Who/what do you think caused your AS?

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Genetics and environment in my case. I think my father was on the autistic spectrum and he passed those traits on to me...and my 2 brothers to a lesser extent. So none of us related to each other very well and my mom didn't know how to deal with a house full of people on the spectrum. She may actually be on the spectrum herself, so us kids were just screwed to begin with.

It's forced evolution at a pace that is much faster than is good for us. Technology and exposure to information are evolving at an exponential rate. Our respective governments go about the process of trying to tame us all in various ways. The nature of life changes so quickly that we, as a species, don't have time to adapt; life in this day and age is completely different from life 100 years ago; life 100 years ago is completely different from life 200 years before that; genetic combinations that are most successful are different for each of these time periods. We can't keep up with it all, so we get depressed, and go to the doctor for braincady to "fix" things; our kids get depressed and mentally ill, and we try to "fix" them in the same manner. We're also swimming in a sea of new chemicals and new EM emissions, things that were barely conceived of a century ago.

It is a culminating of many things, a complex problem with many variables; these are but a few. I'm not so sure about AS, but I view autism (as I see it in son, and to a lesser degree in myself) as a side effect of these things and more.

Good fortune,

- Icarus Swims in Mercury

I agree with belle77: there's often a gray area, not a clearcut yes or no answer.

I'm not diagnosed, but almost every symptom of AS I've heard of since I graduated college sounds like me. However, until then, I was convinced that social skills were something I'd lagged behind in by being too isolated. My neighborhood was so small that there was only one kid my age, and so isolated that nothing was even within biking distance. When not in school, I was completely trapped, besides when my parents drove me someplace. But since that one other kid was the whiniest, most domineering little b***h I have ever met, I acquired a warped idea of what friendship was supposed to be, and never had any desire to even find any other kids to play with. This would've driven most complete NTs nuts, but I was perfecly happy at the time.

My mom's a bit of a misanthrope, my dad's real introverted and solitary, and they don't seem to have any friends that aren't neighbors, or people they do yoga or sports with routinely. So, I probably am genetically predisposed to AS by nature. However, they unintentionally nurtured AS traits in me by keeping me so isolated. They both grew up in such crowded neighborhoods where being surrounded by other people was so draining that they thought they were doing me a favor by giving me my space. If they acted more like NTs, I might have been able to learn a few social skills.

So I'm saying that genetically, I'm probably a borderline case that could have gone either way, but my environment relentlessly pushed me deeper into aspie country.

After giving the genetic nature of AS some thought and considering what I know of my near-ancestors, I would say that my grandfather on my mother's side was probably an aspie. I did not know him well but what I did know of him seems to fit.

My dad's a "huggy" aspie, i.e. he is ok with physical contact and all that. My mum's a "cold fish" aspie, i.e. she will sit on a different chair if you're sitting on the sofa, despite it being a 4 seater. That kinda thing. They're both undiagnosed, but the different traits are all there. So I'm f****d. And so is my brother!

good old dna, of course.

if you dont know for sure, might as well blame God

my parents have it i think.

Traits run on both sides of the family, but manifest in different ways..my mom seems more Aspie than my dad sorta...but some extreme traits seem to exist on my dad's side of the family as well.
Then I did develop PTSD when i was young
And I have had head injuries
NOT to mention all of the mercury and lead I may have potentially ingested

Who knows?

For me, this is the $1,000,000 question. Now I know I have it, I want to know why.

Is it 100% genetic? ie I'll get it no matter what?
Is there a gene that predisposes me to it? ie I only get it if certain things happen during childhood?
Is it purely an effect of childhood trauma?

Is there a definitive answer to this or is it still speculation?

Actually genetics I fully believe, looking at my father's side of the family has a few autistics of various areas on the spectrum, I believe my father is a NT with some AS traits (collects sport cards, vary much into statistics of sports), his father from all I have heard was an undiagnosed Aspie, he has an uncle that was very very much into model trains and had elaborate tracks set up and all. Add on I have Aspergers, my oldest son has Autism and my youngest son has some quirky "Aspie-like" traits but would never meet a PDD-NOS dx let alone an Asperger's one.

Now I asked or suggested something similar on a differant thread, but have thought about it some more.

I was heavily emotionally and physically abused as a child, neglected and abandoned on a few occassions, Childrens homes etc.

I only rceently discovered about AS so am still undecided, but definately share many traits and the "tests" said I was.
But reading about AS I read that certain brain cells die or something.
Now Ive been diagnosed as suffering from Reactive Attachment Disorder due to never bonding in childhood, it is thought that without receiveing various stimuli such as Love a s an Infant, a child can have portions of the brain that remain totally undeveloped.

Now my theory is that maybe these portions of the brain that dont develop in neglected Children, (see the Romanian kids in those nurseries for extreme RAD), might be the same areas of the brain that develop diferantly in AS hence two differant causes could result in the same syptoms.

I think I got mine from being deaf as a baby so my brain got wired differently but then aspie traits run in my family so I might have inherited it. But I am antisocial and prefer to be by myself and prefer small company down to one person. I am just me, I need to keep telling myself that.

I think my parents have certain AS traits which I've inherited,but I reckon my own AS was
dormant until I was around 9 because I have clear memories of recognising a change in the
way I began to regard the world and my place in it.Things that seemed to trigger the change
were my parents moving to a new area,when I lost touch with friends,and possibly watched
too much TV.