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justine1

Girls with autism

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Hi

I haven't been on here for a very long time! I finally qualified as a nurse, supposed to have started my new job but have had some minor setbacks. I also "won" a lengthy(3 years) court battle with my ex the father of my four boys and he isn't really in their lives now, he is meant to have supervised contact but has chosen not to so hasn't seen them since last December.

He proved what he is like and still doesn't accept their autism.

 

What brings me here now is.... I have a daughter with my partner she is 2 years 8mths. She has been attending nursery three days a week since April this year...after her second birthday. Around July/August we attend the first parents meeting to discuss her progress and were told she is quite behind in speech & language, social skills and mobility/co-ordination. I couldn't understand as she seems just fine to me I told her that she is not the same at home(other than walking on her toes) and she does talk and play well.

 

Then two weeks ago my partner was called in by the manager and she said she wants to get someone in to assess her, I was so surprised as I feel she is still young and that they are being too hasty. My partner agreed anyway and of course if there is a problem best to get support sooner rather than later(been there before!)

 

I cannot see red flags for autism comparing her to my boys, even they have some differences in their ASD so cannot see either behaviours really. The things that are noticeable is that she did take her time to talk and started walking 19months, when she did she walked on her toes all the time, now she does a bit of both. She also started removing clothing even in public from around 8months and now she refuses to wear a coat when we out. She does throw tantrums but given her age they seem normal. She doesn't have any of the food issues my boys have, which is great. I wondered how different are girls when it comes to ASD especially in toddlers, are things not as noticeable?

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Hi Justine, welcome to the forum.

I'm not much of an authority on the subject of ASD in girls as I'm a bloke but I'll try to help as best as I can. Apparently girls tend to have fewer obvious autistic traits than boys, although it is unclear why. As you have mentioned with your two autistic boys, ASD presents itself differently in different people, so it is also possible that she just has less traits than your lads. Walking on her toes does sound to me like a flag that she could have autism, although I think some NT toddlers do this anyway. Removing her clothes could be a sign of some sensory issues, although again this could just be a toddler thing. Really though, the only way to find out for sure is to have her assessed. I hope this helps

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Hello Justine!

The things that are noticeable is that she did take her time to talk and started walking 19months, when she did she walked on her toes all the time, now she does a bit of both. She also started removing clothing even in public from around 8months and now she refuses to wear a coat when we out. She does throw tantrums but given her age they seem normal.

 

All this sounds pretty normal for her age. Do the nursery know you have sons on the autism spectrum? If so, maybe they're just playing safe. I know a lot about girls with Asperger's, and their traits are generally a lot more subtle, and because of this they can be easily overlooked. (Only about 10% of girls show the male traits). I don't know much about girls with classic 'low functioning' autism. The AS girl-boy difference is partly due to differing parental expectations. Girls' special interests appear to be more 'normal' (yet equally intense). Aspie girls are generally better socially, for cultural reasons and because they've been brought up to be so. A big difference - the higher empathy/lower systemising of AS girls, seems to have a stronger neurological basis.

 

However, concern about your daughter's development at this early age wouldn't indicate Asperger's syndrome, but rather a possibilty of 'classic' autism. But, girls with "classic" autism generally have lower nonverbal intelligence than boys:

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%28%28%28Lord[Author]%29%20AND%20Sex%20differences%20in%20autism%29%20AND%20%28Journal%20of%20Autism%20and%20Developmental%20Disorders%29%29%20AND%201982

From what you say, it therefore seems pretty unlikely that your daughter is autistic, and most likely the nursery is just erring on the side of caution. Let's hope her assessment finds nothing amiss.

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Thanks for the replies. No her nursery don't know about her brothers' autism. I have 4 boys who are from a previous relationship(like I mentioned in my update in first paragraph...used to be a regular on here but got busy with life!) and so I just assumed nothing like this will occur with her(genetics and all that!) My other two boys are NT although my eldest is gifted and youngest was supposed to be assessed last year for dyspraxia but he seems to be doing ok now. He is also very quiet at school but has improved,it takes him awhile to get used to people....I think my daughter is similar in this way and might be all it is.

 

The nursery said yesterday she has made some improvements over the past few months but she is still 6-10mths behind in all areas. She doesn't talk to other children but she says the odd word to adults and prefers their company. They gave us a leaflet to make an appointment to see the SALT so with that and the assessment hopefully we will know more.

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