ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights what is and is not known about girls and women on the autism spectrum from research, with a focus on psychological research. Boys predominated in the first descriptions of autism, by Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger in the 1940s, and researchers estimated that there were approximately five times as many males as females on the autism spectrum. Researchers also believed that females, when autistic, were more severely affected. Qualitative research exploring the lived experiences of autistic girls is needed to complement quantitative research in order to develop better tools for recognition and better interventions to help girls on the spectrum live the lives they want, and achieve the goals that matter to them. The widely accepted conclusions that autism was far more common in boys than girls, and that it affected girls more severely when present, were taken as important clues to the biological basis of autism.
