If you have one autistic child are you more likely to have another?

[2ombie5layer]

I was curious about this as DS (7YO) has been diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum and now we are wondering if DD2 (7MO) is showing signs. Obviously she is too young to really tell and its only one thing she does ATM that suggests to us that she could be.

Also I often here people say they have x number of autistic children so it does appear to be something that might be likely.

Yes, sadly you are , we were told that theres a 30% chance you would have another on the spaectum after having 1 child with autism, we have 2 on the spectrum and were told a 60% chance of having a 3rd (which we have decided not to risk), lots of people do have more children and they are not on the spectrum so i would say its not worth saying 'you wont have another child just incase', i think in some cases (deffently ours) autism runs in the family, for others it doesn't.

Dd1 is 8 and has Aspergers ,we didn't know until after dd2 was born, she is now 6 and has a diagnosis of Autism.

Try not to worry (i know its easier said than done), what will be will be, in our case dd2 got a early diagnosis (she was almost 3) as her sister already had a diagnosis so she has had a lot of help early on.

I'd heard the 30% figure too. DS1 has AS, DS2 almost certainly has ASD - just waiting the formality of getting to the top of the waiting list to confirm it. DS3 however, although he has the odd ASD trait I think is probably NT.

My DS is going through assessments for ASD.

DD (second child) def. doesn't have it. And I would go as far as to say she has been a saviour for DS. The progress he HAS made has almost solely been down to her wanting to do things and him wanting to do what she wants.

I can't imagine ever getting DS into a social setting if it weren't for DD.

So there is another side to the coin.

Ds1 is asd, ds2 is nt...consultant told me when I was already pregnant, that although they didn't know why, it did seem that there was a higher possibility of further children also being on the spectrum.
I didn't really ever worry about it though, and the 2 pregnancies, labours, babies were so different that I think I just took it for granted that ds2 was going to be nt, because everything else had been different too iykwim?

As others have said statistically the chances are higher.

My DS has AS, he was first sent for assessment while DD was a toddler, over the next couple of years I managed to convince myself that DD was also on the spectrum... all the traits she showed were either normal parts of development that I was overly paranoid about or learnt from her brother as she's 12 and absolutely definitely NT.

So while yes there of course is a chance that she could be affected too, it's also likely that quite understandably so, you'll be over vigilant as well.

An additional point is that girls are less likely to have ASD than boys.

Thanks for your replies.

Agree about children on the autistic spectrum learning from those not on it as they want to be the same as siblings, although not peers. I know DS doesn't care if he's the same as the people in his class, but he doesn't like his sister doing something that he can't.

Will wait and see regarding DD2, but if there's 30% more likely than I would assume having one with autism that would mean if I had 3 more children then one of them would likely have it too. DD1 is definately not on the spectrum so it is possible. Though like you have said maybe Im looking at it more, whereas if it hadn't been for DS I wouldn't have given her hand movements a second thought (when happy she straightens her arms and flaps her hands in circles).

My sister handflaps - she's NT, well she's 31, I'm fairly sure I would have noticed by now if there was anything else :)

Hopefully you're right tabula and that there wont be anything else. With DS there is the hand flapping, but of course among other traits, which we will see if DD2 has too.

I've just been recommended this place in London and hope to take our 3.5 month old DS. We have aspergers in the immediate family and we think he's showing some symptoms too, so I rather know sooner than later.

Apparently this institute can detect symptoms of autism in babies from a very early age (sorry don't know how to hyperlink):

www.infantmentalhealth.com/

My ds hand flapped, and I did put it down as a marker. However I was told it is not uncommon in younger children and he'd grow out of it. He grew out of it at about age 4yo, which is late, but not unusual.