Sex differences in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders.
Among toddlers with ASD, girls shine in visual tasks but can look weaker in language and social skills once visual strength is accounted for.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team looked at toddlers with autism. They wanted to see if girls and boys show different skills.
They tested visual, language, motor, and social skills. Then they compared the scores.
What they found
Girls scored higher on visual reception. Boys scored higher on language, motor, and social skills.
When the researchers held visual skills steady, the girl-boy gap flipped. Girls then looked weaker in language and social areas.
How this fits with other research
Laposa et al. (2017) saw no sex gap at early-intervention intake. The different result likely comes from timing and how scores were counted.
Backer van Ommeren et al. (2017) later showed girls with autism display better back-and-forth play. This backs the social side of the 2007 finding.
Zhang et al. (2023) found bigger corpus-callosum volumes in toddler girls with autism. The brain data line up with the stronger visual scores seen here.
Why it matters
Check both visual and language domains before you label a girl as “mild.” A high visual score can hide language needs. Use sex-specific norms when you explain assessment results to parents. This helps you write goals that fit the child’s true profile, not the stereotype.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Although autism spectrum disorders (ASD) prevalence is higher in males than females, few studies address sex differences in developmental functioning or clinical manifestations. Participants in this study of sex differences in developmental profiles and clinical symptoms were 22 girls and 68 boys with ASD (mean age = 28 months). All children achieved strongest performance in visual reception and fine motor followed by gross motor and language functioning. Sex differences emerged in developmental profiles. Controlling for language, girls achieved higher visual reception scores than boys; boys attained higher language and motor scores and higher social-competence ratings than girls, particularly when controlling for visual reception. Longitudinal, representative studies are needed to elucidate the developmental and etiological significance of the observed sex differences.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2007 · doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0331-7