Why Autism In Girls Can Go Overlooked

Autism and girls can often go overlooked. That's according to the therapy group Autism 360, the organization's head of program delivery. Stephanie Collins is here with us this morning. Stephanie is also a mom to a son and daughter with autism. Stephanie, good morning. Thank you for joining us. Morning. All right, so you see it from both ends here. I'm curious to know, with autism being diagnosed far more often in boys than girls, why do you believe that girls are often so overlooked? Girls just are more likely to have traditional interests, even if they are intense. They're usually in traditional interests of girls, so that can often be overlooked. You will also see they function socially. They have friends and they mimic their peers. They mimic facial expression. So many times it's overlooked because they are, you know, grasping those social norms that we see in children. And it's more pronounced, I guess, being socially visible with your friends and girls than boys. You also talk about girls masking their autism. What does that look like? Many times with masking, again, they're gonna go to school. They're getting through their school day. They can, they'll have one or two friends that they can have social interaction with. You're not seeing meltdowns at school. You're not seeing behaviors at school, even school refusal. So many times that is that masking that we're seeing. But when we get home is when we're starting to see the emotional burnout. Got it. And if they're acting that way at school, you're often told, well, it's fine. I don't see any problem here. You mentioned one of the signs that they may, you may notice outside of a school setting. What are some of the other signs that parents should be looking out for when it comes to girls specifically? Um, you're gonna see them really, um, over perform, um, perfectionism. Um, and the meltdowns that you might see is they're not perfect enough. Um, you're not gonna hear a lot of things from the school, but then they come home. You're gonna keep hearing. They're doing great at school. They're doing great at school. They're doing great at daycare. All these events, they come home and you are seeing this child, this anxious, depressed, um, socially isolating after social events. They're exhausted. They are, you know, just you're seeing those meltdowns and behaviors at home. And that is a really big red flag that there's something else going on. Um, if everything's going great at school and then they come home, it's not a parenting thing. This is their safe space. So that means that they are constricting themselves when they're in a public forum, a social forum, the guards are down. So if a parent is watching and they're listening to you going, okay, this is ringing bells for me. I've seen this before. What's the first step they should take? Uh, first steps is definitely going and talking to your doctor. Um, you know your child best trust your gut. Um, because you really want to get this, you know, looked at initially and start talking about that because what we're going to see later in life is anxiety, depression, school refusal and then it looks like it's behavior, a team that's not wanting to go to school and there's so much more going on underneath the surface. So trust your gut as a parent. Yeah, don't wait on a diagnosis or a wait list right in order to act finally here. When did you realize that you had autism in both of your Children? How early on my son was diagnosed at four, which can be pretty late for a boy. Um, there was just some for boys. We see the behaviors, you know, they're not trying to fit into social norms. They're gonna do what they need to do. Um, so lots of behaviors. Um, you know, eye contact is something that is brought up a lot, but that's not, you as much in girls. But, um, you know, the side I lining things up again, it's very generic. But my son did do that. Um, honestly, my daughter was one that I missed. Um, I she was the perfect baby, the happy baby. Um, she was nonverbal. But, you know, speech delay was something that my son was going through. So that didn't flag for me with her. So that one was definitely a prize because she was doing all the she was meeting all the milestones of the pediatrician. She was doing all the right things that we see when it comes to milestones. Um, and I with my daughter, I did not. I did not expect it. So diagnosis in girls is a big one, an important topic for me because I missed the signs myself. My son showed outwardly that there was something going on. And my daughter was just doing all of those social norms. Well, Stephanie, thank you so much for giving our viewers the cues, right? Those signs that they should pay deeper attention to. We appreciate you joining us on behalf of Autism 3 60. And that's where you all can stay connected and abreast with the organization to learn more.