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Does Gender Influence Core Deficits in ASD? An Investigation into Social-Communication and Play of Girls and Boys with ASD

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Abstract

Due to the predominance of boys diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), girls are rarely studied independently. Research specifically focusing on play and social-communication in girls with ASD is extremely varied. We were interested in whether girls with ASD demonstrated equivalent social-communication and play skills in early childhood relative to boys, using two measures focused on the specific quantification of these variables. We also examined whether the associations between developmental variables and social-communication and play differed by gender. Forty girls with ASD were individually matched to 40 boys based on ASD severity. Our results suggest that girls and boys were more similar than different, however they also raise questions about the potential differential associations between development and requesting ability in girls and boys with ASD.

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Abbreviations

ASD:

Autism spectrum disorder

ESCS:

Early Social Communication Scales

SPA:

Structured Play Assessment

JA:

Joint attention

BR:

Behavioral requesting

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by Autism Speaks, Health Resources and Services Administration (Maternal and Child Health Bureau) and National Institute of Health (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development). We thank the families who kindly participated in this research. Thank you to Ted Hutman and Themba Carr for their discussion of the findings and Wendy Shih for her assistance with data analysis. We also thank the graduate students and research assistants who coded these data, in particular K.C. Berry and Jonathan Panganiban for their additional coding.

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  1. Center for Autism Research and Treatment, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Clare Harrop, Stephanie Shire, Amanda Gulsrud, Ya-Chih Chang, Eric Ishijima, Kathy Lawton & Connie Kasari

  2. Nisonger Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Kathy Lawton

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  1. Clare Harrop
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  2. Stephanie Shire
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  3. Amanda Gulsrud
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  7. Connie Kasari
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Correspondence to Clare Harrop.

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Harrop, C., Shire, S., Gulsrud, A. et al. Does Gender Influence Core Deficits in ASD? An Investigation into Social-Communication and Play of Girls and Boys with ASD. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 766–777 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2234-3

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