I think my son will get soon be getting one of these diagnoses. I am wondering if they are heriditary or if maybe parents just have some similar traits. Does Autism run in familys? Thanks. Will post more when I know more
WELL THEY SAY MOST AUTISTICS DO NOT MARRY AND HAVE CHILDREN, SO IN THAT SENSE ? BUT THEY DO HAVE AN INCREASED LIKLIHOOD OF HAVING SIBLINGS IN THE SPECTRUM.....
KATE
I often wonder the same thing I believe that some of it is hereditary I know my sons paternal grandfather whom I never met (he died a year before I met Nicks dad) was supposably crazy so I asked what made everyone think he was crazy? I was told that if he was at a social event such as a family reunion he would not look at anyone he kept his head down and barely spoke to anyone, he was also always saying things like the white coats are gonna get me he would say this over and over and always did things in a repetetive way. When he died and they cleaned out his house (he lived alone and could not keep personal relationships) they found notebooks full of mathmatical figures, and I know that Nicks dad says when his father was alive he had to pretty much take care of him he would have to go and check on him and make sure he was buying groceries for himself so on so forth. He would also write letters to people and send them weekly and the letters would be about really bizzare things that made no sense to anyone. Sounds to me like he went through life undiagnosed!! So I do believe some of it may be genetics.
Nita
I absolutely believe that autism is hereditary........I believe Duke University did a study on it ............but just from everything that I see in my husbands family and his my stepson's bio mom's family it is indeed inherited.........we have alot more children being diagnosed as autistic now than in previous generations.........mostly people were considered odd or crazy because they ddin't seem to fall in that very low functioning category.......now they see that the spectrum is much, much broader than orginally thought...........so I believe my hubby's uncle sitting under his desk through the whole first grade, being extremely intelligent, and having a very hard time socially.........could put him ont he spectrum.....he also has big sensory issues........... but then each child is different.........It is just my belief that my precious stepson inherited his autism.........others may truly be due to something else............so I am not going to say that is the only way you have it.......I do not believe that........I take into consideration that others may be as a result of shots or some other happenings during or after the pregancy and birth..........it is just so hard to pin one thing down...........good luck........
Well, Asperger's speech developement usually is typified by no speech delay whatsoever, but a lot of Asperger's kids are known to speak in very adult-like sentences at a very young age.As of the last Autism conference I attended, genetics are only part of what causes ASD's. They said that there is a genetic predisposition, but it must be triggered by environmental events. For clarification, tho, environment is anything that's not in the genetic coding--like pollution, chemical or nutritional imbalances, trauma, etc.
I'm definitely looking long andt hard at my own family's history (it's less complicated than my wife's history).Thanks everyone. My husband has issues which I noticed immediately after being introduced to him. He has very poor social skills and absolutely no interests whatsoever. Any extracurricular activities would just be considered extra work to him, as are all holidays, birthdays, etc. He has no hobbies whatsoever. He also has a very flat affect, which of course makes it easy to get along with him as he never has an outburst. Just wondering about a genetic connection because some of these traits seem autistic/Asperger syndrome traits. There are slightly lesser degrees of these traits on my side of the family as well. Overall though I would say we are a happy family, it is just that my son (3 years old) has also no interest in toys, playing, etc. either and has severe speech delay (placed at 22 months I think).
Thanks again. ... Waiting for a diagnosis
Marks dad... I did not know that speech delay until 2 and then speaking in full sentences would be considered Aspergers.. That sounds like my son. He just came up to us one day and said "I'm going downstairs mom" It was his first word. Thanks for the information. What IS normal, really? Sometimes I just don't know. I agree on the heredity issue. I have also heard about environmental issues kind of "waking up" the dormant gene(s), etc...I see it in my family in tht I now believe that one of my nephews is a classic Aspy. I had a unique view because he came to live with me when he was 22 and done with college. His mother didnt think he was ready for the real world--so immature. And he was. It was very interesting and confirmed my suspicions. A differnt sister has a son also in his 20 who had trouble all through school. Lots of the signs--though we didn't know they were signs then. I believe he ison the spectrum--at this point he is 25 and can't fit into society. They're very worried.
My sister had a premie daughter who had serious developmental delays that went on for 15 years and somethings she can never do. Gross motor, sequencing stuff. Her son was so ADHD it was funny. The kid belonged on a poster for it.
Long way of saying that yes, I beleive there is a hereditery component that is getting kicked up because of the increasing insults on our childrens little, inutero even, systems.
pat
I think some are more prone. My Dad is ADD. My grandfather was an inventor who worked for Gillette. He was one of 3 men who invented the ink in the eraser mate. He had social problems. His daughter (my dads sister) had severe schizophrenia and autism (possibly induced by meds). My 16 yr old son has ADHD. I have compulsive issues and fight disorganized thinking constantly.
My husbands side. They say they are all normal???? hummmm. I tend to disagree (ha ha).
It may be heridatry but there is no autism or any form of the spectrum in either mine or my dh background! We find out monday if our daughter has he single gene answer.. I will post what they find as soon as i know! OOPs Our daughter is the only one on the spectrum in either family!
angie
They have come out with some new research lately that says that children with autism do show some very specific things genticallly like a higher than normal amount of white blood cells. The article is on the autism society website. They know that genetics have a hand in autism but are not the main cause there is an environmental factor that triggers it and so far they can't figure out what that environmental factor is.
WE just got the Asberger diagnosis for my almost 3 yr old. She had the speech delay until 2 then wow now she says anything and constantly amazes us with what comes out of that little mouth.
The developmental dr that diagnosed said that recent studies found most all kids on the spectrum had either adhd, anxiety or depression in their familys. We have all of them.
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