美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Social Camouflage' May Lead To Underdiagnosis Of Autism In Girls

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And now we have a story of autism or, rather, of recognizing autism. Autism affects the part of the brain responsible for social interaction, and it's estimated that four times as many boys as girls are diagnosed with it each year. But it's possible that the gender¹ gap is not so wide because autistic symptoms can be less obvious in girls. NPR's Patti Neighmond reports.

PATTI NEIGHMOND, BYLINE²: We're talking about girls with mild to moderate autism and normal to above average IQ. Most are in mainstream³ schools and many have mastered what UCLA psychologist Amanda Gulsrud calls social camouflaging⁴.

AMANDA GULSRUD: They stick close enough to other girls to look as and appear as if they are socially connected. They'll kind of flit in and out of that social interaction, but, in reality, they're not having kind of deep, meaningful exchanges.

NEIGHMOND: This observation comes from a study by UCLA researchers who watched autistic boys and girls interact on the school playground with non-autistic children. Gulsrud says the autistic boys clearly stood out.

GULSRUD: They're often very socially isolated⁵ from that big group of boys doing sports. They may be the kids that are, you know, circling the perimeter⁶ of the yard or off kind of by the tree in the back.

NEIGHMOND: Haley Wittenberg is one of those girls who appeared to fit in. She's now 20 years old. She was always athletic⁷ but didn't like to socialize outside of school.

HALEY WITTENBERG: I would always play sports with boys when I was little because, I guess, it was just easier for me and they didn't talk as much.

NEIGHMOND: Talking just wasn't much fun for Haley who was diagnosed with autism about one year ago at the age of 19.

H. WITTENBERG: I was relieved because they kind of put a name to it.

NEIGHMOND: Haley always felt different from other children. Her mom, Lonnie Wittenberg, says she never made eye contact.

LONNIE WITTENBERG: I was always saying, look at me, look at me.

NEIGHMOND: Haley was rigid⁸, not spontaneous. She wanted to go to the same restaurant and eat the same food, and she didn't like busy crowded places.

L. WITTENBRG: She never liked to go to Disneyland. She hated it. She would want to leave.

NEIGHMOND: But these seemed like quirks⁹, Wittenberg says. Nothing screamed autism. Haley was bright and articulate which is pretty typical for high-functioning autistic girls, says psychiatrist¹⁰ Louis Kraus with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Girls are more likely to mask problems with social interactions, he says. Boys' behavior, on the other hand, is typically noticeable and often quite dramatic.

LOUIS KRAUS: For example, they might have an interest in rocks, but their interest overrides¹¹ anything else. They might have an interest in locomotives, knowing the most infinite details of locomotives. Their interest drives them away from socializing.

NEIGHMOND: Girls can also get fixated on things like wearing a particular item of clothing over and over again, but typically, Kraus says, this doesn't cause other girls to ostracize¹² them. And when autistic girls seem to blend in, they can get diagnosed later and lose out, he says, on valuable early intervention¹³.

KRAUS: You can always make up academics, never a huge worry if you fall a little bit behind with academics. What is much, much harder to do is to be able to make up social development.

NEIGHMOND: Today, one year after her diagnosis¹⁴, Haley Wittenberg's working to make up for lost time. She attends sessions at UCLA that teach autistic young people how to make friends and keep them. She's learning how to make eye contact and how to sustain the conversation.

H. WITTENBERG: So now I'm a lot more comfortable, like, hanging out with people. I can hang out with the same people a lot longer and a lot more often.

NEIGHMOND: Skills that don't come easily but are just as critical for autistic teens and young adults as everyone else. Patti Neighmond, NPR News.

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1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

4 camouflaging   

v.隐蔽( camouflage的现在分词 )；掩盖；伪装，掩饰

参考例句：

• Camouflaging an ammunition ship with the red cross is a filthy trick. 用红十字伪装一艘弹药船是下流的勾当。 来自辞典例句
• Lecture 2: Prefrontal Cortex and the Neural Basis of Cognitive Control. 课程单元2：额前皮质与认知控制的神经基础。 来自互联网

5 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

6 perimeter   

n.周边，周长，周界

参考例句：

• The river marks the eastern perimeter of our land.这条河标示我们的土地东面的边界。
• Drinks in hands,they wandered around the perimeter of the ball field.他们手里拿着饮料在球场周围漫不经心地遛跶。

7 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

8 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

9 quirks   

n.奇事，巧合( quirk的名词复数 )；怪癖

参考例句：

• One of his quirks is that he refuses to travel by train. 他的怪癖之一是不愿乘火车旅行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All men have their own quirks and twists. 人人都有他们自己的怪癖和奇想。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

11 overrides   

越控( override的第三人称单数 )； （以权力）否决； 优先于； 比…更重要

参考例句：

• The new rule overrides all the previous ones. 新规则使以前的所有规则失效。
• The application configuration file setting overrides the machine configuration file setting. 应用程序配置文件设置重写计算机配置文件设置。

12 ostracize   

v.放逐，排斥

参考例句：

• He was ostracized by his colleagues for refusing to support the strike.他因不支持罢工而受同事排斥。
• She claims she's being ostracized by some members of her local community.她声称受到当地社区一些人的排挤。

13 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

14 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。