Yahoo! Parenting – Rachel Grumman Bender
“While scientists are still unraveling the many causes of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) — from exposure to air pollution during pregnancy to gestational diabetes — there’s one thing they know for sure: Boys are diagnosed with ASD much more often than girls. In fact, for every four boys with ASD, only one girl has the condition. With high-functioning autism, the ratio is even higher, with seven boys for every one girl. So what role does sex play in autism? “It’s turning out to be a very important question,” David G. Amaral, PhD, research director of The MIND Institute at UC Davis, tells Yahoo Parenting. In recent years, researchers have been investigating these sex differences and have found that being female is actually protective of neurodevelopment disorders, such as autism.”(more)