 One reason why girls are diagnosed with ASD later than boys is because the diagnostic tests are designed to account for ASD symptoms that are more typical in boys and not for symptoms that are more commonly specific to girls. As a result, the diagnostic test may mistakenly conclude that a girl does not have ASD because she displays different symptoms than the ones the test is designed for. 


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- Girls might mask their symptoms 
 - Problems with Diagnostic Criteria 


Potential Reasons Why Girls are Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder  Later Than Boys

Rynkiewicz, A. & Lucka, I. (2018). Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in girls. Co-occurring psychopathology. Sex differences in clinical manifestation. Psychiatr. Pol. 52(4). https://doi.org/10.12740/PP/OnlineFirst/58837 . 


Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in girls 

One potential reason why girls are diagnosed later than boys is because females with autism spectrum disorder are more self aware of their behaviors and make a greater effort to mask their symptoms. They may be diagnosed later on when the social demands of life make it too difficult to do so. 


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