Friend matters: sex differences in social language during autism diagnostic interviews

ConclusionsAutistic girls used significantly more social words than boys during a diagnostic assessment —despite being matched on age, IQ, and both parent- and clinician-rated autism symptom severity. Sex differences in linguistic markers of social phenotype in autism are especially important in light of the late or missed diagnoses that disproportionately affect autistic girls. Specifically, height ened talk about social topics could complicate autism referral and diagnosis when non-clinician observers expect a male-typical pattern of reduced social focus, which autistic girls may not always exhibit.

http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s13229-021-00483-1

Source: Molecular Autism - January 10, 2022 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research