Research

uptick in social difficulties his team

found in adolescence is reflecting.
Do the social difficulties reveal
autistic traits, or are they
“impairments secondary to anxiety
or depression”? In an email, he
added: “Nevertheless, whatever its
cause, the fact that females
experience this increase in social
difficulties is important.
“One possible explanation is
that the social environment for
females escalates more quickly
and markedly during adolescence
than it does for males.”

Progress of autism traits

Mandy’s team mapped the
progress of autism traits in the
general population across
childhood. They used the Avon
Longitudinal Study of Parents
and Children (ALSPAC) to trace
Their child autism traits.
gets diagnosed The ALSPAC research was a
general population study in the
and they start to south west of England from birth,
relate to a lot of the involving 9,744 children.
Autism traits were assessed at
experiences their child the ages of seven, 10, 13 and 16,
has gone through” using the Social Communication
Disorders Checklist (SCDC), which
relies on information from parents.
At age seven boys scored
higher than girls for autism traits
and were more likely to be in the
“clinical range”.
But the difference diminished
over time as the symptoms in girls
got stronger. By the age of 16
there was no longer any difference.

It’s a girl thing too

Not so easy to recognise
Dr Sarah Lister Brook, clinical
director of the National Autistic
Society (NAS), says social
difficulties are often present much
earlier on in a girl’s development.
However, “the presentation is
more subtle, so they aren’t so easy
Boys outnumber girls with autism When previously untroubled
young girls start to show symptoms
traits for autism in girls become
more pronounced between 10 and
found girls with autism were better
than boys at staying in close
Difficult years:
long-standing
to recognise”.
She adds: “As the social
by around four to one – or so says of autism later in life, is it a genuine
late onset of the condition or simply
16 years old. proximity to peers and weaving in
and out of activities.
issues may
start to show
pressures and gender
expectations increase significantly
conventional wisdom. But there’s subtle, pre-existing difficulties
becoming more obvious?
Girls better at masking
And an earlier US study of
Girls with autism will continue to
be “left unidentified” if
as social
pressures
as a girl gets older, the teenage
experience brings long-standing
evidence that girls are better at This is the question researchers elementary school-age children professionals look for social and gender issues to the fore.”
could soon be grappling with after with autism published in November isolation on the playground when expectations Listerbrook also says the study
masking social challenges and findings that suggest girls show an 2016 supported the idea that girls identifying children with social increase when relied on “a core set of social
increase in autistic social traits later were better at masking or challenges, the study concluded. girls get older behaviours” reported on by parents.
their autistic traits can appear than boys. camouflaging their autism. Dr William Mandy, who led the She thinks it’s possible that these
Researchers at the University The research, led by Michelle UCL research, says it’s very “may not be the most relevant for
later. Report by Darren Devine College of London (UCL) found the Dean of California State University, important to investigate what the females during the early years”.

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 Research Speaking through pictures

Further reading
Dr Heather Stone
Wodis’s book, A patented ‘high-tech’
Girls with Autism Communication Aid
Becoming Women, uniquely developed
investigates the
experiences of
for non-verbal
seven women as they communicators
transition from childhood to familiar with physical
adulthood. Education, sexuality, Picture Exchange and
career paths and social networks
are among the things that impact based on Drag and Drop with voice output.
their lives – but a supportive family
and a diagnosis in childhood help
them to deal with their challenges.
Jessica Kingsley Publishers,
£13.99/$19.95 paperback ● Familiar and easily recognisable
to physical Picture Exchange
In addition, “the gender users
expectations of the parents may
have had an influence on their
reporting”. she says. ● Choice of popular image sets:
In her book Girls with Autism
Becoming Women, Dr Heather
PCS, SymbolStix or Widgit
Stone Wodis investigates the
experiences of seven women as
they transition from childhood to
● Drag & Drop encourages
adulthood. Stone Wodis, who lives “intentional” communication
with obsessive compulsive
disorder (OCD) and is visually and more control
impaired, says growing numbers
of women are now being
diagnosed later in life. ● Simple and quick to configure
and personalise
Reflect on their condition
And Stone Wodis, who as a result
of her visual impairment and OCD
describes herself as neurodivergent,
● Ability to add voice recording
says seeing one of their own and digital photos , e.g. family,
children diagnosed is often the
trigger that compels women to
friends, carers etc.
reflect on their own condition. Chicago, says this can see autistic Like mother,
She says: “Their child gets Something that teens marginalized as they begin like daughter:
diagnosed and they start to realise to struggle with everyday aspects author Dr
and relate to a lot of the experiences she used to do of life – such as flirting with the Heather Stone
their child has gone through. when she was seven opposite sex. Wodis believes
“And then it gives them pause to growing Available on Windows
be like, ‘Wait a second, I used to and was fine, now, at Comfortable to them numbers
10 Tablets or as
do this. I didn’t talk until I was nine. 14, when her friends “They see all their peers doing it of women
Software Only
I was obsessed with pink stuffed (flirting) effortlessly and so then are being
animals. Wait a second – this are going on dates, they start to retreat into what is diagnosed with
seems a little odd”
FREE
seems really familiar.’” comfortable to them, whether it be autism later
Stone Wodis is unconvinced by sitting in a rocking chair for hours in life after
the notion that autism appears or brushing their doll’s hair. recognising
later in girls; instead, she believes pathology or is this just kids’ stuff’? “And at 14 brushing a doll’s hair symptoms in 30 DAY TRIAL
their more subtle symptoms simply “And as they grow older and is no longer socially acceptable or their autistic AVAILABLE FROM OUR WEBSITE
go unnoticed. relationships and social norms appropriate. So something that she children that
She says: “It becomes more
apparent and obvious (in
become more complex, they have
increasing difficulty keeping up
used to do when she was seven,
eight and was totally fine, now, at
they themselves
showed in
www.speaks4me.com
adolescence) because when with it.” 14, when her friends are going on childhood Tel: 044 (0)330 555 0220 Email: contact@speaks4me.com
you’re a kid people are like, ‘Is this Stone Wodis, who lives near dates, seems a little odd.”

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