It was an intriguing link over at Maggie's so I went to Scientists Make History by Cracking the Autism Code over at earth.com. I am not much wiser after reading it. It still looks intriguing. As copy-number variations are the most common type of mutations, tracking those down to find possible autism correlates makes sense.
It all has the feel of overclaiming, however, and the other articles in the sidebar over at that site look even more like overclaiming from limited data. However, I'm keeping this information in the back of my head rather than discarding it. Might be something to it.
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There are multiple forms of Autism; I could go into detail about the differences between the so-called "high" vs. "low"-functioning, but that would take a while. However, things like equilibrium issues, sleep disturbances, and issues with social interaction are known hallmarks of Autism.
It also tends to manifest differently between the sexes. Autism often goes under diagnosed in girls because boys are more likely to act out and misbehave. Girls are more likely to try to fit in with other people.
There is also the idea that there are many genetic predispositions for socialisation that girls have in greater abundance, so that equivalent "amounts of autism" do not result in equal social dysfunction, and hence do not stand out in school. As school rewards conscientiousness as well as intelligence anyway, even girls at an arbitrary level 67 of autism do better than boys of level 44.
It's an interesting question: which sex benefits from that? I could make the argument either way.
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