<p>Aspergers is a relatively “new” disorder; it has only been an official diagnosis for about 50 years, and only in the last 10-15 has it become widely diagnosed. Before that, socially inept people were just outcasts…now we have a label.</p>
<p>There is a big difference between Aspergers and PDD or other forms of autism, but even with the latter two, there is more thorough diagnosis. It isn’t clear that there are necessarily that many more cases, but there definitely is better diagnosis. As with ADD, there are plenty of “false positives” in the diagnosis of Aspergers. It is the dx du jour.</p>
<p>Again, although dysxlexia, ADD and Aspergers can be comorbid, there is not necessarily any causal relationship between them, although rates are higher as a result of genetics and birth injury.</p>
<p>My brother was diagnosed with autism a year ago… he’s about 5 and still can’t speak properly. He does talk, but it’s all garbled… only a few words come out clearly. </p>
<p>He used to be very scared of people, even the family. But now he’s more used to strangers and talks or tries to with everyone. </p>
<p>He’s also been diagnosed with ADD. And one of his ears wasn’t properly formed, but according to tests he can hear perfectly with the other.</p>
<p>Anyway, my parents had him when my mom was about 40 and my dad was 38. He’s her eighth child and second son. She was always stressed out during the pregnancy so that might’ve had an impact too…</p>
I’ve never seen any data that correlates stress during pregnancy with autism. I’m sure that mom’s of kids with any developmental problem blame themselves enough (though without grounds) so we should be careful about saying things which imply that the outcome of the pregnancy could have been different. Remember, it used to be common to blame autism on a “cold” mother, which must have been just horrible for those women.</p>
<p>She’s never shown any guilt, really. Anyway, I wasn’t blaming her for my brother’s autism, what the heck? I was talking more about the ear formation. She’s a doctor (she has an mph, mch, phd… abbreviations I know little or nothing about) and she’s mentioned that too.</p>
<p>It sounds like your family is doing a good job taking care of your brother and helping him be more comfortable around people. It also sounds like you care about your brother. I’m glad you joined in.</p>
<p>if these disorders are more likely to present with increased environmental toxins, it makes sense that the older the parents are, the more they would have been exposed to toxins.
We have also just started to know how to diagnose- even when I was in school, ADHD wasn’t diagnosed, although it has been treated in some areas for decades. Those students were just sent to the principals office or home.</p>
<p>It really is hit or miss if you get an accurate diagnosis or not. I know one girl, who has differences in appearance, along with aspraxia and other things and at the age of 18 she still doesn’t have a good diagnosis, because her parents declined genetic testing, it wouldn’t affect her treatment- so why have the DNA on file when it might cause probs with ins down the road.</p>
<p>Problem with all these dxs, EK, is that there is no definitive blood test, no genetic testing…not for autism, ADD, or learning disorders. It isn’t like testing for diabetes or high cholesterol. One cannot even do a brain scan for a reliable diagnosis of most any neurological disorder. Diagnosis is based entirely on history and the skill of the neurologist, psychiatrist or neuropsychologist, preferably as part of a multi-disciplianary evaluation.</p>
<p>I’m just curious to know if you or your husband had any family history of autism?? ie. uncles, brothers etc…</p>
<p>I have a brother who has severe autism and I am concerned that when I have a baby that they may be affected by autism. However, apparently no other family members on either side of the family have been known to have autism. </p>
<p>I have been doing some reading on the matter and the vaccines seem to be mentioned all the time. As I have been told my brother was developing fine (beginning to talk, point, show my parents things etc) until he was vaccinated at about the age of 15 - 19 months when he stopped developing and went backwards. I have heard so many of these stories and I am concerned.</p>
<p>Missymoo: my teenage son has mild Asperger’s Syndrome and I have a nephew and niece (brother/sister and the only 2 children of my brother) who both have autism spectrum disorders, worse than my son’s (they are NOT having any more children as a result of genetic concerns); all 3 are very different with different symptoms. In hindsight, my brother is most likely undiagnosed Aspergers, probably more severe than my son but also with different symptoms (he was always the nerdiest of my 7 siblings - but I probably ran a close second and may possibly also be undiagnosed AS - although more mild than my son. As a result, I am definitely convinced of a strong genetic link although there are no other diagnosed individuals in the family (although there are another brother/sister-nephew/niece with learning disabilities). I have also heard more and more accounts of adults who are being diagnosed (mostly with Aspergers) as a result of learning that their children were autistic/AS. An example is Liane Holliday (sp?) who has written several wonderful books about her experiences. Given the increase in (older) adults being diagnosed, I think there is a lot more going on than vaccines…</p>
<p>I’m not sure if you directed your question to me but our family does not have other family members with autism or an autism spectrum disorder - at least not anyone in the immediate family like siblings, parents, cousins, aunt, uncles, etc. We do have a family history of immune dysfunction, the medical name for IgA and IgG deficiencies, and our autistic son has a variation of the bubble boy syndrome. This is the reason that vaccines are dangerous for our family, and most doctors believe it is related to our son’s autism. However, this type of medical condition is thought to be rare.</p>
<p>Missy, the honest answer is I don’t think we know whether or not vaccines are involved. The average age for onset of autism is around the same time as most children get vaccinated. Based on current research, we can’t tell if they are related or just coincidence. My personal belief is that vaccines may be marginally involved but that this is more than a vaccine issue. </p>
<p>I agree that late-talkers are not part of the autism spectrum disorders. I was the commenter who mentioned late-talkers and Thomas Sowell’s book on the subject. As I recall, someone mentioned that autistics often have relatives in math, science and engineering fields. I volunteered that Thomas Sowell also observed that with late-talkers. It is an interesting coincidence but I never suggested late-talkers are autistic.</p>
<p>With regard to stuttering, however, I know medical researchers who believe stuttering is related to ADD, ADHD, and dyslexia. As Allmusic pointed out above, these are not autism spectrum disorders but there is evidence that they are related to the autism spectrum disorders. I provided an NIH link that touches on that relation. It is speculative and the subject of research but there are serious people who believe it exists.</p>
<p>I have been the field of speech-languge disorders for 25+ years and while I am absolutely NOT an expert on ASD, this is new to me. Where is that link? I am interested. Thanks</p>
<p>this genetics journal has some research re stuttering specifically chromosome 12
<a href=“http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?id=doi:10.1086/501370&erFrom=-2882462019168951670Guest[/url]”>http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?id=doi:10.1086/501370&erFrom=-2882462019168951670Guest</a> Stuttering is a speech disorder long recognized to have a genetic component. Recent linkage studies mapped a susceptibility locus for stuttering to chromosome 12 in 46 highly inbred families ascertained in Pakistan. … In addition, a region on chromosome 2 (193 cM) showed a significant increase in the evidence for linkage conditional on either chromosome 9 (positive) or chromosome 7 (negative); this chromosome 2 region has been implicated elsewhere in studies on autism, with increased evidence for linkage observed when the sample is restricted to those with delayed onset of phrase speech. Our results support the hypothesis that the genetic component to stuttering has significant sex effects.
I dont think this was the article though</p>
<p>Thanks for coming back to this thread. For almost 15 years, our family has been privileged to work with excellent healthcare professionals with our son. By far, the cream of the crop have been the speech pathologists. Kudos to you for what you do to help children and adults with speech issues. Given the lateness of the hour where I am, I hope you will forgive me for providing a brief response to your request. I will be happy to look further tomorrow if needed. For now, here are some links:</p>
<p>The vast majority of children with ASD do not have a specific genetic disease or marker. ASD itself is the neurobehavioral endpoint of many possible disrupted patterns. As such, in some cases of ASD there has been regression, in others not. In some cases there are seizures or mental retardation, in others not. ASD is not one entity at all, and what people talk about when they talk about it is not always the same either. At a scientific conference I attended recently specialists from large med centers (UCLA among them) noted they they are skeptical there is a distinct entity of Asperger Syndrome (ie, it is really just the least severely impacted of the autism spectrum- not an unique diagnosis at all)…So clearly, there is a lot discussion about the diagnosis that needs to be couched with caution. </p>
<p>On the same topic, sort of, of older parents and ASD…DRJ4 mentioned Angelmans, with which most people are not familiar. But the interesting thing about it is that there are studies from the UK demonstrating an increased incidence in children born after in-vitro fertilization.</p>
<p>Maybe it just takes longer for the quirky-ish folks who sometimes parent ASD kids to find partners-- as noted earlier-- and the relationship is completely not causal, just co-incidental. </p>
<p>I think most suggestions are that the jury is out on all this. What was interesting to me(related to etiology) was at the conference I attended 8 years ago at the same center, everyone was talking about the cerebellum. With this came the HUGE influx of SI and other OT based therapeutic interventions (I think). Well, this time around (same academic center, many of the same speakers) all the discussion was about the cerebrum. I am not a big fan of SI anyways, and if the most recent hypotheses prove right, I think that the focus on OT approaches to autism are going to fall by the wayside. </p>
<p>Anyone out there with much experience with Social Thinking (Michelle Winner) or RDI???</p>
<p>DRJ4
Thanks for the kind words for SLPs. It is gratifying to hear that you have had positive experiences. It is a fascinating field and has a wide range of areas of specialization and work settings. </p>
<p>Thanks for the scientific references,too. I’ll come back to check on more from you and others. I have found in my work experience that parents are my #1 resource in helping the children.</p>