In fact, around 800 children who have high-functioning type of autism were picked from two large public databases and examined by researchers in the United States.
“Our findings raise the possibility that girls with less prominent repetitive and restrictive behaviors may miss being tested for autism or get misclassified as social communication disorder”, Supekar said.
Girls and boys did not differ on social behavior and communication skills, but girls had less-severe repetitive and restricted behaviors, the researchers reported in the journal Molecular Autism.
Moreover, the brain scan analysis study proved that the gender differences in brain structure between boys and girls are consistent with the result of earlier studies.
Professor Menon said: ‘Autism has primarily been studied from the viewpoint of boys with the disorder.
Also, Supekar notes, “We found strong evidence for gender differences in autism”.
New research illustrate that is actually autistic behaviour patterns might diverge in women and children, also their personal mind constructions, like the usual character identified in autistic behaviour is much more outstanding in children behaving the disease. The symptom can manifest itself in several ways, but an example of this behavior can include a “strict adherence to routines” or a singular focus on a specific area of interest.
Looking at the scans for children with autism, the researchers observed gender differences once again, but in a way dissimilar to that of the typically developing children.
Repetitive and restricted behaviour is thought to be the most widely recognised of the three core features of autism.
Scientists were interested in comparing the expression of core features of the disorder between sexes because they have long suspected girls with autism may display symptoms differently, causing them to be underdiagnosed.
It’s worth mentioning that there were no difference between the brains of girls and boys without autisms. Emily Willingham, in quoting a July 2015 piece by journalist, Angela Neustatter, points out that autistic girls have the tendency to “implode emotionally”, as opposed to boys who express their emotions physically. The researchers noted that many repetitive behaviors, such as hand-flapping, have a motor component. Experts believe the findings represent the best evidence to date that boys and girls display the developmental disorder differently.
For their study, Supekar and his colleagues examined 614 autistic boys and 128 autistic girls, all in the 7 to 13 age group, and all with an IQ of more than 70. Social and communication difficulties were similar between both sexes, the findings showed.
This research was supported by a NARSAD Young Investigator Award, an Atherton Investigator Award, the National Institutes of Health (grant MH084164) and the Simons Foundation.