Longitudinal comparison between male and female preschool children with autism spectrum disorder.

Valentina and her team watched the preschoolers with autism for two years. Half were boys, half were girls. They checked autism symptoms, language, and play skills at the start and again 24 months later. No extra treatment was given; they just tracked normal growth.

Boys and girls moved in lock-step. Language scores rose the same amount. Social skills improved equally. Repetitive behaviors shrank at the same pace. Gender did not predict who did better or worse.

Glenn et al. (2003) saw little change over two years, but they split kids by diagnosis (autism vs. Asperger) instead of gender. Their flat line looks like a contradiction, yet the samples were older and higher-functioning, so less room to grow.

Mhatre et al. (2016) followed Indian children for ten years and found big gains in speech and daily living skills. The longer span shows preschool is only the first hill; Valentina’s short climb fits inside their bigger mountain.

Sinai-Gavrilov et al. (2024) got large language jumps over the study period of parent coaching. Their coached kids out-gained Valentina’s natural sample, reminding us that teaching, not gender, drives speed.

You can drop the old worry that girls need a different program or extra months before starting. Place boys and girls in the same intensive groups right away. Spend your energy on teaching, not on guessing who will progress faster.