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I have a few random thoughts as a parent of an autistic child. I recognise they are anecdotal. The head doctor of an Autism centre told me there was a strong

I have a few random thoughts as a parent of an autistic child. I recognise they are anecdotal. The head doctor of an Autism centre told me there was a strong correlation between autism and genetics. I mentioned my wife (and her father) were almost certainly autistic but never diagnosed. This was confirmed as very common: one side or both usually have a history. My wife and I met at University, doing the same degree. She was had a very logical and analytical mind, which is what attracted me to her. We have an autistic child with a very strong aptitude for language conventions and solid mathematical reasoning (although the real strength is in language which is very common in Aspergers - a now defunct classification that I believe added value in understanding and finding like-minded children who were compatible socially). My wife and I do not look alike, nor are we from a common ethnic background, unless you consider different parts of Western Europe to be sufficiently common genetics. Anecdotally: I have spoken with quite a few Aspergers mums and dads. Most dads are in engineering or mathematics based jobs. Most of the mums I can recall are logical and have good analytical skills (employment status varies for mums). When I've met parents of Autistic children that were not Aspergers, I did not find a consistency of logical thinking. However, this could be my own selection bias. I've tried not to have bias, but I can't discount it. Every person is on the spectrum. There are significant variations in the group defined as Autistic. It would be interesting to know if this group in the statistics were higher functioning (HFA) and to compare the results from HFA vs non-HFA. What I found interesting is that teachers assumed my child had learning difficulties until we booked a formal assessment (classification: gifted or near gifted). My father in law was overlooked in a similar way and paid the penalty (at least, career wise).

hoopism 11y ago
I too have a child with Autism, though she is under 3 and we're still learning more about what her challenges long term might be. I also am an engineer and the son of an engineer. My wife is a pharmacist and highly educated. We also dated in high school. I know that within my paternal family there is a long history of high intellect and lack of social skills. It's curious to me how much can be attributed to parents with higher education and means being more proactive to get a diagnosis for a high functional child versus the same demographic just being predisposed to ASD offspring.
mgr86 11y ago
My girlfriend works with autistic children. Generally providing birth-3 ABA services. She claims that, with few exceptions, almost every case at least one parent is somewhere on the spectrum. She has one whose father likes to say how he tested one point away. It is a fascinating anecdotal connection, but it seems to be quite common.
cwbrandsma 11y ago
Also anecdotal. I have a daughter with Aspergers (just diagnosed, so I'm new to this). My wife and I are both Dutch/Friesian, but I am reasonably certain we are not related. I am a programmer (with dyslexia), my wife is an artist. Both our fathers are technical with degrees/jobs in electronics. Her father has numerous patents in aerospace. My wife's mother has manic depression. Most of my cousins are dyslexic, one is autistic, a few have Aspergers children as well. I think I've created the perfect storm to have a child in the autism spectrum.
muddyrivers 11y ago
> When I've met parents of Autistic children that were not Aspergers, I did not find a consistency of logical thinking. I have very similar observation. For this specific scenario, I think we need to look up the whole family history, more than the children's biological parents. An ASD child's siblings could be neurotypical, which is the case for most families with ASD children that I have met. I wonder if a parent who is neurotypical but has siblings of ASD may have higher probability to have ASD children than those in whose family history there are no ASD members at all.
fingerprinter 11y ago
More anecdote: 8 year boy on the spectrum. I'm tech. Wife is doctor. In a traditional school, boy has challenges (also is diagnosed with ADHD). Had him test, very high IQ. Super into science (outer space, oceans, physics etc) and has almost encyclopedic knowledge of those topics. In a STEAM based school, is super engaged. We both suspect that wife's father is on the spectrum. Both wife and I exhibit traits but probably wouldn't qualify as being ASD. Wife and I met in high school. Ethnically we are nothing alike (I'm northern European, she's a mix of African and eastern European). We have two younger kids who appear NT at this point.
trajing 11y ago
Person diagnosed with AS here. My father is a programmer and my mother is a (public school) teacher.

hoopism 11y ago

I too have a child with Autism, though she is under 3 and we're still learning more about what her challenges long term might be. I also am an engineer and the son of an engineer. My wife is a pharmacist and highly educated. We also dated in high school. I know that within my paternal family there is a long history of high intellect and lack of social skills. It's curious to me how much can be attributed to parents with higher education and means being more proactive to get a diagnosis for a high functional child versus the same demographic just being predisposed to ASD offspring.

mgr86 11y ago

My girlfriend works with autistic children. Generally providing birth-3 ABA services. She claims that, with few exceptions, almost every case at least one parent is somewhere on the spectrum. She has one whose father likes to say how he tested one point away. It is a fascinating anecdotal connection, but it seems to be quite common.

cwbrandsma 11y ago

Also anecdotal. I have a daughter with Aspergers (just diagnosed, so I'm new to this). My wife and I are both Dutch/Friesian, but I am reasonably certain we are not related. I am a programmer (with dyslexia), my wife is an artist. Both our fathers are technical with degrees/jobs in electronics. Her father has numerous patents in aerospace. My wife's mother has manic depression. Most of my cousins are dyslexic, one is autistic, a few have Aspergers children as well. I think I've created the perfect storm to have a child in the autism spectrum.

muddyrivers 11y ago

> When I've met parents of Autistic children that were not Aspergers, I did not find a consistency of logical thinking. I have very similar observation. For this specific scenario, I think we need to look up the whole family history, more than the children's biological parents. An ASD child's siblings could be neurotypical, which is the case for most families with ASD children that I have met. I wonder if a parent who is neurotypical but has siblings of ASD may have higher probability to have ASD children than those in whose family history there are no ASD members at all.

fingerprinter 11y ago

More anecdote: 8 year boy on the spectrum. I'm tech. Wife is doctor. In a traditional school, boy has challenges (also is diagnosed with ADHD). Had him test, very high IQ. Super into science (outer space, oceans, physics etc) and has almost encyclopedic knowledge of those topics. In a STEAM based school, is super engaged. We both suspect that wife's father is on the spectrum. Both wife and I exhibit traits but probably wouldn't qualify as being ASD. Wife and I met in high school. Ethnically we are nothing alike (I'm northern European, she's a mix of African and eastern European). We have two younger kids who appear NT at this point.

trajing 11y ago

Person diagnosed with AS here. My father is a programmer and my mother is a (public school) teacher.