Asperger families

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Hi all, please excuse my English since it's not my primary language. I'm married to the most wonderful guy since 2005, our son was born in 2007 and has a PDD-Nos dx.

My husband, his brother and their father have Aspergers traits. They're all very smart and successful. My brother-in-law is an electronic engineer, my husband holds an advanced degree in computer science and has a career developing software (we might be relocating to Silicon Valley before the end of the year). And of course they are very socially awkward, they also have some sensory processing issues (my husband can't carry a tune, he has a robotic voice and his sense of smell and hearing are overdeveloped).

He is aware of his AS traits but is not interested in getting diagnosed at all because he fears it might hurt his career. I want him to get a dx because I want to know more about my son's difficulties, and prognosis.

I'm looking forward to meet other families in our situation, with a genetic link over many generations. Are we so uncommon? I hope not!

PS: I'm just an NT

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Nope...not unusual at all. I have AS, and my son has PDD-NOS. I have loads of cousins on both sides who have symptoms...and I think my dad probably is. Your English is indistinguishable from a native speaker, by the way In fact, it's better than most, I'd say!

Assume assume your husband has AS and use that knowledge to further your son's prognosis and understand his difficulties.

Thanks everyone!

paris75007, I'm glad to hear from you, thanks for sharing your story. I'll try to catch up with the threads in the "parents" section, hopefully we can share our experience!

MountainLaurel, Unfortunately my mother-in-law passed away when my husband was 15, so we don't really know much about his childhood. Sometimes I assume my husband and son share the same condition, but my husband has a high IQ. I suspect he fits the description of "twice exceptional" people, since he excels at physics, math, programming; but didn't get his driving license until he turned 32. I think it would be helpful if an expert could tell me that my son and husband share the same condition, but the difference between them are due to IQ or different sensory processing profile, for example.

Welkome to WP

Mick

No you are definitely not the only one. I have AS; I know my dad had it and suspect my mom's dad did too. I have several relatives with BAP traits, a couple of cousins I suspect are on the spectrum, and a son I'm pretty sure is even if no one agrees with me.

Hello!

I have Asperger Syndrome.

We think my mom is a pretty easy case once we really started looking into it.. perhaps her sister as well, and most likely her grandmother was. (There is also some history of schizophrenia there.)

My father is a successful engineer who has many AS traits but not enough to fit the criteria. I think his brother also has some traits.

ASD is highly heritable. It's very common for the genes to be passed down over many generations, only to compile the most in one person.

Your husband should not worry about a diagnosis hurting his career. He could get it privately, which means he is in charge of who gets to know. He could very well never tell anyone but you and your son about it. It's not like it has to automatically go on your medical record - and, even if it did, would his employers be able to access that - aren't there even legal implications? This is something you guys should look into.