Only child or sibling and ASDs?

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I just thought it would be interesting to know how many autistic people grew up as only children and who many with siblings? (Alternatively to siblings: with very close other family members your age)

If you have siblings but grew up as an only child for most of your life due to huge age differences, separations or any other reason, then the 4th option is for you.

The main question:

Do you think it has affected you a lot in how you grew up with your autism?

I'll start.

I'm an only child. I don't know much about what it means to have siblings. I imagine I might have picked up on some rudimentary social skills earlier if I had siblings? I didn't associate with other children but if I had siblings, I think I would have had to.

i have a brother and a sister. growing up i didn't socialize with other children other than them. i copied a lot of what they did and passed as normal...just shy for a long time. unfortunately when i got to high school my sister moved away and i had no one to show me "the right way" to do things...

I have a little brother.. helped my mum bring him up from 8 years old (he was 2).

Nothing really helped my "ASD". My cousin/auntie and uncle used to make fun of me being weird when we moved up north near them when I was 10. But that's about it. It didn't help me not being weird.. I stayed being weird as I didn't know how to be anything else!

well i cannnot reply for myslef but i do have an outside observation
that my son did not really do imaginative play then when hos little sis started doing it she drew him onto it with her and now they do it all the time. i think it was the best thing for him to have a sibling especailly fairly close in age so that she can kind of teach him the ropes.

I think growing up mostly alone meant that, for me, being alone wasn't unusual and there wasn't a direct comparison being made about my own behavior. It meant that a lot of things weren't noticed or considered too weird, plus there was the wonderful 'gifted' label that meant in my family most things that weren't destructive were just considered eccentric. There is a large gap in age range between me and my siblings, and all but two did not grow up in the same household as me.


M.

Yes I am the much maligned only child and I get so much grief from others over that. Lots of sibling rivalry and bitterness, it seems.

My sister is seven years younger than me.

We really don't have much in common. She is very outgoing, a people person, and knows how to interact with people and read them -all the opposite of me.

While growing up, I stayed in my room, read science fiction, built model airplanes, and played computer games. I was ok with that.

When she tried to interact with me and do things, I resisted and would upset about it all. I didn't like the "unscheduled" interruptions.

I am hoping that her and I can get closer in time, but if not I have been preparing myself mentally and emotionally for the day when my folks (who I am close with) pass away and I am by myself. Sure I have other family, but they are distant both in location and interaction. With no family of my own, a few friends that I see every few months, and a deep desire for solitude, I expect to move to someplace isolated and go at a much slower pace than the rest of the world. I am ok with this.

I have a younger sister. She's really annoying. She always has to be right and when she wants something she throws a fit until she gets it. She has ADHD.

I dunno if it's helped me any.

I have a youger sister, who I am pretty sure is neurotypical...but she ahs other problems....like an explosive tempr.

She was always bullying me.

I have an older sister by 7 years, who have resented me and my little sister since we were born my younger sister is 14 months behind me, they are both NT's, and my dad I suspect was an aspie, he was clumsier then Homer Simpson

I have an older sister, but she's much older than me (read: more than 10 years older). On top of that, she was my parents' favorite, while I was the pariah. We did not get along, so needless to say, I could just as well be an only child. (And after my older sister moved out, I could be considered an only child from a legal point of view.) Since I had no one to play with, spending time at home was boring at best. My parents flat-out refused to get a pet, no matter how much I begged. As a result, during my whole childhood, I had absolutely no one that I could communicate with as an equal. (I had a few friends, but I'm referring family members.) I was a Lilliput in a sea of giants, which made for a very unpleasant childhood, even though I had a lot of toys.

That kind of environment stunted my social development tremendously. Being a Lilliput in a sea of giants, I learned how to follow orders, but not how to communicate with equals (i.e. my peers). So when I found myself among other children, I got bossed around a lot, and that's if anyone let me join their group. I think having had one or more same-age siblings would have taught me important skills in communicating with my peers. Even a dog would have been helpful, because a dog has the intellectual capacity of a six-year-old child, and doesn't give people orders (obviously), making it an "equal" on some level.

I grew up with two brothers, but they were both so much older than me that I didn't have the typical experience someone with two brothers close to their age would have.

I'm the oldest of 4. The youngest is 12 years younger than me.

I had to look after my siblings a lot. As a result, I'm very good with children.

I think having siblings had a profound effect on my development.

My younger sister (4 years younger) was the "normal" one...developmentally and socially, so she was generally the favored among my relatives..She was physically much more well put together than I was..skinny...while I was overweight with messy hair, bad teeth and glasses.

There was more than one occasion where I would have a friend who would end up favoring my younger sister, and sorta ditch me for her. I even had one friend admit to me that my sister was alot nicer and prettier and "cooler" than me...no offense.....heh....

Um...Something about growing up constantly being told that she's pretty turned her into a bit of a primadonna..she was obsessed with her outer appearance and strove for conformity.

We never got along...she teased me relentlessly...hated having to be embarrased by going to the same school as me...there was never any civility between us....

As adults we rarely see or speak to each-other...

Technically, I am an only child. I do have an older sister & a younger half brother but we grew up about 2000 miles apart. Met them only once when we were all adults. I have a different set of parents due to being adopted. Most of my social interactions involved being with other people who were my parents' age or older.

I grew up not knowing how to act around kids, so I preferred either to be alone or be around older adults (but not my parents).

I have three younger siblings.

I never really knew my younger sisters when we were kids - in our twenties we tried to get to know each other a bit but it didn't really go anywhere, unfortunately.

My brother is a year younger than me, and when we were kids we were like twins - inseparable for years. (We grew apart later and now he just feels sorry for me.) I'm sure being like twins with my brother made a huge difference in my social development. How could it not? I learned to talk at the same time as him, and we played together all the time. We were both shy so leaned on each other until I had to go to kindergarten and he stayed behind in nursery school (we both cried, then). We still played together after school for years after that, in a pack with my younger sisters and their friends their age. We'd play German Ball in the street in front of our house. I think overall it was a good experience, and I think I was lucky that way.

Then they grew up and left me behind.