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    Autism Risk: Are Girls More Protected From Diagnosis?

    The Autism Sisters Project seeks to understand why boys are four times more likely to develop autism than girls.
    by Jessica Firger Jul 14, 2017 6 minutes
    Jennifer and Sarah Ross, pictured with their mother, Alycia Halladay Ross, are enrolled in the Autism Sisters Project, a long-term study that seeks to understand why being female provides some protection from developing autism.
    autism sisters project

    Jennifer and Sarah Ross are 6-year-old twins, but they couldn’t be more different. Jennifer is quiet, reserved and calm. She likes to dance, do gymnastics and jump on trampolines. She has plenty of friends. Sarah, on the other hand, is all energy. She has trouble sitting still. She has a gift for math and puzzles, and she likes to play video games. While Sarah has only a few friends and is usually content to be on her own in the playground, she does love a captive audience.

    “Everyone know I can sing opera?” she asks. “Whaaaaaaa! ”

    Jennifer and her mother, Alycia Halladay Ross, giggle. On a recent morning, the three sat in the playroom at the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Halladay Ross, the chief science officer at the Autism Science Foundation, planned to spend the better part of the day at the center with her two daughters. The girls would undergo a series of exercises and activities to test their cognitive and intellectual

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