<p>I have always been intrigued with the cause of Autism. I admit that I wonder if there is a medical reason for the syndrome. </p>
<p>I am wondering if there has ever been a study on NFL quarterbacks and autism. I ask this because I find it unique that Doug Flutie, Boomer Easiason, Jim Kelley, Rodney Peete and Dan Marino all have autistic sons. </p>
<p>They all played in the NFL @ the same time. Could there be a tie with:</p>
<p>A. Injury —concussion
B. Steroids</p>
<p>Am I the only one that has made this connection? Doesn’t it seem strange that there is a high ratio for NFL quarterbacks that played in this time period compared to the national average for society?</p>
<p>They are all in the same age range…could it be something that as NFL players or their birth yrs that they have in common that unlocks the mystery?</p>
<p>If I was going for a doctorate I would be looking at this without a doubt.</p>
<p>I would look at that and some other things. Silicon Valley in CA is a hot spot for autism. Another bit is that children identified as highly gifted intellectually are much more likely to have a sibling with autism. I hope someday we know.</p>
<p>It would be interesting, except two of them did not have autistic children. Jim Kelly (note spelling) had a son with a serious birth defect that ultimately killed him, and Boomer Esiason’s son has, I think, cystic fibrosis.</p>
<p>I’m not certain that three children of NFL quarterbacks with autism is outside the range of random variation.</p>
<p>Since the current autism rate is about 1/100, this does not seem like such a high ratio at all, even if the children of Kelly and Esiason were included.</p>
<p>Jim Kelly, Doug Flutie, Dan Marino and Rodney Peete all have autistic sons. All were quarterbacks. They all were in their prime around the same time…+/- 5 yrs.</p>
<p>I have no vested interest in this because I do not have an autistic child, but I do find it interesting that such a small pool has such a high number.</p>
<p>1/100 is the norm. </p>
<p>Either athletes are opening up about their children or maybe there is something there to question, either way I would love to know.</p>
<p>Here are some major athletes in contact sports that have autistic children
Dan Marino, Doug Flutie, Travis Laboy, Jim Kelley, Olaf Kolzig, Byron Dafoe and Scott Mellanby.</p>
<p>Have to ask if there is something unique that ties them</p>
<p>There are approximately 1700 players in the NFL each year, so I think it would be more telling to see how many players have autistic children, not just QB’s.</p>
<p>True, however I find it unique that the epitome of NFL QBs born between 61 and 66, had autistic children. I admit it is a small segment, but I find it unique that if you talk about QB’s in that era, the top QB’s for the top teams, college or NFL they had children born with autism.</p>
<p>I maybe reading too deep, I am just saying Flutie, Easiason, Marino and Kelley all had the chance to play against each other in college. Rodney Peete is the exception. It just makes me wonder statistically what are the chances that top rated QBS have autistic children later and at different yr markers? COuld there have been a shot that we no longer give, but was the norm in the 80s? Could it be concussions? Could there be something that these athletes did that could unlock the solution instead of looking at genetics or immunization? What if we studied these particular athletes to see if there was a common bond? </p>
<p>As I said I would love to know if anybody has looked into this group. I am just curious to know could there be a trend based on athletes born in the 60-65 yr group that were pro. Maybe there is a link, maybe nobody has seen that connection yet…doubtful since NFL QB club is small and I am sure that Marino, Flutie, Kelley, Peete, etc have thought about a connection.</p>
<p>Boomer’s son has cystic fibrosis (not autism). Kelly’s son did not have autism. He had Krabbe Disease, an inherited degenerative disorder of the central and peripheral nervous systems (died from the disease at the age of 8).</p>
<p>Actually, you’re not looking at a small pool of people when including all professional quarterbacks and other elite athletes participating in contact sports.</p>
<p>This might be a bit off-topic but i have a close friend who has ALS (Lou Gerhig Disease). I spend a lot of time looking up information about the disease. The research has not uncovered a cause yet but they have found an interesting connection between those diagnosed and a high rate of physical activity. There seems to be a high number of athletes affected. Whether it is a true connection or anecdotal remains to be seen. And if there is a connection it is elusive.</p>
<p>ALS is a Degenerative neurological disease and is, of course very different from autism. Still the nervous system is implicated.</p>
<p>The diagnosis of Autism has increased exponentially over the past ten years, especially amongst the children whose parents have a lot of money. Why do you suppose that is?</p>
<p>toblin-maybe you don’t mean it the way I’m taking it, but it seems you are hinting that autism is a problem of parents who can afford the diagnosis. Please believe me when I tell you that is offensive to parents of autistic children. If you said that more affluent families have better outcomes for their autistic kids I would agree.</p>
<p>I think the view of football players is deceptive. How many professional quarterbacks are there from that era, roughly speaking, and how many of them have autistic children? Do a similar study of computer geeks of a certain age, bankers, bakers, candle stick makers. There will be a higher percentage in some professions, some higher than quarterbacks is my guess.</p>
<p>I think that, in years past, people who were high functioning autistics (Aspergers for example) were just considered “odd”. Now that we know more, and yes, in all probability the higher rate of diagnosis in wealthier families is probably due to the availability of healthcare/insurance/specialists, the rate of diagnosis.</p>
<p>We know several, and know of several, VERY successful people who have Aspergers. In all cases they are married with children. In one case, the parents (one of whom has Aspergers) have a child with it as well.</p>
<p>Re: #14
With regard to the economic component: Those without resources must deal with “what is” without seeking the resources that may be able to identify and treat “what is.”</p>
<p>With regard to the time component: as clinicians become better educated/aware of a condition, more people with that condition will be so diagnosed.</p>
<p>Public schools do most of the diagnosing and treating “what is” in this country. Most families start with Early Intervention and special ed preschool services, advancing through the school system to get whatever services they can get. This is true for everyone except the truly wealthy quarterbacks and movie stars and those lucky enough to get help from somewhere. A special school for autism runs about $50,000/year. Most insurance polices will not cover services that can be provided by a public school. Medicaid (in my state) is reimburses the school for speech/language.</p>
<p>I’m not buying the idea that better diagnosis is the reason for the huge increase in autism. Some, sure, is awareness. Taking away the Asperger’s and high functioning and quirky kids, there are still way more autistic kids than there used to be. Something is causing it but no one can settle on what it is.</p>
<p>Our school district makes sure to not “over diagnose.” The district has limited funds and must be able to serve those who are diagnosed. I wish this were not so, but economic realities are cruel.</p>
<p>I’m not saying there are (or are not) more people in the spectrum. But I am convinced that increased awareness and resources account for part of the increase in the numbers and that there is a correlation between economic resources and those families whose children are initially diagnosed independent of the school system.</p>
<p>I’m thinking that toblin meant that people with less available health care would have kids in the autism spectrum that went undiagnosed.
As far as the football/head injury idea… you can’t inherit your parents’ injuries. If one does a study I’ll bet former NFL players have no higher incidence of autism than other folks.<br>
If you took all former NFL players, their position played, and the likelyhood of an autism-spectrum kid, you might… just might… find a tiny hook toward quarterback’s kids since there is a tiny relationship toward the quarterback being the “engineer nerd” on the team, and there is a tiny relationship between autism spectrum kids and the engineer end of personality types… said with love for my own engineer-end of the spectrum kids.</p>
<p>Wow, lots of posts since mine seemed to be on topic…</p>