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do you think autism is genetic?

madisen622

madisen622

autistic kidcore grandpa
V.I.P Member
as you can tell by the title im curious as to if you think autism is genetic or if it’s environmental?

i’ve had this conversation with my mom and dad before, i was curious as to what yall thought.

i think personally it’s a factor of both nature and nuture. autism can be genetic as i believe my mom and dad both have autism, but i also think it had to do with the way i was raised. i’ve walked on my tippy toes since i was young and my parents never stopped me. my dad said i had a language delay also, i wasn’t able to form sentences at the age of 6.
 
My dad and kids would say "genetic".

How one is treated as a child, though, affects the way an autistic person presents to others.
 
As per online resources it is genetic, I can see myself with some sensitive behaviors and issues acting the same way as my father, and some sensitivity behaviors from me on my own kids.
 

There are many types of autism variants. There are over 100 known genetic, DNA markers for autism. There are over 1000 epigenetic markers, and over 1000 RNA markers.

The epigenetic risks are those that are not familial such as (1) "old eggs and sperm" (2) hormonal milieu (mostly estrogens) but could be hypothyroidism, etc (3) inflammatory mediators (infections, allergies, auto-immune conditions) (4) environmental (toxins in air, water, and food) and (5) an "injury model" such as what might occur when babies are delivered (removed from the intrauterine environment) in early gestation (22-26 weeks).

Autism is a prenatal neurodevelopmental condition, but also can have associated immune dysfunction and fine-motor skill dysfunction in some individuals. The areas of the brain that are affected include areas that are being developed during the 1st trimester of pregnancy, such as the brain stem. 2nd trimester, being the thalamus, etc. 3rd trimester, the cortex and cerebellum. We know this from post mortem studies of neurons under the microscope. Any suggestion that autism is "created" from anything after birth is merely a coincidence or association, but also suggests quite a bit of ignorance about the underlying etiology and how brain development occurs. Keep in mind that neurons, once formed, are yours for several decades. There isn't the type of life cycle and turnover like other cell types. As such, it's not that neurons are being mutated somehow after birth, but rather the neurodevelopment has been preprogrammed well before birth.
 
Environment can turn genes on or off - epigenetics. Also, before a baby is born - stress, toxins, drugs in the mother's system when pregnant can have dramatic effects on a baby in utero.

Ed
 
None of my immediate family has ever been tested but Ivan assume my grandfather may be autistic. He’s more narrow minded on particular interests such as cabinets, he’ll info dump on carpentry work for a good 10 minutes. He does misinterpret things the wrong way in a social context.
My Mom probably, she’s always been known to never like to hang out in large crowds just like I do and gets distracted really easily.

So yeah I can see autism as being a genetic trait.
 
Genetic. However, I could have been one of the kids where it was blamed on vaccines. It had nothing to do with the contents of the shot, but everything around getting it. Mother was the classic "cold mother," once suspected of being the cause through behaviour, not genetics. Before vaccination, I assumed parents were benign. Being taken to a strange place, injected, and taken home with no explanation, consolation, or comfort left me wary and withdrawn.
 
When I hear about autism being "environmental", I think that must mean it's by climate change.
Well why not? It makes more sense that what so many people think causes it. Like vaccines, the non-stick coating on frying pans, or watching Peppa Pig cartoons.
 
I am convinced it is genetic.

There are news articles that autism diagnosis is on the rise - suggesting it is a disease. That is very misleading. Autism is not on the rise, but diagnosis has. That is only because it has been defined and attention to it has risen.
I was never diagnosed as autistic, because it was not known in my community. Instead, I was diagnosed as retarded with a severe learning disability. (I am now a retired electronics design engineer.)
I have many cousins that are autistic - though they were never diagnosed. Their autism is just to obvious. I have a grand niece that has been diagnosed. But she is young and times have changed.
Other animals have also been seen with autistic traits.
Researchers have actually edited genes in mice, giving mice autistic traits. While all the autistic genome is not yet "mapped", it is strong evidence that it is a genetic trait.
I am the only member of my immediate family that is autistic. That made me not "fit" in my family. I was an outcast from toddler to present (I'm now 72). I was never accepted, which was fine by me since I did not accept them either. As it turned out, my life is far better for that rejection. Even after the fact, I still would not want the life of my family.

This is just the short list of why I believe it is genetic...

Oh, I think it should also be noted that being diagnosed as autistic is not a confirmation that you really are. It's just confirmation that an "official" thinks you are. All medical / mental conditions are often misdiagnosed.
 
I suspect my father and multiple people from my father's side all are neurodivergent so yeah. Even before knowing about autism i knew my "weirdness" was genetic
 
I feel it can definately be passed on genetically, but also brought on by environmental factors. But by environmental I mean exposure to certain chemicals as in pesticides, herbicides and pollutions. But it does not depend on the person being exposed (except perhaps in the womb), but by the parent. It seems to be created by various mutations/variations in the genetic code - specifically those areas that control development of the grain (basically the assembly instructions). So with autism you are born with it. You don't develop it by any form of nurturing, nor can it at this time ever be reversed.

There are likely other causes, such as excessive age of the father, and anything that might disrupt the genes of the infant in the earliest stages of development in the womb.
 
My mother didn't smoke, drink or take any drugs while she was pregnant with me. I wasn't born premature (in fact I was born after the due date), and there were no birth complications, just a natural birth and I was a healthy, thriving baby, weighing 7 pounds and 7 ounces at birth. Just average in every way. I even reached all my milestones at the average stages, no delays in speech or walking or potty-training, etc.

My sister, on the other hand, had complications while in the womb, apparently she was lacking nutrition and even oxygen, so my mother had to go to hospital for a few tests, and the midwife said the baby could be at risk of having brain damage. Luckily she wasn't brain-damaged, but had delays in her speech development and was still in diapers at age 4 even though my mother potty-trained her the same way she did me and my brother.

But my sister just turned out to have mild learning difficulties and nothing more and it doesn't really affect her life, if it does she seems blissfully unaware of it and just carries on with her head in the clouds. She has a baby now and I'm wondering how the baby will turn out. The baby is only 6 months old but doesn't seem to be displaying any autism or learning difficulties, as she makes eye contact and laughs when you laugh, etc. But I think I did all those things as a baby too, yet look how I turned out; Asperger's, ADHD and anxiety disorder. :rolleyes:

It amazes me how some babies with autism can be really social and make normal eye contact and seem engaging and responsive, then kind of regress when they get to around 2 years of age, with normal upbringing and everything. Not that that happened to me. I was NT right up until I started school, then on that first day I was suddenly a cascade of autism, ADHD and anxiety, which baffled even my parents. I really wish I hadn't been like that. Why couldn't I have just been like other Aspie females who just blended in with the other kids and not gone noticed until at least adolescence? I HATED being the problem child, the case study, the special needs kid, the "this kid needs more attention and support" kid, the "special" kid, I HATED HATED HATED it.
 
Tom said:
I feel it can definately be passed on genetically, but also brought on by environmental factors. But by environmental I mean exposure to certain chemicals as in pesticides, herbicides and pollutions. But it does not depend on the person being exposed (except perhaps in the womb), but by the parent. It seems to be created by various mutations/variations in the genetic code - specifically those areas that control development of the grain (basically the assembly instructions). So with autism you are born with it. You don't develop it by any form of nurturing, nor can it at this time ever be reversed.

There are likely other causes, such as excessive age of the father, and anything that might disrupt the genes of the infant in the earliest stages of development in the womb.
Click to expand...
None of this fits my parents experience, had for kids in very short duration, three on the spectrum.
 
Sometimes I feel that if my Emetophobia, general anxiety, social anxiety, depression, ADHD, RSD, and bit of OCD, just vanished, I'd probably not be Aspie either. It seems that all those disorders share many symptoms with autism and so you seem autistic without actually having autism by default.

So like as a child I definitely had pronounced ADHD and anxiety. So just imagine ADHD is blue and anxiety is yellow and autism is green, mix the first two together and you get green, even though you didn't have green to begin with. But I'm NOT speaking for everyone with ADHD/anxiety/autism. It's just my personal experience. That's how complex and hidden my AS is, yet it's sort of there in bits and pieces, if that makes sense.
 
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