Is asd different in girls? Having trouble getting my daughter diagnosed

[faithy12]

Hi I have a 5 half year old girl who has been getting tested for autism for a year and half now she got assessed last year and they said she had many signs of autism but it's difficult to tell because she's a girl. Has any1 else had this problem? We have got an EHCP and got a diagnosis of a sensory processing disorder and a speech disorder but still waiting for more testing to see if we get the autism diagnosis. Is it really that hard to test in girls?

It's really hard to get a diagnoses for anybody, but girls seem to natrually mask their Autism better than most boys, so many many girls slip through the net as they don't outwardly present with the "classic" signs the way boys do.

I think professionals who are up to date with how autism presents in girls should be able to spot it.
That said, my DD wasn't diagnosed till aged 8. Her difficulties became more obvious as she got older.
In particular her repetitive behaviour and obsessions, which are one of main criteria for diagnosis, were a lot more subtle than they are in my DS (also with ASD). I believe this is quite common in girls.

Thanks for your reply I just hope she don't slip threw the net

We are having the same problem and have been under assessment for ages, result recently was inconclusive. DD is 7.

Do you mind me asking what type of speech disorder your DD has?

Dd has sensory processing struggles, anxiety, strong emotions overall and a speech disorder.

Also some poss motor processing delays

They havnt said they told me they belive it's not just delayed speech like originally thought and it's a speech disorder. They sent her to high priority therapist 4 more work and assesments which is happening now. I forgot to mention she also has gross motor delays falls over all the time walks into things.
Now that your daughter's testing was inconclusive will they do more testing? Just asking incase I end up in that situation.

Hi,
Yes, we haven’t been discharged thankfully and we meet again next year. In the meantime we have and OT and Camhs referral.