ASD / Autism - What do you think caused it in your family?

[Wanderingthoughts]

Inspired by my own experience and talking to two friends who's children are autistic.

My DS, 8, diagnosed ASD (formerly Aspergers, geeky-intelligent type). I think comes from his father (my ex). Their ASD traits are very similar and I think his father would definitely be diagnosed. DS also has ADHD which I think comes from me (I have lots of traits) and this is his primary diagnosis and much more prominent. So in our case, I lean towards genetic, although I was anaemic during pregnancy, had a low lying placenta and DS was born via induction and ventouse.

I'm pregnant with DC2, this time a girl, and my current DP has no ASD traits, and none I can see from anyone in his family. I am, however, anaemic again and this time facing having an iron infusion as the tablets haven't worked. I've read some research that low iron in pregnancy can be a potential cause of autism.

My friend has a 3 children, only one (DS2) is diagnosed Autistic. He has a more classical presentation, non-verbal, developmentally delayed and requiring a special school. She feels his autism comes from a long and traumatic birth, and she has no family history of ASD.

Ditto for another friend, she also has 3 children, and her DS1 is both Autistic and has learning difficulties. Her other two children are unaffected. Similar to my first friend, she thinks the cause of his autism was a long and difficult labour and birth trauma. No family history of ASD, although I can see some ASD traits in her DH!

What do you think the cause, if any, in your personal family experience?

This thread is really informative. I have 2 dc with autism and see no genetic link, although my Dh has ADHD traits. Is it the same genetic link for both conditions, as in does an ADHD parent carry some sort of ND gene that could manifest as any type of ND? If so then it explains it.

My Dad is obsessed with routine, rigid in his thinking, poor at social cues and usually described as eccentric. In his 80s now so will never be diagnosed but he is so typical of an autistic man. Funny thing is I was adopted to there is no genetic link and it's definitely not behavioural as I'm totally different from him and don't even spend much time with him. I never really thought about why my boys have it, when you live your whole life without genetic connections I forget they exist for other people. In a way its been a blessing cos I don't analyse too much.

@Willyoujustbequiet That's really interesting, thanks.

@Quitelikeit Yes! Or, as an example from DS's school, on one occasion he was upset and not himself and the school told me it was because 'he struggles with routine change due to his autism and it was mufti day'. My DS has no problem whatsoever with routine change - he was upset as another child had been mean to him!

There are scores of genes that have been identified as associated with ASD, some will include ADHD, DCD, learning disability, epilepsy, etc. You also get ‘de novo’ genetic mutations; these are ones that appear in someone for the first time, they are not inherited from either parent.

ADOS has four modules, the one chosen for use with a child depends on their developmental level. Your friends DC would likely need module 1;

Module 1 is used with children who use little or no phrase speech. Subjects who do use phrase speech, but do not speak fluently, are administered Module 2. Since these modules both require the subject to move around the room, the ability to walk is generally taken as a minimum developmental requirement for use of the instrument as a whole. Module 3 is for children/adolescents who are verbally fluent, and Module 4 is used with older adolescents and adults who are verbally fluent. Some examples of Modules 1 or 2 include response to name, social smile, and free or bubble play. Modules 3 or 4 can include reciprocal play and communication, comments on others' emotions. A major difference between Modules 3 and 4 is the reliance of Module 4 primarily on questions and verbal responses (as opposed to actions during play).

No idea where the wiki link for empathy came from 🤷‍♀️

Have a non verbal son who is probably going to be diagnosed with non verbal ASD. Had pretty bad morning sickness so a limited diet in early stages, but otherwise did everything right. Birth was pretty easy, not long, little pain relief. Birth was the easiest bit!

I think it's genes. My mum has some ASD traits and I have cousins with it and cousins on OH side with it too.

As my circle of autism mums used to say "you only have to look at the dads".

DH deffo.

Interesting, because it's run on my mother's side of the family for at least six generations, and most of those family members were female - it's documented heavily as "the family problem" and roughly 80% of them were described as what would now fit the DSM definition of autism. I'm the first to be officially diagnosed autistic, but there are actually letters describing it as far back as we have records - essentially, parental priority was how to teach them to mask so that nobody would ever know, and that was handed down through the generations. Two of my great aunts were institutionalised because they didn't learn to mask quickly enough, and basically live out their lives as hollow shells, drugged and shocked to the point where they were unable to function independently.

If you were born female in my family, there was essentially an 80% chance of being autistic. Out of four male and one female in my generation, only one of the brothers is definitely not autistic, and one is highly likely but not diagnosed.

Honestly, I'd say that particular piece of autism mum wisdom needs to be consigned to the scrapheap. It's why so many girls and women have gone misdiagnosed and falsely medicated for no reason for decades.

Sure, just giving my and my small circle's personal experience not trying to claim that it's only men. I'm sure for some families, it's as yours is, @ntmdino

There doesn't appear to be any obvious ASD in either mine nor DH families in previous generations. Yet we have an autistic son with moderate LD. My sister also has a son with the same diagnosis.
Both my DS and nephew were big babies who had traumatic births. So could be birth trauma or genetics. In some ways I'd prefer if it were genetic, then I wouldn't beat myself up over the birth/going overdue. At the same time, don't want it to be genes and for my daughters to have that worry.

Same as what causes people to be neurotypical. Genetics.

Induction is associated with an increased risk of ASD - as is pre-eclampsia (which is why I was induced), and HG (I was very, very sick but never actually diagnosed, though from my description the consultant who assessed my son put HG on the report).

But all of that was out of my control - and when I think of it I am still angry with the GP who implied any medication for the sickness could harm the baby and who told me to go away and try harder to keep fluids down.

I see more of myself in DS than I see DH. We both struggle socially, both have special interests - some long term, some short term - DS will talk incessantly about them, I've mostly learned not to but sometimes it spills out. DS struggles with sounds, I struggle with lights and smells and so on.

@EilonwyWithRedGoldHair I had HG and had medication and DD still has autism.

What was interesting though is she had to have extra scans as her head was growing rugby ball shaped (longer and thinner than expected) but then righted itself mid way through the third trimester, some researchers have found this pattern of skull growth to be common in many children later diagnosed autistic so is a possible biomarker although still early days.

I doubt medication would have made a difference, but might have meant I suffered less with the pregnancy. Plus there absolutely are safe medications to take for sickness in pregnancy so she lied about that, and her attitude was just horrible - accused me of being difficult and negative because I'd already tried her suggestions of drinking squash, sucking ice, trying sodding ginger anything (I hate ginger at the best of times) and she did literally say I should try harder to keep fluids down.

I should have complained.

Induction is associated with an increased risk of ASD

correlation is not causation. It could be that something about autism increases risk of induction, rather than induction being a cause of autism. Or, more likely, both could be associated with another factor - a confounder - such as a genetic condition that both increases risk of autism and risk of induction due to foetal distress or lack of growth.

If it's any consolation, I had one late Caesarean and one slightly early one. Both are ASD. So I don't think it is anything to do with the timing. It mightn't be that evident in your family but there might be that slightly odd grandfather or uncle who you don't have much to do with. It is a multi gene thing so it can glide through the generations till you get a combination of enough of those genes though often there is a parent who is ASD. A friend's husband is always arguing with their ASD son and the father is completely unaware that he is on the spectrum too and just as annoying as his son. It has apparently never occurred to him why they have an ASD child.

It's just who we are. On my side, I'm autistic, my dad is likely, my mum's mum is questionable. On my husband's side he is dyslexic, his did is definitely autistic. His mum has traits.

My sister has ADHD, my cousin is likely.

On both sides there's a theme of quiet personalities, super clever with intense interests.

My daughter has just followed suit.

I was induced 3 weeks early due to pre-eclampsia, was in labour for 3 days then had an emergency CS as DD was in distress. DD now 15, was diagnosed in February with ASD and I have since been told it could be because of birth trauma.

It's all genetics. My 7yo is AuDHD (still waiting on diagnosis but almost there I hope!), I think my 4yo is similar, I suspect PDA thrown in as well. (My work history is within this area, so not talking out of my arse!)

I'm diagnosed ADHD, I suspect I'm ASD as well. Husband is clearly ASD and works in an industry which suits him well as it's common there (STEM). Our mothers are both very clearly ND as well, it's very obviously within my mother's wider family as well.

Genetics.
I always thought DS was like DP's mum,but I think her odd behaviour is likely related to her dreadful childhood.
As he's got older(he's an adult now)I've realised that he's a carbon copy of my father.

Two textbook pregnancies here with no issues whatsoever so mine definitely not pregnancy related but who knows what causes it? I do hope they get to the bottom of it one day as it just seems so so prevailant nowadays. Makes you wonder what's going on...

I find this a fascinating topic. The explosion of ASD in schools is huge. While clearly chromosomal I would love to see research on why there are so many more ASD kids these days. It is often said it is just that we are better at diagnosing but my experience is that is not just it. Something is causing it and I would like to see more research into it.

@Kitkatfiend31 I don't think anything is 'causing' it. I think modern life for many students / people who are autistic but with low support needs in the past they were able to cope just fine. Nowadays everywhere causes sensory overload and the overwhelm builds up.

Imagine what doing a simple chore like the shopping was like in the 1920s, visit the shop, the shop keeper prepared all your items and you took them home or got them delivered. Now you go to the supermarket, the sheer amount of choice is overwhelming, the lights are bright, more people are in store, it's noisy with chatter, music and beeping machines.

A classroom in the 1920s would have been quiet, behaviour would be good (due to physical punishment - obviously we shouldn't bring that back), classroom environment would be darker, less bright plastics or reflective laminated surfaces, less screen time, less music, more physical play to aid regulation, more structure and order. Leaving school at 12 to start work often manual and repetitive for the poorer classes which probably suited autistics just fine.

My daughters biggest issue within the school environment is the noisy and poor behaviour of other students.