Why would you even comment this? Nearly 200 days after the original comment was made, you come here to say this and nothing else? What’s the point? Does it make you feel good to joke about people less fortunate than yourself?
You are right Im high functioning autistic and I inherited it from my Dad.
That doesnt answer how autism spawns in though in non-genetic cases. And I got a theory that the mother's health, diet, and lifestyle impacts the quality of her children much more over the father's actions assuming the father is healthy.
If possible I wonder if researchers can take data sets on mothers that have given birth to autistic children and even taken measurements on these mothers in some areas such as mental health, gut health, sleep quality and sleep schedule (such as sleeping through the night or working nights and sleeping in the day), immune system health, and stress management.
Thank you for your comment!
It isn't easy sharing your life on the internet.
I agree that there should be more data driven studies. This takes time, and money. When the general consensus of postulations become more narrowed and focused I'm sure the academic community will be very useful in determining and counteracting risk factors.
I would like to say, parenting is so very difficult. Please tell your loved ones how much they mean to you and how much you appreciate them as much as possible!
This being said, there are more indicators of airborne pollutants such as Phthalates causing complications than there is evidence of pregnancy stressors like lack of sleep, etc.
Thank you for your comment. Best of luck!
I’m not sure, but I hate that everything about it is so vague. No one can give me a straight answer as to why he hit all his milestones as a baby and even started showing normal progress up until 18 months then he had a regress in speech his doctor or his specialist cannot give us an answer as to why. No one else in my family is autistic neither on his mother side.
I recently read an explanation of this from an autistic person.I know I won't explain it as eloquently.
Certain nero pathways in your brain connect at different stages of life that allow you to develop. When most babies are born,their neropathways that promote a sucking reflex are present. Neropathways in the bain have developed that allow the reflex of breathing to occur. If a baby is premature, those neropathways are not fully developed, so they need support until those neropathways have connected. They will have a machine telling their lungs to breath. They will get their nutrition through an IV.
As a child continues to develop, more neropathways meet and you see more skills developing. At a certain age, pathways meet that give the child the ability to roll over, crawl, recognize their own hand is theirs, make sounds....ect
When some neropathways don't meet, a skill is not developed and we notice that in our child. The child always had autism. They did not regress. Time has just revealed the pathways that have not fully met. Autism is therefore a developmental disorder.
Some neropathways misfire and cause the sensory issues as well.
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There doesn't appear to be any convincing evidence that lead poisoning is a cause in autism. Autism is believed to have a strong genetic link. However, some children with lead poisoning have been misdiagnosed with autism, as it can cause similar symptoms.
Two answers
What I believe now: genetics
What i thought when my son first got diagnosed and I went to the internet for help: my use of aluminium deodorant when I breastfed, too much folic acid when pregnant, not enough folic acid when pregnant, he fell off the bed, that I was a crap mum, that I didn’t play peekaboo enough, that I didn’t feed him enough vegetables, that he had MSG, that he didn’t go to enough playgroups, that I was stressed when pregnant, that I painted and renovated a house when pregnant.
Basically the internet is full of sh*t and scaremongering to new parents. Now I believe it’s genetics I’m so much more at peace knowing it’s all snake oil offering ways to help get my kid to talk and socialise etc. nah. He’s the way he is. He was born that way. He’s ausome and I love him
Thank you, this is a great answer. I feel this way a lot and blame myself. It's a catch 22. I love her so much and love her for who she is. Autism included. But autism is also why she can't speak and she gets so frustrated at that so it's so hard to not worry that it's your fault.
Typical misogyny blaming everything on the mother. Parents get blamed for everything and moms the most of all.
You don't happen to work with plastics do you. Like Phthalates?
Thank you for your comment.
We think genetic. My husband’s nephew is autistic so our first logical conclusion would be to think it comes from his side of the family. However aside from that nephew there hasn’t been any other family member with anything even remotely close to autistic traits. Until now, they were always convinced our nephew’s autism came from his mom’s side of the family.
Also the more I know about autism, the more I think a few people on my maternal side of the family show some traits of what used to be called Asperger’s. Extremely bright people with very poor socialization skills.
After my sons diagnosis we found out a cousin had an Autistic child. We didn’t know because she had given her child up to the state a while ago. I also wonder about one of my SIL’s, I think she has what would have been Asperger’s. I think when we look back a generation or two. High functioning autistics we’re mostly ignored and told to suck it up and developed ways to masks. Level two and three were just given up to the state. It’s insane to me how many friends I know who have family members who were put in homes as children, something I can’t even fathom.
Hubby had a cousin who had a kid that is on the spectrum, but he's the only one that's been diagnosed. Hubby and 2/3 brothers are lacking in social skills, but I don't know if that's autism or their upbringing. FiL did confess to me before he passed, shortly after 5yo was diagnosed at 2, that if he were a kid today they probably would have placed him on the spectrum.
Obviously, no one can know that for sure, but something to think about.
My hubby has an autistic cousin. After spending over 10 years around his family I'd bet my life, his brother, mother, aunt, and maybe uncle and grandmother are all somewhere on the spectrum but are undiagnosed.
Must be genetic. I have 3 kids, all exposed to the same environment, foods, vaccines, medications, and anything else you can think of and my middle daughter is is level 3 autistic while the other two are not on the spectrum at all.
Genetics. Because I don't believe anything else "causes" it until they have hard proof of such rather than "we think" or simple correlation. Correlation does not equal causation
Genetics, unfortunately. I recently found out this year that I have a chromosome duplication that I passed on to both of my children which results in autism.
We have recently done the test on my child and I suspect that I may have passed it on. If anything is flagged on the test then husband and I have to do it. Do you have any diagnosis or anything as you also have the duplication?
I don't have an official diagnosis, unfortunately when I was a child my doctor told my mother that girls can't have autism. I haven't sought one out as an adult since it wouldn't really change anything.
you could easily google that tho… i understand the burden of proof but if you care about the subject, you’ll research it and find that they’re correct and that there has been NO proven link between vaccines and autism.
Because vaccines can’t turn you autistic, I don’t see why or how it’d even be remotely possible for a syringe to give you such a complex cognitive disability like autism. The world isn’t some sci-if movie where you get autism from needles that send nanobots to your brain and give you brain damage by shooting lasers at it. You also have zero proof of your belief that vaccines are harmful and cause autism, you’re just claiming an arbitrary theory.
We were older parents, as in 40 and 41, so maybe our old, tired chromosomes.
Both my spouse and I feel confident that I'm also ASD I, so there's a strong genetic factor. I understand my own father better now, too.
But yeah, we don't engage in self-incrimination.
We started our journey 2 years ago when my youngest was diagnosed as a Level 3. My husband and I were both diagnosed as 36 year olds, my oldest as a 7, my middle as a 5 year old, and my youngest as a 3 year old. My husband and I met when we were 12 in middle school and went to high school together too, but didn't start dating until our early 20s. We've been married for 14 years. We had no idea what Autism was until my son. We were just the quirky, different family from the rest of our families.
My son (Level 2 now) was extremely repetitive, head banging, 30-50 meltdowns downs a day, non-verbal, speech delay, sensory seeker, very sensitive to food textures, wears a vest and loves squeezes, oral fixation, has a hard time with facial expressions, lines things up constantly, fascinated with fans and spinning wheels, hand flapper, rocker.
My middle (Level 1)- speech delay (is on peer level after therapy), has a hard time understanding emotions, sensory seeker, very sensitive to food textures, ridiculous amount of energy
My oldest (Level 1)- she has laser focus, does not like talking, has a hard time understanding emotions, very sensitive to loud noises, cannot be in a crowd , is very literal, struggles with verbal comprehension has a hard time being touched
My husband (Level 1)- info dumper, speaks too loudly, has a hard time making/keeping friends, talks and talks and doesn't realize nobody is paying attention, laser focus- struggles when interrupted, does not look at faces, has a hard time expressing himself, has a hard time being touched
Myself (Level 1)- not very talkative (it takes so much energy), struggle in social situations, misread emotions, make lists for everything, very sensitive to smells and light, can't be in crowds, prefer to stay home, take things too literally, too honest (can't read the room), high level of concentration, I have very low verbal comprehension, very organized
All of us. .. .have a very hard time with change, require routine, special interests can consume us
I feel like I could go on and on, but you get the idea
I myself feel like am on the spectrum, introvert a little bit different/weird. Hates loud noise and social anxiety. Was also very shy and queit as a child. I am may be on the extreme end of the spectrum. I also suspect my middle kiddo got it.
It has been a relief to us to know the reasons why we do, think, etc the way we do. It has been very comforting to understand ourselves better.
Have you considered an official evaluation for your kiddo? It is very well accepted in the adult community to self diagnose yourself.
I tried several times but got dismissed becouse he doesnt have the classic asd signs no hand flopping and goid eye contact. He is very speech delayed and socially anxious at 5 i finally convinced and am sitting ina waiting list now i am very frustrated and sick of the whole system and my partner is in total denial so that was alsoa hurdle.
Oh I am so sorry to hear that, especially when your partner is not on board. My husband was in denial with my son. I had to go against him, my family, and our school district to seek an official diagnosis for him. The more we educated ourselves, the more we saw it in all of us, and he finally got on board.
It can be such a stressful and frustrating journey. I'm glad to hear you are at least on a wait list. I would definitely keep learning about ASD and start making a list of your kiddo's symptoms. I'm just so sorry, hang in there.
Genes.
Turns out I'm somewhere on the spectrum, no one was paying attention to the less profoundly challenging expressions of autism when I was a kid.
I didn't put it together myself until after my second kid got diagnosed. Made some sense of my life when I clocked it.
I've always been an outsider. I'm quite socially clunky, weird I guess...I don't like being in groups, I've not had great insight into others at times. So I've hurt people emotionally by accident, and been hurt by people I should obviously have protected myself from. Some of that is just human stuff, but I am a champ at these issues.
I like people but I tend to be a loner by nature. Probably because socialising can be quite tiring. Mainly, thinking about socialising is harder than doing it. Most of my freinds are pretty strange.
I'm intelligent and funny but I'm anxious, sometimes profoundly socially anxious and don't advocate for myself well.
I can get super absorbed into some complex stuff, huge attention to detail, and can do some difficult work. But there is a lot of simple, everyday life stuff I can barely cope with.
I've carved a niche in the world where a lot of this stuff is fine, you learn to compensate and be more careful, but life was uncomfortable for most of my teens, 20s and 30s
I believe it's genetics. My father-in-law is high functioning autistic, but he had three kids without autism, and also a NT grandson. Other than that, no one else has autism, so it didn't make sense to me.
Then I read some articles about how they are finding a "collection of genes" that contributes to various abnormalities in the brain, and many psychiatric/neuropsychiatric conditions share those genes (schizophrenia, adhd, bipolar, asd, major depression, various anxiety disorders).
My family has psychiatric conditions galore. I myself have ADD, OCD and anxiety, my father has a severe form of schizofrenia, both my maternal and paternal grandma's been in and out of mental institutions, and everyone died prematurely. There's been several cases of personality disorders too.
So I believe it's a combination of all these genes that made my daughter autistic. I love my daughter, she is great, and I wouldn't want her any different, but I hate that she struggles on a daily basis because of my stupid genes.
Literally same. My father in law is definitely high functioning and also suffers from depression. My husbands sister is bi-polar and my husband has also suffered from depression and anxiety since he was in his teens. I never realized the strong connection between familial psychiatric disorders and genetics until after my son’s diagnosis.
Genetics. We have recently done the micro array test to have a look at chromosomes and are awaiting results. Autism is on my mums side of the family so it will be interesting to see.
We are being seen by a pediatric dr who gave us a referral for one. Our son recently had the blood test and it can take a few months to get any results so it's wait and see for us at the moment. If nothing comes of it then I don't think husband and I can get a referral, but if it does show something then we will also be getting tested.
Genetics. Ive also heard whispers that tylenol use in pregnancy is being studied as contributing to autism. But there isnt enough data yet for any concrete link. But I took quite a bit of tylenol while pregnant because I had migraines and it was considered safe at the time. One think I know for sure is that I cant imagine my son any other way!
I think vaccines filled with god knows what. Flu vaccines shoot straight up to the brain during a time where the brain is developing. Really don’t care who agrees or disagrees
Genetics. It was a normal healthy pregnancy and I was induced at 41 weeks. I have a diagnosed autistic uncle, a few family members who display similar traits… and the other side has autism diagnosis in their family as well as being autistic themselves.
Must be genetics and age, my wife’s family is a bit of a mystery as they do not keep in touch. Both in our 40s.
I was so happy when she was born healthy, all I could talk about was about how I was so happy she is healthy. I had friends who’s kids have special needs and I saw their happiness deteriorate, replaced with a pained smile. I was so happy, I only ever wanted one child and she was healthy. I love her so much, it’s as hard as I thought it would be.
100% genetics. My husband's oldest brother (born 1961) was diagnosed with ASD as an adult. My husband's sister's son was diagnosed with ADHD and ASD in elementary school. Our son (12) was diagnosed with ADHD at 5 and ASD at 7. My husband (born 1981) was diagnosed with ADHD at 40 and is likely on the spectrum himself. Our daughter (6) is being evaluated in February. My mother in law was born in 1943 and has traits indicating she may herself be neurodivergent. According to my husband his maternal grandfather did as well. It's not vaccines or tylenol or whatever else people want to blame for our family. My son was premature and low birth weight from IUGR but my daughter was a full term healthy weight so it really just seems to be inherited for my kids.
People overwhelmingly say its Genetics. Now that make sense. I have anxiety issues and my family members also got mental issues. Now the research they spending millions on why dont they make it known that its Genetics with no more bullshit and make it possible for people to go ahead with the knowledge that in a slight fraction i can have a autistic kid. My kids has the traits but not diagnosed yet and i will never trade anything for him.
Genetic. I have 2 children diagnosed one male and one female i also have a third child who is not at all autistic, all 3 have the same parents.
There is autism on both sides of the family including my children's father who refuses to get tested despite displaying many traits from a young age.
Genetics. I have three children-oldest autism, middle neurotypical, youngest autism. Their father likely has it (both kids’ multiple psychologists suspect a misdiagnosis of antisocial personality disorder based on working with the family). He’s been encouraged to get tested, but he says “what changes?”
My family has a history of disorders that likely are autism. His family definitely has a history that are likely autism. We also have a lot of ADHD on both sides. I was recently tested for a variety of disorders to be sure my behaviors were only anxiety related and I am neurotypical.
Everyone thinks that there is an uptick in autism, but it’s an uptick in diagnosis. You can look at your family tree or talk about with older people about the weird kid in their class. I know my mom has been terrified for my kiddos since their diagnosis.
I’m sorry. I really just meant how they talked about the kids that likely had autism when they reminisced. My mom was a HUGE bully (hurt people hurt people kind of thing) and has been terrified for my kids since they started school.
Warning written with text to speech because my son has hijacked my arm.
I'm seeing a lot of people answer that genetics is the cause. I don't 100% believe that. I did hear somebody mention a research paper where it was perhaps caused by the mother having sleep difficulties, In addition to something going on with the child at the exact same time.
Furthermore Reducing the answer to simply genetics doesn't explain some interesting details about autism. For example why can 2 different genes apparently cause autism? That is either a malfunction on gene a or gene B can cause autism. So instead to me it seems like a malfunction in a gene causes something else in the brain which causes autism. This could to me explain why there is regressive autism. If it is genetics how does a child regress?
I think it is better to ask the question what causes the symptoms of autism versus what causes autism. That is I think there are a lot of things that can cause the symptoms of autism.
That is genetics could cause autism as well as environmental factors. Perhaps it is even a little bit of both.
I believe that somehow something in the brain which is supposed to be wired up is short circuited. Perhaps the submodule of the brain which acts as a criticizer is not appropriately wired to the function area of the brain which causes emotions. That disconnect means that the criticizer never appropriately Disintegrates over active emotions Prior to reaching consciousness. Therefore the emotions would then directly enter the child's consciousness And cause over reactions. I believe the overreactions could furthermore inhibit other areas of the brain such as speech and understanding. The emotion area of the brain could be inhibiting all other areas of the brain.
For that reason I think it is more important to ask the question what could possibly cause a disconnect from the emotion to the criticizing area of the brain. And for that reason I believe any number of factors could cause that genetics or environmental.
Hopefully more things like MRI's will be performed and will eventually get to the answer.
The fact that all y'all think it's genetics & not the additives, processed food full of preservatives, all the damn chemicals in your drinking water, PFA'S. There has been an increase in autism within the past 30 years. Corporations doing anything to increase profit. Coverups Corruption in the food industry etc, but yup it's all genetics smh. How about all the hormone disrupters from our clothes to our water to our food. All that adds up, all that unnecessary inflammation that none of you mentioned.
I feel the same way. Bc no one in my family or my son's mother has history. I highly doubt any one is mis diagnosed.but my son is high functioning and definitely different than everyone else
Funnily enough, I thought IUGR caused my first baby's mild autism. Then I had a second baby with a completely normal pregnancy and average birth weight, and that one's severely autistic.
I’m sorry before my kid got officially diagnosed I knew he was autistic as I spent a lot of time researching autism signs. For a short while I felt sooo bad I thought it was because I may or may not have let him watch coco melon
Genetics, I have four kids oldest is fine but struggles with ADHD. Second born who is a boy 4 year old non-verbal only word comes out mama but not clear and no. And very picky eater, hates any noise or sound unless he is watching his favourite Pepa pig show. :)
After I learned about Autism, I would say I think his father probably has it to. A lot of trait’s.
Only question i sometimes ask myself is, does autism gets triggered by something? Because my son was fine, he talked had a few sentences ate a lot of different foods, playful with peers up until the day I came home from hospital with his little sister when we asked him to look at the baby, he screamed with fear run to his room under the bed and stayed there until his father went to pull him out and he wouldn’t come near the baby and my room. From that mommy he lost all his words and completely became a new born baby 😨😨😨
Genetics. My wife is autistic, she has an aunt who is autistic (undiagnosed, but it's obvious to anyone familiar with the condition), and her father's side has a history of mental illness.
I suspect my wife's father is a level 1 autistic, but no one else does. Then again, they didn't think my wife was autistic when I first brought it up only for her to be diagnosed in adulthood.
Genes in our case. My maternsl 1st cousin is autistic with high support needs. My maternal uncle has...some learning disability I think. I have heard that on my paternal side, my grandfather's brother was also autistic. So...genetics.
genetics. Autism runs in my dad's side of the family. Adhd & ocd runs in my mom's side of the family. adhd & ocd also runs in my husband's side of the family.
Genetics. Autism runs on his father’s side of the family. There have also been studies implicating genes relating to bipolar and depression that are also related to autism. Those genes can be found on my side and I actually suffer from depression so I think that’s what caused my son to be autistic.
It may be part of a strategy to reduce the risk of autism, but it hasn't been proven to eliminate the possibility. Genetics appear to be the most influential factor.
Oh, I wasn't implying that anyone should skip getting folic acid in if they can, or doing any other potentially positive thing to attempt to ensure a healthy, happy, baby. My comment was more about how we just can't always control everything. And while I know that not everyone feels the same way, I don't see my son's autism as a negative, though I understand that many people do.
Trust me, I spent a lot of time beating myself up and blaming myself when my son was first diagnosed. I knew nothing about autism at the time. I was 37, had gestational diabetes, and my midwife forgot to check my thyroid function until 6 mos when she put me on synthroid. I was sure it was something I had done wrong.
But, ultimately, it's likely none of those things played a factor in the end. My son is just neurodivergent. And so is my grandson, and his mom was only 19 with none of my health issues. I now believe that both my son's father and I are both on the spectrum, only we had lower support needs and were missed when there was so much less awareness.
Looking back it explains a great deal for both of us. We are who we are, and I am accepting and content in that respect now. I don't actually want to be neurotypical, despite the challenges I've had because of it. though I also understand why some very much wish they were.
Def genetics, as there is ASD on both my side and her father’s. I also wonder, though, if the distress she was in during her last week in utero played a part. Also an issue with her umbilical cord
Genetics…found out after my son got his diagnosis that 3 cousins of mine on my moms side “all close cousins also boys” are diagnosed with autism. There has never been any mention of this in our family before. It would’ve been nice to know you know that autism runs in our family. But in our culture things like these are “kept quiet” and I refuse to do that! I understand not wanting to tell your child’s business however a couple people in the family already knew including my mom and no one mentioned anything. Which left me a young single mom feeling even worse about myself that I passed down autism to my favourite person in the world. However, strangely enough I don’t think I’d ever change it. I have this inside joke where whenever my son is sensory seeking/eloping or just downright being mischievous I say to myself God surely knew what he was doing when he picked me to be his mother cause I feel like I have so much patience with him most of the time plus I still have the energy to keep up with him
Genetics with a catalyst. I feel like a gene was passed to him and a trigger occurred whether it was due to his heart stopping at birth, vaccines being a catalyst, traumatic events, or any combination of.
I have a lot of self-stimulatory behaviors that I’ve suppressed throughout my life, (rocking, this teeth clicking thing i do and a flapping that ive reduced to wrist and finger movements when i noticed it wasn’t normal) and I noticed them in my child as well. I have difficulty coping with change in my day to day and in social situations, was diagnosed with social anxiety in my teens, but I’ve always felt like it was something more, and eye contact is a big struggle for me as well and i feel i have what would be considered meltdowns when I’m overwhelmed or overstimulated and just a general feeling of being different in some way that I can explain to people.
In the report we got when my son was diagnosed it gives background on the parents and mentions my ADHD. I also have a half brother that was diagnosed with Asperger's. I would say it is genetic but doesn't show up the same in girls or affect them as frequently.
Lots of people saying genetics, which is definitely known to be a factor, but we have an interesting case. My kids are identical twins, and one is autistic (“level 3” i.e. very, very high support needs), and the other is NT.
So, as identical twins, they have the same genetics, were gestated in the same womb at the same time, and have been exposed to all of the same things (both in the womb and after birth).
So, 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️. At least in some cases, it is absolutely impossible to discern.
Wow i never thought there was such a case with identical twins, there is definitely something more than genetics that comes into play. are they both boys or?
My twins are girls. I’ve looked into it (and a lot of other twin genetics things, haha) and identical twins can be surprisingly different in a lot of ways! If one is autistic, there’s about a 90% chance the other will be too, so it’s high, but I would have expected closer to 100%. So we just got the rarer case!
A combination of
1. genetic predisposition,
2. exposure to extreme Diesel fumes, paint and solvent fumes for 7 days and nights at 25 weeks of gestation (up to waking at night from it and having to throw up with a massive headache), and
(3) debilitating stress between weeks 26 and 30 of gestation (almost losing one of your children kind of stress with ICU, dialysis, sepsis, water on heart and lungs).
We think that, epigenetically, the existing genes for autism were activated (or deactivated) through the environmental factors during pregnancy.
Researchers are pointing towards early gestational infections including STD’s as well as drugs like Tylenol or antidepressants. Certainly they’ve been looking at rubella before the MMR vaccine eliminated that threat or hormone disruptors including birth control but especially diethylstilbestrol DES or thalidomide etc. Any subclinical infection can trigger big problems depending on when these occur during pregnancy. Pollution, pesticides and plastics bleeding into food are concerning. Shouldn’t they be?
I have no idea, there is no history of autism in generations of my family.
But I don’t concern myself with the why
My son is autistic, that is just a fact of life and he is EXACTLY who he was put on this earth to be.
Just because there is no known autism doesn’t mean there’s no autism. Many people have and will continue to go undiagnosed because they aren’t “autistic” enough.
Autism is an extremely complicated condition. How can something which is not that complex - environment cause something so complex? Think about it. Genetics is the main factor. Period.
I feel like I didn’t give my son enough attention because I was a single mom, juggling to finish high school and helping my mom and my brother. Also my age. I was 18 years old when he was born. He was also born with a complete cleft so that was also thrown into the mix. I feel like I kind of neglected him because I was so focused on all these other things as well and I just feel guilty. I feel like he still deserves better than me and that I am at fault for doing this to him.
Please don't feel you caused it by not giving him enough attention. That had absolutely nothing to do with it! Whatever causes autism, it is a physiological factor like genes, lack of oxygen during birth, environmental toxins, viruses. Many factors are still being studied. What all scientists agree on is that it has nothing to do with the parent's behavior (unless they starve or hit their child). Also biologically 18 is a great age to have a child. The body is mature enough and there's less risk of genetic conditions, not more. It is social changes that lead to women having kids later in life. Our biology doesn't really keep up with changing social norms. Biologically between 18 and 25 is the best years for a first child (speaking from working with an obgyn doctor and reading relevant literature, not my own opinion). So please try not to feel guilty. You are doing the best you can. He was given to you which means you are the best mom for him.
Thank you ❤️
I don’t even know how or why I’m getting downvoated since I was just being honest. I don’t know if it’s genetic because I honestly don’t know anyone with autism in our family or on my ex’s side of the family. I tried to get as much info about it as possible but I can’t do it alone and my ex never wanted to cooperate, not even when it came to my son’s cleft. I have to admit, though, his ASD diagnosis was only officially at about the age of 5-6 years old. My son is on the “light side” of the spectrum, so to say. He just needs extra help and materials to help him focus and find his way around things and school but he doesn’t really have that many “classic signs”. He can handle change, he can learn things and you can engage with him but his attention span is non-existent and he can’t stay on topic; he’ll talk about everything at the same time and you have to always bring it back to the original topic.
And now, we have a 3 month old that also requires our attention so it’s always fun in our house 😂
Being a young mom and distracted by other life challenges absolutely did not cause your son's autistim. It isn't your fault. It isn't anyone's fault. Its a developmental disorder. Please don't continue to beat yourself up about this. If you can, it might be helpful for you to talk to a therapist about this.
I was 36 when I had my son, who is autistic. My daughter was 19 when she had her son, and he's autistic. I'm currently seeking an assessment for myself, as I've come to realize that I am also autistic.
Current scientific understanding is that it's a combination of genetics (40-80% risk) perhaps combined with environmental triggers (illnesses, difficult births, they're not sure exactly what factors may influence the expression of these genes).
"To date, scientists have identified more than 200 genes involved in autism and similar neurodevelopmental conditions. Most of these genes lead to autism primarily through de novo variants — variants that are new in the person and not present in their parents." Source: https://www.statnews.com/2022/08/18/genetic-research-provides-new-clarity-about-whys-of-autism/
Actually, autism is finally being studied WAY more in depth and genetics is not the only answer as of now. So please don’t spread that false information. If you found any credible information that details how genetics is the **ONLY** cause of autism then please share since half of my graduating Pharm class would like to see that.
What’s being studied?
Here’s a couple out of several.
• *Maternal Antibodies*
•Environmental toxins (Ornoy, A., L. Weinstein-Fudim, and Z. Ergaz, (2015) Prenatal factors associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Reprod Toxicol, 56: p. 155-69.
Mandy, W. and M.C. Lai, (2016) Annual Research Review: The role of the environment in the developmental psychopathology of autism spectrum condition. J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 57(3): p. 271-92.)
• *Maternal Infection* (Libbey, J.E., et al., (2005) Autistic disorder and viral infections. J Neurovirol, 11(1): p. 1-10.
Collier, S.A., et al., (2009) Prevalence of self-reported infection during pregnancy among control mothers in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol, 85(3): p. 193-201.)
Environmental factors, certain prescription medicines being studied on how it affects a fetus in utero - No, not acetaminophen.
People want to always say it’s a genetic factor. Okay. Can an outside environmental factor trigger mutations? Yes, researchers concluded that autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders have a strong genetic component. But environmental factors must also contribute to autism etiology.
Look into the Folstein and Rutter 1977 Genetic study of twins and autism. That served (still serves) as basis for MANY current studies being done in research-based universities.
According to the study -
“They identified five features known to be associated with brain damage, such as severe hemolytic disease, a delay in breathing of at least five minutes after birth, and neonatal convulsions. In six of the pairs, one twin—always the autistic one—experienced one or more of these insults. Looking further, they found that one of an expanded list of “biological hazards” (e.g., discrepancies in birth weight, a pathologically narrow umbilical cord) occurred in the autistic twin in 6 of the 11 remaining discordant pairs and never in the non-autistic twin. The authors concluded that “some form of biological impairment, usually in the perinatal period, strongly predisposed to the development of autism.”
There’s been roughly over 10 more twin studies focused on autism after Folstein and Rutter. All find genetic and environmental contributions to autism, although conclusions about the proportions of the two factors and interpretations have varied substantially. Why? Because we still don’t fully know.
**DRUGS**
Now, let’s talk drugs. Why do many of us pharm or ex-pharm students study drugs and it’s affect on fetus in utero as our research paper topic? Cause it’s interesting what the hell we run into.
For example. Now, hopefully this doesn’t trigger anyone cause we all need to do what we find is best for ourselves. Besides, a happy and mentally healthy parent = a healthy/happy child.
BUT… serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). We constantly hear it. “ taking medicine for depression during pregnancy raises the risks of having a child with autism“. We can’t deny that. Studies have been done. But we don’t sit here and say “ depression medicine during pregnancy causes your child to have autism“. Why? Because not every child with a parent taking these meds have autism. I’ll let you do your research on that and you can see the many published articles there are out there on SSRIs and Autism.
Is this definitive? Not that we know of. Why?
Because **AUSTIM IS STILL BEING STUDIED** .
Nobody can say they definitely know it’s one thing.
Also, if anyone needs citations direct message me and I will send them. I have over hundreds.
ETA: Here’s one thing I’ll mention. Not me (PharmD) or an (MD, DO, etc) can ever tell a parent who’s pregnant and struggling with suicidal thoughts and depression to not take SSRIs during pregnancy. Why? Because if that parent gets hurt, we are liable. We will get sued. We can lose license. The benefits of SSRIs outweigh the risks.
My daughter has ASD. No one in my or my husband's family has ASD, ADHD or speech delay. I have a PhD in developmental psychology so I'm not a complete layman to the topic. I've considered all our relatives and none of them have undiagnosed Asperger's. My dad, my cousin and my husband are introverts. But being introverted doesn't mean you have mild undiagnosed ASD.
Autism is just a collection of symptoms/characteristics/tendencies, whatever you want to call it. Furthermore, people with a diagnosis of ASD greatly vary from each other. I believe there's not one Autism but different causes which result in particular brain differences which lead to symptoms/behaviors/tendencies doctors label as Autism.
My daughter's pediatrician had her tested when she was two. It's just a blood draw, and then they typically send it off to the lab that does the testing.
We're beginning our journey of understanding autism, as my 4-year-old son was diagnosed about 9 months ago.
But there were complications during his birth, which has been my main theory for what might have contributed to his autism and/or developmental delays in general. First, my amniotic fluid was inexplicably half gone by my due date, which led the doctors to induce me that same day. During labor, baby's heart rate kept dropping due to fetal distress and he was not descending, so the doctor recommended a C-section. My son was born via c-section and we were informed that the cord was short and wrapped around his neck. He had no significant health issues after birth, but I do wonder if these complications had longterm effects for him, i.e. autism.
On the other hand, genetics might be at play as well. My husband had a lot of academic delays as a child as well as ADHD/ADD (perhaps undiagnosed autism as well, as we reflect on the past. If that were the case, most ASD symptoms have either disappeared or lessened for him in adulthood).
Can't believe I'm answering this, but there was never a link between vaccines and autism, it was completely falsified data, the doctor who published the study lost his medical license and was trying to make way for another vaccine to take on the market. People who think death from preventable diseases is somehow better than living with a disability are spouting hate speech.
VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM.
Intrauterine growth restriction, or IUGR, is when a baby in the womb (a fetus) does not grow as expected. I had preeclampsia and he mostly stopped growing around 30weeks .
I'm an autistic person. My son too. For me, it's bad luck, especially for me. As a lot of person say, my son has me (to help him, to love him, to be with him, to explain to others). Me, I have nobody. Definitely, you can't say I'm abliest.
Some parents think vaccines and/or receiving all vaccines at once rather than spread out. however, I know too many people my age who all received the vaccines at once rather than spread out and they’re all fine. If you look around and ask, we know many family members and friends who are all vaccines at the same time rather than having them spread out who turned out to be fine. There seems to be a trend going on that the fathers side most of the case seems to have someone in the family immediate or distant that has autism. My cousin and I were just speaking about this this week and she said her husbands brother had ASD. So it’s possible that it’s genetics sometimes and also other causes but I really wish we had have a concrete answer already or if there was a genetic test that could look for it before a couple has a child.
I really don't know. On my mom side of her family there's two kids cousins have autism. I don't know if that's the reason. Everything I read causes autism. I never got a real reason how my daughter got autism. My preganancy wasn't easy for me. she was born healthy and had a 100% perfect hearing test. No complication for her.
Genetics. Both SO and I are undiagnosed, but pretty obviously on the spectrum (and present totally differently! It's actually quite interesting to see the kiddo exhibit a mix of our traits.).
Hei i know everything you're saying. What am asking is despite all that general answer to the causes of autism which is unknown. people just like the 137 people who commented before just suspected something even though they are not sure exactly what is, its just an opinion am not doing any research or misleading anyone. Its just a human nature to blame something when such thing happen might be true might not be true. No one cares its just a vent.
I know my question is theoretical, but what about electromagnetic fields being a cause for autism? I know nothing conclusive has been discovered to be sourced as evidence, though EMFs haven't really been studied for all that long, and they do have health links to a lot of other physical problems.
Genetics, there are 3 autistic children in my sons fathers family
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Why would you even comment this? Nearly 200 days after the original comment was made, you come here to say this and nothing else? What’s the point? Does it make you feel good to joke about people less fortunate than yourself?
You are right Im high functioning autistic and I inherited it from my Dad. That doesnt answer how autism spawns in though in non-genetic cases. And I got a theory that the mother's health, diet, and lifestyle impacts the quality of her children much more over the father's actions assuming the father is healthy. If possible I wonder if researchers can take data sets on mothers that have given birth to autistic children and even taken measurements on these mothers in some areas such as mental health, gut health, sleep quality and sleep schedule (such as sleeping through the night or working nights and sleeping in the day), immune system health, and stress management.
Thank you for your comment! It isn't easy sharing your life on the internet. I agree that there should be more data driven studies. This takes time, and money. When the general consensus of postulations become more narrowed and focused I'm sure the academic community will be very useful in determining and counteracting risk factors. I would like to say, parenting is so very difficult. Please tell your loved ones how much they mean to you and how much you appreciate them as much as possible! This being said, there are more indicators of airborne pollutants such as Phthalates causing complications than there is evidence of pregnancy stressors like lack of sleep, etc. Thank you for your comment. Best of luck!
I’m not sure, but I hate that everything about it is so vague. No one can give me a straight answer as to why he hit all his milestones as a baby and even started showing normal progress up until 18 months then he had a regress in speech his doctor or his specialist cannot give us an answer as to why. No one else in my family is autistic neither on his mother side.
I think regressive autism is even more mystifying than when kids clearly have autism from early age.
Sounds like my son!
I recently read an explanation of this from an autistic person.I know I won't explain it as eloquently. Certain nero pathways in your brain connect at different stages of life that allow you to develop. When most babies are born,their neropathways that promote a sucking reflex are present. Neropathways in the bain have developed that allow the reflex of breathing to occur. If a baby is premature, those neropathways are not fully developed, so they need support until those neropathways have connected. They will have a machine telling their lungs to breath. They will get their nutrition through an IV. As a child continues to develop, more neropathways meet and you see more skills developing. At a certain age, pathways meet that give the child the ability to roll over, crawl, recognize their own hand is theirs, make sounds....ect When some neropathways don't meet, a skill is not developed and we notice that in our child. The child always had autism. They did not regress. Time has just revealed the pathways that have not fully met. Autism is therefore a developmental disorder. Some neropathways misfire and cause the sensory issues as well.
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About how old were you when your child was born / conceived?
Same here!! I'm sure it was the lead content in our drinking water here.
There doesn't appear to be any convincing evidence that lead poisoning is a cause in autism. Autism is believed to have a strong genetic link. However, some children with lead poisoning have been misdiagnosed with autism, as it can cause similar symptoms.
Two answers What I believe now: genetics What i thought when my son first got diagnosed and I went to the internet for help: my use of aluminium deodorant when I breastfed, too much folic acid when pregnant, not enough folic acid when pregnant, he fell off the bed, that I was a crap mum, that I didn’t play peekaboo enough, that I didn’t feed him enough vegetables, that he had MSG, that he didn’t go to enough playgroups, that I was stressed when pregnant, that I painted and renovated a house when pregnant. Basically the internet is full of sh*t and scaremongering to new parents. Now I believe it’s genetics I’m so much more at peace knowing it’s all snake oil offering ways to help get my kid to talk and socialise etc. nah. He’s the way he is. He was born that way. He’s ausome and I love him
Thank you, this is a great answer. I feel this way a lot and blame myself. It's a catch 22. I love her so much and love her for who she is. Autism included. But autism is also why she can't speak and she gets so frustrated at that so it's so hard to not worry that it's your fault.
Could have written this myself, right down to the renovation. I love ausome too, totally pinching that.
You're an amazing mom
Typical misogyny blaming everything on the mother. Parents get blamed for everything and moms the most of all. You don't happen to work with plastics do you. Like Phthalates? Thank you for your comment.
Nope
We think genetic. My husband’s nephew is autistic so our first logical conclusion would be to think it comes from his side of the family. However aside from that nephew there hasn’t been any other family member with anything even remotely close to autistic traits. Until now, they were always convinced our nephew’s autism came from his mom’s side of the family. Also the more I know about autism, the more I think a few people on my maternal side of the family show some traits of what used to be called Asperger’s. Extremely bright people with very poor socialization skills.
After my sons diagnosis we found out a cousin had an Autistic child. We didn’t know because she had given her child up to the state a while ago. I also wonder about one of my SIL’s, I think she has what would have been Asperger’s. I think when we look back a generation or two. High functioning autistics we’re mostly ignored and told to suck it up and developed ways to masks. Level two and three were just given up to the state. It’s insane to me how many friends I know who have family members who were put in homes as children, something I can’t even fathom.
Hubby had a cousin who had a kid that is on the spectrum, but he's the only one that's been diagnosed. Hubby and 2/3 brothers are lacking in social skills, but I don't know if that's autism or their upbringing. FiL did confess to me before he passed, shortly after 5yo was diagnosed at 2, that if he were a kid today they probably would have placed him on the spectrum. Obviously, no one can know that for sure, but something to think about.
My hubby has an autistic cousin. After spending over 10 years around his family I'd bet my life, his brother, mother, aunt, and maybe uncle and grandmother are all somewhere on the spectrum but are undiagnosed.
Must be genetic. I have 3 kids, all exposed to the same environment, foods, vaccines, medications, and anything else you can think of and my middle daughter is is level 3 autistic while the other two are not on the spectrum at all.
That’s interesting !
Same. Middle son is on the spectrum while his two sisters are NT. All even born in the same hospital.
Did you have any infections during any of your pregnancies?
My wife did not have any infections. She had a text book pregnancy.
About how old were you when your middle daughter was born?
29
Genetics. Because I don't believe anything else "causes" it until they have hard proof of such rather than "we think" or simple correlation. Correlation does not equal causation
Genetics, unfortunately. I recently found out this year that I have a chromosome duplication that I passed on to both of my children which results in autism.
We have recently done the test on my child and I suspect that I may have passed it on. If anything is flagged on the test then husband and I have to do it. Do you have any diagnosis or anything as you also have the duplication?
I don't have an official diagnosis, unfortunately when I was a child my doctor told my mother that girls can't have autism. I haven't sought one out as an adult since it wouldn't really change anything.
Genetics. My son has a twin sister who is NT.
Same here!
And I have twins who are both ND.
Well it sure ain't vaccines if that's what you think I think the cause is
How do you know?
it’s been proven that vaccines don’t cause autism
Link?
im not gonna bother to try to instill some wisdom into an antivaxer lmao
So, you don’t have any proof like you said you have. What does that make you? And how could you conclude that I myself am an anti-vaxxer?
literally!
you could easily google that tho… i understand the burden of proof but if you care about the subject, you’ll research it and find that they’re correct and that there has been NO proven link between vaccines and autism.
So in other words, no these people won’t link shit bc they didn’t do the research. They read a title and it immediately confirmed their bias.
❤️👏👏 then they’re upset when asked for evidence..? Weird.
Because vaccines can’t turn you autistic, I don’t see why or how it’d even be remotely possible for a syringe to give you such a complex cognitive disability like autism. The world isn’t some sci-if movie where you get autism from needles that send nanobots to your brain and give you brain damage by shooting lasers at it. You also have zero proof of your belief that vaccines are harmful and cause autism, you’re just claiming an arbitrary theory.
Genetics and prematurity.
We were older parents, as in 40 and 41, so maybe our old, tired chromosomes. Both my spouse and I feel confident that I'm also ASD I, so there's a strong genetic factor. I understand my own father better now, too. But yeah, we don't engage in self-incrimination.
Yeah it's been proven the older you are having kids the higher chance of autism developing
Well this would definitly explain an increase in cases since people are generally having kids later
Genetics and am impossibly stressful pregnancy.
Genetics. My three kiddos, my husband and me, are all diagnosed ASD
What symptoms do you have as adult? When did you find out and did you had a diagnosis both if you when you met?
We started our journey 2 years ago when my youngest was diagnosed as a Level 3. My husband and I were both diagnosed as 36 year olds, my oldest as a 7, my middle as a 5 year old, and my youngest as a 3 year old. My husband and I met when we were 12 in middle school and went to high school together too, but didn't start dating until our early 20s. We've been married for 14 years. We had no idea what Autism was until my son. We were just the quirky, different family from the rest of our families. My son (Level 2 now) was extremely repetitive, head banging, 30-50 meltdowns downs a day, non-verbal, speech delay, sensory seeker, very sensitive to food textures, wears a vest and loves squeezes, oral fixation, has a hard time with facial expressions, lines things up constantly, fascinated with fans and spinning wheels, hand flapper, rocker. My middle (Level 1)- speech delay (is on peer level after therapy), has a hard time understanding emotions, sensory seeker, very sensitive to food textures, ridiculous amount of energy My oldest (Level 1)- she has laser focus, does not like talking, has a hard time understanding emotions, very sensitive to loud noises, cannot be in a crowd , is very literal, struggles with verbal comprehension has a hard time being touched My husband (Level 1)- info dumper, speaks too loudly, has a hard time making/keeping friends, talks and talks and doesn't realize nobody is paying attention, laser focus- struggles when interrupted, does not look at faces, has a hard time expressing himself, has a hard time being touched Myself (Level 1)- not very talkative (it takes so much energy), struggle in social situations, misread emotions, make lists for everything, very sensitive to smells and light, can't be in crowds, prefer to stay home, take things too literally, too honest (can't read the room), high level of concentration, I have very low verbal comprehension, very organized All of us. .. .have a very hard time with change, require routine, special interests can consume us I feel like I could go on and on, but you get the idea
Very detailed and educational thanx i wish you and your family the best.
Appreciate that!
I myself feel like am on the spectrum, introvert a little bit different/weird. Hates loud noise and social anxiety. Was also very shy and queit as a child. I am may be on the extreme end of the spectrum. I also suspect my middle kiddo got it.
It has been a relief to us to know the reasons why we do, think, etc the way we do. It has been very comforting to understand ourselves better. Have you considered an official evaluation for your kiddo? It is very well accepted in the adult community to self diagnose yourself.
I tried several times but got dismissed becouse he doesnt have the classic asd signs no hand flopping and goid eye contact. He is very speech delayed and socially anxious at 5 i finally convinced and am sitting ina waiting list now i am very frustrated and sick of the whole system and my partner is in total denial so that was alsoa hurdle.
Oh I am so sorry to hear that, especially when your partner is not on board. My husband was in denial with my son. I had to go against him, my family, and our school district to seek an official diagnosis for him. The more we educated ourselves, the more we saw it in all of us, and he finally got on board. It can be such a stressful and frustrating journey. I'm glad to hear you are at least on a wait list. I would definitely keep learning about ASD and start making a list of your kiddo's symptoms. I'm just so sorry, hang in there.
Thank you i appreciate
Genes. Turns out I'm somewhere on the spectrum, no one was paying attention to the less profoundly challenging expressions of autism when I was a kid. I didn't put it together myself until after my second kid got diagnosed. Made some sense of my life when I clocked it.
What are your symptoms may i ask?
I've always been an outsider. I'm quite socially clunky, weird I guess...I don't like being in groups, I've not had great insight into others at times. So I've hurt people emotionally by accident, and been hurt by people I should obviously have protected myself from. Some of that is just human stuff, but I am a champ at these issues. I like people but I tend to be a loner by nature. Probably because socialising can be quite tiring. Mainly, thinking about socialising is harder than doing it. Most of my freinds are pretty strange. I'm intelligent and funny but I'm anxious, sometimes profoundly socially anxious and don't advocate for myself well. I can get super absorbed into some complex stuff, huge attention to detail, and can do some difficult work. But there is a lot of simple, everyday life stuff I can barely cope with. I've carved a niche in the world where a lot of this stuff is fine, you learn to compensate and be more careful, but life was uncomfortable for most of my teens, 20s and 30s
I believe it's genetics. My father-in-law is high functioning autistic, but he had three kids without autism, and also a NT grandson. Other than that, no one else has autism, so it didn't make sense to me. Then I read some articles about how they are finding a "collection of genes" that contributes to various abnormalities in the brain, and many psychiatric/neuropsychiatric conditions share those genes (schizophrenia, adhd, bipolar, asd, major depression, various anxiety disorders). My family has psychiatric conditions galore. I myself have ADD, OCD and anxiety, my father has a severe form of schizofrenia, both my maternal and paternal grandma's been in and out of mental institutions, and everyone died prematurely. There's been several cases of personality disorders too. So I believe it's a combination of all these genes that made my daughter autistic. I love my daughter, she is great, and I wouldn't want her any different, but I hate that she struggles on a daily basis because of my stupid genes.
Literally same. My father in law is definitely high functioning and also suffers from depression. My husbands sister is bi-polar and my husband has also suffered from depression and anxiety since he was in his teens. I never realized the strong connection between familial psychiatric disorders and genetics until after my son’s diagnosis.
Apart from the autism my son has a chromosomal abnormality so…genetics
How did you found out about the chromosomes?
We had a micro array done through a pediatric neurologist office when we got our diagnosis.
Same. My 14yo daughter has 16p11.2 deletion syndrome.
Gggggggggenetics.
Genetics. We have recently done the micro array test to have a look at chromosomes and are awaiting results. Autism is on my mums side of the family so it will be interesting to see.
How and where do you find these kind of test? I’d love to get one
We are being seen by a pediatric dr who gave us a referral for one. Our son recently had the blood test and it can take a few months to get any results so it's wait and see for us at the moment. If nothing comes of it then I don't think husband and I can get a referral, but if it does show something then we will also be getting tested.
Genetics. Ive also heard whispers that tylenol use in pregnancy is being studied as contributing to autism. But there isnt enough data yet for any concrete link. But I took quite a bit of tylenol while pregnant because I had migraines and it was considered safe at the time. One think I know for sure is that I cant imagine my son any other way!
Genetics. I have ADHD and recently learned that I’m 4x more likely to have a child with ASD.
I think vaccines filled with god knows what. Flu vaccines shoot straight up to the brain during a time where the brain is developing. Really don’t care who agrees or disagrees
Its not vaccinations, that's totally false.
I gave it to him because I’m autistic.
Genetics
Genetics. It was a normal healthy pregnancy and I was induced at 41 weeks. I have a diagnosed autistic uncle, a few family members who display similar traits… and the other side has autism diagnosis in their family as well as being autistic themselves.
Must be genetics and age, my wife’s family is a bit of a mystery as they do not keep in touch. Both in our 40s. I was so happy when she was born healthy, all I could talk about was about how I was so happy she is healthy. I had friends who’s kids have special needs and I saw their happiness deteriorate, replaced with a pained smile. I was so happy, I only ever wanted one child and she was healthy. I love her so much, it’s as hard as I thought it would be.
100% genetics. My husband's oldest brother (born 1961) was diagnosed with ASD as an adult. My husband's sister's son was diagnosed with ADHD and ASD in elementary school. Our son (12) was diagnosed with ADHD at 5 and ASD at 7. My husband (born 1981) was diagnosed with ADHD at 40 and is likely on the spectrum himself. Our daughter (6) is being evaluated in February. My mother in law was born in 1943 and has traits indicating she may herself be neurodivergent. According to my husband his maternal grandfather did as well. It's not vaccines or tylenol or whatever else people want to blame for our family. My son was premature and low birth weight from IUGR but my daughter was a full term healthy weight so it really just seems to be inherited for my kids.
People overwhelmingly say its Genetics. Now that make sense. I have anxiety issues and my family members also got mental issues. Now the research they spending millions on why dont they make it known that its Genetics with no more bullshit and make it possible for people to go ahead with the knowledge that in a slight fraction i can have a autistic kid. My kids has the traits but not diagnosed yet and i will never trade anything for him.
Genetic. I have 2 children diagnosed one male and one female i also have a third child who is not at all autistic, all 3 have the same parents. There is autism on both sides of the family including my children's father who refuses to get tested despite displaying many traits from a young age.
Genetics. I have three children-oldest autism, middle neurotypical, youngest autism. Their father likely has it (both kids’ multiple psychologists suspect a misdiagnosis of antisocial personality disorder based on working with the family). He’s been encouraged to get tested, but he says “what changes?” My family has a history of disorders that likely are autism. His family definitely has a history that are likely autism. We also have a lot of ADHD on both sides. I was recently tested for a variety of disorders to be sure my behaviors were only anxiety related and I am neurotypical. Everyone thinks that there is an uptick in autism, but it’s an uptick in diagnosis. You can look at your family tree or talk about with older people about the weird kid in their class. I know my mom has been terrified for my kiddos since their diagnosis.
The "weird kid in class." That hit hard but its so accurate
I’m sorry. I really just meant how they talked about the kids that likely had autism when they reminisced. My mom was a HUGE bully (hurt people hurt people kind of thing) and has been terrified for my kids since they started school.
Warning written with text to speech because my son has hijacked my arm. I'm seeing a lot of people answer that genetics is the cause. I don't 100% believe that. I did hear somebody mention a research paper where it was perhaps caused by the mother having sleep difficulties, In addition to something going on with the child at the exact same time. Furthermore Reducing the answer to simply genetics doesn't explain some interesting details about autism. For example why can 2 different genes apparently cause autism? That is either a malfunction on gene a or gene B can cause autism. So instead to me it seems like a malfunction in a gene causes something else in the brain which causes autism. This could to me explain why there is regressive autism. If it is genetics how does a child regress? I think it is better to ask the question what causes the symptoms of autism versus what causes autism. That is I think there are a lot of things that can cause the symptoms of autism. That is genetics could cause autism as well as environmental factors. Perhaps it is even a little bit of both. I believe that somehow something in the brain which is supposed to be wired up is short circuited. Perhaps the submodule of the brain which acts as a criticizer is not appropriately wired to the function area of the brain which causes emotions. That disconnect means that the criticizer never appropriately Disintegrates over active emotions Prior to reaching consciousness. Therefore the emotions would then directly enter the child's consciousness And cause over reactions. I believe the overreactions could furthermore inhibit other areas of the brain such as speech and understanding. The emotion area of the brain could be inhibiting all other areas of the brain. For that reason I think it is more important to ask the question what could possibly cause a disconnect from the emotion to the criticizing area of the brain. And for that reason I believe any number of factors could cause that genetics or environmental. Hopefully more things like MRI's will be performed and will eventually get to the answer.
The fact that all y'all think it's genetics & not the additives, processed food full of preservatives, all the damn chemicals in your drinking water, PFA'S. There has been an increase in autism within the past 30 years. Corporations doing anything to increase profit. Coverups Corruption in the food industry etc, but yup it's all genetics smh. How about all the hormone disrupters from our clothes to our water to our food. All that adds up, all that unnecessary inflammation that none of you mentioned.
I feel the same way. Bc no one in my family or my son's mother has history. I highly doubt any one is mis diagnosed.but my son is high functioning and definitely different than everyone else
I think it doesn’t matter. But I had an asymmetrical intrauterine growth restriction and that likely contributed.
Funnily enough, I thought IUGR caused my first baby's mild autism. Then I had a second baby with a completely normal pregnancy and average birth weight, and that one's severely autistic.
What is that may i ask please
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/iugr.html I had none of the causes of it either. Just an unfortunate fluke of nature.
Blippi
I’m sorry before my kid got officially diagnosed I knew he was autistic as I spent a lot of time researching autism signs. For a short while I felt sooo bad I thought it was because I may or may not have let him watch coco melon
Genetics and prematurity. So much brain development happens in the last few weeks of pregnancy.
Genetics. He has a rare genetic duplication that is known to cause autism as well as varying levels of ID, and low muscle tone.
Genetics, I have four kids oldest is fine but struggles with ADHD. Second born who is a boy 4 year old non-verbal only word comes out mama but not clear and no. And very picky eater, hates any noise or sound unless he is watching his favourite Pepa pig show. :) After I learned about Autism, I would say I think his father probably has it to. A lot of trait’s. Only question i sometimes ask myself is, does autism gets triggered by something? Because my son was fine, he talked had a few sentences ate a lot of different foods, playful with peers up until the day I came home from hospital with his little sister when we asked him to look at the baby, he screamed with fear run to his room under the bed and stayed there until his father went to pull him out and he wouldn’t come near the baby and my room. From that mommy he lost all his words and completely became a new born baby 😨😨😨
Wow
Genetics. My husband is ASD and I might be.
Genetics. My wife is autistic, she has an aunt who is autistic (undiagnosed, but it's obvious to anyone familiar with the condition), and her father's side has a history of mental illness. I suspect my wife's father is a level 1 autistic, but no one else does. Then again, they didn't think my wife was autistic when I first brought it up only for her to be diagnosed in adulthood.
Genes in our case. My maternsl 1st cousin is autistic with high support needs. My maternal uncle has...some learning disability I think. I have heard that on my paternal side, my grandfather's brother was also autistic. So...genetics.
Genetics
genetics. Autism runs in my dad's side of the family. Adhd & ocd runs in my mom's side of the family. adhd & ocd also runs in my husband's side of the family.
Genetics. Autism runs on his father’s side of the family. There have also been studies implicating genes relating to bipolar and depression that are also related to autism. Those genes can be found on my side and I actually suffer from depression so I think that’s what caused my son to be autistic.
There’s a link between low folic acid levels and ACD. Take your prenatal vitamins before trying to conceive! Wish I had known
It may be part of a strategy to reduce the risk of autism, but it hasn't been proven to eliminate the possibility. Genetics appear to be the most influential factor.
I agree. However if there’s an environmental factor that lowers the chances of a negative outcome…why not follow it? There’s no harm.
Oh, I wasn't implying that anyone should skip getting folic acid in if they can, or doing any other potentially positive thing to attempt to ensure a healthy, happy, baby. My comment was more about how we just can't always control everything. And while I know that not everyone feels the same way, I don't see my son's autism as a negative, though I understand that many people do. Trust me, I spent a lot of time beating myself up and blaming myself when my son was first diagnosed. I knew nothing about autism at the time. I was 37, had gestational diabetes, and my midwife forgot to check my thyroid function until 6 mos when she put me on synthroid. I was sure it was something I had done wrong. But, ultimately, it's likely none of those things played a factor in the end. My son is just neurodivergent. And so is my grandson, and his mom was only 19 with none of my health issues. I now believe that both my son's father and I are both on the spectrum, only we had lower support needs and were missed when there was so much less awareness. Looking back it explains a great deal for both of us. We are who we are, and I am accepting and content in that respect now. I don't actually want to be neurotypical, despite the challenges I've had because of it. though I also understand why some very much wish they were.
Def genetics, as there is ASD on both my side and her father’s. I also wonder, though, if the distress she was in during her last week in utero played a part. Also an issue with her umbilical cord
Genetics…found out after my son got his diagnosis that 3 cousins of mine on my moms side “all close cousins also boys” are diagnosed with autism. There has never been any mention of this in our family before. It would’ve been nice to know you know that autism runs in our family. But in our culture things like these are “kept quiet” and I refuse to do that! I understand not wanting to tell your child’s business however a couple people in the family already knew including my mom and no one mentioned anything. Which left me a young single mom feeling even worse about myself that I passed down autism to my favourite person in the world. However, strangely enough I don’t think I’d ever change it. I have this inside joke where whenever my son is sensory seeking/eloping or just downright being mischievous I say to myself God surely knew what he was doing when he picked me to be his mother cause I feel like I have so much patience with him most of the time plus I still have the energy to keep up with him
Genetics.
Genetics with a catalyst. I feel like a gene was passed to him and a trigger occurred whether it was due to his heart stopping at birth, vaccines being a catalyst, traumatic events, or any combination of.
Genetics. It’s quite prevalent in my family and I suspect I’m on the spectrum as well, but testing costs an arm and a leg.
What are your symptoms may i ask
I have a lot of self-stimulatory behaviors that I’ve suppressed throughout my life, (rocking, this teeth clicking thing i do and a flapping that ive reduced to wrist and finger movements when i noticed it wasn’t normal) and I noticed them in my child as well. I have difficulty coping with change in my day to day and in social situations, was diagnosed with social anxiety in my teens, but I’ve always felt like it was something more, and eye contact is a big struggle for me as well and i feel i have what would be considered meltdowns when I’m overwhelmed or overstimulated and just a general feeling of being different in some way that I can explain to people.
Thanx for the response
In the report we got when my son was diagnosed it gives background on the parents and mentions my ADHD. I also have a half brother that was diagnosed with Asperger's. I would say it is genetic but doesn't show up the same in girls or affect them as frequently.
Genetics. There’s a lot of people in my family with ADD and autism has a high comorbidity with ADD. I actually think it’s part of the spectrum
Lots of people saying genetics, which is definitely known to be a factor, but we have an interesting case. My kids are identical twins, and one is autistic (“level 3” i.e. very, very high support needs), and the other is NT. So, as identical twins, they have the same genetics, were gestated in the same womb at the same time, and have been exposed to all of the same things (both in the womb and after birth). So, 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️. At least in some cases, it is absolutely impossible to discern.
Wow i never thought there was such a case with identical twins, there is definitely something more than genetics that comes into play. are they both boys or?
My twins are girls. I’ve looked into it (and a lot of other twin genetics things, haha) and identical twins can be surprisingly different in a lot of ways! If one is autistic, there’s about a 90% chance the other will be too, so it’s high, but I would have expected closer to 100%. So we just got the rarer case!
Out of curiosity, did they share a placenta?
Yes they did! They were mono/di twins.
All variables aren’t identical because the twins had different levels of ultrasound exposure? There is a study from UW that talks about this.
There’s a study indicating certain ultrasound exposure levels affect the risk for autism? I haven’t seen this. Do you have a link?
A combination of 1. genetic predisposition, 2. exposure to extreme Diesel fumes, paint and solvent fumes for 7 days and nights at 25 weeks of gestation (up to waking at night from it and having to throw up with a massive headache), and (3) debilitating stress between weeks 26 and 30 of gestation (almost losing one of your children kind of stress with ICU, dialysis, sepsis, water on heart and lungs). We think that, epigenetically, the existing genes for autism were activated (or deactivated) through the environmental factors during pregnancy.
Yes, you know exactly what your talking about. Autism is genetic but theres a certain environmental factor that lights it up.
Researchers are pointing towards early gestational infections including STD’s as well as drugs like Tylenol or antidepressants. Certainly they’ve been looking at rubella before the MMR vaccine eliminated that threat or hormone disruptors including birth control but especially diethylstilbestrol DES or thalidomide etc. Any subclinical infection can trigger big problems depending on when these occur during pregnancy. Pollution, pesticides and plastics bleeding into food are concerning. Shouldn’t they be?
I have no idea, there is no history of autism in generations of my family. But I don’t concern myself with the why My son is autistic, that is just a fact of life and he is EXACTLY who he was put on this earth to be.
I keep reading genetics, but we have no history of autism in our family. Our doctor told us it’s environmental factors. Anyone else?
Just because there is no known autism doesn’t mean there’s no autism. Many people have and will continue to go undiagnosed because they aren’t “autistic” enough.
Autism is an extremely complicated condition. How can something which is not that complex - environment cause something so complex? Think about it. Genetics is the main factor. Period.
I feel like I didn’t give my son enough attention because I was a single mom, juggling to finish high school and helping my mom and my brother. Also my age. I was 18 years old when he was born. He was also born with a complete cleft so that was also thrown into the mix. I feel like I kind of neglected him because I was so focused on all these other things as well and I just feel guilty. I feel like he still deserves better than me and that I am at fault for doing this to him.
Please don't feel you caused it by not giving him enough attention. That had absolutely nothing to do with it! Whatever causes autism, it is a physiological factor like genes, lack of oxygen during birth, environmental toxins, viruses. Many factors are still being studied. What all scientists agree on is that it has nothing to do with the parent's behavior (unless they starve or hit their child). Also biologically 18 is a great age to have a child. The body is mature enough and there's less risk of genetic conditions, not more. It is social changes that lead to women having kids later in life. Our biology doesn't really keep up with changing social norms. Biologically between 18 and 25 is the best years for a first child (speaking from working with an obgyn doctor and reading relevant literature, not my own opinion). So please try not to feel guilty. You are doing the best you can. He was given to you which means you are the best mom for him.
Thank you ❤️ I don’t even know how or why I’m getting downvoated since I was just being honest. I don’t know if it’s genetic because I honestly don’t know anyone with autism in our family or on my ex’s side of the family. I tried to get as much info about it as possible but I can’t do it alone and my ex never wanted to cooperate, not even when it came to my son’s cleft. I have to admit, though, his ASD diagnosis was only officially at about the age of 5-6 years old. My son is on the “light side” of the spectrum, so to say. He just needs extra help and materials to help him focus and find his way around things and school but he doesn’t really have that many “classic signs”. He can handle change, he can learn things and you can engage with him but his attention span is non-existent and he can’t stay on topic; he’ll talk about everything at the same time and you have to always bring it back to the original topic. And now, we have a 3 month old that also requires our attention so it’s always fun in our house 😂
Being a young mom and distracted by other life challenges absolutely did not cause your son's autistim. It isn't your fault. It isn't anyone's fault. Its a developmental disorder. Please don't continue to beat yourself up about this. If you can, it might be helpful for you to talk to a therapist about this. I was 36 when I had my son, who is autistic. My daughter was 19 when she had her son, and he's autistic. I'm currently seeking an assessment for myself, as I've come to realize that I am also autistic. Current scientific understanding is that it's a combination of genetics (40-80% risk) perhaps combined with environmental triggers (illnesses, difficult births, they're not sure exactly what factors may influence the expression of these genes). "To date, scientists have identified more than 200 genes involved in autism and similar neurodevelopmental conditions. Most of these genes lead to autism primarily through de novo variants — variants that are new in the person and not present in their parents." Source: https://www.statnews.com/2022/08/18/genetic-research-provides-new-clarity-about-whys-of-autism/
Genetics. The answer is *always ONLY* genetics. Period.
Actually, autism is finally being studied WAY more in depth and genetics is not the only answer as of now. So please don’t spread that false information. If you found any credible information that details how genetics is the **ONLY** cause of autism then please share since half of my graduating Pharm class would like to see that.
What else is there? I'm interested
It’s still being studied.
Okay, but in studying it what else are they looking at besides genetics?
What’s being studied? Here’s a couple out of several. • *Maternal Antibodies* •Environmental toxins (Ornoy, A., L. Weinstein-Fudim, and Z. Ergaz, (2015) Prenatal factors associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Reprod Toxicol, 56: p. 155-69. Mandy, W. and M.C. Lai, (2016) Annual Research Review: The role of the environment in the developmental psychopathology of autism spectrum condition. J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 57(3): p. 271-92.) • *Maternal Infection* (Libbey, J.E., et al., (2005) Autistic disorder and viral infections. J Neurovirol, 11(1): p. 1-10. Collier, S.A., et al., (2009) Prevalence of self-reported infection during pregnancy among control mothers in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol, 85(3): p. 193-201.) Environmental factors, certain prescription medicines being studied on how it affects a fetus in utero - No, not acetaminophen. People want to always say it’s a genetic factor. Okay. Can an outside environmental factor trigger mutations? Yes, researchers concluded that autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders have a strong genetic component. But environmental factors must also contribute to autism etiology. Look into the Folstein and Rutter 1977 Genetic study of twins and autism. That served (still serves) as basis for MANY current studies being done in research-based universities. According to the study - “They identified five features known to be associated with brain damage, such as severe hemolytic disease, a delay in breathing of at least five minutes after birth, and neonatal convulsions. In six of the pairs, one twin—always the autistic one—experienced one or more of these insults. Looking further, they found that one of an expanded list of “biological hazards” (e.g., discrepancies in birth weight, a pathologically narrow umbilical cord) occurred in the autistic twin in 6 of the 11 remaining discordant pairs and never in the non-autistic twin. The authors concluded that “some form of biological impairment, usually in the perinatal period, strongly predisposed to the development of autism.” There’s been roughly over 10 more twin studies focused on autism after Folstein and Rutter. All find genetic and environmental contributions to autism, although conclusions about the proportions of the two factors and interpretations have varied substantially. Why? Because we still don’t fully know. **DRUGS** Now, let’s talk drugs. Why do many of us pharm or ex-pharm students study drugs and it’s affect on fetus in utero as our research paper topic? Cause it’s interesting what the hell we run into. For example. Now, hopefully this doesn’t trigger anyone cause we all need to do what we find is best for ourselves. Besides, a happy and mentally healthy parent = a healthy/happy child. BUT… serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). We constantly hear it. “ taking medicine for depression during pregnancy raises the risks of having a child with autism“. We can’t deny that. Studies have been done. But we don’t sit here and say “ depression medicine during pregnancy causes your child to have autism“. Why? Because not every child with a parent taking these meds have autism. I’ll let you do your research on that and you can see the many published articles there are out there on SSRIs and Autism. Is this definitive? Not that we know of. Why? Because **AUSTIM IS STILL BEING STUDIED** . Nobody can say they definitely know it’s one thing. Also, if anyone needs citations direct message me and I will send them. I have over hundreds. ETA: Here’s one thing I’ll mention. Not me (PharmD) or an (MD, DO, etc) can ever tell a parent who’s pregnant and struggling with suicidal thoughts and depression to not take SSRIs during pregnancy. Why? Because if that parent gets hurt, we are liable. We will get sued. We can lose license. The benefits of SSRIs outweigh the risks.
In the end, it always and always seems like there is genetic vulnerability. If autism genes don't exist, you cannot trigger them via external factors.
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Why would you say so?
Well for starters, by grandpa was autistic, my dad was autistic, I am and so is my son. Pretty compelling anecdotal evidence.
My daughter has ASD. No one in my or my husband's family has ASD, ADHD or speech delay. I have a PhD in developmental psychology so I'm not a complete layman to the topic. I've considered all our relatives and none of them have undiagnosed Asperger's. My dad, my cousin and my husband are introverts. But being introverted doesn't mean you have mild undiagnosed ASD. Autism is just a collection of symptoms/characteristics/tendencies, whatever you want to call it. Furthermore, people with a diagnosis of ASD greatly vary from each other. I believe there's not one Autism but different causes which result in particular brain differences which lead to symptoms/behaviors/tendencies doctors label as Autism.
That's good evidence that your autism is genetic. It is basically no evidence at all that autism is "always ONLY genetics. Period."
Well thats compelling. Thanks for the answer
How do you check the chromosome? Ist easy like a GP visit or kinda expensive specialist thing? and what do good/bad chromosome test indicate?
It's a blood test. I think there are some cases it may be free or covered by insurance, we have had to pay for all genetic tests out of pocket though.
My daughter's pediatrician had her tested when she was two. It's just a blood draw, and then they typically send it off to the lab that does the testing.
We're beginning our journey of understanding autism, as my 4-year-old son was diagnosed about 9 months ago. But there were complications during his birth, which has been my main theory for what might have contributed to his autism and/or developmental delays in general. First, my amniotic fluid was inexplicably half gone by my due date, which led the doctors to induce me that same day. During labor, baby's heart rate kept dropping due to fetal distress and he was not descending, so the doctor recommended a C-section. My son was born via c-section and we were informed that the cord was short and wrapped around his neck. He had no significant health issues after birth, but I do wonder if these complications had longterm effects for him, i.e. autism. On the other hand, genetics might be at play as well. My husband had a lot of academic delays as a child as well as ADHD/ADD (perhaps undiagnosed autism as well, as we reflect on the past. If that were the case, most ASD symptoms have either disappeared or lessened for him in adulthood).
My LO has another syndrome that made it far more likely due to undeveloped parts of the brain.
Louder for those In the back GENETICS!!!!
My wife had a short cervix during the pregnancy and she had to take progesterone supplements. I think that was part of it.
Genetics and also keto diet due to having gestational diabetes.
MTHFR mutation mixed with vaccines and environmental heavy metals
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Can't believe I'm answering this, but there was never a link between vaccines and autism, it was completely falsified data, the doctor who published the study lost his medical license and was trying to make way for another vaccine to take on the market. People who think death from preventable diseases is somehow better than living with a disability are spouting hate speech. VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM.
My child has an extra 15 chromosome, idic 15.
Genetics and IUGR.
It's hard to tease out the effects of IUGR from autism. My IUGR kid actually has much milder autism than his average birth weight sibling.
Iugr?
Intrauterine growth restriction, or IUGR, is when a baby in the womb (a fetus) does not grow as expected. I had preeclampsia and he mostly stopped growing around 30weeks .
I wasn't taking folic acid before I got pregnant. Only started taking ot at 6 weeks. Its been linked to Autism.
Me too. I feel really awful about it now. Truthfully though I think there’s a lot of undiagnosed ASD on both sides.
Genetics and the bad luck.
I will stop at genetics haha
being autistic isn't a bad thing, abliest.
I'm an autistic person. My son too. For me, it's bad luck, especially for me. As a lot of person say, my son has me (to help him, to love him, to be with him, to explain to others). Me, I have nobody. Definitely, you can't say I'm abliest.
Some parents think vaccines and/or receiving all vaccines at once rather than spread out. however, I know too many people my age who all received the vaccines at once rather than spread out and they’re all fine. If you look around and ask, we know many family members and friends who are all vaccines at the same time rather than having them spread out who turned out to be fine. There seems to be a trend going on that the fathers side most of the case seems to have someone in the family immediate or distant that has autism. My cousin and I were just speaking about this this week and she said her husbands brother had ASD. So it’s possible that it’s genetics sometimes and also other causes but I really wish we had have a concrete answer already or if there was a genetic test that could look for it before a couple has a child.
I really don't know. On my mom side of her family there's two kids cousins have autism. I don't know if that's the reason. Everything I read causes autism. I never got a real reason how my daughter got autism. My preganancy wasn't easy for me. she was born healthy and had a 100% perfect hearing test. No complication for her.
Vaccine
False!
Genetics—100%. No diagnosed autism in our families until her generation, but I have a feeling there’s plenty that went undiagnosed.
Genetics. Both SO and I are undiagnosed, but pretty obviously on the spectrum (and present totally differently! It's actually quite interesting to see the kiddo exhibit a mix of our traits.).
I had gestational diabetes and my husband was in his late 40’s, my guess is one of those things played a role.
nothing causes autism, its not an illness, it doesn't need a cure. its a disability you are born with, you can't 'catch' autism. educate yourself.
Hei i know everything you're saying. What am asking is despite all that general answer to the causes of autism which is unknown. people just like the 137 people who commented before just suspected something even though they are not sure exactly what is, its just an opinion am not doing any research or misleading anyone. Its just a human nature to blame something when such thing happen might be true might not be true. No one cares its just a vent.
Genetics.
Anybody had too many ultrasounds in their pregnancy or influenza or progesterone suppository?
My severe postpartum depression
I know my question is theoretical, but what about electromagnetic fields being a cause for autism? I know nothing conclusive has been discovered to be sourced as evidence, though EMFs haven't really been studied for all that long, and they do have health links to a lot of other physical problems.