{"id":20971,"date":"2025-08-28T12:22:42","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T17:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autism.org\/?p=20971"},"modified":"2025-09-11T12:52:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:52:59","slug":"understanding-and-supporting-puberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/autism.org\/understanding-and-supporting-puberty\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding and Supporting Puberty in Autistic Girls and Boys"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Blythe A. Corbett, Ph.D.<\/a>, discusses her lab’s research on puberty, adolescence, and mental health in autistic individuals. She emphasizes puberty as a period of significant biological maturation involving several physical, biological, hormonal, and social factors. The speaker details her lab’s latest research on pubertal onset, mental health, hormonal changes, and gender identity in autistic young people compared to allistic (non-autistic) groups. Corbett repeatedly emphasizes how puberty can be particularly complex for autistic youth (especially those assigned female at birth), who are already vulnerable to change and stress. She summarizes the presentation and underscores the importance of exploring how puberty’s hormonal, psychological, and social changes interact with the autism phenotype before the Q&A.<\/span><\/p>\n

Handouts are online HERE<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

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