Do your parents have aspie traits?

Post Reply New Topic

How many of you have parents or other close relatives who have aspie traits?

Both my hubby and I have aspie traits (why we're so suited to each other) and our son was diagnosed with autism.

My father and my oldest sister have AS Traits

My dad had Aspie traits, and I suspect my grandpa may have as well. My sister may have echolalia but besides that she seems NT.

My mom definitely possesses some minor form of Asperger's. She's social, but she likes seeing how things work, and the like.

My parents have obsessions.

My mother is definitely an aspie. Her father has aspie traits.

Neither parent has aspie traits.

I'm a father of twin daughters with autism. I have obsessions and some social quirks (aloofness). The girl's mother has some sensory issues. My father is a raging alcoholic and my mom is also socially aloof and uncomfortable in noisy, busy environments and fears activities that involve moving or athletics, including most sports and amusement rides, etc.

Then again, many folks, perhaps most, have an odd autistic trait.

its funny, I have only recently thought about the possibility in my Dad. I don't think he does, but mildly is possible. hmm, intense concentration (though he attributes this to ADD), he is an engineer, does not express personal emotions (he views everything in terms of monetary value or tangible things, but this could just be "male behavior" to an extreme). He also has at times exhibited poor social behavior, typically when he has been with groups and with people he wants to impress.

But there are some things that conflict strongly with AS. He handles multi tasking very well but thats with financial and real estate issues which is his obsession. Perhaps if he had to multitask something else, he would not be so good.

most of the time he does not have social unawareness though.

I'm the only Aspie on both sides of my mom and dad's family. Needless to say, family reunions usually consist of me doing my own thing while everyone else mingles.

The idea that failure to multitask is a required AS trait really gets me. I can multitask fine, and used to be able to do so even better. Heck, you HAVE to multitask to SOME degree just to survive. I don't know how well NTs are supposed to be able to multitask, but some are VERY bad at it!
And doesn't intense concentration go AGAINST the idea of ADD?

BTW the money/tangible bit is PROVEN to be important to women. I doubt you could call it a male trait.

Steve

Yes they do. And so do most other family members.

I suspect my mother might; she was a social outcast all the way through her senior year in high school.

Also: my older brother exhibits some traits.

I also have an uncle on my father's side whose very definitely an Aspie.

His obsessions have always been architectural engineering (wrote a book on it), and history (he was the curator for awhile at the local museum of science and history); he restored the home that my family (father's side) lived in after moving here to Texas from Georgia in 1890, actually getting it declared a Texas historical landmark (plaque and all, which was super cool).

Unfortunately, he's always seemed very uncomfortable around me; I suspect that maybe it's because he sees too much of himself in me (I sure see a lot of myself in him after all; minus all the achievements).

As for money, it is not his handling of it but rather his absolute logic in whats important, and all that he views the entire world in terms of money (which kindof messed me and my brother up in our ability to have relationships).

Intense concentration is considered part of ADD if its something a person is interested in actually. This is something ADD has in common with Aspergers.

hmm, multitasking, yes of coures we all must to some degree. But my experience is that I do it much more poorly, especially in stressful situations such as when I was working at a restaurant, that it is part of the "disability" part of AS. I know that many people with AS have difficulty multitasking. Thats part of the intense focusing part of it. But I guess perhaps I am generalizing and this is not true for all, my mistake. And it of course depends on whether you mean micro-multi-tasking (minute to minute) or larger scale. Working in a restaurant was minute to minute and I was BAD at it. I mean, bad. I cannot handle so much stimuli at once, but certainly part of that could be from forced social interaction

My mom is the definition of adult autism.

She’s high strung, sensitive and can focus for hours on one topic/ conversation.

She has very, very poor social skills and can’t tell when people are being dishonest with her. She’s neurotic in every sense of the word.

She has synesthesia and other dysfunctions of the senesces. She told me one time that she heard a feeling; And that she could taste color.

Sometimes I think she’s more autistic then I am.

but more then likely she’s ADHD (or at least that would be her official diagnoses if she would ever go get tested for autisim)

Unfortunately, my mom would never go get tested because she has the same misconception of a lot of people that being autistic means you’re restarted.

And I have to put up with her AS tantrums with out her condition ameliorating.

None of my parent's have Aspie traits.