Older parents and autism/aspergers

@Ponderingwindow I think you may have experienced a community like my own, many high functioning autistic adults drawn together by 2 industries

The city I’m in grew rapidly at the times the industry’s expanded and many staff settled in 2 expanding middle class suburbs. One is a university area and was further added to by lecturers living in the community

over the decades I’ve observed my own DC growing up here, the children are drawn to each other and the adults often observe their likeness.

it’s been my experience that the children receive diagnosis first and then parents pursue their own afterwards and finally understand family behaviour patterns for what they are

As a nurse looking on it’s been quite fascinating to observe, most husbands are like my own quiet, shy and late to relationships which is perhaps why most are slightly older as parents, it is however less obvious from the outside looking in as parental birth age is no different to non autistic parents in our middle class suburb who generally have children between 30-40

I do feel this research had failed to recognise that this is very much a chicken and egg situation however, where genetics are without a doubt involved are the children born to older parents because they are autistic or because they are within the section of society that has children at that age

The issue at hand isn’t are older parents more likely to have a child on the spectrum. There is clear evidence that is the case. The question is that correlation or causation. I suspect correlation. My reason for this suspicion is the geographic groupings. There just isn’t enough information to know with certainly yet.

I am autistic. My child is autistic. Laughing at the idea we warrant 'risk factors'.

@Paddingtonthebear So true! There was no history of autism in my family before my son was diagnosed. We are a VERY autistic family though! We just didn't know what we were looking for before that, we were a normal eccentric British family full of loners and scientists!

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26709141/

This is fairly good peer reviewed evidence.

Mostly genetic. There will be cases where no one else in family is diagnosed, but there are a lot of people with ASD traits who don’t even realise it or recognise it in others

Yes, of course women should have choices and be able to make well-informed choices. The point I was trying to make was that not all autistic children have the same degree of problems, and being aware of that that should surely be part of the decision-making process for women.

That was my understanding.

It's likely Queen Victoria's gene for hemophilia, which apparently was a rare form, was caused by spontaneous mutation due to her father's age - 50.

I don't think age is a huge factor here - the link I posted above suggest as little as 1-5% of cases - but could be of possible research interest to help track down the genes involved.

Down risk increases with mother age doesn't mean young parents can't have a child with Down's. So if parents were young and have strong family history of autism/aspergers then it's obviously not going to be de novo mutations with their children.

Interesting that article says :However, a comprehensive analysis found that for a woman over age 35, the chance of having a child with autism is lower than for younger women.

But doesn't go into why this could be the case.

Huh? The studies show a direct correlation between age and autism, that in itself is the proof... How exactly could they prove this in any other way?

I would be interested in looking into the link there. I am the only autistic person on either side of my family but was born very prematurely so have often wondered if those things are linked.

@MintJulia

The genetic component hasn't been 'proven' either

Neither has evolution, or the Big Bang theory

In science there is not often 'proof' in a traditional sense

@Redbushteaforme ofc many conditions present differently, but in an ideal world it should be the parents’ decision whether to proceed with a pregnancy where the child might be autistic, knowing the worst case scenario.

DS is also highly intelligent, but his severe sensory needs mean he has never toileted normally. I used to sew him into a onesie every night and it still ended up on the walls and bed about 50% of the time. I spent years cleaning up shit and doing shit-covered washing, every day. DS is violent, disobedient, was kicked out of mainstream in Reception for violence. He has no friends and is heading for a life on benefits because he cannot even dress himself despite having a memory like an elephant.

Your DD sounds wonderful and she’s a perfect example for the pom-pom shaking enthusiasm for all types of neurodiversity that is the current zeitgeist, but it does not remotely fit my reality. You’d have to be lobotomised to take the risk of a child like DS and sign up for the sewing/shitting/sewing roundabout I was on for 3 years. As a believer in abortion on demand, I want women to have that choice.

Yes, there have been studies but nothing proven. That's the point.

Many will be defensive, as no one wants to accept their decisions can cause issues in their children.

It's the same as when people post in the conception topic around having children late and get defensive when the risks associated with being an older parent are raised.

They know that autism is genetic in 80-90% of cases. The prevalence of autism in parents over 40 could either be down to parental age being a factor, or that autistic adults are more likely to wait until their 40s to have children.

It’s not as simple as choosing the age to have your children.

people with autism that are going to choose to be parents are not the same as the general population. As a class, we tend to do things just a bit differently. There will be an over representation of highly educated, career focused individuals. Even if partners are secured relatively young, parenthood is going to be delayed to fit in with career with this group. Plus there is a tendency for people to marry other individuals on the spectrum or at least other individuals that have traits that make them sympathetic to people on the spectrum. The genetics are always going to be there, regardless of timing.

There is a reason there are concentrations of children with autism diagnoses in certain regions and it isn’t environment it’s because the local employment creates a concentration of a certain type of parent.

I would never recommend people actively try to create children on the spectrum because many people do suffer, but many of us are very happy with who we are and are leading very successful lives.

A lot of people on this thread seem really invested in insisting that autism does not correlate with parental age, despite the fact that the evidence looks pretty strong. I am not sure what lies behind the discomfort with this idea.

I am so sorry for your situation and can understand where you are coming from with the problems you are experiencing.

However, not all autistic people are profoundly autistic. My daughter has been diagnosed as having autistic traits but she is a very clever, very creative girl who is thriving in a mainstream secondary school. Yes, she has had problems due to her autism sometimes, but she has every chance of going on to do well at university and in her chosen career.

We have to be very careful not to think of autism presenting in the same way in every child.

There have been plenty of studies linking it with age. A few have been posted on this very thread in fact

As far as I am aware, there is no link with age.

Autism runs through the female line in our family. Those of us with autistic daughters gave birth between 19 and 41.

I think more information on autism in general is a good idea, but until proved otherwise, don't link it to parental age.

And you can all roll and shove your eugenics.

My husband and I were 24 when my autistic dd was born.
I was autistic. My father and mother were autistic.
What do we notice here?

Yeh none in his family either...

Oh fuck me I am out of this bullshit.

Prenatal testing for autism would be much more difficult for autism than for things like Downs. That said, they are looking at things like polygenic scores right now. I support the right to early abortion on demand in any case.