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Females with autism are different than males with autism in a lot of ways. This week, researchers used twins to examine the differences between males and females with autism in their brain structure and how it’s associated with autism traits, not a diagnosis. To do this, researchers in Sweden turned to twins. As it turns out, females have more of a diversity of differences in brain changes compared to boys, supporting the female protective effect. But how to females with autism feel? As them! A group in the UK interviewed over 20 women on the spectrum or their parents to find out what concerns them most and what they find most challenging.
Both articles cited this week are open access:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-019-03906-4 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6373677/
This podcast and the ASF is so important. I feel that no one else is talking about what you talk about. I do have one question: Many of these studies use standard rating scales to identify the subject of the research study as autistic. However, if the rating scales and diagnostic tools that are used to identify autism in these subjects is based on research that has been mainly done on boys, how can that help to identify and understand girls with autism? Will not the current diagnostic tools only find autistic girls that present with symptoms like boys? I hope that question makes sense.