The August 5th New York Times Magazine asks.
(I’d like to ask what’s going on with today’s NY Times, which has four, maybe even five, articles about autism, including the one noted in this post, and also one on nerdcore, one on social networks as an explanation for the increase in autism, one on how a process called Verified might be used to evalute autism research, and (this is a more tangential connection) one on ordering fast food without having to talk. Something in the water—the subway fumes………)
A few excerpts from the longer article, What Autistic Girls Are Made Of:
There is preliminary evidence that girls and women also vary from the male Asperger’s profile in terms of their interests, as Catherine Lord suggests. David Skuse, a psychiatry professor at the Institute of Child Health at University College London, has analyzed data from 1,000 children, 700 of them on the autistic spectrum. “Girls with autism are rarely fascinated with numbers and rarely have stores of arcane knowledge, and this is reflected in the interests of females in the general population,” Skuse explains. “The girls are strikingly different from the boys in this respect.”
By isolating sex as a variable, scientists are seeing potential genetic hot spots for autism. “By comparing males and females, we will have a much better chance of discovering the causes of autism,” says Geraldine Dawson, a psychology professor and director of the University of Washington Autism Center, who was a co-author of one of the studies.
Studies that use the latest brain-scanning tools — magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging — generally focus on boys. But a single study of M.R.I.’s of both boys and girls found differences in their brain anatomy. Published in April in The Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the study compared nine girls and 27 boys who were matched for age, I.Q. and severity of autism. Other research has established some correlation between abnormally large brain size and autism; the April paper reported that the brain volume of the autistic girls deviated from the norm more than the volume of the autistic boys. Lainhart, who is a member of the University of Utah’s Brain Institute, has measured head circumference as a proxy for brain volume. (The two are linked.) In a 1997 paper, she reported that the mean head circumference of eight autistic girls at birth was significantly greater than the norm, whereas the mean head size of 37 autistic boys was not.
These are small and preliminary studies, but their findings may relate to a puzzle of autism: while overall, there are more mentally retarded autistic boys than girls, a greater proportion of autistic girls are retarded — 58 percent compared with 42 percent for boys, according to the C.D.C.
In the meantime, girls with autism and normal I.Q.’s pose a particular challenge for schools. Though mainstreaming has its benefits, autistic kids risk becoming outcasts in a regular classroom. Yet if girls go to a special-education program or a separate school, they are often swimming in a sea of boys. Lord pointed to this as a factor in girls’ lack of friendships in her 1993 study. When the girls in her sample were shifted to specialized programs, “their opportunities to meet girls and women with some common interests were even more limited than those of the boys and men,” she wrote.
There are 8 students in my summer school class, one boy and seven girls—-and one girl is, so to speak, “spectrumy.” She sits in the back by preference; talks a lot and very insightfully and talks while others are talking; preferred to be the cameraperson when we made videos of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey rather than acting; emails me a lot; talks to me a lot after class, one on one. I look forward to seeing more students like her in my classroom.
My friend MothersVox, mother of M, blogs about What Are Little (Autistic) Girls Made Of?.
I agree with you about «Aspergia is a matriarchy». Because I think (personnal observation) that aspies women have some kind of innate leadership and on other and aspies men are happy to follow them. Two side of the same coin.
And the mating preferences as far I noticed follow the same logic. This leaded me and peoples to who I talked to an original and uncommun ‘theory’ about the spectrum.
Of course it is! Girls with Autism cause less trouble and therefore are less likely to be diagnosed.
My little girl was recently diagnosed with aspergers syndrome and luckily as a first child was well stimulated. Her social skills are slightly behind but because she has been taught manners and is well socialised she is coping okay with her first year at school. She did indeed have a 98th percentile head circumference and many other indicators of autstim . I have however never exposed her to the usual girly fodder of princesses etc until quite recently to assist with her social skills and am finding she is adapting well. It is obvious to me that if you only allow your children to be exposed to age appropriate media you are less ikely to exaserpate the problem. Help your kids don’t allow them to have to struggle on alone!!
Both mothers found out at the Spring enrollment conference for next year’s class selection. One “case manager” told one mother that she thought this would be a good class for the daughter. When asked what the class was, she said “It started this year, but I didn’t know it.” When in fact it has been in place for at least two years.
The other mother received a call from her daughter’s case manager (who is a team teacher in the Life Skills classroom with the case manager mentioned above). The manager said there would be a class available in the fall for social development. She made it sound as if this were a new class.
In both cases, at no IEP meeting in the past was there any mention of this class. In this district, the SpEd classes are not published anywhere like “normal” classes, so the only way to get this info is from teachers in the IEP meeting. Clearly, this is an attempt on the district’s part to restrict who was in the class and obviously, they didn’t want girls in it. I don’t know why all of a sudden they want girls in it now. It is taught by a male teacher and male para.
To me this seems like a clearcut Civil Rights case. What do you think?
@jdtsmom,
It raises red flags—-how and when did the parents of the girls find out?
Ironically, a family here—with an autistic daughter—noted that they thought they got her a good placement at a private school precisely because she is a girl, and not “yet another boy.” It has been years since there was a girl in my son Charlie’s room and I think he would like that much.
Is this class a special ed class or mostly a class to work on “social skills”?
I’ve just come across this article as I research the subject of segregating boys in high school social skills classes for AS students. The parents of two AS girls at my daughter’s public school were not told that there was a class for social development at the school. Since the class was started, there have been only boys in the class. In a school of 2000+ students, 4 boys have taken this class – the same 4 boys each year. Does this SOUND like discrimination since the school did not inform parents of the girls that the class existed??
I believe that these shots can trigger ASD (I have a 12 yr old Aspergers son and an 18 yr old who was just diagnosed w/ PDD and we have more work to do w/ her diagnosis etc). However, I know that 2 close relatives in my husband’s family have undiagnosed ASD and I believe that the shots don’t cause it, but they can somehow trigger it in children who have the predisposition to it. This is my stance and I’m hoping to see more research taking in both of these issues together.
[...] Nightline is airing a special on girls with autism tonight, on ABC News World News with Charles Gibson at 6:30pm (ET) and then on Nightline, [...]
I clicked on the ABC link from another blog and got the Geier story too—not exactly what I was expecting!
I got an email this AM about a Nightline presentation on this topic, and here’s the link from AutismSpeaks
http://www.autismspeaks.org/inthenews/nightline_tunein_girls.php
Just FYI: If you get a direct email on this, check the ABC link before passing it on–I was surprised to find, not a story on the program, but an old one on the Geiers and thiomersal and autism!
[...] that they ought to be included in any discussion of the “female Asperger’s”—whether autism is different in girls being itself a topic that more and more research is turning to. ASD, Aspergers, autism, autism [...]
This article seems very comprehensive, but it only points to a sliver of the story—-thanks for the link!
Kristina
I’m troubled by yet another disection into autism. I know a significant number of autistic girls and boys that defy the statements in this article, including my own son.
The one fact I know for certain is that autism remains a mystery, whatever the sex or level of disability. The best thing we can all do is concentrate and celebrate the uniqueness of our children.
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/blogs/resilientmom/autism-girls-vs-boys-6347
of course when I say greater than I am basing it on the ratio of the supposed difference of autism rates in males vs females. There should be more men taking an active role.or less women taking an active role. You will find as many women as men on the forums.
I hadn’t realized that, AS man—-
I often think that what is “social” could stand for some redefinition.
Perhaps they could explain the difference in diagnosis versus the difference in being seen. Autistic women are far more vocal and ever present in the online Autistic culture – a ratio that far exceeds the men if the diagnosis rate is correct. A far greater percentage than men are active online. There are notable sites run or partially run by women. Aspies for freedom, aspergian island, aspergianpride etc. and the number of women autistic bloggers is a greater ratio than the men as well.
Aspergia is a matriarchy.
What an interesting article! We can certainly identify with it as Meg is starting middle school in 2 weeks. She has the desire to interact socially but no understanding of why people act the way they do, especially the catty pre-teen girl behavior. And the small numbers of girls in special ed also don’t help; last year, there was just one other girl in Meg’s class of 10, and unfortunately that girl is going to a different middle school. It’s nice to see more on this subject.
Wow….this was a lot of information to absorb! And I’m still taking it in….
Having one boy and one girl on the spectrum, I can only (so far) address certain things:
I came across one of JP’s checkup “index cards” from the pediatrician, so went looking for one of Eleanor’s. JP’s indicated that his head circumference (at 2 months) was at 39%. Ely’s, at the same age, was at 75%,
JP is very adept at math, though he doesn’t particularly enjoy it. However, interestingly enough, a lot of his conversation involves math:
“I’d like to do (particular interest) at 8pm, which is 21 minutes from now.” (His insistence on figuring out time differences is, admittedly, annoying. But we deal.)
Ely, on the other hand, has no interest whatsoever in anything number-related. She’s the drama queen, the acting-out, the comedienne, the music person, the echolalic one. She’s the one who makes us laugh with her faces, her dances.
Yes, boys and girls on the spectrum are indeed very different. And each provides his or her own joys. We love their different differences.
(And I MUST add….the NT 15-year-old girl? She brings a whole ‘nother set of joys….and appreciates the giggles that her brother and sister provide so readily!)
AJ
The article focuses particularly on some young women in Utah; one thing that I found interesting, too, was the article’s noting about how patterns and sysmetizing appeal to the young women interviewed, but not necessarily in regard to numbers. Fantasy and science fiction stories seem especially appealing.
I’m thrilled to see this article; it’s a favorite subject of mine. Thanks for the link.