Autism, Girls and Keeping It All Inside

The Autistic Girls Network have produced a new paper looking at the different presentation of autism that females who have yet to be diagnosed may exhibit and the support they may need. The paper entitled “Autism, Girls & Keeping it All Inside” seeks to highlight the internal presentation of autism that is more likely with girls and gives a handy ‘What to look out for’ that will be useful for all educators to read. 

The following topics are some that are also explored:

• What it’s like to be undiagnosed for decades
• Problems with diagnosis
• What happens when not recognised
• Co-Occurrence with Eating Disorders
• Why we’d like autism to be recognised before secondary school
• Current Research with School Staff
• Sex Education should be tailored for autistic young people

One of the most helpful sections comes from Sarah Wild, headteacher of Limpsfield Grange School, the only school in the UK for autistic girls:

1. Build a relationship. Relationships are crucial to autistic girls – they need to feel accepted by you, and that you understand them.
2. Make learning concrete, contextual and visual.
3. Ask them how they would like to be supported in social situations – autistic girls will want to engage with others socially but may find this overwhelming or confusing.
4. Build in quiet space and time each day where the girls can process their thoughts and feelings without being socially “on show.” Remember that masking all day is exhausting.
5. Create some bespoke sex and relationships opportunities. This cannot start too early as autistic girls have multiple vulnerabilities:

                          -they want to please people

                          -they are sociable without understanding context

                          -they are concrete literal thinkers

                          -they can be very trusting

                          -they often have low self-esteem

nasen has produced a very popular free miniguide titled 'Girls and Autism: Flying under the radar', which may be of interest.