Asperger Families

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I and my brother have Asperger's, so does my cousin (who is a very successful academic). My grandmother and 5 of her siblings (and some of their descendents) also had/have it, Both my cousins sons were diagnosed as having Autistic spectrum conditions.

(I still uncertain about accepting the concept of having Aspergers - cos' an awful lot of people think its a disease ...)

I've been doing Ancestry studies ... going back a couple of centuries then following other branches to living persons who I contact with the question "Anything like this in your branch?" and give a few details about my branch.The responses clearly "prove" (with a high certainty) that my "gene-based heritage" is spread around the world.

Any other Aspie families here?

This is my maternal side ... there's absolutely nothing like it on my father's tree.

All my maternal ancestors came from a small area of Suffolk, England ... they'd been intermarrying with locals to the exclusion of outsiders for several centuries.

There was a "family legend", passed from generation to generation, that it all started with an illegitimate child of the "Duke of Bedford".

... Jasper Tudor (1431-1495) is a prime candidate - his illegitimate daughter settled in the area my maternal family comes from.

Just traits run in my family. I'm the only one with it. However my parents think my grandma has it and my uncle might have it and my great uncle might have had it too. I don't know if my cousin has it and my aunt. My mom has said she wonders if her sister does.

I suspect that my maternal grandfather may have had Aspergers. The rest of my family shows some autistic traits, but none of us have actually been diagnosed, as far as I know. My brother, though, was non-verbal until he was three -- rather than being concerned, they seem to have thought it was cute. The school thought he was mentally ret*d because he couldn't seem to learn to read until Mom went out and bought books on subjects that interested him -- planes and trains and construction. He's an engineer, now. My oldest sister spoke her own invented language until she was almost ten; I'm not sure what that's a symptom for, since I can't find much information about it. My second sister translated for both of them. I remember my mother consciously teaching me things that I now know I was supposed to pick up by observation and just didn't. I seem to remember Mom treating all of these things as if they were perfectly normal and we all ended up doing well in school and leading fairly normal lives, so whatever she and Dad did must have worked. We did all have a fairly strict upbringing when it came to formal behavior rules and what was expected of us.

We two - with very spectral son - pretty much isolated in our generation. I have a brother and a sister I would like to see checked out, but they don't feel quite right. L has a niece and a nephew who definitely fit, among lots of no-shows; her father was a probable, but died to early to be sure. At least one of my father's aunts was very likely - beyond that there are no adequate data.

So far I'm the only one. I would say that my dad's family is the probable cause. My dad has some Aspie-like traits (hates socialising with family,) but complains that I don't socialise enough with people outside. The trouble is he thinks it is perfectly good and normal for me to follow him round and ask adults intelligent questions that I am too immature to ask. My mum is awkward in intelligent company and prefers to talk to old women. (But her family isn't as smart as my dad's. I think they married out of desperation - not fitting in). My second cousin on my dad's side whom I have never met is 10 and loves reading like mad in the library. They call him a nerd. (So far nerd labels have not been used in the family.) My paternal great-grandfather was a skilled carpenter who built up a good business in good quality furniture. He was antisocial, financially prudent, and because he was illiterate, asked his sons to translate National Geographic programmes for him (it was his pleasure to watch the engineering parts.) All the possible Aspie candidates are male, except myself though so I don't know whether it's a "guy thing".

none of us in ma family have autism but i mite suspect i cud have it since i have sum of de symptoms

I don't really have anyone who is an aspie in my mums family apart from me but my dad and my uncle is on my dad's side who they don't really live with us and yet it is pretty hard being the only aspie in the family which is like a rocky mountain to me, kinda feels more like that in my opinion.

It doesn't really matter so much anyway, they won't really understand my world and where I'm coming from so I just keep my opinions to myself at times.

I suspect my dad, but his dead so I can't really know for sure. People often complained that his wasn't that good at communicating. I've noticed some traits in my mum too. I once told her to go get diagnosed and she didn't like that. My brother and sisters have traits. My eldest sister has the least traits.
All my mum's kids suffered in the womb from hemolytic disease of the newborn and each pregnancy got worse, and so me being the youngest ended up with the most symptoms and is the only one that's been diagnosed with AS and have had lots of learning problems.
My brother would be the learn fast, recite everything he's learned type of aspie if he was on the spectrum. My sister would probably be the black and white thinking one, and my eldest sister would be the one that suffers from anxiety. But, as it is, my brother and sisters are very social and got through school and got jobs and can have relationships. None of them have AS.

Yeah, I think both my parents and my brother have AS. All in slightly different ways.

I have a diagnosis. My father and one of my brothers have some symptoms. My other brother is more outgoing.

I am certain my father also has it. He is classic case. But we have not discussed it.

My uncle likely has it -- he is always very, very blunt, and he has obsessions, but I would have to know him better to say for sure if I think he has it.

My brother I am not certain about. My mother I'm also not certain about. She has very poor social skills, but that seems to be the only criteria that she fits.

I learned that my grandfather would keep to himself at large family gatherings. He also obsessively saved money. So he might have had it as well.

Interestingly, three of my extended family members cannot eat gluten (dx by blood test), and others refuse to get tested because they don't want to stop eating gluten.

Myself and both my sons are on the spectrum, my paternal grandfather had at least some traits and there are several other autistics on the paternal side of my family.

I recently got an email from someone in Australia asking if I knew anything about his great grandmother who emigrated to Australia in the early 1900s - he gave me no details about her apart from her name. She was my grandmother's sister. I sent back a detailed email describing the "characters" in my branch. His reply was:

'WOW that was interesting!

My grandmother was highly intellectual, but without education and opportunity. Her life seems like one train wreck relationship to another having 13 children from 3 different fathers over 21 years. Most of the children were born without a 'father' on their birth certificate. She taught herself languages and was apparently very good at maths.'

He goes on to say that many recent relatives have had major problems, several having committed suicide, and his description of their intellects and obessional focus of interests "fits" with them having an Asperger's type "condition".

His family believed that the "culprit" as far as this "inheritable curse" was concerned was his great grandfather rather than his great grandmother (who died in her 40s in an Australian mental hospital in the 20s from "nervous exhaustion").

I've also had replies from much more distant relatives (our common ancestors were back in the mid 18th century). One said that her adult son "had problems" and it had been suggested by a professional that he had "a mild form of autism" rather than a "mental illness".

Ancestral studies are fascinating - but it's very easy to become "obsessional" about it - and one has to be very careful about ensuring one doesn't end up following a paperchase of info about people one is not actually genetically related to. My father's mother confessed on her deathbed that my father's father was not the man she married. She named who my real grandfather was ... I'm now seeking out living male line descendents of his brothers with the idea of confirming her story by DNA tests.

The information necessary to compile a (UK based) detailed family tree (especially including living distant relatives) has only become available on the Internet in the last couple of years.

I don't really know of any aspies in my family or extended family

I'm sure that my grandma - my dad's mum had it. I'm sure that my Nana has it. Her and I get along like two peas in a pod. I'm quite sure that my Aunt Jo Anne must have had it. I'm sure that my Great Uncle Lawrence had it.

I'm pretty sure a cousin of mine has it.