Symptoms:
General traits:
- Differences in interpreting what others are thinking or feeling
- Differences in interpreting facial expressions, body language, or social cues
- DIfferences in regulating emotion
- Finding it harder to keep up a conversation surrounding small talk
- Inflection that does not reflect "feelings"
- Differences in maintaining the natural give-and-take of a conversation; prone to a monologue on a favorite subject
- Tendency to engage in repetitive or routine behaviors
- Only participating in a restricted range of activities
- Strict consistency to daily routines; upset when changes occur
- Exhibiting strong interests
Female (or AFAB) presentation:
- A special interest in animals, music, art, and literature
- A strong imagination (might escape into the worlds of nature or fiction)
- A desire to arrange and organize objects
- Not wanting to play cooperatively with female peers (for example, wanting to dictate the rules of play or preferring to play alone to maintain control)
- A tendency to ‘mimic’ others in social situations in order to blend in
- An ability to hold their emotions in check at school, but be prone to meltdown behavior at home
- Strong sensory sensitivities, especially to sounds and touch (for example; clothing tags, socks or even deodorant).
Autistic girls are more vulnerable to internalizing problems, such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders.
Barriers:
- Cost - no insurance
- Difficulty finding appointments / someone near them who can evaluate them (low-income areas possibly)
- Professional who is not educated on the atypical presentation of autism
- Misdiagnosis of BPD, Bipolar, PTSD, OCD, Anxiety, Depression
- Lack of direction after diagnosis for adults
- Uncomfortable evaluations, causing autistic people to not think clearly and forget to disclose things
Sources:
https://embrace-autism.com/indicators-of-autistic-differences/
https://embrace-autism.com/the-upsides-of-an-autism-diagnosis/
https://www.rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php
https://www.autismawareness.com.au/could-it-be-autism/autism-and-girls/#:~:text=There%20is%20emerging%20evidence%20that%20girls%20with%20autism,especially%20in%20verbally%20fluent%20girls%20with%20normal%20intelligence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUJJ_7gMtDk
https://www.additudemag.com/autism-spectrum-disorder-in-adults/