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Signs & Symptoms of Autism in Girls

Autism is a developmental disorder of an unknown cause that affects various aspects of a child’s life including communication skills and interaction with others. While it affects both sexes, it occurs three to four times more often in males than females. Similar signs manifest regardless of the sex of the child, and can vary greatly with each individual child. Generally, however, most autistic children exhibit signs that fall into three key areas. According to the Mayo Clinic, signs often appear in early infancy, but some children can suddenly exhibit symptoms after a few months or even years of seemingly normal development.

  1. Social Skills

    • Impaired social skills mark a key warning sign of autism. An autistic child might not respond to her name or show interest in what is going on around her, including interacting with other people. She might shy away from affection and prefer to spend time alone. An autistic child usually does not have a sense of other people’s feelings and emotions, nor does she express her own. This inability to relate to other people produces the absence of empathy.

    Communication

    • Autistic children have great difficulty communicating--both verbally and non-verbally. An autistic child might develop language skills later than other children her own age, or fail to develop speech at all. In cases where autism appears later in childhood, the child might lose language capabilities already achieved. She might speak using unusual tones or rhythms--in a robot voice, for example. As for non-verbal communication, the child might avoid eye contact when talking with others or make unfitting gestures and facial expressions. An autistic child might refer to herself in the third person.

    Behaviors

    • An autistic child often develops abnormal behaviors and fixations that non-autistic children would not. An autistic child might partake in repetitive behaviors like spinning or hand-flapping, and insist on doing things in a very routine and specific way. Any changes to this routine might cause great agitation. Additionally, she might develop a strong attachment to certain objects, or be mesmerized by the spinning wheels of a toy car or other types of movement. Autistic children sometimes develop a strong sensitivity to noise, lights or touch.

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