Something I noticed - there really is a strong genetic link

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I went to a support group for ADHD/ASP a while ago. A number of people had kids had children with Asperger Syndrome. What I noticed was that these parents were rather peculiar people themselves, and seemed to possess quite a few of the traits as well (although not to as such a great degree).

Makes me wonder how they managed to cope with their condition throughout their lives.

What if it were that raising the child evoked and amplified autistic traits in the parents? Just an interesting idea that I never really explored.

I would say that the research finds both genetic and epigenetic causation for autism. In conjunction, at times, with the environment.

It could be that one might be born with a "predisposition" towards autism--and might, in the "right" environment, develop it.

My ASD is idiopathic. I'm the only one in my family, covering at least four generations, who had had autistic symptoms.

Are you 100% sure about that? You might be surprised

That seems to be the general consensus of psychologists when it comes to many disorders, however I can't say that autism is included in that opinion. I would say most cases of autism are indeed genetic, even if you can't find any relatives you think have autistic symptoms.

It's likely they just learned to cope with the world and that their symptoms are indistinguishable to someone who hasn't worked with a lot of "higher functioning" autistic adults. Maybe it's just me, but I actually feel as those who would qualify for an ASD diagnosis, but couldn't receive one due to the diagnosis not existing when they were children, seem to have been able to cope better than those of us who are diagnosed now and currently in school? I know everyone's different and severity varies, but for example, there are many autistic people who have lived relatively "normal" lives and have succeeded in traditional brick-and-mortar school settings, whereas it seems many autistic children are now struggling in traditional brick-and-mortar school settings. I know I did, and I ended up having to be homeschooled/online schooled throughout high school. But I suppose it's also possible that schools have changed the way they go about teaching.

It scares me a little bit.

I was blatantly autistic until I started speaking: at age 5.5.

After that, I presented Aspergian.

We have lots of neuroses and personality disorders in our family-- but no evidence of autism.

It's pretty much the same for my mother's side. I suspect my father is autistic though.
But then again, some personality disorders are comorbid with autism... perhaps there's a genetic link there.

I was thinking that's possible but I do think autism is usually a genetic thing thou I'm the only one in my family that has it; the rest of my family seems fairly NT.

That is something that I have noticed as well. My daughter has Aspergers and is described as "very high functioning", and she is. For some time I have had suspicions that I may be an Aspie as well. And in looking at both of my parents, and their families, I suspect that there may be some Autism there as well. Autism does run on my daughters dad's side as well, and I suspect that her paternal grandmother is on the spectrum. So in answering your question...yes, I have noticed that. I would say that in our case, our daughter has done so well because at a very young age she was taught. When she was an infant she was read to, was taught alphabet and counting as an infant, was reading by 3-4, could do math sums at 2-3...because we worked with her. I can't say that when she was younger I had any idea that she was on the spectrum, and she was only diagnosed at the age of 15 (she is now 16). Looking back I wonder how in the world all of us missed it...anyways...

Actually a lot of the resent research is showing the opposite with environment perhaps playing the biggest role of all.

Environment being conditions that occur during pregnancy.

I don't know that I agree with that. What are the chances that the environment in which my biological mother carried / gave birth to me, was the SAME environment in which my grandfather was carried / given birth to? He was born around 1887----and, I suspect he was as Aspie (although, undiagnosed).

As with most psychological conditions, genetics are a pre-requisite for the condition and the environment determines how much the condition appears in the phenotype. Specialized care, education, treatment, positive social interaction and proper supplementation may decrease the severity of the condition. No one can 'get' autism, it something you have genetically but the amount of symptoms you get are based on the severity of the genetic disposition and the environment.

For example when I was a child I was kind of an oddball and was stuck in my own world a lot but I didn't have problems interacting with my peers as at that age most other kids accept different behaviour. Especially because I was highly intelligent and had no speech delay the teachers thought I was completely fine and did not need any special attention. If you are silent you kind of get ignored, while most of the support and attention goes to the rash kids who can't control themselves and resist authority.

When I went to high school my peers started bullying, humiliating and abusing me for my different behaviour. That is when my condition became MUCH worse. I completely lost trust in other humans and for the longest time I couldn't even speak to my own parents. Used to lock myself up in my room for entire days. Had to be put on intensive treatment for two years before I could cope with my condition.

Bottom line is that even if you genetically have a mild form of autism you may still show symptoms of more severe autism in a bad environment. In much the same way someone with a genetically more severe form of autism living in a positive environment may be able to cope much better and live a more normal life. Both factors are important in the severity of the condition.

It is thought that there are a number of different causes. Genetics might predispose in some of them but without the outside influences, it would not show up.

One thing that is being researched is the question about whether maternal levels of Vitamin D during pregnancy might play a part. There appears to be a pretty good possibility that it does, but we won't know for sure without extensive research.

While I agree with your view point that autism generally is genetic-based (but the environment also has to do with severity of symptoms), it isn't exactly "true", because nothing about that has been confirmed yet. We don't have an accurate heritability estimate of autism yet either. It sounds like you're basically saying you agree with the stress-diathesis theory, I think? Most disorders do seem to run in families, but I'm not exactly sure what you mean about genetics being a pre-requisite? And as far as I know, there's also no data implicating that genetics directly relate to the severity of one's autism, so I'm not sure if someone can have a "genetically mild form of autism."

And while what you said applies to many other disorders (schizophrenia is an example because the highest heritability estimate is below 50%), I don't think it's likely to apply to autism any time soon because of it's complicated nature. While I believe in autism being genetically-based, I don't doubt the possibility that someone could be born without without having a family history of autism. This happens with many other disorders, so why not autism too? Autism likely has more than one cause, even if inheritance is the main one. For example, some cases of autism could be caused by de novo mutations.

I was a lot like you as a child. Most people saw my behaviors - things like being extremely picky about foods and not letting them touch, being overly attached to inanimate objects, the ability to play by myself all day without speaking to anyone else, etc - as "odd", but most people also saw my father as odd (I'm pretty sure he's on the spectrum, but just undiagnosed) and assumed I was "odd" because he was. To make matters worse, my mother is a nurse (though she's on disability now). She's worked with autistic patients before but like many, still has stereotypes about how people present with it. I'm pretty sure that's why she's never seen my autistic symptoms.


I think it's interesting you brought up Vitamin D. There very well may be a connection to it with ASD, both during pregnancy and after the child is born. I was recently diagnosed as having a severe deficiency; we also found out that my mother was deficit, but not severely. After getting the diagnosis, I looked into Vitamin D more and found that it has links to autoimmune disorders, which also seem to run in families with ASD diagnoses. I still don't understand why it's named a vitamin when it's really a hormone though.

We know this to be false as we have identified some environmental factors that are known to cause autism, which are independent of genetics. That isn't to say there aren't genetic causes of autism, because we also know some genetic causes.

Autism is likely a group of conditions, causes by many many different things, with similar expressions. There may be hundreds if not thousands of unique causes of autism that range from genetic to environmental.