Comparing and Contrasting Girls and Boys with ASD

Dimension 1: PERSISTENT DEFICITS IN SOCIAL COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL INTERACTION

Characteristic 1: Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity

Boys: Boys tend to wtihdraw and isolate themselves, they don't try and understand a social emotional
situation, they will just ignore it or think others in the situation are being odd. For example when
another child is crying because they are sad a boy with ASD will simply just roll his eyes at the child
rather then asking or being concerned of what is wrong. Boys tend to have a more difficult time making
friends due to very low social emotional reciprocity, they come of as not caring and rude to peers.

Girls: Girl tend to be more connected with the social emotional aspect. Girls brains tend to show that of
a neurtotypical boy of the same age as her but not the same of a neurotypical age of a girl her age.
Therefore when compared to a boy her age a girl with ASD will act the same although when compared
to a girl her age the girl with ASD with show differences. Girls with ASD show empathy and friendship
quality on the same level as a typical boy but fall short when compared to a typical girl. Girls learn a lot
about social emotional reciprocity by watching what other girls do and mimicing it.

Characteristic 2: Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction

Boys: Boys tend to not like being touched,huged or cuddled just like girls. They tend to avoid eye
contact. Boys seem to have less of an interest to use non verbal communicative skills to communicate in
a social aspect. They simply do not care to interact sometimes and therefore may come off as cold or
rude.

Girls: Girls have less predominant non verbal communication differences. Girls are able to watch their
surroundings and copy what the other girls are doing, therefore mimicing their social surroundings to
interact and "fit in" with her peers. They tend to avoid interpersonal situations and try to camouflage
their social insecurities by finding coping mechanisms such as observing social situations and imitating
other girls and taking on another persona. This allows for girls to go undiagnosed with ASD well into
later years. This type of social coping also leads to a lot of stress for a girl to constantly be watching and
copying her peers therefor leading to a lot of strees, anxiety and depression. Girls stereotypically do no
liked to be touched like boys, then don't like to cuddle or to be too close to someone.

Characteristic 3: Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships

Boys: Sometimes boys do not care if they have friends or not. They seem to be less bothered by not
fitting in as compared to girls with ASD. Some studies have shown just a plain disinterest for socializing
in boys with ASD. If boys make a social mistake they normally get very aggitated and disruptive. Also
boys with ASD when doing something disruptive in a social setting other boys will laugh at him making
him think this action is appropriate and allow him to make friends when normally it is not the right
method of gaining friendships. For example if the boy gets made fun of for having big feet he might see
that as attention and therefore try and wear his dads shoes to school to show off even bigger feet when
he thinks he's making friends others are just laughing at him, making it difficult to understand a
relationship.
Girls: Girls have shown a much greater desire to connect with others. If girls have a friend it is a very
strong intense interest in that friend. Girls when after making a social mistake then tend to apologize a
lot and appease when making the social error. Girls will watch situations and chameleon themselves so
act the same way her friends do which allows her to maintain friendships especially in elementary.
Junior high and highschool is where it is more difficult for girls to just mimic her peers since if she does a
social mistake girls are more likely to call her out for it and then to make fun of her and reject her as a
friend, making it difficult to keep friendships sometimes as the years go on.

Dimension 2: RESTRICTED, REPETITIVE PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR, INTERESTS, OR ACTIVITIES

Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech

Boys: Boys are stereotypically shown to have more visible and pronounced repetitive motor actions.
They will twirl around, flap their hands etc a lot of moments of " stimming". This is why they are often
scrutinized in class rooms since they're acting out, and they are diagnosed earlier on due to excessive
motor movements that are more unusual. Boys will stereotypical display a different use for objects than
the neurotypical child, they will fixate on an usual object or use an object in an usual way. Boys focus on
more facts and less imaginative situations.

Girls: Grils often do not show as much repetitive behaviors. Lots of times their actions are similar to
other typical girls their age. Girls have a huge imagination and love to pretend which is not stereotypical
of children with ASD. What could be viewed as pretending could actually me a systematic set up or
routine. For example a girl playing with barbies and "pretending" could actually be a set up scene that is
always the same, these could be repetitive use of objects just not as forward as boys with repetitive
movements.

Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns or verbal nonverbal

behavior:

Boys: Boys like girls have an insistence on sameness. Routine is key in the lives of individuals with ASD.
There is a consistent daily pattern that the individual will go through and if this pattern is disrupted in
anyways can cause great anxiety and distress for the individual. The environment must be kept to very
minimal change and if change is necessary the individual should be notified in advanced. These routines
help the individual make sense and find order in their daily lives. This is the same for boys and girls.

Girls: Girls have a tendency to get diagnosed with eating disorders or anorexia due to their routines and
obsessions. Girls tend to have routines but they are not as severe as boys, although when it come to
food it is more intense They will eat the same thing every day, they will become obsessed with food,
everything about it such as calories etc. For example a girl will have a spread sheet and will need to fill it
in everyday of what she ate the calories she consumed etc. This leads to a miss in diagnosis for ASD and
rather a diagnoses of a eating disorder.

Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus

Boys: Boys tend to have restricted interests such as dinausours or disney films and don't veer away
from these restricted interests. They will continuously elaborate on these topics excessively and dont
take social cues to stop. Their intense focus is normally fixated on something more unusual then the
typical boy.

Girls: Girls have fixated interests they just seem to fall under the radar since they are more common
fixations that wouldnt seem too different then the average child. Such as fixation with times tables,
girls tend to have a higher fixation and interest in "male" activities, which makes them come across as
more of a " tomboy" rather than being diagnosed with ASD. Girls also have a high interest in reading or
fantasy worlds. They can sometimes get consumed in a fantasy world and revolve their lives around it.

Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interests in sensory aspects of the environment

Boys: Both boys and girls can have an over or under sensitivity to sounds, light, pain & temperature,
taste, odour, textures, balance etc. Children will become hyperactive, tense and distractible in
overstimulating environments. The over stimulation can cause children to act out. Children with ASD
can consciously avoid situations or environments they know that are over stimulating. When over
stimulated boys tend to act out more and therefore draw more attention to themselves by teachers and
those diagnosing the child.

Girls: Girls tend to be more hyporeactive sometimes, since they tend to be more lethargic then boys.
Also I think that textures of food affect girls a bit more too and this also leads to them being diagnosed
with eating disorders rather then ASD. Girls do not act out as much in an overstimulating environment
and therefore is also another reason they go un diagnosed, alternatively they just learn to cope and
create mechanisms to deal with the over stimulation while at school...this is where the 4 oclock
explosion comes in. Girls are stimulated all day socially and so are there senses, when trying to keep
them under control they build up a lot of stress and unleash it at home throwing tantrums and being
overly stimulated at the end of the day.