Your birth order and possible relevance to Autism

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Hi again,

My curiosity is getting the better of me on the subject of a possible connection between being on the spectrum and birth order. I suspect the normal frequency ratio within the population as a whole is not shared by Aspies/Auties.

To help me in this, could you please state your birth order via poll and if you have pertinent anecdotes of how you think this has affected your life (or for other reasons) please share them in a thread. TYIA.

I'll go first: am the second child with an older NT sister who is utterly in control of her life, a raging extrovert and totally successful in everything she touches, not afraid of anybody ever, always went for what she wanted and mainly got it, dozens if not hundreds of friends. For me life has been really horrible, nothing works, semi-introverted, always misunderstood, a respecter of (and afraid of) of authority except briefly while in college, no friends, family for the main part does not like me.


PMPP

I'm not sure how to answer, because of my complicated sibling map.

on my mother's side:
1. half-brother, dx'd AS.
2. me, provisionally dx'd AS
3. full sister, no dx but many signs of AS and ADHD
4. half-sister, dx'd PDD and ADHD

on my father's side:
1. me, provisionally dx'd AS
2. full sister, no dx but many signs of AS and ADHD
3. half-brother, probably NT
4. half-sister, probably NT
5. half-brother, no dx but some signs of AS (different mother than 1-4)

my mother gave her first child up for adoption at birth.
I grew up as the oldest sibling with my full sister and maternal half-sister.
I was put in the parental role with my half-sister. I'm 8 years older. she has 3 kids, 2 of which show signs of AS but no dx.
I spent time with my dad's 3rd and 4th child fairly regularly growing up, but was an adult living in a different part of the country when he had his 5th child.
I have 2 kids, older one is NVLD and younger is ADHD.

my kid is an only and is.

the first sib born in my family is undoubtedly aspie. the second one isn't. i am. [i'm the only one who had a kid.]

my mother wasn't, nor was her sib. my father was. he was one of 12, at least a half-dozen of whom were spectrum.

his father (one of 12-ish) most probably wasn't. his mother (only) most likely was.

her father probably wasn't. her mother most probably was.

that puts us back to 1850s and non-existent irish records.


i don't think it's order, i think it's genetics. the roll of the dice. and how various genes interact. maybe with the environment. the impacted line is from a long line of hatters and tanners, who would have been exposed to mercury and all sorts of nasty and noxious (and poisonous) chemicals.

hmmm. well, i can't verify that with my family. my first-born sib definitely is/was.
my father was well down in the string of siblings in his family, the first few either died young or were female, and i have no record of what they were like. after that it seems to have been hit or miss.
his mother was one of two, the younger of two. the first managed to fall into a fireplace as a toddler and didn't make it back out, so there's no telling about her.


i do seem to remember that the later children were more likely to have had "issues", though - but their parents were older then as well, so one wonders if it was birth order, or age of parents, or chemicals, or malnutrition, or genetics, or some combination of same.

be interesting to see what results you get here, but remember that "here" is not necessarily a representative sample.

Oldest child. Younger sister is NT.

I'm an only child. I think it affected my AS because I never had a sibling to share a room with, nor did I ever get to practice social skills of interacting with other children. But whatever. I love being an only child. I wouldn't have it any other way. My mom pays attention only to me, so I can give special interest monologues without competing for other siblings' attention.
-OddDuckNash99-

I'm an only child, but my mom did want to have another one a couple of times. It's getting too late now as I'm already twenty, but she had me fairly young.

My order:

1. Me (HFA)
2. NT brother
3. NT stepsister (I know she doesn't count for the bio standpoint but consider her my sister anyways)

Cousin (who is probably AS but parents will never admit it/more than just shy, etc.):

1. Him (undiagnosed but probably has AS)
2. NT sister (this cousin of mine is really annoying, bossy & oddly accident prone for an athlete)

My stepsister nephews (at least one probably has it, but again its not acknowledged as I know of) who are by her half brother:

1. Boy who most likely has it (2.5 yrs. old, can't talk or communicate, hyper, etc.) (I saw him... I'd say pigs would fly & Jesus Christ (Yeshua I believe was his technical name), Moses, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Elvis & Michael Jackson will all return from the dead in this specific order if this kid is a total NT) Hey, but what do I know, I only saw the kid once.
2. 2nd boy whose supposedly 1st boy's opposite (never met/saw this one)

I voted "Baby in the family", as my brother and my sister (both NT, AFAIK) were teenagers when I was born, and my parents were around 40. I was the "oops" baby.

Until I was about four, I thought my name was Baby, and would have a fit if anyone called me Billy.

I'm the third child and the baby in the family.

Was I supposed to select 'third child' or 'baby in the family' in the poll?