Scary coming and going

[rolanni]

OK! Scary medicine time! Researchers suggest (in an as-yet-unpublished paper) that there are fewer autism-diagnosed girls because the manifestations of "oversensitivity," "shyness," and "obsessional interests centered around people and relationships" are seen as typically girly, and not as worrisome to parents as those same symptoms are in boys.

Um, wow.

Are we going to see an uptick in girls diagnosed with autism, now? I mean, c'mon -- "oversensitivity"? And speaking as someone who is herself quite shy (stop laughing, you over there in the corner) how shy do you have to be to be labeled "autistic?"

The story's here

Comments

[melibabe.livejournal.com]

When in college, I did a certificate thesis comparing two treatments for "hysteria" during the nineteenth century.

One, the Rest Cure, brought these sensitive, artistic, intelligent women together into a supportive environment away from the demands of being the Perfect Wife and Mother.

The other, led by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell as the medical profession shifted toward being a male-only, authoritarian area, enforced bed rest and heavy eating to "restore the fat and blood," and absolute restrictions on reading, interacting with others, or anything else that might express a personality.

For some reason, this post reminded me strongly of that.

[growlycub.livejournal.com]

The double standard, it is alive and well. :(

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Too bad shyness wasn't diagnosed as a psychiatric disorder back when I was a wee lad . ..

[windrose.livejournal.com]

I've often wondered about that, myself, and also about myself. I definitely had oversensitive and shy down as a kid, plus I used hold onto one of the bedposts of my bed and rock back and forth for hours when I was upset. I mentioned it to my doctor years later and was told that could be an indication of some form of mild autism, though we never followed up with any tests.

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

I am no expert, but there are a range of behaviors that have to be to certain extremes or duration apparently in order to be diagnosed with autism. So, if you have one or two of the behaviors, it might not be enough to make the diagnosis of autism (from what I understand). You just get labelled "quirky" instead:)

[(Anonymous)]

At least 2 boys in my family (one in the boomer generation, one now in his 20s) delayed talking until they could speak in sentences. Back the early 60s, my parents worried a little, then were proud of my brother's advanced speech patterns. My cousin and his wife worried a lot - and perhaps without the family precedent would probably have looked for a diagnosis instead of waiting a little longer...
B. O'Brien

[windrose.livejournal.com]

Is that a symptom? Because, according to my parents, I did the same thing. Didn't speak a word until I was almost three, and then started speaking in complete sentences. I also taught myself to read.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Didn't speak a word until I was almost three, and then started speaking in complete sentences.

Huh. I did that, too. It was widely known in the neighborhood that I "couldn't talk," and I subsequently scared five years off our next door neighbor one day by asking her, very grown-up and composed, "What does your husband do?"

stop laughing, you over there in the corner

[bookmobiler.livejournal.com]

Who's that Kinzel or Mozart?

Makes you kinda wonder if the reason autism is considered more serious in boys is because it seen as "girly" behavior.

[zola.livejournal.com]

What I tend to worry about is that any difference from an increasingly narrow "norm" is becoming diagnosable.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Everybody is "pre" something, nowadays, to the point where I was told by a doctor some years back that he was scheduling me for a "pre-cancer screening."

No, he wasn't joking.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Can't remember who said this, but "We're all pre-dead."

[zola.livejournal.com]

It's almost like we forget that normal is a RANGE, not a POINT.

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

Two things about "pre-cancer screening" -

It could have been so that they know what everything looks like when it works properly (a baseline), but you knew that.

My mom had surgery for "pre-cancerous lesions". Given that this happened about thirty years ago, they probably took out more than they would have, today. Nonetheless, I think "pre-cancer screening" is WONDERFUL! :o)

~ R

[jane-barfly.livejournal.com]

And that everyone exhibits a range of behaviors, and that the range of normal is very broad.

If we're given room to spread and grow, people are pretty resilient.
Laura

[mardott.livejournal.com]

This certainly points out what we expect of our boys. If they aren't bold, insensitivie jerks, we're worried.

'Course, if they're TOO bold or insensitive, they need ritalin.

[ruthannereid.livejournal.com]

Unbelievable.

[gilraen2.livejournal.com]

I think it also indicates that performance is required of boys and not of girls. i had an epiphany last summer where i really came to wonder if i were an aspergian. i still think i may be. but i, for the most part, worked my way through the pieces i couldn't understand by learning by rote manners and mannerisms that are socially acceptable. what i read says that many girls with aspergers do this, and boys tend not to do so - no motivation. and that, my friends, may be the difference between girls and boys.