Gender difference update
Girls and boys with autism generally show the same symptoms of ASD overall, but what about different aspects of features? What would happen if you studied girls and boys separately and examined detailed assessments of things like motor skills, repetitive behavior, communication or social interaction? These are where subtle signs of differences between genders is showing up. Girls show a higher age of diagnosis, but that depends on cognitive ability. Also, girls with ASD seem to have superior social interaction skills, which reflects normal gender differences. These differences are magnified over time. A new study also looks at Vitamin D levels during pregnancy and outcome in boys vs. girls…..the results are still unclear but interesting. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33137209/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33135392/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33136459/