• 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

Is Asperger's hereditary?

ryan1205

ryan1205

Mr. I Don't Know
V.I.P Member
Even though I have a twin brother who is identical, not fraternal, he does not have it. I do. I was diagnosed at age 10. My mom is bipolar and she says depression runs in the family. She also had me at 38, a few weeks before she turned 39. Could this play a factor in Asperger's?

As far as that. I don't have a dad. Well I do, but I grew up without one so it would be hard to know whoever he is, had Asperger's or not.

I want to know if it is hereditary or something else. I know AS is becoming more common nowadays than it was for my mom back in the 1960s and 1970s. I feel that age plays a factor, I think that it is more common now because people are having kids at an older age like my mom did. Can someone send me a link to a good website that explains this? I don't know any sites that I can trust on a topic like this.
 
My mother and her mother were both aspies although they never knew it. I had to diagnose my mom. She was just like me in every way. She had never heard of Aspergers, very few from her generation knew about it.
 
Judge said:
"Autism spectrum disorders including Asperger syndrome have a tendency to run in families, but the inheritance pattern is unknown."

Asperger syndrome
Click to expand...

The nature/nurture debate...

Aspies teach children in a certain way so they are taught to learn/perceive in an aspie way versus the nature aspect is neurological tendency (but not a guarantee)
 
Like @Judge said, there is a familiar component, it tends to run in families, but the inheritance pattern is unknown. So at this point, it's impossible to predict whether or not your offspring will be affected.

I've a link here to an abstract of a recent study which has shown that advanced parental age is associated with an increased risk of autism in offspring, however, the mechanism by which this happens is still unexplained. Sadly, the full text is not available for free.
 
If I remember correctly, when I born my mom was on her 2Xs, and my dad on his 4Xs.

My mom has chronical depression, and my dad was bipolar, "maniac phase" if I'm correct, I THINK with some hints for schizophrenia (but can't say much on this regard, it was a weak comment I heard once).
My dad had some kind of temporal attack with lots of hallucinations when I was a baby, and I have hallucinations since 10 years old up to this day.

My 13 years old sister doesn't have any hallucinations nor seem to have bad social relationship at school, and I don't want to put anything on anyone's mouth, but ever since she stuck most of her time to the PC, I FEEL that she can have sooooome slight traits... nothing sure. Same for my mom, but I could be wrong indeed.

My cousin do have Asperger's though, his brother is bipolar (and attacks him a lot for some idiotic reason), but there's no "direct" inheritance from their parents
 
Last edited:
There is strong evidence that autism is genetic. There is even some discussion as to whether Neural-diversity can be traced to Neanderthal origins, making the aspie nervous system very, very old. Consider the sensitivities that aspie's display, and then put these qualities in a hunting culture where heightened senses mean food and safety, one can immediately see the advantage. However, take the same qualities and put them in an urban environment with massive sensory overload, you can see the problem. The challenge for every aspie is to discover what s/he is obsessed with and develop that trait to the maximum, focusing education and career direction on the energetic flow of attraction. So much time is wasted trying to re-focus our attention on social contracts, versus, pursuit of our obsessions. "Refine your Design".
 
wfs said:
There is strong evidence that autism is genetic. There is even some discussion as to whether Neural-diversity can be traced to Neanderthal origins, making the aspie nervous system very, very old. Consider the sensitivities that aspie's display, and then put these qualities in a hunting culture where heightened senses mean food and safety, one can immediately see the advantage. However, take the same qualities and put them in an urban environment with massive sensory overload, you can see the problem. The challenge for every aspie is to discover what s/he is obsessed with and develop that trait to the maximum, focusing education and career direction on the energetic flow of attraction. So much time is wasted trying to re-focus our attention on social contracts, versus, pursuit of our obsessions. "Refine your Design".
Click to expand...

Explains a lot. , my obsession with clubs.Here's us at our last aspie day out

c5b3de3030ddafefa3feff89bc869a2c.jpg
 
Pretty much the only folks in my family who aren't Aspies are the ones who marry in - and they run about 50/50.
 
Both me and my youngest brother display traits of AS (I am in the process of an assessment - if my brother were to see a psychologist he would definitely be diagnosed).

Also, my eldest and youngest children (also girl and boy) display traits. My daughter is undergoing assessment and as my youngest is only two they aren't looking at that specifically, but they are looking at him being on the spectrum.
 
Bolletje said:
Like @Judge said, there is a familiar component, it tends to run in families, but the inheritance pattern is unknown. So at this point, it's impossible to predict whether or not your offspring will be affected.

I've a link here to an abstract of a recent study which has shown that advanced parental age is associated with an increased risk of autism in offspring, however, the mechanism by which this happens is still unexplained. Sadly, the full text is not available for free.
Click to expand...
ive seen that idea to-ive seen some research done into the theory that being in your forties or older as a mother can raise the risk of ASD.
my mum was exactly forty when she had me,but...my dad has aspergers [informally diagnosed],my sister has aspergers [wrongly diagnosed as social anxiety disorder at 19 as her doctor didnt believe girls could have autism], some my dads brothers kids have got autism;one has classic high functioning autism;the other-aspergers-then the older two girls NT,one of my dads brothers has severe aspergers.
at the same time,in my mums family i have several cousins with differing forms of autism,one of my mums brothers has PMLD [profound and multiple learning disability, which is the UK equivilent of saying profound intellectual disability]- and mental health issues are common in her family,i have lf autism,mild ID and severe mental health issues,i wouldnt be surprised if i had inherited them all.

however,it has long been thought that there are multiple causes to autism,and not just genetic/ineretid.
 
There are several people in my family with Asperger's on both sides, though undiagnosed. At least one of my grandfathers, possibly an uncle, two of my cousins, one of their sons, and my dad.
One pattern I've noticed among aspie families is that the oldest tends to be the aspie, though I've seen exceptions. Both of my aspie cousins are the oldest of two, my female aspie cousin has an aspie son, also the oldest of two. I'm technically the oldest, though an only child.
I also had an aspie boyfriend years ago who was the oldest of three sons, though his youngest brother also seemed to be an aspie. His middle brother was about as NT as you can get. Anyone else have this observation?
 
Shawn D said:
There are several people in my family with Asperger's on both sides, though undiagnosed. At least one of my grandfathers, possibly an uncle, two of my cousins, one of their sons, and my dad.
One pattern I've noticed among aspie families is that the oldest tends to be the aspie, though I've seen exceptions. Both of my aspie cousins are the oldest of two, my female aspie cousin has an aspie son, also the oldest of two. I'm technically the oldest, though an only child.
I also had an aspie boyfriend years ago who was the oldest of three sons, though his youngest brother also seemed to be an aspie. His middle brother was about as NT as you can get. Anyone else have this observation?
Click to expand...

Eldest and youngest I've noticed is true from my experience... and perhaps this is coincidence, but I'm the eldest and a girl (ND) my middle sibling is a boy (NT) and my youngest sibling is a boy (ND).

My eldest is a girl (ND), my middle is a boy (NT) and my youngest is a boy (ND).

This pattern is also true of my friends step daughter... Eldest step daughter (ND), middle Step daughter (NT) and their younger brother (ND).
 
I've read that it's strongly genetic and I believe it. For my family, it seems that the females show the most Aspie traits. I have it as well as my daughter (my middle child). My mom passed a few years ago, but I'm almost positive she was an Aspie as well as most people in her family. My oldest son has some traits and I notice none so far in my youngest son. There are a few people in my husband's family who were/are likely Aspies, but it's scattered and it seems to come from his maternal side only.
 
Wife and I are both aspies (one official, one presumed), and my daughter has it (officially diagnosed).

The evidence to support the notion of a genetic factor is there, I believe.
 
I think there is a genetic component. My maternal uncle (a working-class Englishman, born in 1930, with a fairly basic education) was never diagnosed, but his personality and behaviour in adulthood were patently autistic. I wonder, too, about some traits of other maternal and paternal family members. Other factors in my own case may be having an older mother (40) and being premature.

I don't think autism is becoming more common, but diagnosis is better. It used to be only the more extreme cases (often with multiple pathologies such as learning difficulties) that were identified, and higher-functioning people were merely regarded as "eccentric". Women were often not diagnosed at all, or diagnosed late (I was 50!).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom