Autism in the family

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How many of you have other neurology differences in your family? Such as autism, ADHD, learning disabilities ect.

My cousin has a young daughter that was diagnosed with autism and the doctor wanted to know some of her family history, she mentioned that many of us had a 'disorder' of some kind. When the doctor learned that it was all on one side of the family, she was shocked, she said that she never seen it before and now wants us to come in for bloodwork (not sure what is going to be done with it). But it is true, there are many of us who have mild autism, ADHD, and different learning disabilities on my mother's side of the family.

So seeing that this is news to the medical community in my area, is this unique or do many of you have other neurology differences in your family?

My grandma, aunt and oldest cousin seems or seemed to have AS. My uncle Stephen seems to have HFA. He's very quiet and he hardly talks. I know I have it. My uncle Kevin is on the high end of the spectrum as well.

My paternal greataunt was a probable Aspie. Several on my father's side were arguably not on the spectrum but in differnt ways OFF.

One sister and one brother also likely not spectrum but have SOMETHING. NOT clear what.

On my mother's side of the family, my grandpa probably has AS, my uncle has HFA (as well as OCD, kleptomania, social phobia and ODD) and I think two of my cousins have autism (they have the traits and go to a special school, but I've never been told what they have).
On my father's side, his father had a few AS traits, a few of his relatives have AS, and one of my cousins probably has AS but his mother doesn't want to have him assessed for it.

Very odd that she's shocked. That's a very common pattern. My family, on both sides, has a high rate of neurologically atypical people, including both disabilities and things like giftedness and savant syndrome (one case, associated with autism).

Almost all the people of my mother's family except for my mother show some autistic traits... Most of them have obsessive interests of some kind, and I bet that my uncles would get an asperger diagnosis by simply walking into the room...

One of them is highly intelligent, but still doesn't live on his own. He's more than 20 years older than me, but I still feel much older and maturte when I talk to him.
He's extremely shy, doesn't do small talk, hardly ever meets people at all, and my mother told me that, when a doctor wanted to test his speaking as a child, she wanted to say him "I like bananas" - which caused him to get confused, stutter and refuse to say it at all... because he doesn't like bananas.

The other one at least can make his own living and is independent. He's a very specialized professor at a well-known German university. His job is his hobby, and it's practically impossible to talk to him for 5 min without him mentioning his job.

My father might also be a very slightly autistic, although in this case it's really just a few traits. But a few traits nonetheless.

And almost all of my family members (in this case mostly in my father's family) show symptoms of ADD, and my brother is diagnosed with it.

I am diagnosed level 1 autism. I have six children and three are also on the spectrum..my sister's son is too...as is my mother,she isn't diagnosed but I know enough now to be 99% sure...same with my maternal grandmother and great aunt.

Most of the men in my family have Asperger's Syndrome from my younger brother to most of my older brothers, my father, and his two brothers (my uncles). My father alone seemed to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

So I acquired both Asperger's Syndrome and ADHD from my father.

My mother had Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) both of which I acquired from her.

My Bipolar Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are the two that I acquired on my own due to a hellish childhood and several traumatic events in my life.

I seem to have won the disorder "lottery" thanks to the union of these two people. This may be a terrible thing to say but, I have often wished for a "Back to the Future" scenario in which I could have diverted both my mother and father from coupling. Setting aside the obvious contradictions regarding the Temporal Mechanics of such an event, I have none the less wished for this hellish existance to be erased somehow.

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*** High Functioning Autism - Asperger's Syndrome ***

ADHD, OCD, and PTSD.

Keep calm and stim away.

My father has adhd and my uncle (mother's brother) is probably autistic.

I don't know of anyone else in my family who is like me. Nobody talked about autism in those days, or disability in general. I was always conscious of being different. Even today, although my level of functioning has vastly improved, I know my interests are different from those of other people. I realize that, realistically, many of my plans may not come to pass. A lot of the things I'm doing now seemed out of reach ten years ago. I hope that, in 2028, when I'm in my mid-60s, I'll reach the level I should have reached in my mid-30s. That picture of the person I want to be means I will really have to work hard in the next few years to catch up.