Why Girls with Autism May Often be Overlooked

A new study by Stanford Medicine supports what parents have long known. Autism manifests differently in boys and girls. It's important to note that this study found that girls were 3 times less likely to display clinically significant repetitive behaviors than boys.

Unfortunately under DSM5, this means many of these girls will not get properly diagnosed and may be labeled as having "social communication disorder"—a new diagnosis, for which there is no validating science or services. Conversely, the same gender differences suggest many boys may be over-diagnosed. I believe that fully understanding these subtitles is imperative to closing the gender gap and providing all our children with accurate information and access to appropriate services for skill development and self empowerment.

Girls and boys with autism differ in behavior, brain structure

September 3, 2015

By Erin Digitale                   

A new study from the Stanford School of Medicine shows
that there are gender differences in the behaviors
displayed by children with autism.Altanaka/Shutterstock

"... Clinicians may want to focus diagnosis and treatments for autistic girls differently than boys."

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2015/09/girls-and-boys-with-autism-differ-in-behavior-brain-structure.html