What do you think caused it? ASD/ Autism

[2006hildy]

Never mind all the claptrap written, papers published, media hysteria, ect. What do you personally think caused it? ASD/ Autism

I don't want to bash all the valuable work done out there already. But us MNetters have sorted out a lot already maybe we could help sort this question.

Mine is a dodgy combination of genes between me and DH. Even before we got the dx this was my honest gut instinct that DS1 got the best genes out of the two of us and ds2 got the worst. This sounds bad but I love him dearly.

Since then all kinds of things have gone through my head. I don't want to say too much as I don't want to influence your answers.

Genetics here, both myself and DH could be described as borderline & there is family history on DH's side of the family. Although I was interested to note a pp had Downs flagged up during pregnancy, we did too.

Not genetic here (well not in terms of autism). No autism or broader autism phenotype in a massive extended family.

Lots of immune issues/disorders in the family & ds1 regressed. We have video of him saying words and speech sounds that he cannot say now (13 years later). And video of him playing peekaboo, lifting arms to be picked up etc. He was very ill right before regression. He also fits the pattern, common apparently, in those who regressed of being very severely affected.

His younger brothers share some of the immune issues, we have kept them well away from any potential triggers and they are NT.

Genetics for us too, both my ds's have ASD, but both are so different. I can see traits in me too, I score 33 in the AQ online test and recently completed a maths degree. I look back now and don't know how I did it as life is so hectic. Ds2's dx came as I was finishing my studies.

I think it has to be genetic, or to have a massive genetic component, because there is such a higher chance of having a subsequent child with ASD if your first child has it. Having said that, DS1 seems pretty NT (though since realising that DS2 almost certainly has autism, I've started to question everything and wonder if DS1 maybe has Asperger's- I think this sort of questioning can be quite destructive - does anyone else do this??).

S2 is coming up for his multi-disciplinary panel in a few weeks, but we've been observing and logging for ages now and his traits are only becoming more apparent. I think he was giving me cause to wonder before MMR at 13m - he is definitely very different to his brother! Part of my (obsessive?) questioning has been to wonder if either I, or DH are on the spectrum. I think we both could have certain traits. I'm really interested in the speculation above as to why there seems to be an explosion in ASD diagnosis!

Damn, that should be DS2, not merely 'son 2', lest anyone think I label him as such!

My dd has classic ASD and quite severe learning difficulties.

Nobody in either my family or her dad's family has autism or learning difficulties and my feeling is that it was triggered by something. I had a look at a video of her recently in the months before she was 1 year old and was shocked to see that she could imitate at that time and waved bye bye and could also make an attempt at various words. Fast forward to 2.5 years and she had literally lost all her skills.

Sounds familiar lottie - like you I was shocked by how much ds1 was doing pre-regression. And the different speech sounds he could make.

With two on the spectrum (and I suspect DH, and have traits myself) I'd say definitely genetic.

saintly - I was very surprised how much I forgot what she could do at one time. I hadn't seen the video for about 10 years because my dad took it. My parents also commented on how 'normal' she looked then.

Definitely genetic in DS's case, I have people on both my mum and my dad's side of the family that either would have been diagnosed if they were children today or have loads of traits and DP has two cousins (not siblings to each other) diagnosed with AS.

Poor DS just got done as far as genes go, lol.

Dodgy genes here too.. my own Grandfather was definitely autistic..why and how on earth he managed to be married is a mystery to us all..
I have 'traits' DD1 also got a lot (dx ADHD, dyspraxic and they offered her Aspergers too) and DS2 got a lot more plus learning dififculties.. all a matter of degrees here!

This is a really interesting thread. I am sure it is genetic and we have it on both sides of the family, although not diagnosed. But I have an uncle who I believe is ASD and DH has a first cousin. Interestingly they both have NT children. DS1 is borderline ASD, DS2 is NT.

I'd love to know the full story myself, and I think that they will eventually figure out like thet did with Down syndrome.

Genes is the only certainty we have now. My father has been described as having the same borderline Aspie traits that I do. He was, surprise surprise!, an engineer.

But I also had a really traumatic birth. I was a huge baby and really should've been delivered by section. By the time I came out naturally, I was badly asphyxiated and had to be revived manually and spent 3 days on life support (with a strong chance of not surviving at all or ending up severely brain-damaged).

One of the myriad of reasons that I don't want children is to avoid passing my ASD on. It has caused me so much pain that I'm determined to make these nightmare genetics die with me.

I am not in the least autistic but am a bit neurological odd (twitchy, tics, anxiety, had neuroses and obsessions as a child etc). DH has autism diagnoses in the family. I am going for genetic, although would not discount some unknown environmental factors as a trigger.

Oh wow I had not realised this was a five year old zombie thread!

ZZOMBIE THREAD.