can AS be genetic?

Post Reply New Topic

is it possible that AS and HFA can be genetic? that whole families can have it?

i was diagnosed while young, and the more i think about it as an adult i begin to wonder if my whole family has it because we're...well, frankly, a bunch of anti-social loudmouths. so i'm wondering if there's a connection.

I've heard of a lot of families having it but the I hear of isolated incidents as well - I think scientists are still puzzled to the exact cause.

erased.

Last edited by i_Am_andaJoy on 03 Dec 2007, 4:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

My dad and I both have plenty of AS traits and so too does an uncle of mine, but I have far more than either of them do.


I'd suspect that genetics is the single largest component, assuming autism/aspergers is an entirely different 'wiring' of the brain.

Yes autism can be genetic. Very beautiful.

Recent research shows there is likely a genetic component.

From The Autism Research Centre Cambridge University (UK):
Genetics and Proteomics research projects...
Autism and Asperger Syndrome are strongly heritable conditions. Whereas most genetics research in this field has used the method of linkage studies, the ARC has pursued association studies of both candidate genes and using genome-wide scans. And whereas most genetics research has focused on classic autism, the ARC has focused on Asperger Syndrome. Our behavioral genetic studies have found an association between strong systemizing (e.g., in fields like mathematics) and number of autistic traits, so we are also pursuing genetic association studies of mathematical ability. Genetic associations are followed up through expression studies

View more: http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/research/genpro.asp

My Dad's side of the family would be a researchers dream come true. Two family's, brothers and sisters in each, inter married with each other. So, that would be 4 separate marriages and some that didn't get married at all, and never did. Some did marry out of the two family's. Back then lots of kids, so there was a lot of other relationships. Those would be my Grandparents, Great Aunts and Uncle's, if I understand family tree's and I might not. Aspie is so thick you could cut it with a knife. It may well be that the two family's were both Aspie in tendency and that's why they clicked so well. Needless to say, the traits continue. If it isn't genetic then what would those odds be? We'll never know of course, it wasn't a known back then. I have one Great Aunt that is still known in this small area as the crazy old cat lady. She died in the early 50's, you have to be more then a bit strange to have that kind of legacy this long. That was just one of them. My Dad I am pretty sure was and his brother more then likely was, my Aunt, sort of hard to tell, but at least one of her boys is and I suspect probably a second. And if they aren't, they're stranger then I am and that's a pretty good stretch. One distant cousin that has the formal DX as being Aspie. Many others that probably fit the bill in the family tree.

yes it is genetic, i once read an article where they took a number of aspie families and studied their genes, thats how they are attempting to find which genes cause aspieness.

Besides my family has 12 aspies so I personally don't need more proof.

Here's how it went for hubby and me. Aspie + aspie = autism, autism. So yes.

He suspects at least a couple of his brothers have it, as well as his nephews and father. I can't tell if my mother has it or if she's just an egotistical self-centered...uh...you get the idea.

Agreed,that is what am have heard a lot by the experts,it cannot be just the one cause for autism and aspergers though because of those who are born into families of NTs.
Am and a cousin [dads' brothers' son] are both kanners autists-although his dad is NT.
Dad has aspergers.
Dads' other brother has aspergers.
Sister is on the spectrum,and also has synthesia.
it probably goes back further than that,but they are the only people am really know of.

Well scientists are still try to solve the genetic code of AS and they have not proving that AS is genetic but it is one of those possiblities out there.

Now me and lot of my relatives and husband's relatives understand why so many of us have the high IQs that are pretty worthless, considering how we don't interact very productively with NTs.

We never had a profoundly autistic relative until my daughter was born. I'm thinking that people on the autistic spectrum are the canaries in the coal mine, more sensitive to increasing use of bad chemicals in our food, air and materials. I read that autistic people can't excrete heavy metals out of their systems as well as NT's for example.

I think mild autism is genetic and they are whole complete people but my daughter was poisoned by the environment and her system couldn't take it,

Possible autism links on chromosomes 2 and 11



Large amounts of grey matter in the parietal lobes, specificall in areas associated with sensory sensitivity.

Yep, seems like a pretty strong linkage to me...

After doing some of my own research lately, I have read some ridiculous reasons for autism, like caused by toxic substances, over-vaccination and the list goes on.. to me it’s quite simply, we have to evolve and change in order to survive, and most autistic people I know seem to have more complex brains, and maybe even superior minds!

All these stories about toxics etc just lead to lots of fad treatments, I'm certain autism is genetical, well as one can be - it runs in my family and goes quite way back. Often NT's with children may have traits but just do not understand what autism really is, people often think the associated conditions like Attention Deficit Disorder, Depression, Anxiety Disorders which are not always part and parcel of having autism and NT's can have.

Quote from Marc Rosen:
"It seems nowadays that autism has become a center of controversy. As an autistic person, it disheartens me to see that most people lack a clear understanding of what autism is like for their children, peers, students and so on, yet they claim to know what is best for us.

Autism is called abnormal and a disorder only because neurologists operate under a Philistine's notion that there is "normal" within all things, and that only their arbitrary definition of "order" is valid.

An autistic person often is said to think outside the box, or deliberately cross the line. I can tell you from experience that we don't. To us, there's no box, there's no line. And we find neurotypical people absurd for complaining about something that just doesn't exist. This comes from the fact that many of us don't naturally develop intuitive thought and imagination, though once we learn how, we're quite capable of these feats."

Autism is just the way we see and think, wired a little differently and just maybe there are more people on the spectrum than what the majority call NT!

I really believe Autism disorder is evolving so fast only because of more sophisticated diagnoses, I think its always been around and badly misdiagnosed for years and still is being, it does not help with the hundreds of fad treatments and false hope.

First of all, my daughter is one of the originals. They told me that autism was rare and extremely rare in girls. She was one of the ones whom anyone could diagnose. She is pure, classically autistic and it took no sophistication for her diagnosis.

I certainly don't want you to thnk that I'm a cure fanatic. I accept my daughter wholly and while she was growing up, I had to distance myself from so many other parents who were using their kids as guinea pigs. I saw too many parents who refused to love their kids, saving it for the cured kid that they someday hoped to have. I've seen too many parents not work together to plan for good lives for their kids' futures. I think the way my daughter creates ways to cope make me treasure her all the more.

That being said, I would love it if research found a way to stop my daughter's autism related seizures, her painful digestive system and her hyper anxiety and panic which causes her so have severe meltdowns often. Just now she screamed some blood curdling screams which caused my AS son to have to leave the house and go out in the snow with his DS and headphones turned up loud, trying to recover.

There's idealism and reality.

Reality for me, its not a problem. And its no longer rare for females to be diagnosed, numbers are changing fast and with more recognition and it has been said could be 50/50 no one knows...

I know some people on the spectrum have a lot more problems than some of us, but so do a lot of NT's and often with autism its the associated conditions that can cause the problems, same as for NT's.

Most of my frustration, triggers and even depression are caused by not being understood, growing up and continually being told I'm wrong, others wanting to think something is wrong with me, when I'm just different.

Just want others to see from my point of view, as quite often its the NTs that caused the problems, by trying to change and control what they do not understand.

Saying that this is not a personnel attack at you or your family, but for some reason when ever I speak my mind as a person on the spectrum, who also has children, a mother and other family members on the spectrum. I always get the NT's feeling this way, I may not be a professional but having lived and been around autism all my life, really do know how it is.

But unfortunately we are often judged the by worse cases, not the best like the NT's. I just want people to know they can have a great future, but it does not help with all the negative press we get.

This is just my point of view, an aspie one - we can think and act for ourselves...