Why does Autism often go Misdiagnosed in Girls and Women?
Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), refers to a broad variety of conditions characterized by challenges with social interactions, repetitive behaviors, speech, and nonverbal communication.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the disorder is 4.5 times more common among boys than girls. Boys appear more vulnerable to the disorder, but there is some evidence that the gender gap may not be as wide as it seems. Girls are often diagnosed later than boys, so miss out on opportunities for early support. Girls express autism in a way that doesn’t align with the diagnostic criteria.
Stereotypes and expectations from girls play a considerable role in the misdiagnosis that occurs when they show signs of autism, Girls also learn how to mask their symptoms at a very young age to blend in better.
Masking is when a person hides or camouflages their neurodiverse traits and replaces them with behaviors that might appear more neurotypical. Recent research points to females being more able to mask their autistic signs than males.
Autism in girls is overlooked because from a very young age a variety of expectations are set on girls, which will then lead to these girls masking to blend in and camouflage better. Because unlike boys, who tend to befriend smaller numbers of people, girls will try to blend into large numbers of friends, so that they are not highlighted and can learn to mask while not having to interact a lot.
A lot of signs of ASD are very prominent in girls but they are overlooked sadly because of “it just being how girls are”. For example when an autistic girl will avoid eye contact as many ASD people do it will simply be ignored as it just being “cute or the girl being “shy”.
Similarly, special interests are also unfortunately overlooked in girls as it just being a phase or it being endearing, and yes while special interests are mostly not detrimental to the Autistic individuals functioning, they are a very apparent sign of Autism that should be looked into because even dismissing Autistic strengths like this leads to dismissing autistic traits that require special attention and care.
Many women who have been either misdiagnosed with conditions other than autism or whose Autism was overlooked by doctors or caregivers later grow up to be dysfunctional adults in their daily lives because of excessive masking, and may even end up developing PTSD and several mood and anxiety disorders.
Thankfully, a lot more Autistic women are coming forward with their experiences of misdiagnosis and late diagnosis of ASD. Which is prompting researchers to look into this since the early criteria were developed primarily based on boys, so girls with autism were better able to mimic or copy the expected social behaviors.
An early diagnosis in an autistic child especially girls, can ensure that they grow into a healthy functioning adult who has the skills to navigate through life as an Autistic person.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the disorder is 4.5 times more common among boys than girls. Boys appear more vulnerable to the disorder, but there is some evidence that the gender gap may not be as wide as it seems. Girls are often diagnosed later than boys, so miss out on opportunities for early support. Girls express autism in a way that doesn’t align with the diagnostic criteria.
Stereotypes and expectations from girls play a considerable role in the misdiagnosis that occurs when they show signs of autism, Girls also learn how to mask their symptoms at a very young age to blend in better.
Masking is when a person hides or camouflages their neurodiverse traits and replaces them with behaviors that might appear more neurotypical. Recent research points to females being more able to mask their autistic signs than males.
Autism in girls is overlooked because from a very young age a variety of expectations are set on girls, which will then lead to these girls masking to blend in and camouflage better. Because unlike boys, who tend to befriend smaller numbers of people, girls will try to blend into large numbers of friends, so that they are not highlighted and can learn to mask while not having to interact a lot.
A lot of signs of ASD are very prominent in girls but they are overlooked sadly because of “it just being how girls are”. For example when an autistic girl will avoid eye contact as many ASD people do it will simply be ignored as it just being “cute or the girl being “shy”.
Similarly, special interests are also unfortunately overlooked in girls as it just being a phase or it being endearing, and yes while special interests are mostly not detrimental to the Autistic individuals functioning, they are a very apparent sign of Autism that should be looked into because even dismissing Autistic strengths like this leads to dismissing autistic traits that require special attention and care.
Many women who have been either misdiagnosed with conditions other than autism or whose Autism was overlooked by doctors or caregivers later grow up to be dysfunctional adults in their daily lives because of excessive masking, and may even end up developing PTSD and several mood and anxiety disorders.
Thankfully, a lot more Autistic women are coming forward with their experiences of misdiagnosis and late diagnosis of ASD. Which is prompting researchers to look into this since the early criteria were developed primarily based on boys, so girls with autism were better able to mimic or copy the expected social behaviors.
An early diagnosis in an autistic child especially girls, can ensure that they grow into a healthy functioning adult who has the skills to navigate through life as an Autistic person.