Hello there. My daughter (13) has been referred by CAMHS for ASD screening and one of the pre-screen questionnaires is the ASD CHOICE Checklist. I can see that the source of this checklist is Simon Baron-Cohen's 2008 Autism And Asperger Syndrome book and I'm concerned that his views have since been very challenged in terms of their bias towards diagnosis in boys/men and lack of applicability to the way that autism in teen girls can present. I have related concerns about the School questionnaire (Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire - 27 questions) that accompanies it, which also seems to be seeking quite extreme and expressive demonstrations of autistic traits, e.g. "is regarded as an ‘eccentric professor’ by the other children" whereas my understanding is that girls are relatively good at masking their natural instincts on this front.
Am I right to be concerned or does the community here have reasonable faith in the CAMHS/NHS process of diagnosis for girls today? Thank you so much.
