I have read some stuff saying girls with ASDs are different and that things like "reading" or "art" may be their obsessive interest...but come on. I just don't know that we could consider a gifted girl who loves to read to have an obsessive interest in reading that counts as an ASD trait.
Ultramarina, I agree. I kind of think that's why we got a suggested diagnosis of Asperger's this year--that DD8 loves to read and will sit for hours reading all kinds of stuff. Also at school she was resisting her teachers' efforts to have her 'advance' in math by doing 2-digit multiplication and division, and then 3-digit, and then 4-digit...she was bored silly with it and kept going back to her fraction work. I guess that qualified for the B criteria, because I've never seen any of the current "B" criteria from her, although she does have social issues. If they do change the criteria to encompass kids who like to read, I would expect the "rate" of Asperger's to go way up. Hooray, more diagnoses--diagnoses all around!
