Relatives with Possible AS

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Do you have any relatives who you think might have or have had Aspergers?


Me:

1. my father

2. possibly my uncle (father's brother)

My Grandma (Dad's Mom) and my Aunt. Also one of my Uncles (Mom's brother).

Lets see now:

Mother, 2 Uncles, 1 First Cousin, Grandfather, and possible Great Grand-father

This topic has been done before.

Anyways, I've always suspected my grandfather and a few of his brothers were a little eccentric from what I've been told. But, that would mean it skips a generation. Sucks for me, eh? No Aspie children. Oh well.

I have an uncle who is diagnosed with AS, and an aunt who strongly displays the traits. My grandfather is stubborn (to the nth degree^2), fixating, and repetitive.

Well I think I am going through a post-AS-acceptance phase of spotting some minor traits in almost everyone I encounter, backing up my theory that there is no such thing as 'normal' anyway

However I am certain that 'the force runs strong in my family'

My brother:
is possibly more severe than I am, has always had long-term obsessions and special interests, genius level mathematician (I once bought him a very complex rubicks puzzle for christmas and he worked it all out mathematically (something to do with binary code, I didn't understand it when he tried to explain) using pen and paper - he was about 8 years old), used to line up and categorise his toy cars, his hobby used to be to memorise lists or long numbers such as Pi, has more trouble socialising than me, doesn't avoid eye contact but has a disconcerting prolonged stare thing going on, sudden noises and certain food textures make him vomit, has to eat certain things on certain days, can only wear/sleep under certain fabrics and cuts labels out of clothes, used to refuse to wear anything except underwear or PJ bottoms when in the house because clothes were too uncomfortable, poor co-ordination and his handwriting is appalling and looks forced.

My father:
Obsessed with technical things, mechanics, how things work. Can't seem to stop himself taking things apart to 'fix' them. Usually fixes things using bizarre combinations of whatever materials are at hand and leaps of logic which leave others baffled, but it usually works. Will persist endlessly until he has solved a problem. Has been known to conduct strange mechanical experiments on cars which leave others wondering how on earth he came up with the idea to do that in the first place. Collects operating systems and uses his PC for very little except trying out different operating systems, obssessively adding hardware, and cataloguing CDs/DVDs etc. Absent-minded beyond belief, no common sense, no sense of the passage of time, difficult to get his attention when he's focussed on something, often hesitates before answering a question indicating that there may be a processing delay, or claims he didn't hear the question but then answers before you have repeated it. Fussy about food, gluten intolerant. Few friends, has difficulty socialising.

My mother:
Has several life-long obsessions/special interests. Very set in her ways and routines and loses modulation of her voice (flat effect) if plans altered or things don't pan out the way she expects. Can't appear to understand or becomes confused by alternative points of view, forgets that others don't know things that she knows, frequent incorrect use of personal pronouns (especially 'me' and 'you' used in a muddled way). Takes everything literally and misses the point of irony and jokes, although has a healthy if surreal sense of humour. Has trouble socialising, although has been making an effort in recent years.

My maternal grandmother:
I don't remember her much as she died when I was young, but I have seen many photographs of her with a very 'neutral' or blank facial expression, staring into the distance. I have photographs of myself which are identical. I understand that she had very rigid routines, a flash temper, and dislike of loud noises, bright lights, and certain fabrics and foods.

One thing that stands out about my childhood is that my parents rarely socialised with others, and we were a very insular family.

My cousin ~ I'd say yes

My nephew ~ I'd say yes

My mom (now dead) ~ I'd say she had traits

And me ~ I'm the only one in my family to be diagnosed.

A couple of uncles on my fathers side are probable AS. One is just a ghost as, the other is likely full blown (Train lover, CB radio and some very weird friends)

My father is a very NT person, as well as my mother. My mother has one brother that might be a ghost, but I can only conjecturize on very old family photos as today he seems quite NT.

Hey Sophist

My dad classic Asperger's undx'd
I'm sur his mum and sister too
I would say his sister classic Asperger's

my nephew Classic Asperger's dx'd
myself HFA dx'd
my daughter HFA (speech delay) undx'd

My mum's brother Classic Aperger's undx'd
His daughter (my cousin) HFA undx'd

This seems alot but I have only mentioned those that show very strong traits that be undeniable

My dad may have a few symptoms of AS but is an NT.

AS seems to be sporadic in my family. Let me think here.

I want to say on of my uncles, he's the quiet loner type, was married for 11 years and got divorced. Went into another realtionship which ended after three years on complaints that my uncle "wasn't being receptive".

I have a cousin who's 14 who next time I see, I will have to observe carefully. He currently has an ADHD diagnoses. I remember when he was five he had memorized the lyrics to many many many many many many songs on the radio and would sing them ad nauseum at family gatherings.

My mom had to baby sit one of her cousins when he was a kid and mom said "he was just like me".

My Biological mother may have AS

No one in my family is officially diagnosed and I am the only one about to get an officiel diagnosis.
But I highly suspect that my grandfather on my father side and one of my aunts (one of my father's sisters) have AS too.

Father
Grandfather

On my mother's side, my grandfather seems to show some autistic traits, but I don't know how he was when he was a young man or child. He worked at a factory for pretty much all his life; he was a mechanical person and is a bit of the silent type. One of my uncles, a brother of my mother, shows some traits, too. He has a few collections, including a rock and mineral collection; lives alone and lived in his parents' house until about twelve years ago; can mimic animal sounds with his voice; and is now allergic to gluten.

My father seems to show some signs of adult ADD. He is very messy and disorganized and is fairly frequently late for meeting with my brother, my sister, and me. He can also show a slight lack of emotional understanding when he is too pushy about me getting a job, any job even if I absolutely hate it. He also smokes like crazy. Autistic traits he has are self-stimulating behaviors: nonsense phrases he says sometimes (but not at work), his interest in baseball statistics and card collecting when he was younger, and immaturity.

My brother has a very poor sense of direction, even worse than mine. Just recently he's passed up a turn to go to our grandma and grandpa's house, and they've lived there all his life, and it's not very far from where we live! My brother, the high school valedictorian, spent most of last summer playing videos games in his room in the basement; and it looks like he's going to be doing that again for the rest of this summer too. His social skills are, however, quite a bit better than mine.