Prevelance Among Siblings?

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I'm curious what the prevelance of Autism/Aspergers among siblings is? I've thought for a while now that I have Aspergers (HFA). Yesterday, my younger sister was diagnosed as on the Autism spectrum. Previous to this, I admit I hadn't even considered whether any of my siblings could be on the spectrum. Very short-sighted, I know. I mean, I always knew we were quirky and different, I just never put 2 and 2 together. And frankly, neither did anyone else!

I am the oldest of 5 (26). And now looking more broadly at my family, I think each of my three brothers and of course my now diagnosed sister, are on the spectrum. But, I admit, I'm sort of feeling as though that's an unlikely case given that there are five of us, just because of the probabilities involved.

Any insight into the probabilities among families is appreciated. I'll add, we have 15 first-cousins on my mother's side, 2 on my father's, and of them, only 1 cousin on my mother's side has known Autism, and his is more classic Autism. His three siblings have all been diagnosed ADHD though.

My two sons are on the spectrum with PDD-NOS. My younger son has it milder than my older son.

Yes there can be, but not in my family. I have 7 cousins on my mum's side and 9 cousins on my dad's side. One of them on my mum's side has learning difficulties but I doubt AS, might just be a little PDD-NOS or something but she's always been able to make friends better than I ever did and she was more socially accepted at school than I was, and I only have mild AS. The cousins on my dad's side are all true NTs, just one of them lacks self-esteem and is a little unconfident in himself but he still socially does better than me.

My brother is so weird, but not in an Aspie way, in fact I think he's too weird to be Aspie! He's not clever in anything, he's emotionally immature, he doesn't have much of a tone of voice, you can't have a proper conversation with him, and he's not hyperactive at all but he has this strange annoying way about him. He also SEVERELY lacks empathy and sympathy and I wonder how people can possibly want to even be with him. He also overeats, smokes way too much, lacks self-esteem even more than me, and doesn't even try to do anything with his life, just lives on anti-depressants and although he works full time he is not interested in cars or learning to drive and he can't get a girlfriend. He is 27. I think he has some sort of a personality disorder.

It seems though that in every family I have met who have at least one Autistic person, usually the siblings seem emotionally disturbed somehow, like they noticeably lack something or have some sort of quirky personality or seem extremely emotional or shy. I can't prove this because I haven't met many families with an Autistic person in, but I'm just saying.

I'm on the spectrum, but my brother isn't. And for the record, he's younger than me, and I have no other siblings. As far as I know, I'm probably the only person on either side of the family who has Aspergers, though there might be a slight possibility of one of my mom's sisters and her mom having it.

Two sons -- oldest one undiagnosed, and he had way fewer symptoms but the ones he had were more severe as a young child [now, he doesn't seem to have many at all]; youngest one diagnosed PDD-NOS, has way more symptoms, but most were less severe than our oldest, and yet it affects his life more.

I have AS , my youngest daughter has HFA and my eldest AS.

There is a lot of heritability with autism.

According to this the sibling rate is 18.7%:

http://ebmh.bmj.com/content/15/2/31.extract

If that's true then all I can say is that I was very unlucky to have both children on the spectrum.

Although here it confusingly says:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/748019

I was the first in my family to figure out my diagnosis about 6 months ago. I've since read a few books and learned a lot about it. I now see it in all of my siblings (twin brother, older brother, younger sister) as well as my mother, all of her siblings, their children & their children's children, our grandmother on down.. every single one of us with varying traits and severities of them. About 20 people and counting. I'm not just talking about one or two traits in each, I'm talking about a dozen+ and very unique ASD traits and life stories that all fit the ASD mould. I also know a few other undiagnosed families that are not related to me, as now the signs/symptoms are obvious to me, and it makes sense why I've gotten along as friends with some of these people... birds of a feather flock together.

From my personal experience & the number of people in my extended family who will slowly but surely one by one all get diagnosed (if they accept it in themselves, that's the hard part for many I believe.) it definitely runs in family genetics.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

My younger sister has some aspie traits, but nothing severe enough to need a diagnosis (or so everyone says, but I might disagree). My Dad is rather withdrawn and antisocial, possibly aspie, but has learned to function well enough. His brother, however, has it pretty severely, as well as a possible dash of schizophrenia. Everyone on my dad's side of the family has traits, but only a handful have any sort of diagnosis.

My younger sister is as NT as they come.

I have 7 cousins and 2 1/2 brothers yet i'm the only aspie, my 1/2 brothers actually had a much higher genetic chance then I did I think as autism is on moms aswell however there as NT as can be.

I have mild Asperger's syndrome, while my sister has low functioning Autism, two or three of my cousins are autistic (moderate to high), and my family thinks my dad has high functioning Autism. Oh and everyone on my mom's side of the family has bipolar disorder; my brother has bipolar disorder too.

I hope that answered your question.

Even though my brother has a sky high IQ with no "common sense" and works in an Aspie haven, he couldn't be more different than me if he tried. I originally thought HE had Aspergers until I investigated and read my own autobiography once I found out what Aspergers really is. My father has symptoms but as I can see nobody comes close to my Aspieness amongst the extended family.