Have you relatives with ASDs?

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As far as I know, I'm the only person in my family diagnosed with autism.

I think one of my uncles might have Asperger syndrome though: my dad says he's very intelligent, but doesn't like socialising with people, thus spends all his time in his room.

There are a few family members that show potential symptoms of it, but nobody diagnosed (as far as I know). I have heard some stories about unusual relatives though.

One of my relatives probably had some form of OCD, they had this obsession with constantly cleaning their front porch because at one point they had an ant problem, but apparently even after all the ants had gone they continued to frequently compulsively clean the porch in fear of the ants coming back.

Sadly, presumably due to a long built up exposure to all the cleaning fluid, they died.

I have noticed in the stories that I've heard about my relatives there are some common themes, such as a tendency to hoard items of sentimental value, and other obsessive behaviours.

There's also a little bit of a family history with speech disorders, and prematurity. Oh, and dyslexia.

I have a second cousin on my dad's side who is Asperger's. He's very smart. How come I didn't get that?

Both sides of my extended family had High-Functioning ASD - Can High-Functioning Aspergers apply as a term? There were technology, and mechanical genius on both sides of my family.

One of my Uncles was in Forestry; as such environments offered opportunities to be away from lots of people; as well as opportunities to be around like-minded colleagues.

Due to not knowing my family history or anyone else who is part of my family outside from my mother I am unsure. But it could be something to consider I guess.

Mother almost certainly has Aspergers (but would never admit it). Her Dad had traits and one of his brothers was a suicide because he 'very shy' and bookish during WWII, so guess what that probably was. My brother is diagnosed with ADHD. My Maternal Uncle is another would-never-admit-it obvious Autistic. My eldest boy has definite ASD traits, but thankfully is sociable, which is an enormous relief to me. He scores 2-4 points below the diagnosis threshold. My younger son pathologically hates school, just as I did and is showing ASD traits as well. The family is riddled with ASD.

Had. Mother's side.

My little brother has severe autism and is completely nonverbal. He still wears diapers and is the number one fan of Caillou if I ever knew one. He has some kind of Incredible Hulk inside of him that can burst in rage at any moment for any reason at all. He's more than your textbook nonverbal autistic boy (still, he doesn't play with his poop or anything like that, no epilepsy or anything either). He also eats anything at all. Change is a burden for him, and major transitions (such as respite home changes) are super traumatizing. He's going to be 14 in about 2 weeks. I haven't seen him for more than a year because the respite homes he is placed into don't allow anyone except the parents to visit. I dearly miss him. As he ages, he gets more withdrawn. But there's no need to pull the pity card.....

On second hand, my grandfather who is neurotypical does have lowkey traits related to autism. He is somewhat rigid and hates when people are messing with his stuff. He can be grumpy at times but he blames old age. He doesn't like unexpected changes, for example when we show uninvited to his house. He prefers to do stuff and work alone, but he doesn't mind team work because he's very sociable. He has a passion for NASA, space stuff, and tennis. He created his own company back in the 1980's but it got bankrupt in 2009, so in around 2012 he relaunched it and got it bought by another corporation. You can see his website http://uctqc.ca/

No one else in my family has autism except me and my brother, not even my many cousins and relatives in my dad's family. My sisters have PDD-NOS because of their academic delays and they also only talked in gibberish as toddlers. They are 10 and function nearly like neurotypical children now (although they are 3-4 years behind at school) although they do have their own social quirks (e.g. always asking questions to people they meet and no filter with that). My sisters are mirror twins and have opposite personalities and dominant hands. One of them has anger issues and is tough, and the other is a softie but she's stubborn. They improve a lot.

That's really stupid that they won't allow his brother to visit. I don't know what his situation is, but it sure seems to me that he would probably benefit from seeing his whole family.


What do your parents think about the fact that you and your sisters aren't allowed to visit him?

My mom's disappointed about this as well. Apparently they only do this for "safety". It's not just about him, the same applies to all the other patients. His former respite home did that as well. My dad's not involved in our lives so I'm not sure how he would feel about this.

Last year I "saw" him in the backyard of his current respite home, and judging by how he acted and the look on his face, I could tell that he was hopelessly lost on the inside and it broke my heart. He seems to have fully locked himself in his own mind because of the permanent separation from the family, the misadventures and the multiple transitions he had endured over the years, and there's little we can do about it. His meds sometimes have to be changed due to behavioral complications. He has very limited communication and I don't know if they still help him by using pictograms.

It's been said that a great grandmother had traits of Asperger's, and it's possible others in my extended family are that way as well, probably considered "eccentric" before Asperger's/Autism spectrum was known about. As a result, I'm the only person in my family who has been diagnosed, but it doesn't mean that I'm the only ASD individual in the family. My opinion is that it's probably genetic in nature. That great grandmother died before I was born, so I never got to know her, just that I heard stories about her and some things sound like how I am.

One of my first cousins has a mid level autistic daughter who is only partially verbal.

My son and my sister's son. My mother had an uncle she believes was on the spectrum. Otherwise, traits here and there.