Asperger's and Autism

[Winged_Wolf]

Hey, 'maya, wanted to pick your brain about these disorders.

One thing I've been curious about is, from what I've heard, the fact that Autistic spectrum disorders tend to manifest differently in males and females. Have you found that to be the case in working with kids who have them?

There was an opinion that females are diagnosed with it less often because the symptoms are harder to detect, due to those differences.

[MindlessInvalid]

I know that was meant for Amaya, but I have worked with autistic and AS people before and I would say that your source is fairly accurate, then again theres also the XX chromosomes having less room for error and therefore less room for autism to occur if you are into the genetics theory.

[Amaya]

OH GODS yes Wolf, there is a HUGE difference between males with Autism and females with Autism, and those differences are both because of environment AND because of biology/neurology.

Girls tend to be naturally more social, AND have a somewhat easier time learning to become more social. They tend to seek social interaction more, and, given identical functioning levels, tend to be more socially adept. Females with Autism also tend to have better verbal skills. I've noticed this quite extensively in working with Autism programs through the years, and were it legal, I'd dump MOUNTAINS of data on you. Girls also tend to have better reading comprehension on the spectrum, make friends sooner, keep them longer, and seem to be more "in touch" EXTERNALLY with their emotions. There are always exceptions, and we can go into way more example based details if you want.

From teh Biology/neurology standpoint, current theories say that this is the effect of human evolution. Women, over time, evolved towards nurture (with many exceptions). Its related to why girls tend to speak sooner, and why girls are more social, more speach oriented in social interaction rather than action oriented.

WHICH brings us to the environment. These two are so very chicken and egg. Women evolve, we cater to that evolution, women evolve more. (gather versus hunter in society). MOST parents will baby girls more, talk to them more, treat them with a more tender loving gentle care than they treat the boys, which, despite our progressing treatment of male/female equality, boys are still told to tough up, ETC, and they are encouraged to play with ACTION rather than with WORDS. (playing monster/chase/swords rather than dolls ETC)

Let me hunt down my mind institute links for the public access data on the study they've done on the subject. Its heavily researched.

And YES there are MANY MANY more females on the higher end of the spectrum that are either undiagnosed, or diagnosed FAR later because of the higher levels of social compensation, because social aspects are still the prime diagnosing factor. They mistake LEARNED and MIMICKED social skills for true social skills, and most girls, though they always feel a bit of an outsider, fake it rather well given time.

[Winged_Wolf]

How are females with Asperger's or autism at relating to characters in stories? I had heard that males with these disorders tend to dislike reading fiction. Is that true, and if so, is it true of females as well, typically?

[KEAL]

How are females with Asperger's or autism at relating to characters in stories? I had heard that males with these disorders tend to dislike reading fiction. Is that true, and if so, is it true of females as well, typically?

I wouldn't say "dislike" so much as it is more along the lines of taking a toll on one's patience and attention span. From my experience with my own Asperger's Syndrome in high school, one of my teachers, Mr. Speisman, constantly fed me books such as the vault edition of Stranger in a Strange Land and a good portion of the works of Michael Crichton. I blew through those books due to the nature in which they were written, though more times than not wrote incredulous reviews and analysis of what I read with a fury rivaling that of the old testament Ezekiel.

[Amaya]

Its something that depends entirely on being able to find anything in common with the character. The types of assignments that require it are still a struggle for females. Comparing one's self to a character is very abstract, and is another known difficulty for those with spectrum disorders. Once you get passed the abstract of "putting yourself in their shoes" by giving them common ground that they can accept, THEN language and social skills can compensate. As far as the gender differences here, I haven't noticed a huge difference because we support our students very heavily through this sort of thing and treat it more like guided work than an independent assignment. Girls, on average, do get more curious about the characters, while boys, object and plot, even if they struggle with comparing themselves to the character.

Both genders get hung up on "but I'm not the character" and struggle to get past that little hump