When the mask comes off: Mothers' experiences of parenting a daughter with autism spectrum condition.
Mothers of autistic daughters hold key details that can fix late or missed diagnosis in girls.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Anderson et al. (2020) talked with mothers who have autistic daughters.
The team used open interviews to learn how moms see diagnosis and daily life.
Mothers shared stories about school, doctors, and family routines.
What they found
Moms said girls with autism are often missed or labeled late.
They described special struggles like social masking and teen friendship stress.
Their words point to gaps in current checklists and support plans.
How this fits with other research
Smith et al. (2010) counted daily chores and stress in older groups; James shows the girl-specific layer under those numbers.
Bromley et al. (2004) found over half of moms feel high distress; James explains part of that pain comes from watching daughters slip through cracks.
Thompson-Hodgetts et al. (2024) looked at moms juggling several disabled kids; James sharpens the lens to one autistic daughter and still finds heavy emotional load.
Why it matters
You can tap mom knowledge when a girl shows subtle signs. Ask, "What is she like at home versus school?" Add their clues to your female-specific red-flag list and share it with pediatricians.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Parents of children with autism spectrum condition report increased stress and difficulties compared with parents of typically developing children. Our knowledge and understanding of how autism spectrum condition presents in autistic females is currently limited and parents of this population may experience challenges when raising their daughter. Given that mothers are often the main caregiver of a child with autism spectrum condition, they may have useful insights into the experiences of parenting a daughter with autism spectrum condition. Therefore, a qualitative study was undertaken to explore what mothers' experiences are of parenting a daughter with autism spectrum condition. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 mothers of daughters with autism spectrum condition. The interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Five main themes emerged from the qualitative study ('Girls have autism too', 'She's a chameleon', 'The impact of the diagnosis', 'Impact on mums' and 'Day-to-day life'). The findings of this study expand our current knowledge of the experiences and challenges faced by mothers raising a daughter with autism spectrum condition. Mothers hold a vast amount of knowledge on their daughters' autism spectrum condition which could inform the diagnostic process and clinical practice. Considering these results, it is important that clinicians support mothers and the family system around children with an autism spectrum condition diagnosis.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2020 · doi:10.1177/1362361320913668