Autism in extended family
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I was wondering if any of you have siblings with children on the spectrum ie your blood related nieces and nephews. My brother and his wife just had a son (their first child) and everybody is freaking out over the upcoming vaccines. I understand that there is some genetic component in that siblings of autistic kids run a greater chance but what about the offspring of those whose siblings have autistic kids? is that confusing? My half sister...has 4 girls w/ some minor learning delays...my brother will not have children - he's got a slew of issues...possible autism there...so he won't. I'm the one of the 3 siblings with the most autistic traits...my son is autistic...there is a strong possibility with another boy it would be autistic...there is a chance though with a girl she might be NT going on the family hx. Regardless, we are trying for another child...and if it's autistic too then BTDT  with 8 years of recovering time in between them!
My sisters all had dyslexia. So far none of my children have had children so we don't know on the aspect. On my mom's side I have an nephew with Asperger's (undiagnosed). On my dad's side I have another cousin who shows some learning delays but they haven't figured out what yet. My son is the only one on both side with pdd.There was an article somebody, actually maybe 2 or 3 people put up, that talked about autism either being a familial risk thing or a spontaneous mutation of a certain set of of genes. I can't search this board very well, otherwise I'd stick up the posts themselves. Sorry! In the familial one, females can be carriers of the genetic snippet but show no (or little) evidence of any ASD traits. However, if those females give birth to sons, the sons have a 50-50 shot of showing ASD. You actually need to go back - and out, therefore - several generations to see this in action. Look at your bloodline aunts & uncles, and cousins. Then, go back to your 4 grandparents' siblings, and their offspring. Go back again to your 8 great grandparents and their siblings, and siblings offspring. Then you have to do the same thing for your spouse's family. Unless you have somebody doing genetic research on your clan, its hard to say. I hope my son did NOT get it the familial way, because if its just a fluke then my grandchildren won't be any more likely to have to deal with this than anybody else out there. I could possibly be Asperger's myself. My dad has a nephew who quit school cause of learning issues himself. My mil could have asd also. She hates social gatherings.Both my husband and myself have autistic trait also, him way more than me. His brother older, doesn't have any traits nad his 2 girls are NT My Brother doesn't have any traits although he was a hyperactive child possible adhd, we both grew up on the Feingold diet. My Neice ( brothers daughter, shows possible adhd also, and nephew age 5 is NT. I have 2 cousins, one on each side of the family both adult males now, who in my opinion are on the spectrum. http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13939&am p;am p;am p;KW=mutationhttp://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19365&am p;KW=mutation However as for me and my father, things are quite different, we are both very alike in many ways such as ritual, or miticulousness, but different in others as well, I absolutly beleive he is on the spectrum, tho would never say it to him, heh. He is a nuclear engineer. When my dad and former step mom were going through a divorce, he went to a psych and was dx w/ narcissistic personality disorder. He really does not have the ability to empathize, it's awful and we don't even speak because of it. I have always struggled w/social anxiety, but I fight it w/o meds. I might start a thread on this if there isn't one already. My grandmother has a learning disability, she is definetly mildly MR and never learned to read or do math. She can barely write her name. My husband's second cousin has down syndrome and a bipolar uncle. I could go on and on. We definetly have a lot of mental disorders in our families, but no actual ASD diagnoses. Our siblings haven't had children yet, and I get concerned about what our genetics + rise in autism will mean for those births. My husband's first cousin's daughter is on the spectrum. My brother's daughter is speech delayed. My sister's son may be very mild Asperger's (that's my private opinion). My husband's sister's son had speech delay and therapy. My brother was a toe walker and was speech delayed as a child. Alot of the men on both sides have large heads. My grandmother on my dad's side has "flaming aspie" written all over her. She had 7 children, 3 of which I'd say are on the spectrum. My dad is one of the three. I have ASD traits, and both of my boys are on the spectrum. My sister has 4 children, non of which are diagnosed, but the two boys have definite "quirks". My brother's two children are both NT. The only person in this long line with an official diagnosis is my oldest son Brendon. His diagnosis is "classic" autism. My youngest son is still in the evaluation process, but the ST that is evaluating him says he looks like he's presenting as HFA to her.I have many traits~never spoke till I was 3, very quiet, rocked constantly..still do:) LOATH social events with lots of people, anxiety/depression, and very naive to peoples motives and had to learn everything in life the hard way... Husband is the literal, rigid and rule based one~OCD tendencies..very detached emotionally and needs consistancy at all times..changes can make him totally nuts! Lot of unmarried genius types in his side too. Both of us are incapable to lying to each other:) His cousin's son got diagnosed as aspergers last spring..it is 12 and gifted acadically but has very little social skills like his peers.
I have a nephew who i think possibly may be asd or he could just be an EXTREMELY difficult baby but i dont know, hes one and i dont really talk to is mother that much lately (hubbys sister). I think my niece, my brothers baby is NT but then I havnt even seen her yet and shes one too. I do have 2 cousins on my moms side of the family that have autism. One who is 16, a boy is severe and also has tourrettes and other things and my other cousin whos 19, boy has moderate-severe autism as well. Other things are more prominent in every generation on mine and hubbys side which include scizophrenia, bipolar, depression, tourrettes syndrome and epilepsy. My hubby i think is possibly aspbergers and bipolar and were in the process of getting him some help and a dx. He has paranoia issues. His grandmother, father and cousin are bipolar. My brother has learning disabilities and a few other people in my fam, my sisters paranoid scizophrenic and grandmother are scizophrenic.Alot of people in my fam have depression amongst other things def. going on but i dont know what it is, probably bipolar undx'ed in a few of my aunties! Alot of the mental illness comes from my moms side of the family and my hubbys dads side of the family. Tje only thing that i know of running on my dads side of the fam and my hubbys moms side of the fam both are epilepsy. My uncle and cousin have tourrettes. Our nephew, my dh's sister's son, has autism. He is severe on the spectrum, non verbal and has MR. My husbands first cousins son has pdd.. but on my side there is no one but my son who has any developmental problems.. My sisters son is fine just a bit hyper and she is pregnant with her second 5 years later through fertility so i am hoping he is ok also.. well, Don's adopted, and I know some of his family hx:Donny's full brother has PDD NOS diagnosis. His maternal uncle has severe learning disabilities. His mother is suspected learning disabled and bipolar, definitely depression issues - she's an alcoholic and addict. His aunt has addiction issues and LD issues also. His maternal grandmother is an alcoholic and chronically depressed. His maternal grandfather, if he were born in current times, would be diagnosed with ADHD. Don has a distant cousin (one of his Grandfather's siblings' children) with Down Syndrome, and another with ASD. On his dad's side, his father is a bright enough guy, with a good family background, who nonetheless has struggled with addiction since his teens and been in and out of corrections in the last 10 years - if he's still alive. We haven't had an update in about two years. He's likely got either mental health issues (bipolar?), or is on the mild end of the spectrum. His paternal uncle committed suicide when he was 20, so issues there too. His paternal grandfather is normal. Standup guy, I've met him (only of Don's birth family I've met), and he seemed as NT as they come. His paternal grandmother died of a brain aneurism when Don's dad was a teen. So, Don's ASD and Bipolar both have strong familial links. In my family, if you look at all the generations, you can see the ASD traits getting stronger and stronger, and I'm certain that of my cousins and I, one of us will have an ASD child. I fit all the criteria for Asperger's as a child, but now would only fit the ADHD criteria, as there's no "qualitative impairment" to my social skills, stims, etc. - I've learned to compensate. I come accross as quirky, but socially competent for the most part. My dad's side of the family is normal, and my half siblings from my dad are totally NT. On my mom's side, totally different ballgame, lol. My half siblings from my mom are a boy and a girl. My sister has some traits, but not nearly enough for a diagnosis. Her issues are just as easily attributed to being exposed to alcohol in utero as any ASD tendencies (she's very rigid, had terrible tantrums until around age 10, she's basically a mini-version of my mom). My brother didn't talk or toilet train until the summer before kindergarten. He's very socially immature, and has a lot of similarities to myself, without the rigidity, perseverations, or stereotyped behaviours. He is 12, and is in his first depression. He doesn't do well academically, but has been tested throughly for LDs and ADHD and no diagnosis. He IS bright - psychoed testing shows him as near-genius, and yet he still is unsuccessful at school. He's bullied a lot and over-sensitive. We figure he'll likely have full-blown bipolar disorder by his mid-teens. My mom is bipolar, and has a LOT of ASD traits. Her brother (my uncle) is a sociopath (I'm not being cheeky, I'm serious. He's a pedophile, a rapist, a con-artist, and an addict. He's been conning people and hurting people all his life. He has a LONG criminal history, he's just never been arrested and have anything stick). Her half sister (my aunt by my grandmother) has severe LDs. My grandmother (mom's mom) is bipolar. She has three siblings, two girls and a boy. The boy (my great uncle) has one child by birth, also a boy, also a pedophile. My great uncle is an alcoholic. Her youngest sister (my great aunt) is also an alcoholic. Has two children, both girls. One very NT with no issues. She has two children. Her first was born with a cleft palate, some hearing issues, vision issues. It's too soon to say if he's on task developmentally - the cleft palate delays his speech anyway. He's only 3. Her other little boy is still an infant and doing well. My great aunt's other daughter is also an alcoholic and recovering addict. She's struggled with depression since her teens. She has two children, a boy and a girl, both NT and bright. The elder of my grandma's two sisters is an alcoholic, and has always been dubbed "eccentric". She's got a LOT of ASD traits. She has two children, a boy and a girl. The boy has severe anxiety and depression, and is a recovering alcoholic and meth addict. He is very, very bright, and a little "Aspergerish", but the social stuff didn't become evident until his early twenties, when he "got tired of wearing a mask all the time" as he puts it. The girl is as NT as they come. My great grandparents were both alcoholics. My great grandmother was bipolar. So, in my family, there's a huge history of "eccentricity", "quirkiness", addiction, and bipolar disorder and/or depression. We've also got some BAD genetics going on, if you look at my uncle and my cousin who's the pedophile...Both those boys had pretty good upbringings, so their issues aren't due to abuse or anything - that's genetics. I'm amazed we haven't had any full blown ASD yet. I've got the most traits of ayone in my family, and, honestly, if I manage to get pregnant, I'll be very suprised if my child is NT.geez, I just reread that - what a train wreck my family sounds like I'm
sure some are reading that and going "why are these people still breeding? If there was ever an arguement for mandatory sterilization..."  My baby brother is anti-social disorder, ADHD, bipolar, IBS, dyslexic as well...
my DS and my hubby's nephew both ASDmy mil has 8 grandchildren total. One is autistic. One is nonverbal (severe language issues)but not autistic, two are ADD but could also be dxed with aspergers, one is dyslexic, another ADHD, another LD;s. One typical but with intestinal issues.
DH's sister has 2 children who participated in Birth to 3 and EC primarily because of speech delays. I believe one of DH's brothers, a cousin, and an uncle have Aspergers. One of my brothers is dyslexic and most likely ADD. My 3 sisters are NT (1 teacher, 1 nurse and me also, and 1 doctor) and have all NT kids. But my neice has 5 kids and 1 with speech delays and toe walking--not ASD. Herself is a bit OCD'ish. My mom and dad are perfectionists---and things HAVE to be a certain way (but I think all older people get like that! They are late 70's to 80's) My dad is a math genius and kind of "quiet". 1 sister of mine does have anxiety. Dh's family is totally messed up. You name it---they have it! Except---ASD. So I'm sure that there may be some undx'd ones in there. Dh, himself just got dx'd this past year with AS. His sisters son has severe ADHD and anxiety. Lots of learning disabilities, anxiety, depression, bipolar, suicide, alcoholism, OCD, and the list goes on! So I'm sure my son gets it from genetics! And my girls-----they got their stuff from genetics also! |
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