Anonymous wrote:Reasons I've heard are that
1. ASD girls with gendered special interests like dolls and princesses are are assumed to just have "normal" behavior
2. ASD girls have more social motivation, on average, than boys

I think ASD girls on average may also be less likely to display disruptive behaviors that lead teachers to recommend evaluating.

+1 also usually ASD girls "mask" more, which means they observe others behaviors and mimic them.

Also, in our family, the ASD men are the scientist-type and have communication or social difficulties, but the ASD women are off the charts when it comes to anything verbal (think the lawyer/debater type).

My dd wasn't dx until age 4 and a half. Her ped had concerns starting at the 12 month visit, and she was nonverbal past age 3. But being a girl, it was like, 'she's just a shy quiet girl'. No, she was nonverbal! I had to really advocate for her and her needs. She was in Early Intervention, then had an IEP after that.

I've seen boys who were like her, dx around age 2 or 3. Sometimes I wonder how old she would have been dx at, had I not advocated for her. She's clearly autistic and it does impact her life. In fact ,we are switching to a SN school this fall. If she didn't have a dx, she would fall through the cracks.

OP, I think you should have the eval. It doesn't mean your dd will get a dx. There are things besides asd that can cause speech delays. The idea is that you find out how to best help her.

My daughter was diagnosed with ASD Level 1 at age 7 in second grade. Diagnosed with ADHD in Kindergarten, with a possible “continue watching” for ASD signs. Age 2 she was in Infants and Toddlers Speech Therapy for delay.

She doesn’t present as a stereotypical autistic child. She makes eye contact, hugs, has conversations. She potty trained very late, had lots of accidents, disliked grooming, and would hum or talk to herself. Nothing super extreme but enough to be considered “weird”.

OP I hope this helps you. My DD was diagnosed at 15 and my DS at 3. Both are low-support but all the subtle signs were there. Girls do better at “masking” but the sophisticated social demands (including social media) on girls make for a lot of difficulty. My two kids are night and day in terms of symptoms and outcomes. I was told ASD girls present most like neurotypical boys—not like ASD boys. ASD girls want to bond by doing stuff together from the get/go without a lot of conversation (like boys) and often can’t or won’t go through the whole process of chit chat, deep conversations (marked by reciprocity) that form the foundation of close girl friendships.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I don't think my daughter is autistic, but gene is running in the family. Developmental pediatrican told us to get her evaluated, and 1 year after, we were told that she has changed her mind. However, psychologist thinks we should proceed with evaluation because there are many red flags from.evaluation forms filled out by teachers. She called the developmental pediatrican for discussion, and they now both want to proceed with asd evaluation. I am not sure what the red flags are, other than I know she has speech delay and hyperactivity. Her speech delay does somehow affect her social interaction with girls.

I am not desperate for my daughter to be autistic. I am just lost back and forth that I don't see any signs on her.

You literally wrote that you saw signs, in this very comment.

Anonymous wrote:Well, if autism is just being quirky and missing some social queues, than you have to wait until they are older to see the quirks and the more demanding social situation. Just like with academic ability- age shows the gradients in ability.

Autism that causes disability is seen before age 3.

My DD's preschool teacher was on the edge of recommending another year of preschool before K. And not to get a pupil - the school had a waiting list. We got an ADHD diag in 2nd, and an autism diag not unitl 5th. But, now college, it's clear there's autism, and it's had a major impact in all facets of life. NHS in high school, honors admission in college, but just couldn't manage it. No friends, a ton of frustrated profs, and 5 years later, almost done with an associate's degree. Trying to decide if going for a bachelor's is worth the extra time and money.

Go screw yourself if you think disabling autism only shows up before age 3.