could autism be genetic?

amother

Tue, Feb 09 2010, 11:35 am

MY DH and I both have autistic siblings. Is this a concern? or there is no connection? Both of our families have been told it's not in the family but I wanted to hear if anyone heard otherwise and the fact that it is a double gene does it make it stronger?

Temilia

Tue, Feb 09 2010, 11:59 am

There is a genetic component to Autism.
Meaning, people who have autism in their family are more likely to have a child with Autism, and once you have a child with Autism you are more likely to have another child with autism.

I am confused, if you say that you and dh both have sibling with autism why would you say you have been told it's not in the family. What does that mean?

But, people with Autism in their family have many children without autism, and people who have no family history of autism have children with autism.

It's all in the hands of HKBH.

amother

Tue, Feb 09 2010, 12:09 pm

Temilia wrote:

After my sibling was born we were told by professionals that it wasn't genetic it's just that my mother had a higher chance of having another one and I believe DH family was told the same.

Does it make a difference if the autistic sibling is older or younger than us. Because if we were born before then there was no chance of being a carrier or is that really off? this only applies to one of us however.

Isramom8

Tue, Feb 09 2010, 12:42 pm

No one knows if autism has a genetic component. Some say it is likely caused by a combination of inherited genes. Just keep your eyes open for it.

It shouldn't make a difference if your sib is younger or older than you.

sky

Tue, Feb 09 2010, 1:12 pm

I think I read in the Hamdodia that with identical twins it is very common that if one has it that the other will have it. They were writing that were just identical twins born and both had autism.

But they were writing that they have like 50 genes indicating autism, which is a very high number to figure out in which way it is genetic (they can't isolate an exact gene).

I remember hearing that there is a slightly higher chance that if a sibling has autism that another will have it (maybe 3%)

I'm not sure if that helps.