what causes asperger's?

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do you think the condition is something you're born with or could upbringing be the cause as some believe? I'd really like to hear peoples opinions on it. My upbringing was far from normal, lots of moving about and some major things I won't go into.

I've been trying to find out for years. I think it might be genetic as my father has a bunch of major learning disabilities that simply weren't recognized until a few years ago. He always had 'loner' jobs, eg; Trucker, Mailman, Farm hand, etc... He seemed to have passed his math dyslexia onto me unfortunately.

It's mostly genetic.

Asperger's is a loosely defined collection of traits that seem to occur together often. Since there is no solid evidence for someone having it it's very hard to isolate a cause. Perhaps it's really a group of several disorders that have different causes, and when a few of the disorders are present, it's Asperger's; when nearly all of them occur together, it's fully-fledged autism. We just don't know but it is quite possible that it does not have a very simple cause. There is evidence (though not conclusive) that it is genetic but that could just be because families that have experienced a case of Asperger's before are more likely to see it in their children.

In short: no idea.

I think that genetics is a factor. I also have anecdotal evidence--including feedback on a thread on this board about a month ago--that birth trauma may be a factor. Every aspie I have met, as well as my son and I, had some kind of birth-related incident (umbilical cord around the neck, breech birth, etc.) that may have limited oxygen to the brain during birth.

I think that autism can be caused by many different things. I believe that genetics plays a huge role. I'm also believe that environmental factors can possible accentuate certain traits.

I would say that 5 out of 7 members of my immediate family have autistic traits and these traits have been passed down to some of my sibling's children and my own son. It leads me to believe that we are for the most part all genetically wired the same way but for one reason or another some of us are more capable than others. My brother is successful because of Autistic like hyper- focus and perserveration. Everyone is either shy or reserved but I am the only one who seems unable to establish a long term intimate relationship. Everyone has their special interest. I'm sure there are other families who sit around and discuss mitochondrial DNA for general conversation but I'm also sure it's not the norm. My mother and my brother are the only ones who feel at ease socially but they are each not social butterflies either. I have always been aware that people thought my family was "different" and that wasn't necessarily meant as a negative thing. As a matter of fact we were sometimes held in a higher regard than we deserved. We were the eccentric brainy ones according to some and our shyness was often misinterpreted as aloofness.

I'm the only obvious autie in my family. I do believe that my nephew may have a few autistic traits, but he definitely gets along with the NT world very well. My grandfather also had some autistic traits but the ones he had were all positive as best as I can remember.

Neither parent shows even the remotest symptom. My sister, brought up in the same household as me, is NT as they come, as is my teen daughter. One cousin on Dad's side diagnosed Aspie, and I'm certain my grandmother (dad's mom) was, though she was born & raised before Hans gave it a name and died before I knew what Asperger Syndrome meant.

I'm in the genetics camp all the way. If it's upbringing, how come my sister is a gregarious, successful, churchgoing yuppie soccer mom and I'm a curmudgeonly disc jockey-turned-tattooist with three failed marriages and no friends, dependent on the state to survive? I exhibited (then unidentified) autistic traits long before we ever moved anywhere, and my upbringing was fairly typical for the sixties and seventies.

It's mostly genetics I think. Alot of my mum's side of the family has autistic traits, my brother is one the borderline, my sister has one/two traits but is generally very clued up socially so she doesn't really count. My grandad has loads of traits, he's more outwardly aspie than I am and I'm the one whos's diagnosed lol. He's never heard of it though. My uncle has traits (he's very similar to me) and my mum always teases him and makes loads of aspie jokes lol. My mum thinks she has traits but I don't think she has, she's just slightly introverted IMO. My dad's uncle was severely autisitc, he wasn't diagnosed but he obviously had it (my mum said, I've never met him).

completely genetic imo

It think it is mostly genetic, although I'm open to the idea that the same traits may occur for differing reasons.

My son has a diagnosis, I am waiting for an assessment myself and can see traits very clearly in my mother's side of the family. I reckon my son's father is on the Spectrum, and he has a nephew who is probably undiagnosed AS.

my brother and I both have it although he has adhd which makes his seem drastically different.
my cousin seems to have signs pointing to it but his mum would never accept he has it..My parents especially my father both seem to have signs of something like aspergers also..

A man on a flaming pie comes down from Earth from the plant Zenu to visit babies who are nearly 18 months old. Then he places a wand on the baby's head and says 'let there be autism'.