Chances of having a child with Aspergers

Post Reply New Topic

My nephew was diagnosed about 10 years ago when he was 7 or 8, on monday my eldest brother ( age 48; not the nephews father) who has always been "different" ( we suspected Aspergers) was finally diagnosed...I am concerned about my chances of having a child with Aspergers. I am wondering if anyone else has had to deal with this situation.

I have 3 children, none of which are on the spectrum, but all of which seem to have some traits that lean towards the autistic side of things.

I am in some ways very autistic. I am often utterly blind to social cues and information. But I am very verbal (I have an extensive verbal repertoire, not necessarily good conversational skills), and have managed to adapt.

I would be extremely glad to have kids. Chances are that my kids would be on the spectrum or show some traits. Whether autistic or not, it doesn't matter. Thankfully there is much more knowledge out there about autistic disorders than used to be, and I would do everything to straighten the obstacles one with autistic traits might endure.

If you have relatives with an ASD or you have ASD the chances of passing those genes on are higher than if the whole family were NT. But the overall risk isn't too high and there's no need to worry too much about how your kids turned out.

No one knows the mechanism in genetics that causes autism - yet. They are feverishly working on that though. If you know you have strong autistic traits in the gene pool, its a possiblity a child may turn up on the spectrum. It's also completely possible they will not. And there are lots of degrees inbetween. No one gets those kinds of assurances when choosing to have children though.

On this point, I don't think there is an opinion that could sway you into believing there is no risk. It may be a soul searching moment because science doesn't have your answer.

I also sure there are lots of people here that would be glad to tell you that having a child on the spectrum isn't the end of world. Then again, those probably wouldn't be parents of very LFA kids either.

Well, me and my cousin both have autism. I have Asperger's while he has moderate autism. I don't know really...

Let's just say that the genetics of autism are not as straight-forward as stuff like, say hemophilia for example...