AS women more likely to give birth to an AS child?

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I've heard the heridibility rate is at 95%. I just read a really interesting article about siblings of autistic children, too:

www.usnews.com/science/articles/2010/10 ... ptoms.html

(If that link is faulty...just search, "Siblings of Autistic Children May Share Symptoms")

well, i am a female that inherited AS from my father, so i seriously doubt that a single, x-linked recessive gene is responsible. in fact, i'd be willing to bet that the "AS allele(s)" is/are dominant. it just seems so common in some families.

Both my son and I are dx'ed aspergers, many others in the family clearly have symptoms.

I am AS, my son is AS, my daughter is NT/ADHD. it's possible I inherited spectrumite genes from both sides since I have a maternal half sib with AS, but I think my dad was very much AS. unfortunately he passed away before I was dx'd so I can't get additional information from him.

I doubt my Mom has AS--if she does, it is VERY mild. But I do think it was passed down through her side of the family rather than my Dad's side. I also think it was her father who had it, not her mother.....so who knows? Either way, though, I do believe there is a genetic component, and if there is an AS parent, there is probably a higher likelihood of passing it to the children. Personally, I would not wish my life on anyone, but if I had a child, I would have no idea how to turn it into a productive NT adult. I would do more harm than good. I think I would be a better parent to ASD children....

AS seems to run on my dad's side of the family. Dad has AS traits and my brother has like four of them, my uncle could have it and my grandma. I am sure my great uncle had it too but I will never know.

I haven't been diagnosed but do have a handful of diagnosis that my child's Psychiatrist said is Autism. Both my children have Autism so in my experience i have 2 special needs children and i relate alot to them.

Well, I don't have any kids but it does run in the family. One of my cousins on my mother's side has moderate autism and then there is one of my uncles on my father's side who has traits, but was diagnosed with something different which passes my mind... He is definitely a character... he runs a coffee shop in Arizona and plays his guitar there.

I cant speak from an educated point of view but personally I know of more autistic Men who have sons who are autistic. Of course this may be due to easier diagnosis for men in the past and could well change as more is understood about women on the spectrum.

There are so many different theories as to why someone is born autistic but noone actually knows the reason. Its all theory not fact.

I am unsure whether my child is on the spectrum. She does things I never did as a child which highlighted my likelihood of being on the spectrum which reassures me she is unlikely to be autistic.

Like some people have mentioned, I think the AS condition is not simple Mendelian genetics. It's likely a complex interplay of both genetic FACTORS (not causes) and environmental factors.

None of my family members (nor I) have been diagnosed. I'm pretty sure my mom's an NT, and my dad shows a few signs of AS. I've shown signs of AS when I was little, but it's barely noticeable now. I still don't know if I have it or not.

I agree? Yes, probably.

I am an ASPIE. My son is an ASPIE or HFA, depending on what doctor you talk to and the day of the week. There is NO DOUBT my uncle from my mom's side is an ASPIE. There is very little doubt that my mother is an ASPIE. There is also very little doubt that my grandmother, ie. my mom's mom and ASPIE uncle's mom is ALSO an ASPIE. By the way, I met one my of grandma's nephews...she always talks about how smart all the guys are in her family...funny, 100% no doubt he is an ASPIE. No doubt his sister whom I have known for over 30yrs is ALSO an ASPIE.

Oh, by the way...my uncle's grandson was diagnosed with autism a few years ago. My uncle's TWO daughters are in MY BOOK ASPIEs...one of my cousin's son is no doubt an ASPIE, the other...maybe has some traits.

I do believe my brother is an ASPIE...I barely talk to him...we just can't get along with his mood swings.

My family is FULL of ASPIEs as far as I am concerned. My husband, who is not autistic at all also believes all of these to be true as he has learned about autism, aspies, etc...

If anyone really wanted to do some genetic testing, I'd give them my whole darn family. A bunch of really smart people, none of which can get along very well...

As AS definitely has a genetic link, yes, AS women are more likely to give birth to an AS child than NT women. I don't know, though, if AS women are more likely to give birth to an AS child than AS men to conceive one. I only have my family to base my ideas on.

My mom's NT, and there are no signs of AS in her family. Closest would be one of her brothers, who's dyslexic and might have ADHD in some form.

We think AS in my family comes from my paternal grandmother's family. She most likely was AS, and her father as well (though that was mostly masked by him being deaf). Her entire family was quite excentric, and there were at least some among them that sound like textbook AS cases.

Grandmother had two sons. My dad has many AS characteristics, though I don't know whether they'd be enough for a diagnosis. His brother is definitely NT.

I likely have AS, and my brother's actually diagnosed with AS and ADHD. One of my sisters has strong AS-like symptoms, but likely isn't quite AS herself, though she's likely to have ADD. My youngest sister also displays some AS characteristics, but they're likely to be just behavioural patterns learned from her older brother. The two other sisters are definitely NT. That's half of us with at least borderline AS (I'm not counting the youngest).

On the other hand, my NT uncle only has one grandson that has some AS characteristics, but even with him the main diagnosis is ADHD.

So, I've estimated there's around 50% chance that any child I give birth to will have AS. Any complications in pregnancy seem to affect that as well, as mom almost had a miscarriage with both me and my brother, who are the most obviously AS of all of us. Well, at least this time we'll know what to look for. Only time will tell whether my 3-week-old son has AS, as the complications part was definitely true. Other factors are gender and the age of the father, both of which increase the chances of AS.

Echoing the rest of the thread: yes, I think ASD is heavily influenced by genetics and aspie parents will often have aspie babies. I'm looking forward to the day when autism is more fully understood.

That being said, I am a woman with AS who is totally looking forward to having AS babies. A mini-me with whom I can go to museums, watch scifi and crime shows, and teach all my mountains of useless trivia? Sign me up!

I often wonder if I had an AS child, would there be a risk that he/she would be more "low functioning" than I? Either way I don't care. I think as an aspie myself I might have an easier time raising a LF child than an NT parent, seeing as I would understand them and their needs more easily. Who knows.


In reference to the whole "is autism is disability" issue, I found my boyfriend's opinion to be very insightful. He said that sure there are other disability pride movements (epilepsy, cerebral palsy, etc), but how many other disabled groups out there hope to pass on their disability to their children? I think it says something about autism that autistic people often so genuinely see their autism to be a gift that they hope to see autistic traits in their offspring.

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