Is Asperger's Hereditary?

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I am strong on the Aspie side with perception and emotion and my 3.5 year old is exhibiting major signs with hunting and overstimulation and hand flapping and repetitious speech and OCD about certain toys and shows I am working with him to learn emotions where I pretend to be sad or some emotion and he laughs at me and has no empathy or provides no comfort or soothing.

My oldest child was comforting and soothing when she was 18months old. My uncle died and I cried and she wrapped her little arms around me and said, its ok mommy, don't cry. (she's gifted as well)

My son will see my crying and he notices is it and is interested and curious but no empathy. Not sure if thats because he is too young chronologically to have developed this or it's just not present?

Is HFA / Aspie hereditary?

My son's father is not aspie but he is very OCD.

Both Asperger's and OCD can be inherited.

Can be, yes, and it frequently is, but it's not a given.

thanks for responding.

i will keep a close eye on him and pursue this more for his sake - treatment and behavioral

i will just be heartbroken if i passed this onto him

Yes it can be inherited. Sometimes family members carry the gene and don't have autism.

theres an actual gene - chromosome defect which can be scientifically identified/seen/marked noted?

i was not aware of this. always thought and otherwose not specificed learning disability or functioning motor or supeme OCD was just labeled autistic since doctors didnt know what else to call it and that a lot of crap is labele autistic that shouldnt be

but there is an actual genetic test
that is cool

does it appear in aspies or only full on severe autistics?
do you know?

It can be hereditary, but I don't think they've found the exact chromosomes responsible.

My late dad was AS and I have two AS nephews.

I think that kills the aurgument.

I'm sure it runs in families. Dad was full of Aspie traits, and my son has a few, so does my cousin.

But there's an environmental component. I'm astonished how my symptoms can vanish when I'm with people I feel really good about.

No need for that. I passed alcoholism along to my two daughters, but they are each doing just fine today. As you have already said, just "keep a close eye on him and pursue this more for his sake - treatment and behavioral".

Genetics are complicated, as I'm sure you'll know.

ASDs aren't like Fragile X, for example, where there are fairly simple genetic tests. It certainly isn't down to just one gene or set of genes, and whilst some genes have been identified that seem to significantly increase the chances of developing an ASD, that almost certainly isn't all the genes that contribute, and environmental and prenatal conditions probably affect the chances of developing an ASD too, so you can't do a genetic test for ASDs in the womb like you can for Downs.

Don't be. If he does have AS, he's lucky - he has a parent who understands the condition. I'm sure you can think of things your own parents could have handled better if they knew what you know about yourself. Having AS gives you a big advantage in parenting an AS child well.

And AS people can be as successful and happy as any NT. Prospects are especially good for a child who is given understanding and support from an early age.

Anyway, to answer your question, they haven't fully sorted out the cause of AS, but the best theory is that it's the combination of several hundred different genes together, possibly with some environmental factors as well. And that the specific cause is different for different individuals. There are hundreds of genetic conditions which have been linked to a higher likelihood of being on the autism spectrum (such as Fragile X, RSH Syndrome, isodicentric chromosome 15, Rett Syndrome variants, etc). Though most autistics have none of those conditions, they may have milder mutations of some of the same genes involved in some of those conditions.