Differences in Developmental Functioning Profiles Between Male and Female Preschoolers Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Preschool girls with autism show milder social symptoms than boys of the same IQ, and fine-motor delays flag social risk only in boys.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Rodriguez-Seijas et al. (2020) compared boys and girls with autism who had the same IQ.
All kids were preschool age.
The team looked at social, motor, and daily-living skills to see if sex changed the picture.
What they found
Girls had milder social-communication trouble than boys with the same IQ.
Fine-motor skill scores predicted social trouble only in boys, not girls.
Other skills looked about the same between the sexes.
How this fits with other research
Ros-Demarize et al. (2020) also studied preschoolers but saw girls show worse social scores.
The two papers seem to clash, yet Rosmary used parent reports while Francesco used direct tests.
Crawford et al. (2015) found no sex gap at all in social play, again showing the field is split.
Gabis et al. (2020) add that motor delays are more common in girls, backing the idea that sex shapes how autism looks.
Why it matters
When you run an ADOS or social test, expect girls to score slightly better than IQ-matched boys.
Do not let milder scores delay referral; girls may still need help.
If a boy has weak fine-motor skills, watch for bigger social struggles and add motor goals to his plan.
Use both direct testing and parent report before you decide a girl is "fine."
Share this nuance with pediatricians so girls do not get missed.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Pull your last three preschool boys with low fine-motor scores and double-check if social goals need beefing up.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study investigated differences in clinical symptoms and developmental functioning profiles as well as sex-specific correlations of clinical characteristics and communication abilities, motor skills, and maladaptive behaviors in male and female preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Fifty-two females (mean age 4.5 ± 2.16 years old) and 62 males (mean age 4.2 ± 1.17 years old) with ASD were enrolled and assessed by measures including the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Second Edition (ADOS-2) and Psychoeducational Profile-Third Edition (PEP-3). We found intellectual disability in 91.2% of the children. While preschoolers with ASD showed comparable severity of restricted and repetitive behaviors (P = 0.17), females with ASD were less severely affected than age and intelligence quotient-matched males with ASD in the ADOS-2 social affect domain (P value = 0.001) and calibrated severity scores (P = 0.002). Interestingly, sex-specific linear regressions revealed that fine motor skills were predictive of impaired social affect in males but not in females. Specifically, motor skills might be the core feature for sex differences in ASD. Although preliminary, this finding suggests the need for more sex-specific diagnostic and intervention strategies in order to improve early identification efforts and specific intervention targets. LAY SUMMARY: Little is known about differences in developmental and functional profiles in males and females with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We found important similarities and differences in the core ASD symptoms between male and female preschoolers. In addition, fine motor skills seem to predict social affect impairment and ASD symptom severity in males with ASD. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1537-1547. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2020 · doi:10.1002/aur.2305