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TheDoctor82
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09 Mar 2008, 12:52 am

My girlfriend posed this question to me- I'm already under the belief that she's on the same page with me, and thinks that I'm the one for her( yes, I think she's the one for me, too).

So, can it be passed down genetically?



GoatOnFire
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09 Mar 2008, 12:58 am

From what I've read I believe it can raise your chances of being born with it if there is a genetic history, but there are no guarantees as genetics is very fickle.


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santabarbarian
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09 Mar 2008, 1:12 am

I have AS, my father seems to have AS, my young son is also starting to show some signs. Every male member of my family for 3 generations is an engineer of one kind or another and many have aspie traits.



markaudette
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09 Mar 2008, 2:23 am

My Father has AS. I have AS. And I suspect that my nephew has AS.

So, pretty much, yeah.



fainting-goat
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09 Mar 2008, 5:11 am

TheDoctor82 wrote:
My girlfriend posed this question to me- I'm already under the belief that she's on the same page with me, and thinks that I'm the one for her( yes, I think she's the one for me, too).

So, can it be passed down genetically?


there is plenty of evidence that genetics is the primary "source" of AS - just check
other postings here or any reliable sources on autism/as.

if you are worried about passing these characteristics along to your own children,
well - maybe you shouldn't. it can be a good thing.

personally, i see plenty of aspie characteristics in both my mother's and father's
families - altho it is not clear if any of them had enough of the required assemblage
of characteristics to meet a clinical diagnosis.

grandfather with a degree in electrical engineering in 1910, inventor, bizarre ability
to interact with wild animals (photos of him out in the woods petting wild deer, with
cardinals sitting on his head, etc.), great grandmother was nearly mute and so intense
she frightened everybody, lived in a huge old house full of thousands of different plants
inside & out which she used as medicines (she would have been a witch in earlier days),
and so on.

thank god people like this exist and, if they are the genetic source of my AS characteristics,
that is a good thing.

my wife, who is absolutely NT, was largely attracted to me because of my AS characteristics
even though many of them drive her nuts (as some of her NT characteristics drive me nuts).

i am now seeing some of my characteristics in my 7 year old - but in combination with
my wife's very NT characteristics. it makes him really unique - absolutely naive, hyper
emotional, intuitively phenomenal math skills with poor fine motor skills (his writing is
crap), hyper social, erratic performance in school (either way ahead or way behind),
odd array of sensory issues. i would say that people find him to be really interesting
and puzzling because of this juxtaposed collection of characteristics. we can cope with
any "issues" because we understand their source. They are not problems, they make
him an unusual and interesting person.

there are AS folks with very disabling characteristics and i can see that some people
would be afraid of passing these along to their children. i often wonder if the disability
has more to do with the context (parents, schools, society) than anything. in an
understanding and supportive environment these "disabilities" are, at worst, differences,
and at best characteristics that make a unique and interesting individual.

so yeah for genetics.

fg



Danielismyname
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09 Mar 2008, 5:35 am

I was talking to a psychologist who told me that it's usually passed on from the father, albeit in a more severe form. The father shows traits, but they aren't severe enough to warrant a "disorder" label. In addition, sometimes, the traits they have are endearing qualities, as they don't display the many negative symptoms that are so often disabling for those with an ASD.



markaudette
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09 Mar 2008, 6:00 am

If I had to compare my symptoms to my father's symptoms, he seems a bit more affected by AS than I am.



grain-and-field
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09 Mar 2008, 7:05 am

well, since the human race is constantly evolving (getting smarter), AS is nothing more than the behavior of the "smartest" people. Its all genes.



Nico
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09 Mar 2008, 8:04 am

My mother and maternal grandfather have AS and my cousin (on my mother's side) has autism.


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psych
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09 Mar 2008, 8:22 am

My guess is that its a heritary predisposition, but with environmental triggers.

The genetic component could be personality traits (the 'good' stuff), but also an increased susceptability to neurotoxic damge from the many industrial & domestic poisons that have taken over the world since the industrial revolution.

That would explain both the increase in ASDs & the massive variation in our disorders. For example, it could be something like this:

- hereditary factor + mercury amalgam = sensory processing disorders
- heriditary factor + high level of PFCs (teflon,scotchguard etc) = ADHD
- heriditary factor + high level of lead = face blindness

etc..

If im right then to lower the chances of passing on the 'bad' (disabling) traits you should detox yourselves before conception - amalgam removal, eliminate domestic sources of neurotoxins for a few years move out into the sticks and only eat organic food...



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09 Mar 2008, 8:43 am

According to the current science, for the most part, it IS.

And if you want proof, just meet my family.


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9CatMom
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09 Mar 2008, 9:23 am

Yes, there is a strong genetic component. In my case, however, I think I am the only one in the family with the traits of AS.



RampionRampage
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09 Mar 2008, 9:25 am

lastcrazyhorn wrote:
According to the current science, for the most part, it IS.

And if you want proof, just meet my family.


ditto. my sister and i have about the same degree (not so awful) of AS traits, though our strengths and weaknesses vary a little.
our biological father is quite a bit more affected than we are and currently lives in the middle of the woods in GA by himself with his dogs. we like him to stay there.


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LiendaBalla
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09 Mar 2008, 10:23 am

I always believed it was genetic. A couple of relatives in my own family have some of he behavior likeness to Aspergers. This is why I would prefer and Aspie over a different type for a partner.



SDFarsight
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09 Mar 2008, 10:35 am

My twin brother doesn't have AS, nor does anyone in my family or even my extended family (though there could always be one somewhere in my family tree) that knowingly has AS. I'm the only one. So while having AS might increase the chances, it certinaly doesn't mean that NT parents will have NT children while aspie parents will have aspie children. It's just not as simple as that; AS not a breed of human.



nominalist
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09 Mar 2008, 1:49 pm

There is substantial evidence of ASDs running in families, especially among males. Anecdotally, both my father and I are aspies.


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