4 Symptoms of High-Functioning Autism (Asperger’s) in Girls
Girls are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders at a much lower rate than boys. One reason is that many of the symptoms that are evident in boys display themselves differently in girls. Understanding your daughter’s symptoms is critical to parent them in supportive manner.
Internal Behavior Issues
Internal problems aren’t disruptive so they don’t force adults to notice them. These mimic shyness, like a student who speaks less than the other students and is socially more alone than the other students. Teachers don’t complain that there is a shy girl in their classroom that isn’t disruptive. Furthermore, teachers don’t feel comfortable telling parents, “Your daughter seems awkwardly quiet and is having a hard time making friends.” Instead, they might describe your child as “needing more time to mature”, or “not mature” when determining if they are going to advance your child or when comparing them to the rest of the class. Most of the time they won’t say anything at all.
Selective Mutism
This can be a very frustrating symptom and is similar to the symptom above, but is definitely it’s own symptom. The term “selective” does not mean that your child is choosing to not be able to speak. The term “selective” simply means that your child can speak in some situations and not in others. The child will not be able to chose the situations where they can’t speak. Furthermore, the mutism can’t always be predicted. Your child may be able to speak at church one week, but not the next.
While, not completely mute, selective mutism can also be the inability to say anything except a specific phrase or two. For instance, my daughter can say, “I don’t know” when she is not able to say anything else. When she says, “I don’t know,” it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t know. It means that “I don’t know” are the only words she can form at the moment. Instead of it meaning, “I don’t know,” it means, “I can’t speak, “ or “I’m uncomfortable.”
Asexual or Tomboy
Playing with boys more than girls or being a tomboy is often preferred to a traditionally feminine role. Some girls will verbally express confusion at the social rules of their female peers. They won’t understand what determines who is popular or why clothing or hairstyles are interesting to their peers. A girl on the spectrum may dislike looking like a girl and be upset with the onset of puberty. Some girls will become upset with conversations about dating. They may be asexual and not feel physical attraction to boys or girls. At a young age, my daughter started saying that she wanted to adopt children because she did not want to conceive a child. When she said this at a young age, I didn’t think anything of it, but she did not waiver from this viewpoint as she grew older. That is when it became a more obvious symptom of autism.
Desires to Be in a Fantasy World
An intense interest in fictional worlds or fantasy characters at an age beyond where their peers have moved on to more realistic interests. While most kids will start to leave the world of Pokemon and My Little Pony behind, these girls will be infatuated with spending time with or talking about characters or worlds that are based on fiction and fantasy. It may show up as an intense love for role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons or a video game or book series that revolves around a fantasy world. My daughters tell me that they prefer fantasy worlds, because they don’t have to hate themselves there. They have felt out of place for so long that they developed a loathing for themselves in the real world. They like going someplace where they feel it is ok to like themselves just the way they are.
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