To just remind you that autism is genetic?

Montelukast. An asthma drug.
So many people suffering severe psychiatric side effects.

I think this is actually a far more difficult topic than it seems. I'll try to break down my thoughts here.

Autism is not a diagnosis with a distinct test it is the name we give to a collection of observed behaviours. Two people can be diagnosed with autism with very little if any overlapping symptomology.

Some of the symptoms associated with autism can absolutely be caused by environmental factors. A good demonstration of this is children who survived the orphanages of communist Romania where even after adoption a high proportion of kids had long-term social difficulties and repetitive behaviours. I believe some of the spike in SEN kids in recent years may be directly attributable to parental withdrawal into smart phones.

Before anyone jumps on me for that I would add that this is not the case for many autistic kids/adults (myself included) and there is a strong genetic component for what you might think of as 'true autism' although, as autism is diagnosed through observed behaviours rather than say a blood test we cannot tell those with genetic autism apart from those with 'acquired autism'.

Something very important to keep in mind is that scientific and behavioural study and literature is likely to heavily bias away from those with 'acquired autism'. A huge amount of academic research is done with middle class kids, cause their parents are known to researchers, or those who are engaged enough with their kids to seek out specialist support groups where they are recruited from. Disengaged parents' children rarely make it into research studies so those who have acquired autism or rather autism-like-symptoms-indistinguishable-from-genetic-autism through parental disengagement rarely show up there biasing our understanding towards genetic causes.

A similar issue can be seen in ADHD and attachment disorders, they can look identical except if you give a kid with an attachment disorder a stimulant they'll become even more hyper-aroused. As far as I know (and it's been a couple of years since I left the research area) there isn't that kind of 'tell' for differentiating genetic vs acquired autism.

I think that changes in parenting account for some of the increase in autism diagnosis. Equally I also think we also probably have more kids born with genetic autism now cause since the rise of computers and tech in the 90's lots of people with autism have excelled in careers and workplaces where they have met other autistic people and gone on to have autistic babies.

There's quite a lot of data but the studies have not been done in a consistent way and the findings are very mixed. There's definitely no strong signal that SSRI use in pregnancy causes autism

Yes, very low birthweight babies are 3-4 times as likely to be autistic. Prematurity is strongly associated with multiple pregnancies but can also arise from other causes such as smoking.

There is a genetic link between parental depression (particularly bipolar) and autism so it may not be the ssri exposure so much as the mothers genetic predisposition towards depression.

Interestingly I took an sari throughout my 3rd pregnancy - he's the only one of my children who's NOT autistic.

@robotgun I work in the field and I think you are exactly right that the link between SSRIs in pregnancy and autism (which isn't even clear cut) is likely due to the fact that women who need to take SSRIs are more likely to be neurodiverse themselves

Think back to your own childhood - the bullied kids - autism in plain sight, the poor kid just didn't have any way to understand why no-one wanted to be friends.

Argh.

I still remember the humiliation of a primary school writing exercise: 'Describe your best friend.'

Shortly after that, my kindly class teacher wrote a note on my school report asking my parents if they were at all concerned that I had no friends, and adding 'Truly my only worry is Spaniel's entire absence of any social contact or interaction with schoolmates.'

I was seven. As I recall it, they just chuckled and said I'd always been like that.

Even then, though, the risk of increased autism is relevant statistically on a population level rather than an on an individual level. it’s really important not to misunderstand this.
it makes beginners difference in individual cases.

As this 2020 roundup states.

“Even so, the absolute chance of having a child with autism is low even for the oldest parents. The researchers in the 2017 study calculated that about 1.5 percent of children born to parents in their 20s will have autism, compared with about 1.58 percent of children born to parents in their 40s.”

www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/link-parental-age-autism-explained/

This being a worry of mine, I'm 35, my boyfriend is 62. Pregnant with my first child and I know autism and ADHD run in my family. Didn't know about the age of the parents link until I was quite far along in my pregnancy, (although both my mum and my sister were much younger than me when they were having kids, me and my siblings and my niece are ND to some extent.) I'm more worried about the severity of it, than whether or not my little boy is going to be autistic.

@RatHole

I agrée with you re food! People don't want to hear it but there are lots of us who do see correlations. I cook from scratch and try not to use processed food. When I do my child's autistic traits are much much more obvious and challenging. I feel better in myself if I cut the carbs and processed food too.

There is also medication. I'm ADHD as well as autistic. Was in my 20s when diagnosed so got through school struggling but without meds. Well ADHD meds they do like to hand out SSRIs (which absolutely make me worse and more obviously have needs) But I tried meds as an adult. Yes my brain could focus that was amazing but dear god it highlighted all my sensory issues and made me much more obviously autistic. Now I'm mes free and clean eating, im still autistic but the level of struggles is vastly reduced

ASD is mainly hereditary however, there are environmental factors, I believe 20-30% from memory (someone correct me if they have the newest stats) that have not been accounted for just yet in research. Maternal age has not been proven yet in autism causes.

Sincerely, it’s what the OP put further up. Autism isn’t a ‘thing’ - it’s a bucket diagnosis from a ticklist of observed behaviours with countless genetic mechanisms.

I’m clearly in my ‘Group 3’. DH and I would be diagnosed autistic if we were children now. We have two autistic kiddos. One has an EHCP and the other is possibly AuDHD. They’re perfectly healthy DS who perfectly take after their parents - as you would expect.

The idea that their autism was ‘caused’ by our age, our diet, pollution, chemicals or trauma, or that we could ‘treat’ the ‘symptoms’ with diet (I adopted a low carb diet due to having gestational diabetes with DS2 and it makes not the blindest bit of difference to my sensory issues) is simply daft TO US.

I can see why this stuff might seem reasonable though if you have no family history of autism and then have a severely learning disabled DS with gut issues and epilepsy. You might be wondering “did I do something to cause this? Why me? How can I treat this disease? Can this be cured? Blah Blah…”

But, to us, it’s obvious what we ‘did’… we, erm, bumped uglies. And our DC’s ‘symptoms’ are, well, their personalities, which their parents reached adulthood also having and often being criticised for.

We are migraine people my mum me my DD (my mum really bad, me mainly auras my DD more like my mum), my DD also dyslexic from her fathers side I think. I was an older mum I don't think it had anything to do with anything. My DD was an A student in everything once she figured out the dyslexia (I really think it was her rather than the help she got once she found things she wanted to read she was off, a bit like my DH really but well before dyslexia was recognised), migraine can still be a problem but less often these days.

I can recall a number of students from my school years who were shy, quiet, introverted, sensitive, artistic, high strung, genius etc etc.
None were diagnosed with anything.

It’s always been there.

One thing that has increased is babies surviving very early premature births, some have Autistic diagnosis later.

There is such a range in autism and there are new theories every so often about what contributes to it. I don’t think enough is known or proved about what causes the various ranges and degrees of autism to tell anyone they are wrong or dismiss them, especially when several people that have experienced sudden changes in their children after certain events. Having another medical condition and reading the standard information given about symptoms and diagnostic range, compared to the experience and self-gained knowledge of a large community with the same condition, I’m not always that impressed with official medical information.

Autism is a neurodevelopment disorder . Where the brain or areas of the brain don’t work as intended. Sometimes, an area of the brain will function very well, to make up for the other areas that don’t. the way it lights up can be identified on a brain scan.
Autism is a disability. you can’t outgrow autism. There are therapies that can teach your child to learn in the way that they learn best. There are things about autism that they will never be able to out grow. There is an autistic person that can only communicate by pointing to letters. I believe a lot of autism diagnoses are being made that aren’t organic in nature.

I’m not sure I understand the point of this post, why do we need reminding that autism is genetic?

If you hang around autism themed threads enough, you'll notice why.

OFC once they isolate the genes, they'll want to eradicate us. So that'll be the next big thing.

In the old days male Autism was confused with lots of other mental illnesses and most men with the moderate to severe conditions who couldn’t support themselves were institutionalised, had no contact with the general population, or were just ignored or hidden away. Women with autism, on the other hand, were often prized for being quiet / focussed on the home (sometimes hyperfocussed) on housework/childcare; but you always knew they were odd.

It’s why I’m unsurprised that autism diagnosis rates are increasing in India. Anyone with family there knows autism isn’t being increased just doctors’ ability (and family’s willness to treat) is increasing.

That seems a fair explanation & summary.

It does get awfully boring and depressing listening to the catastrophic view when you're a parent to HFASCers.

Yep......also birds of a feather tend to flick together so any resulting DC are hammered with the Autism gene from both sides unlike with most other genetic conditions.

I'm Autistic, my kids dad is also on the Spectrum......in fact I know lots of kids who have Autism and their parents.......all of the parents I know also have obvious traits on both side. Same as all my friends.......it's human nature to gravitate towards people who are like us.

SSRi exposure in utero probably a very small but real risk not confounded by underlying conditions e.g. (there are others): https://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j2811#:~:text=Exposure%20to%20antidepressants%20during%20pregnancy,1.85%3B%20table%202%E2%87%93).

“Or, worse, blaming mothers for reproducing too late in life or eating tuna in pregnancy or taking prescribed meds.“

Isn’t the above what you just did?….

“There's 'more' autism because people are having babies at older ages.”

I’m not sure I understand the point of this post, why do we need reminding that autism is genetic?