Comparison of eating attitudes between adolescent girls with and without Asperger syndrome: daughters' and mothers' reports.

Kalyva (2009) asked teenage girls with Asperger syndrome and their moms to fill out the same eating-risk form. The form is called the EAT-26. A control group of typical girls and moms did the same thing.

The goal was to see if girls with AS show more eating worries than peers, and whether moms notice.

Girls with AS scored higher on eating-risk than typical girls. Their moms, however, marked fewer signs than the girls reported themselves.

In the typical group, moms and girls mostly agreed.

Mulder et al. (2020) later found the same raised eating-risk in adults with ASD, especially women. This shows the risk lasts past the teen years.

Cederlund et al. (2010) and Knott et al. (2006) also saw that parents often rate fewer problems than their kids with ASD report. The pattern is not just about eating.

Gal et al. (2022) built a new tool, the Aut-Eat Questionnaire, for young children with ASD. Together these papers say: ask the child directly, and use age-appropriate tools.

If you work with girls or women who have ASD, add a quick eating-risk screener to your intake. Use the EAT-26 for teens or the Aut-Eat for little ones. Always collect self-report; do not rely only on parent answers. Early flags can lead to faster referrals and prevent full eating disorders.