex they werestill people who loved on the idea that because certain percentage present like that we must presume that is why people are not diagnosed god forbid we treat one human as an individual and diagnose them based on the fact that they are one individual would have to go to the religion section for next thought strangely therapists will do that but will immediately jump to their own defence by saying a side effect doesn't happen to everybody, inferring again that whatever they do is perfect or again I have no responsibility 4 whata drug does, remember there are people that are going to hold you to your responsibility just as there are voices who are going to disagree that girls are not diagnosed because ......

 

[Progster]

I think that some girls may present differently to boys, because they are socialised differently and treated differently by most cultures in society, but personality plays a bigger role: extrovert or introvert. Extroverts are more likely to act up and are less likely to avoid social interaction, introverts withdraw and avoid conflict or social interaction. A difference in diagnostic rates between girls and boys may also be because of the preconceptions that clinicians may have, that autism occurs at a higher rate in boys than it does in girls, so in girls they are more likely to look for other explanations for the behaviour.

When I was very young, up to my teenage years, I acted out a lot, the school phoned my parents about my problems and wanted to put me in a slow learner's class, I had remedial tuition for a while to catch up at school. I was a difficult child, had a lot of meltdowns and social difficulties, which the doctor assumed to be due the fact that I had been living with my grandparents after my mother had died.

Then, when I hit my teens, I became very socially withdrawn, started to internalise thoughts and feelings, spoke to very few people and very little.

I remember a situation in middle school where I had made a friend, then, one day, that friend made another friend and started to hang out with her. I was invited to join them, but when I did, they talked to each other and I was left out, and my reaction was to just leave and I didn't speak to that friend much after that. The quality of their conversation was different in a way I couldn't define - more fluid somehow, back and forth with no pauses, difficult for me to keep up with. It felt like they have some sort of secret communication that I wasn't party to. I think that's the point when I became aware of the fact that the way I talk to and relate to others is different to that of my peers.

 

[Juliettaa]

I'm not sure I agree either.

@Rasputin - appears to fit into your 'girl profile'.

I'm a woman, and during childhood, I fit better into your boy description.

I think that's the danger for women - we don't always fit the stereotype and consequently get misdiagnosed. The stereotypes need to be broken down and there needs to be recognition and acceptance that one size doesn't fit all.

 

[Thinx]

I don't actually think any of these generalizations work. I was generally quiet and stayed to myself growing up. I did not fit in with other kids. I was too shy to even talk to a girl, even if I was interested in her.

So, I am not convinced that autistic boys and girls are that different.

Yes but you went under the wire didn't you and didn’t get spotted. The point is, more boys get spotted as they are culturally more encouraged to act out. There are girls and boys who for all sorts of reasons will not fit this general trend.

 

[onlything]

I quite fit your 'girl' profile mostly. A quiet child, easy to forget, wouldn't do anything new unless told, spending all days in her room if possible. My brother seemed to be much different, loud, impulsive in everything he did, a rebellious 'life of every party' (he's the NT that would organise parties at home when parents were out). My parents always have some amusing story about how 'awful' he was. About me they just say 'well, she was... quiet'.

 

[Pats]

The problem is you are still using the English language which in the modern world doesn't give you an alternative to girl or boy because you were actually talking about and name and another name who is an individual the next autistic person could present classically whatever sex they werestill people who loved on the idea that because certain percentage present like that we must presume that is why people are not diagnosed god forbid we treat one human as an individual and diagnose them based on the fact that they are one individual would have to go to the religion section for next thought strangely therapists will do that but will immediately jump to their own defence by saying a side effect doesn't happen to everybody, inferring again that whatever they do is perfect or again I have no responsibility 4 whata drug does, remember there are people that are going to hold you to your responsibility just as there are voices who are going to disagree that girls are not diagnosed because ......

Hi Streetwise. To be honest, I'm not sure what you are saying. I was using just what I seen as examples - I do understand that everyone is different, and it's not all boys are squeaky wheels and all girls are quiet and easy to overlook. I guess I'm just a little concerned that, because the brother is so difficult for the parents to handle they are not hesitating taking him for an evaluation and getting some help. Meanwhile, the sister is going through struggles, and they even agree she is probably on the spectrum, but they're not considering getting her evaluated - she's not difficult for them and they don't see the need. Therefore, the decision is based on how it impacts THEM, not how it impacts the child. And that' all I'm saying - I guess whatever child is most difficult for the parents are going to be the ones taken for assessments.
And I'm not sure how the English language has anything to do with what I'm saying. English is all I know.