Do more boys get autism or is it under-diagnosed in girls? Or over-diagnosed in boys?
Leaving aside that the autism spectrum has been extruded out so far that virtually every personality type is labeled some form of autism, the fact remains that real autism, the kind with severe symptoms, exists.
Researchers at the universities of Exeter and Bristol say that even when symptoms are equally severe, boys received autism diagnoses more often.
Lead researcher Ginny Russell, from Egenis at the University of Exeter said, "Boys are more than four times more likely to have ASD and are clearly more likely to suffer from these types of symptoms. More interesting is our finding that even with symptom severity held constant, there is still a gender bias towards diagnosing boys. Our analysis suggests that girls are less likely to be identified with ASD even when their symptoms are equally severe."
The researchers suggest that the popular conception of autism as a 'male' disorder may contribute to this bias.
