ASD and Girls

As I mentioned, April is Autism Awareness Month and I wanted to review a number of books that I have read recently on this topic during this month. Today I want to review two books on the topic of girls with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) including girls with Asperger's Syndrome (AS). During my many years teaching special education, I have worked with quite a few students on the autism spectrum, but only a handful of them have been girls.

The ratio of boys to girls on the spectrum is 4 to 1 and when we look specifically at Asperger's Syndrome, that ratio is 10:1. There is a debate as to whether this is a correct ratio or whether girls with AS, similar to girls with ADHD, are under diagnosed. Perhaps the criteria are too specific to the typical characteristics of males with ASD and therefore do not fit the characteristics of our girls on the spectrum. As I thought back over the many students I have worked with, I could identify a couple girls who had been labeled with emotional impairments that perhaps could have more accurately fit the category of AS.

For those who want to gain more information on this topic, I would highly recommend both books that I am going to review today. I found both to be very easy reads, something you don't always find when dealing with a topic of this nature. A habit I have as I read is to put sticky notes in places of interest and both of these books are bristling with stickies. Both books are also award winners. I am glad to have them both on my bookshelf to refer back to. If you are looking for books on this topic, either of these would be a good place to start.

Asperger's and Girls is a compilation of essays by a variety of well known writers in this field, including Tony Attwood and Temple Grandin. If you want to get started with the basics, this is the book I recommend you begin with. Every parent should be given this book when their daughter receives a diagnosis of AS. It outlines the characteristics of girls with AS and prepares parents for issues they may face as they raise their daughters. It covers topics related to education, friendship, bullying, puberty, transition, dating and marriage.

Girls Under the Umbrella of Autism Spectrum Disorders is by Lori Ernsperger and Danielle Wendel. This book received an award from the Autism Society of America in 2008. This is another great book on this topic. It is laid out chronologically, moving through diagnosis, early years, school age, adolescence, and adulthood. It also includes short essays on these topics by both parents and their daughters. This book is very informative with a lot of good ideas for handling those issues that typically arise during different stages in the life of a girl on the spectrum.

I recently picked up another book on this topic that I will review as soon as I get time to read it. I am very interested in learning more about how best to help our girls who are on the spectrum. At this point, I would like to do some case studies of my own of girls on the spectrum. Each of these girls is uniquely gifted by God and it seems to me that the more we know about how ASD affects them, the better equipped we will be as we guide them to grow into the woman God has designed them to be.