Autism and Asperger Syndrome undersdiagnosed in women

[Tally]

Today's Times has an article about the underdiagnosis of ASD in females. You can find it here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_...icle7017168.ece

[baranigirl]

Am not surprised, already been told my 3 yr old cannot have AS as she is a girl and her social problems are shyness, that was the SENCO at her nursery too. I am keeping a close eye on her, just in case she does have further problems, I am hoping the SENCO is correct tho

[got the tshirt]

OMG how relevant to us is this article. We had another meeting with pead on wednesday and once again she has decided to "sit on the fence" her words not mine. Apparently the school are not seeing any of Dd3's difficulties. I think I will take them a copy of the article.

[baddad]

So all blerks are ASD by definition and all wimmin are undiagnosed ASD!

 

So what's the problem?

 

I am, of course, being flippant and do totally agree that ASD's are, for various reasons, more likely to go undetected in girls...

 

I do hope though, really really hope that we're not going to see an explosion of ridiculous 'myths' arising about perfectly normal feminine behaviours being indicators of ASD's in the same way that perfectly normal male traits have been.

 

Ain't had time to read the article, but will try to get back to it later: Meanwhile, I have no problem accepting the fact that all wimmin are barking mad, and that, in the eyes of women, all men are barking mad too. the fact that we are preprogrammed to bark at different things is just another of God's little jokes, bless her.

 

L&P

 

BD

[Tally]

Underdiagnosis does seem to be a problem for all autistic people, but it does seem to be more of an issue for females.

 

From meeting with autistic adults, many of the men I have met do seem more stereotypically autistic and quite outgoing, whereas many of the women come across as very shy. Obviously this is not a scientific study, but if it does reflect reality, then males may be more likely to be picked up as having inappropriate behaviours. A quiet, submissive child may be considered shy and treated for social anxiety, without looking into the reasons why that social anxiety developed in the first place, whereas a child whose unusual social behaviour is more apparent won't have so much difficulty getting their social difficulties recognised.

[jlogan1]

totally agree is underdiagnosed,my dd of 13 is going through assessments at present,had never even heard of aspergers til clinical psycologist brought it to our attention last may,now looking back yes we just said dd was shy and quiet and prefered to play by herself etc etc,who would have thought that when she was 17 months old and couldnt deal with her baby brother crying and covered her ears and hid that it was much ,certainly didnt think of rushing to doctors because of it ,but as always in hind sight now we can see that the pattern was there but being a female she managed to cope til she was about 10 then its all gone pear shaped since!!!but regardless shes still the same person either with a diagnosis or without and some times is hard to cope with other times not so bad!!

julia

[Karen A]

Thanks Tally.

I read the article and found it very interesting.I planned to post a link but you got in first.

Karen.

 

[matzoball]

Thanks Tally.

I read the article and found it very interesting.I planned to post a link but you got in first.

Karen.

 

 

there will be an article in That's Life magazine sometime in March offering a first person perspective (written by the journalist) - i was going to be the subject but it put across having AS was having something wrong with you so i backed out. they are using someone else now, so keep an eye out if you are interested.