Article about Autism in Girls

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For her birthday, the six-year-old asked for Barbie dolls, and pink, sparkly clothing she'd noticed other girls wearing. But the dolls were left in the drawer, and the clothes went unworn. What was going on?

Their daughter made good eye contact, and she could hold a spirited conversation, says Ella's father, Luke Bibby. But if her routines were disrupted, or circumstances led to sensorial overload, Ella would have a meltdown.

Girls are more adept at camouflaging or "masking" autism than boys, and copying the behaviour of their peers to fit in.

Ella had been pretending to love Barbie dolls because she'd decided that was what society expected from girls

Through sessions with her psychologist, Ella's parents finally realised it was not dolls that fascinated their little girl, but cars and motorsports.

The core symptoms of autism are the same in males and females, but how it manifests is often different, says Professor Nicole Rinehart, from Monash University.

"There's not enough research funding in this area, point blank," Professor Rinehart says. "Most research studies are about boys, we don't have enough concentration on girls"