Trajectories of autism symptom severity for boys and girls across childhood.

Summary: Did you know that autism symptoms can change as children grow? A new study looked at 183 autistic kids from age 3 to 11 to see how their behaviors developed over time. They found that girls and boys actually take different paths!

Girls often see their overall autism symptoms become less severe as they grow up. They especially showed big improvements in how they socialize and connect with others. Even girls who had very strong symptoms at age 3 showed major improvements by age 11.

Boys, on the other hand, stayed about the same overall. While boys got better at some things, they actually had a harder time with certain social skills as they got older. This research is exciting because it shows that boys and girls experience autism differently and might need different kinds of support as they grow up!