-
Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
- Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral
From a neurotypical's perspective
- Thread starter Outsider
- Start date
blitzkrieg
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I have to agree with Boogs on this one.
Autism spectrum disorders are environmental as well as genetic in origin, and of course, even genetics is a complex origin as a cause for ASD. There are inherited genes and then there is the genetic expression of genes which hinge upon the environment a person is in and the kind of life that a person leads - where they live/how they live, that sort of thing.
Polluted areas, areas with a heavy exposure to pesticides and poverty stricken areas typically have higher rates of ASD's, as some examples of environmental factors.
Autism spectrum disorders are environmental as well as genetic in origin, and of course, even genetics is a complex origin as a cause for ASD. There are inherited genes and then there is the genetic expression of genes which hinge upon the environment a person is in and the kind of life that a person leads - where they live/how they live, that sort of thing.
Polluted areas, areas with a heavy exposure to pesticides and poverty stricken areas typically have higher rates of ASD's, as some examples of environmental factors.
blitzkrieg
Well-Known Member
There are certain drugs that a pregnant mother can take that may or may not increase the risk of a child being born with an ASD.
Also, difficult pregnancies or births can contribute to ASD development, for example, pre-eclampsia during pregnancy can be a risk factor for ASD.
Also, difficult pregnancies or births can contribute to ASD development, for example, pre-eclampsia during pregnancy can be a risk factor for ASD.
Yes, but I still think genetics play a huge part in it because it's very rare that you'll get an autistic parent with NT children. Being on autism sites for 15 years now I think I've only known one autistic person to actually say that their child isn't autistic, but her autism had been caused by environmental factors so I guess it wasn't in her genes therefore not passed down to her son. But in the majority of causes, autistic parents have autistic children. Ask any autistic parent here and they'll say that at least one or their offspring is autistic too. So it's clear that it does run in families like blue eyes.
There are three theories about the origins of autism that I know of. None of them seems compelling to me, so I'm not going to discuss them here,
However, I'll make one remark -- it is clear to me that autism is not a mental disorder, it is akin to neurological conditions such as dyslexia and migraine.
However, I'll make one remark -- it is clear to me that autism is not a mental disorder, it is akin to neurological conditions such as dyslexia and migraine.
Autism is caused when brain signals in the frontal area of the brain don't make the connections as they should.
Obviously each and every signal is responsible for a different thing, which is why every autistic person is different.
Other common brain issues are where brain signals short circuit which causes fits, and a brain chemical imbalance which is bipolar.
I mention bipolar because an autistic person can also go from highs to lows, especially when the autistic person may be happy enough, and then meet someone who treats them badly for something they didn't know they did wrong, and they then can get a sudden slip into depression... Then they get over it when they reason to themselves it wasn't their fault.... They may get told off for something else and the cycle repeats... (Can be more subtle rather then a telling off. Could be a trigger reminding them of a bad experience...)
The above is just an example of what could possibly cause a high and low repeating in an autistic person. There may be other things like mood swings or mild meltdowns etc etc etc...
Now if a doctor sees the highs and lows they can miss diagnose as bipolar, and put the person on medication to try and stabilize the chemicals in the brain. Of course with autism itself, it is not a chemical brain issue, so the autistic person can then actually have a chemical brain imbalance on top which the doctors will spend years trying to stabilize with more chemicals via medications.... Why it is VERY important that if bipolar is suspected, that autism is ruled out as a possible cause.
(The easiest way to differentiate between the two conditions, is that bipolar patients will go from a high to a low cycle in about four days as brain chemicals do not change rapidly even with bipolar (Unless wrongly adjusted through medication, but natrually with no medication, it takes around four days). With autism they can go from a high to a low in a day or even many times a day!)
Now of course one can have both conditions though it is rare.
But yes. Autism is brain connection issues in the frontal area of the brain, and to add to this, the brain growth during development tends to shift its growth into other areas of the brain if it detects a fault, which is why autistic individuals often get hyper-sensitivities, and it accounts for those who are complete geniuses in one area but the complete opposite in other areas... Hope this makes sense? (Also hope autocorrect didn't change any words I typed as I wasn't looking at each word as I typed them!)
Obviously each and every signal is responsible for a different thing, which is why every autistic person is different.
Other common brain issues are where brain signals short circuit which causes fits, and a brain chemical imbalance which is bipolar.
I mention bipolar because an autistic person can also go from highs to lows, especially when the autistic person may be happy enough, and then meet someone who treats them badly for something they didn't know they did wrong, and they then can get a sudden slip into depression... Then they get over it when they reason to themselves it wasn't their fault.... They may get told off for something else and the cycle repeats... (Can be more subtle rather then a telling off. Could be a trigger reminding them of a bad experience...)
The above is just an example of what could possibly cause a high and low repeating in an autistic person. There may be other things like mood swings or mild meltdowns etc etc etc...
Now if a doctor sees the highs and lows they can miss diagnose as bipolar, and put the person on medication to try and stabilize the chemicals in the brain. Of course with autism itself, it is not a chemical brain issue, so the autistic person can then actually have a chemical brain imbalance on top which the doctors will spend years trying to stabilize with more chemicals via medications.... Why it is VERY important that if bipolar is suspected, that autism is ruled out as a possible cause.
(The easiest way to differentiate between the two conditions, is that bipolar patients will go from a high to a low cycle in about four days as brain chemicals do not change rapidly even with bipolar (Unless wrongly adjusted through medication, but natrually with no medication, it takes around four days). With autism they can go from a high to a low in a day or even many times a day!)
Now of course one can have both conditions though it is rare.
But yes. Autism is brain connection issues in the frontal area of the brain, and to add to this, the brain growth during development tends to shift its growth into other areas of the brain if it detects a fault, which is why autistic individuals often get hyper-sensitivities, and it accounts for those who are complete geniuses in one area but the complete opposite in other areas... Hope this makes sense? (Also hope autocorrect didn't change any words I typed as I wasn't looking at each word as I typed them!)
blitzkrieg
Well-Known Member
Your observations relate to autistic parents having autistic children, but what about two NT parents who might have an autistic child as often happens? A lot of those cases can be influenced by the environment, as well as any genetic influence.
Well that was the case with me, although I wasn't exposed to any environmental factors to cause me to be this way. I think I just got unlucky. Also some distant relatives have autism (but I've never met them) so I just got the faulty gene passed down to me. ADHD doesn't run in my family though, so I don't know where I got that from. My mum wasn't a drinker so I know she didn't drink alcohol when she was pregnant with me as I was planned so she was responsible, and she didn't take drugs of any sort either. My birth was healthy with no complications at all, and I wasn't even premature - in fact I was born 5 days after my due date.
This is why I'm bitter about being the one on the spectrum while all my first cousins managed to escape that faulty gene. I mean, why me?
Also if I had kids they'd probably be on the spectrum.
blitzkrieg
Well-Known Member
It isn't as simple as there being a faulty gene, or one single gene being responsible for autism.
I assume by faulty you mean a mutated gene?
Anyway, this is a good article on the matter:
What Causes Autism? How Genes and Environment Might Contribute
A couple of quotes from the article:
I assume by faulty you mean a mutated gene?
Anyway, this is a good article on the matter:
What Causes Autism? How Genes and Environment Might Contribute
A couple of quotes from the article:
Have you thought that God loves you as you are?
I'm atheist.
Nice. Glad you have thought deeply about your faith. Be encouraged that there are people who like you as you are so do not feel bad about it.
Last edited:
There is a rule of thumb that every data analyst follows – before starting exploring influences of a combination of factors on an event, start with analyzing influence of a single arbitrary chosen factor. An event could be air pollution, car collision, a person's medical condition, etc.
Let’s assume that there is a single cause of autism, which is a genetic anomaly. Then it would be prudent to compare the numbers of births of autistic children in NT and autistic families. If the statistical difference is significant then there is a reason to suggest that the probable cause of autism is a mutated gene or genes. This should prompt a detailed biochemical analysis of the autistic persons’ genome.
So far, I haven’t seen scientific papers showing that the aforementioned difference is statistically significant. Of course, I haven’t read all the articles on this matter. However, now some psychologists suggest that autism is caused by a combination of genetic makeup and environmental factors, which means that the single cause of autism has not been identified.
Saying that autism is a product of genetics and mysterious environmental factors is not good enough for scientists who, like myself, use methodologies developed in natural sciences (physics, chemistry, engineering, etc.)
Hypothesizing psychologists are supposed to name all possible environmental factors as probable causes of autism, and then data analysts would be able to investigate their roles in autism.
In general, the theoreticians say that the causes could be the presence of chemicals in the water, air pollutants in the air and many more probable occurrences. But the “experts” should say where to measure these chemicals and pollutants, meaning their geographic locations, where to get subjects’ of study medical records, and also records showing how long they have lived in a location of interest, plus a lot of other logistics. None of this sort has been done so far.
Currently the views on the origin of autism are highly speculative and unhelpful.
Let’s assume that there is a single cause of autism, which is a genetic anomaly. Then it would be prudent to compare the numbers of births of autistic children in NT and autistic families. If the statistical difference is significant then there is a reason to suggest that the probable cause of autism is a mutated gene or genes. This should prompt a detailed biochemical analysis of the autistic persons’ genome.
So far, I haven’t seen scientific papers showing that the aforementioned difference is statistically significant. Of course, I haven’t read all the articles on this matter. However, now some psychologists suggest that autism is caused by a combination of genetic makeup and environmental factors, which means that the single cause of autism has not been identified.
Saying that autism is a product of genetics and mysterious environmental factors is not good enough for scientists who, like myself, use methodologies developed in natural sciences (physics, chemistry, engineering, etc.)
Hypothesizing psychologists are supposed to name all possible environmental factors as probable causes of autism, and then data analysts would be able to investigate their roles in autism.
In general, the theoreticians say that the causes could be the presence of chemicals in the water, air pollutants in the air and many more probable occurrences. But the “experts” should say where to measure these chemicals and pollutants, meaning their geographic locations, where to get subjects’ of study medical records, and also records showing how long they have lived in a location of interest, plus a lot of other logistics. None of this sort has been done so far.
Currently the views on the origin of autism are highly speculative and unhelpful.
I don't think anyone is suggesting that genetics is not a huge and fundamental part of it, just that it doesn't fill the whole picture, and there seem to be many other possible factors that could trigger autism (if that's even a possibility) or modify how it presents itself, and in some ways that can be more important in that environmental factors, if known, may be avoidable, currently gene's are not, we're stuck with the cosmic dice throw of conception.
By the way, my (only) child is not autistic, although she does have ADSD, but interestingly that's almost the opposite of my condition - what a laugh!
What is ADSD?
Maybe I'm misreading, apologies if so, but why would she feel bad about being atheist?
Personally I'm so much happier with my own philosophies in my life and have put a lot of time and thought into them, more than many religious people I've spoken with. Yet you appear to consider being atheist a bad thing, that seems a little critical maybe, even if unintentionally?
It's a terrible condition whereby the victim cannot for the life of them correctly spell ADHD!
I think they meant not to feel bad about being on the spectrum? That's how I interpreted it.
Ah okay.It's a terrible condition whereby the victim cannot for the life of them correctly spell ADHD!
ADHD isn't the opposite of autism. I don't think anything can possibly be opposite to autism - not even Williams syndrome or Downs syndrome, because saying that's the opposite to autism suggests that autistic people are all aloof and unsociable, which isn't the case for all of us. Besides, Williams syndrome wouldn't be called that if it was just a highly extroverted personality, so it's obviously a disorder and people with it probably do have social challenges even though they are seemingly socially extreme. For example they might just go up to anybody and start talking and not notice that they're annoying or intruding, or it could make them vulnerable to predators, that sort of thing.
Also I'm more ADHD than autistic.
