No, my ds used to socialize ONLY with girls. However, that has changed since some of the kids in the neighborhood that he likes are boys. But last year at pre-school, he would only talk to girls. This year he seems to be socializing a lot more with boys than with girls. I am actually glad to see this because the girls would tell him he couldn't play dress-up because only girls did that and the boys would think he was strange for wanting to. Gender and gender-related tasks become a big issue around age 4. NT kids will be saying girls can't do that, boys can't do that, etc. We had a big discussion about that in my parent/toddler class this morning (for my NT daughter) interestingly enough. A 2 year old boy was wanting to wear his sister's clothes and the mom was fine with it - the dad wasn't.
Anyway, it is kind of like most things with our kids. They are all over the place with how they react to things and do things!
My son tends to socialize with his own gender.. He knows plenty of little girls around our house.. But in school and at home he tends to be with the boys.. His class only has boys in it.. But he is used to girls from my family all girls.. Adam has never played with anyone. So I can't tell you from an autistic perspective. My NT sons played with both boys and girls equally until about 2nd grade. My youngest is in second grade now and that is when he seemed really only to play with boys. He does know every girl in the class, but he says they like to chase him on the playground but not really play. My son used to play mostly with the girls until about 2 months ago. Now, it's all about the boys. I think it's typical to have a preference. I always thought that was why my ds preferred the girls - they didn't expect him to interact with them like the other girls. And, he was willing to dress up and he had a good imagination. But, when he wanted them to play his way and they didn't want to (probably because they didn't understand) then he would walk away. Now, he is really into superheroes and knights and castles - and the boys in his class are too. So, he fits much more into the boys at the moment. But, since he has no interest in team sports, I think that will change as he gets older...Preschool: In pre-school my son played with the boys (more like parallel play than true interaction). He did not know his pre-school classmates' names, just the teachers' names. He did not have a diagnosis or early intervention.
Age 6: In his first year of elementary school, he was finally being evaluated but got special ed at school and learned his mainstream classmates' names. He played with both boys and girls.
Age 8: Now, at age 8, he talks about what a pain girls are, how boring Barbie dolls are, etc., and has a very strong sense that he is a BOY. However, he seems to play more and more with the girls. Perhaps it's easier to for the girls to accept him, since as a boy he's different from them even without a disability, and they don't expect to interact with him the same way they do with friends of the same gender. It may also be that they are more into pretending -- his classmates have commented that he has the best imagination in the class. His ways of interacting with them are fairly limited -- being the inspiration for pretend play and chasing them.
Future: Both he and the girls enjoy their interaction now, but I don't expect it will last too far into the future. The kids will get more and more sophisticated, and it will get harder for my son to interact in a way that interests them.
From early on, Lucas played (which, when young, meant more like running around with them) with kids of both sexes, favoring boys. He talks to both boys and girls now that he's older, although I wouldn't call him a social butterfly.
Nicholas - Preferred girls, but got used to boys around the age of 7. Likes the company of boys over girls now, but that is more xbox related. If they go out to play football and it gets rough he can't handle it and will come back home.
Lachlan - gets exposed to both sexes at daycare but I noticed that he did have a prefernce for the girls. Lately he has been very excited about the boys being there and is starting to interact with them more and more.
Lachlan's daycare mum is on holidays at the moment and he will have had a break of 4 weeks when he goes back. On top of that it will be all new children apart from one baby - it will be interesting to see how it all goes.
Mysh
I recently took alot of pics at Anthony's school of his classmates. This is to use in his ABA therepy. They want to show him pics of his classmates and have him identify them - hoping if he has a name with the face he'll more likely interact with them.
Anyway, I had the pics printed up and Anthony and I looked at them. He loved them because I took alot of pics of him doing things with the other kids. But, he only knows the names of the boys and one girl. I spoke to the mom of the one girl he knows and she told me that her DD comes home and talks about all the girls by name, "the boys" as one big group except Anthony. She talks about "the boys and Anthony". Her mom got a kick out of it because she thinks she has a little crush on him.
So, do your children tend to socialize with their own gender? This seems age appropriate to me but I tend to put everything Anthony does under a microscope.