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    Autism in Girls 2

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    The document discusses how autism is often misdiagnosed or missed in girls. It explains that autism symptoms present differently in girls compared to boys due to gender stereotypes and biological differences. Specifically, girls with autism are more likely to have interests that align with feminine stereotypes like horses or unicorns. They also tend to score higher on measures of emotional reactivity. As a result, autism goes undetected in girls who are often misdiagnosed with other conditions like depression or anxiety. The document analyzes several scholarly sources that explore this topic from different perspectives.

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    Autism in Girls 2

    Uploaded by

    api-535070577
    139 views5 pages
    The document discusses how autism is often misdiagnosed or missed in girls. It explains that autism symptoms present differently in girls compared to boys due to gender stereotypes and biological differences. Specifically, girls with autism are more likely to have interests that align with feminine stereotypes like horses or unicorns. They also tend to score higher on measures of emotional reactivity. As a result, autism goes undetected in girls who are often misdiagnosed with other conditions like depression or anxiety. The document analyzes several scholarly sources that explore this topic from different perspectives.

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    The document discusses how autism is often misdiagnosed or missed in girls. It explains that autism symptoms present differently in girls compared to boys due to gender stereotypes and biological differences. Specifically, girls with autism are more likely to have interests that align with feminine stereotypes like horses or unicorns. They also tend to score higher on measures of emotional reactivity. As a result, autism goes undetected in girls who are often misdiagnosed with other conditions like depression or anxiety. The document analyzes several scholarly sources that explore this topic from different perspectives.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    139 views5 pages

    Autism in Girls 2

    Uploaded by

    api-535070577
    The document discusses how autism is often misdiagnosed or missed in girls. It explains that autism symptoms present differently in girls compared to boys due to gender stereotypes and biological differences. Specifically, girls with autism are more likely to have interests that align with feminine stereotypes like horses or unicorns. They also tend to score higher on measures of emotional reactivity. As a result, autism goes undetected in girls who are often misdiagnosed with other conditions like depression or anxiety. The document analyzes several scholarly sources that explore this topic from different perspectives.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 5

    Brady 1

    Ashley Brady

    Professor Sandy-Smith

    English Composition II

    November 5, 2020

    Misdiagnosis of Autism in Girls

    For years pop culture has been displaying male characters with autism, such as

    Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory and Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds.

    These characters make it seem as though autism is a male-only problem. What if autism

    is not singularly a male problem? It was previously thought that autism mostly

    manifests in men. However, recently, scientists worldwide are now finding that girls

    have been misdiagnosed or completely forgone an autism diagnosis. Why are girls

    significantly less likely than boys to be diagnosed with autism?

    Studies have found that girls with autism are more likely to go undiagnosed due

    to the nature of how autism presents itself. In Beth Arky's article, "Why Many Autistic

    Girls Are Overlooked," she writes of how gender serotypes can prevent an autism

    diagnosis. For example, one symptom of autism is hyper fixation. While "boys are

    looking at train schedules, girls might have an excessive interest in horses or unicorns,

    which is not unexpected for girls" (Arky). Similarly, Peter Hess writes, "At every age,

    autistic girls score higher on measures of emotional reactivity than autistic boys do."

    However, girls are stereotyped to be more naturally emotional than their male

    counterparts (Hess). In addition, girls are more likely to be misdiagnosed with other

    mental illnesses, "girls struggling with undiagnosed autism often develop depression,

    anxiety or poor self-esteem, and clinicians may not really dig underneath to see the

    social dysfunction caused by autism" (Arky).


    Brady 2

    While Becky Arky and Peter Hess focus on gender stereotypes and misdiagnosis

    of girls with autism; Erin Digitale argues in "Girls and Boys with Autism Differ in

    Behavior, Brain Structure" that autism is missed in girls due to the differences in brain

    structure in males and females with autism and Lauren Agoratus, along with Jessica

    Firger, agree. Digitale wrote her article for a Stanford research article. Agoratus wrote

    her article for Autism Spectrum News. In contrast, Becky Arky wrote her article for the

    child mind institute. They both studied different age groups and focused on different

    aspects of autism, leading to different findings in their arguments.

    All the articles mentioned are catering to an audience of any age, especially

    females who might have autism. All these articles seem to be credible and are written

    from a scholarly standpoint. Figer and Digitale's articles are both peer-reviewed. Also,

    Beth Arky and Peter Hess both cite peer review articles to back their claims.

    Nevertheless, keep in mind each author other than Digitale and Figer were paid by

    autism organizations to write about differences in boys and girls with autism. All articles

    conclude that girls are often misdiagnosed with other mental illnesses that result from

    them struggling with undiagnosed autism. They all agree that girls do not display

    symptoms in a forward way like males do.

    In addition to these sources, I also deiced to used five others to help support my

    research paper. “The Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS).” by Henrik

    Anckarsäter is a study based on twins in Sweeden discussing the influence of autism on

    these twins. This is a very reliable source as it is peer reviewed and has support from

    multiple other scientists and has been cited in many other scholarly research papers.

    Another peer reviewed scholarly is “Sex differences in pre-diagnosis concerns for

    children later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.” by Rachel Miller. This study
    Brady 3

    focuses on the differences of symptoms in males and females who have yet to be

    diagnosed autism. The last three articles are from news websites. The first is from

    spectrum news, “Why Autism Diagnoses Are Often Delayed” by Caroline Miller. The

    second article is “The Costs of Camouflaging Autism” by Francine Russo from Spectrum

    news. The third article is “Autism-It's Different in Girls.” by Maia Szalavitz is from the

    Scientific American. All of these articles are written by writers well versed in the subject

    and were peer reviewed by other journalists and doctors who also work with those on

    the autism spectrum. These articles all bring up similar points including dangers for

    girls who have undiagnosed and misdiagnosed autism and symptoms of girls versus

    boys with autism.

    In conclusion, many authors, researchers, and scientists have found that girls are

    less likely to be misdiagnosed or not receive an autism diagnosis at all. Girls with an

    autism spectrum disorder are put at a higher risk of many dangers in society. It can also

    make it very difficult for girls with an autism spectrum disorder to have access to the

    resources they need, like therapy, to become a functioning member of society. This is an

    issue that had become more prevalent in a modern-day world where science is

    advancing every day. Moreover, although scientists and doctors alike have taken the

    first steps to treat girls with potential autism as equals to males with autism, there is still

    much work to be done before girls with autism spectrum disorder can fully be equal with

    their male counterparts.


    Brady 4

    Works Cited

    Agoratus, Lauren. “How Autism Manifests Differently in Girls: What Families Need to

    Know.” Autism Spectrum News, 1 Oct. 2016, autismspectrumnews.org/how-

    autism-manifests-differently-in-girls-what-families-need-to-know/.

    Anckarsäter, Henrik, et al. “The Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS).”

    Twin Research and Human Genetics, vol. 14, no. 6, 2011, pp. 495–508.,

    doi:10.1375/twin.14.6.495.

    Arky , Beth. “Why Many Autistic Girls Are Overlooked.” Child Mind Institute, 23 Oct.

    2019, childmind.org/article/autistic-girls-overlooked-undiagnosed-autism/.

    Digitale, Erin. “Girls and Boys with Autism Differ in Behavior, Brain Structure.” News

    Center, 3 Sept. 2015, med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2015/09/girls-and-boys-

    with-autism-differ-in-behavior-brain-structure.html.

    Firger, Jessica. "Autism Risk: Why Are Girls More Protected From Diagnosis? The

    Autism Sisters Project seeks to understand why boys are four times more likely to

    develop autism than girls." Newsweek, vol. 169, no. 2, 14 July 2017. Gale In

    Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/do

    c/A497840722/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=228f6fb7. Accessed 19 Nov.

    2020.

    Hess, Peter. “Autistic Girls May Experience More Emotional Challenges than Autistic

    Boys Do: Spectrum: Autism Research News.” Spectrum, 7 May 2020,

    www.spectrumnews.org/news/autistic-girls-may-experience-more-emotional-

    challenges-than-autistic-boys-do/.
    Brady 5

    Hiller, Rachel M et al. “Sex differences in pre-diagnosis concerns for children later

    diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.” Autism : the international journal of

    research and practice vol. 20,1 (2016): 75-84. doi:10.1177/1362361314568899

    Miller, Caroline. “Why Autism Diagnoses Are Often Delayed.” Child Mind Institute, 26

    June 2019, childmind.org/article/why-autism-diagnoses-are-often-delayed/.

    Russo, Francine. “The Costs of Camouflaging Autism.” Spectrum, 16 Nov. 2020,

    www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/costs-camouflaging-autism/.

    Szalavitz, Maia. “Autism-It's Different in Girls.” Scientific American, Scientific

    American, 1 Mar. 2016, www.scientificamerican.com/article/autism-it-s-different-

    in-girls/.

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