Is the risk of having another child (m) | Autism PDD
When I met with Dr. Ritvo, he said they have research that points to a 1 in 10
chance of having a subsequent child on the spectrum. To some these odds
sound good--90% chance of not having another.
However, you have to remember that odds and statistics can be deceiving--
The 1 in 10 odds are 15 times higher than the average population at 1 in
150. And some families have more "cards" genetically stacked toward a
predisposition for autism that would make the chances even higher in their
case.
The choice is obviously a personal one. But you have to ask yourself
honestly if your family could handle another ASD kiddo, possibly even more
severe than the first, because that is a very real possibility. I wish you the
best in choosong what is right for you and your family. 
Here is a recent thread started by Norway Mom:
http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19365&am p;KW=norwaymom
All of the families I personally know have 1 child on the spectrum. Their other kids are NT.
Thanks WiMom! I missed that thread - and I'm careful to read all the research/article ones ;)
I actually know more people who only have one child on the spectrum.
We have two kids. My oldest is an Aspie, my second child is as NT as they come and we're planning on having a third. I guess I see it as there's always a risk that your child could have a lot of things, autism being one of them. But knowing what I do now about autism, it would actually be easier if we had another autistic child in the sense that I would be way more educated and would know the signs earlier, kwim?
I am fairly obsessed with this topic (so worried about the baby and that he could have it). Here is my take on the subject.
I suspect that more families with more than one child with Autism might post on boards like this. (I didn't post here myself until I started worrying about the baby).
I also think that there are more "smatterings of Autism" among siblings. ADHD and stuff like that.
One big study on sibs I read about in the NYTimes had a recrurrence rate of 30% (based on the 100 plus sibs they studies).
But, every doctor I have spoken with and other study I have read pretty much sticks to a 10% figure.
I had no idea worrying would be as horrible as it is. The unknown, you know.
Good luck with your decision.
Raquel
I have three kids, two on the spectrum, I suppose I'm biased but it does seem more to me too.
Do the stats take into consideration the sibs born after dx of the first child. I think most famillies stop having children when they get a autie dx, that would make a big diff to the stats KWIM? the stats should be of famillies with subsequent dx in siblings.
I don't know all that many famillies with asd but I know another mother with 2 asd boys. It's true to say that my children and hers are pretty mild asd - reg ed etc.. I don't know if it's relevent.
Tricky one..good luck.
I have 3 with 2 on the spectrum (Nina too young to dx yet but autism evident)I know several other people who have more than one child , but more who have only 1. I think personally that the risk is different for different families. Autism is particularly strong in my family, with 4 ASD dx including Nina, they range from AS, PDD and Classic autism and classic with MR. Two others are currently seeking dx. I think the chance for us with Nina was far higher than 10% but for some people without the family history before their child the chance might be less
I have three children - 2 on the spectrum, incidently both boys.
I have been quoted 10% chance after having Nicholas and a 50% chance since having Lachlan.
Nicholas was diagnosed PDD, Lachlan ASD. Although I would love to try for another girl, I dont think I am willing to play the odds game because in my case the odds dont look good.
Good Luck with your decision :)
I just wanted to add that I had my first two really close together, and my daughter turned into more of a therapist than a sister.
Then 6 years later my husband and I came to the point where you either move on or have another, and we obviously chose to have another. He was so excited about it, and I was excited but weary. Seeing him so 'let's do it' was really encouraging to me, so it was a nice pregnancy-THANK GOD!!!! My son is not yet one, but is doing really well, and has actually helped his big brother on the spectrum. I treated my 6 year old like my baby, and usually not to his benefit. Now, he is really coming into his own and feeling like a BIG brother. Just another thought about siblings. Sometimes it can really work out. Pray it will stay that way!
In a way, risk statistics can be misleading, because if it happens to you, it happens to you 100% -- ie hits you with 100% of its impact on your lifestyle, finances, energy, etc.
In addition to that article already mentioned by WiMom, I also recently ran across a relevant study by Dr. Landa at Kennedy Krieger. That study investigated very early diagnosis (14 months), but you can also draw conclusions about risks because the study involved baby siblings of autistics.
Thirty of the 107 baby siblings ended up with an autism label, either at 14 months or later at age 3. That is 28% -- which seems significantly higher than 10%. Problem is, we don't know if any of these baby sibs came from families that already had more than one child diagnosed.
You can read Newsweek's report on that study here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19588967/site/newsweek/page/0/
Best wishes.
Norway Mom - you are the guru on finding information!
When my husband and I were considering a second child, we were not even particularly worried that the child would have any kind of disability. What worried us was that our resources -- financial, physical, emotional -- wouldn't be adequate to do right by our ASD child if they were stretched to include another child of ANY stripe. And that we would never be able to give this second child the same kind of attention and benefits we were already devoting to our first. So the stats (which were sparse back in the early 1990's when we were making this decision) did not figure in much at all. Other factors did. I think my son, now 16, would have benefited from having a NT sibling, but I don't think he would have benefited from having an ASD or other disabled sibling (just the opinion my husband and I hold for us, not for everyone). As it is, he HAS benefited from my ability to stay home from work and take care of him and learn as much as possible about how to educate and raise him. In our case, having a second child would have made it impossible for me to forgo working for a salary, so our son would have had to share my attention with a new sibling AND a full-time job. Even now, looking back, we are happy with the decision we made at the time and the sacrifice I made of my dream of having 2 or 3 kids. Just our experience, in case it helps.
My oldest has pdd-nos and my two younger ones are NT though I thinkone of them has some traits and might get a add or anxiety dx at some
point. The two younger ones are my son's best friends and therapists, he
has benefited hugely from siblings. And they adore their brother (well,
most of the time).
I think with second kid their is a much higher chance than the general
population, not just for asd but for a number of neurological things. But I
also think that special needs kids benefit from siblings more than NT
kids.
It is maybe more of a personal question of what you feel you could
handle. I know a family with a higher functioning asd kid and an Nt kid
and they are falling apart from dealing with the stress; and I know a
family with two severly impaired asd kids and an NT kid and they are
doing great.
One another board I sometimes go to is a family who choose to adopt
their second kid and another family who choose to use a sperm donor
(lots of asd on husbands side of family) for their third kid.
I have 4 kids. 1 on the spectrum--my only boy. 3 have anxiety. (the youngest doesn't--yet).
My dh has Aspergers. There is anxiety on both sides of the families.
I wouldn't be nervous to get another ASD kid--unless it was a boy.
My cousin is an ultrasound tech. She deals mostly with high risk. She said as for kids being born with form of autism, 1 could be born with it and not the rest but she did see a lady with 4 kids all having a form of autism. I didn't ask, which form of autism they had.I did read an article on this website. That said a child with aspergers has a 50% chance of having a sibling with it.
I'm not having anymore kids. If I ever wanted another child I would adopt. I get toxemia everytime I'm pregnant. I think that is genetic too bec. I'm not over weight, over 30 or have high blood pressure (only when pregnant).
There is someone on this board with 5, all somewhere on the spectrum. There used to be someone here from Fla. -- she had 4, all on the spectrum, and was expecting her 5th, tho no one knows if that one is going to be on the spectrum since the mom stopped posting here. There's an organization whose members are all families where there are at least 3 on the spectrum -- they have over 40 members, without even advertising it. A GOOD friend of mine has 3 boys on the spectrum, all teens now. However, she had a 4th boy who lived only a few months before he died of crib death. There seems to be some connection between crib death and asd in families, though, fortunately, cribs deaths are way down now that parents are advised to put their kids to sleep on their backs. One very, very wealthy family in our area had two boys on the spectrum (both young adults now). They wanted a 3rd, but decided to take steps so that they would ONLY have a girl. They did have a girl. She's the most involved with autism and is violent, whereas the boys were not. This family couldn't use their money to get any babysitters or nannies for their kids, since no one wanted to deal with the children, so the parents were stuck at home and couldn't use their wealth for any form of enjoyment. In the end, they funded a very well known autism center near here since they have hopes that that might help their 3 kids.
I'm so sorry I misunderstood. I won't post again.Welshcorgi - Don't feel like you shouldn't post again. Everyone misreads things from time to time. Not a big deal.welshcorgi- I misread things all the time, everyone does. keep posting, this is a great group of people, very educated, experienced, informative. I'm new too and really enjoy this site.I agree with your girl dx BTW Welshcorgi. I also misread things and miss the point...
I did that today for certain... there was a discussion about just not needing more "bums" in our pews at church and I thought they were referring derogatorily to poor ppl in the congregation when they were actually talking about needing to do more than have a high buttock count.
I can honestly say, things have worked out extremely well for us and the other familly of 2 asd bros I know have also been very fortunate, their boys are very close and encourage each others development and social skills too.
I also have an nt son - you don't know til you try and then you just have to make the best of whatever life deals you. In our case it's def worked out for the best. I know you feel you have already made a decision but little surprises sometimes happen
I am the mother of 6 children...5 on the spectrum. I would never tell anyone how many children to have, that is a personal choice. If a family feels they can have more children, then by all means have more children. If the fear of autism, or any disorder is keeping you from having another child, then you need to prepare yourself mentally for that option.
Our children are very active in our community. They are in scouts, gymnastics, church, etc. They have their friends over and sleepovers. Our children go everywhere we go. We are very lucky. Our children do not have meltdowns or temper tantrums. They sit nicely in restaurants and do not scream in stores. They may buzz a little, but nothing that is disruptive to others.
I feel so blessed to be the mother of my children. I feel each one of them has a special gift and each of them are truly adored. I cannot imagine my life without any of them.
Jeanette
Bug is mild on the spectrum. His sisters have language delays - but are NT...
I really think I want to have another baby... It seems the risk is a heck of a lot higher than 10% given the number of people here that have more than one kiddo on the spectrum...
Thoughts? Opinions? I tried to do a search for old threads - but I find what I was looking for...
Know of one family with 3 autistic children and one with 2. My two children (autism and PDD-NOS/epilepsy) were both adopted at birth from different birthmoms. Our adoption attorney said that he never saw any adopted children with autism in over 3,000 adoptions that he handled. No one has seen any adoptive parents who have two children on the spectrum adopted from different birthmoms. Our children are 15 months apart and have been a great help for each other and love each other dearly. Would do it again in a heartbeat. We also have two biological children - over 18 who had other problems. Most kids do. It's just different.
That is so sad that the family did not use their wealth to help the children and themselves. We share a nanny with another family and it helps a lot. Living in California also helps as the state and the school district have been very helpful in providing services including respite hours. Our son was non verbal but identified early (19 months) and with massive intervention, now talks almost normally. Our daughter is 7 and still needs speech therapy but has massive processing issues as she also has neurofibromatosis (NF1) which also causes learning problems. She is in special ed and our son is mainstreamed with an aide. I for one do not believe the statistics that there are 4 boys for every girl. I think many of the girls are not identified or have other skills that lets them pass when they actually need a lot of services as well.We decided to have another and joked to ourselves that if we have another like dd it will kill us, we don't have the energy. We also believed that there was no way it could happen again, life is fair. Well, along comes my beautiful ds who has something going on that we haven't figured out yet, and I wouldn't trade them for anything! we won't have another but i still believe all will be okay.I have 3 ASD dx'd kids and Suzie is being evaluated my guess is she's AS. My older ds was dx'd with ADHD when he was younger. I've had ADD and likely at least AS traits. We also have ADHD, autoimmune and schizophrenia in extended family as well as some Aspie tendencies (I recall my cousin having an affection for string and talking to it or it talked) but, I don't know if any of them were actually dx'd. So, I think it depends on how unconventional your family is.I'm so glad I asked this! Thanks, Everyone - for your candid responses...I think we are done (for various reasons - not just the risk of ASD).
While I know there have been numerous threads on the subject - it really means a lot to me for you all to share your thoughts (again).
I am glad we are done having kids. I think we dodged a bullet of possibly having a severe case. My dd has PDDNOS, and I have some concerns about my boys but if they do have an ASD it probably would be considered higher functioning base don what they are doing.
That family DID help their children by funding an EXCELLENT autism center nearby which is doing research and interventions for ALL kids with autism, including their own kids. I guess my post was confusing. They are using their wealth to help their own kids in THIS way. NO ONE wants to babysit for violent teenagers. You might have been lucky to get a well-trained nanny or you might be lucky to have a child whose behaviors are more manageable. But there is usually not enough money in the world to pay for sitters for kids who bite, scratch, run away, hit, poop all over the place and generally drive everyone nuts. And all because of their disability, not because of something they can even help. These people got the BEST help money could buy and still it was not enough. So they chose to use the money to fund a center that would then get even MORE grants. Now we have autism consultants in this area and tons and tons of autism help. It really all started after they funded this center and got the ball rolling. Remember, their kids were all born before ABA was widely accepted. And not every autistic child can be taught to behave in an acceptable manner no matter WHAT the intervention. Most can, but some simply cannot. My point is that money and education cannot protect families from the luck of the draw when it comes to having kids. Even if another child is on the spectrum there is no guarantee that that child won't be nearly NT or, at the other end, nearly not manageable. It all depends, of course. For some people who are considering expanding their families, the degree of autism a child might have has an affect on their choice. Of course, it's always best to imagine the worst-case scenario. If you and your spouse can imagine handling that worst case scenario, then having another child is for you. But if you can't imagine living your life with a severely autistic child, you might want to think twice.
I posted this link on another thread. It's a radio show. The segment that is about the autistic boy is done by a couple who had twins -- one NT and one classically autistic -- and what happened.
Copyright Autism-PDD.net