Men Over 40 More Likely to Father an Autistic Child

Parent Cafe
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<p>Anitaw,</p>

<p>I’m glad you shared your thoughts and experiences. Like Speech529, I learn from people like you who share their knowledge about autism. You said many things with which I agree or that I have observed. For instance, our son had what the NIH calls the “million dollar genetic work-up” and it told us what we expected … nothing. I believe science will uncover more clues in the coming years but, for now, genetic forms of autism are the exception and not the rule.</p>

<p>Our son is profoundly autistic but you can’t live in the autism world without meeting and learning about all types of autistics. I would not be surprised if medicine ultimately decides that Aspergers is a distinction without meaning, a label for high functioning autistics rather than a separate condition. Frankly, I distrust most autism diagnoses because they are almost always based on behavior. I believe most forms of autism have an immunological basis (or a genetic basis that results in a weakened immune system), thus I view diagnoses based on behavior as suspect. It would be like diagnosing an ulcer based solely on reports of heartburn. The diagnosis might ultimately be correct but it could just as easily be due to reflux, liver, heart, or intestinal problems. </p>

<p>I also think there is an element of truth to your thought that the parents of autistics might just be quirky or that much of what we observe might be coincidental. Having said that, though, these specific quirky people do have common patterns that should be and are of interest to medical researchers and scientists. And most of those patterns, blood tests, clinical work-ups, and other clues currently point to the possibility of immune (including autoimmune) factors.</p>

<p>Finally, regarding OT, SI, Social Thinking, and RDI - I will be candid. I’m not a good resource on these subjects. While we have studied many of these techniquies and employed them on a limited basis with our son, our son’s medical condition precluded and still precludes intensive behavioral intervention. However, it might interest you to learn that in our community there are twin boys born the same year as our son who are also autistic. The twins have been provided with the most modern, intensive behavioral interventions. All 3 boys look alike, had a similar age of onset, clinical symptoms, etc. It makes an interesting comparison - our own random, blind study - as we watch these boys grow up. At first, with intensive behavior modification, the twins were far beyond our son in socialization, academics, and verbal ability. However, after our son received medical treatment for his immune condition, he caught up with limited behavioral intervention. Let me be clear: They are all still non-verbal and autistic and there have been no magic cures (yet). But it is interesting, don’t you think?</p>

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<p>One of the tricky things about Asperger’s, is that it closely resembles another right hemisphere dysfunction, which is NonVerbal Learning Disorder. Both kinds of patients have social oddities, poor reading of social cues, some perseverative behavior, usually with average to above average intelligence. </p>

<p>There is more of an overlap between AS and NLD (although one is a psychiatric disorder, and one considered a neurological/learning disorder), than between AS and other more profound autisms. </p>

<p>It is all very interesting, definitely.</p>

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<p>Allmusic,</p>

<p>Is hyperlexia a form of NLD? How does NLD typically manifest?</p>

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<p>DRJ, there are many hyperlexics with NLD, because the rote aspects of learning are those in which kids with NLD excel. They are not typically identified as having issues until 4th grade, or whenever the curriculum moves from “learning to read” to “reading to learn”. Many parents with NLD kids thought they were gifted (and many are) since many are exceptionally verbal and good early readers.</p>

<p>NLD manifests as issues with social awareness, motor clumsiness (fine or gross), and general spatial/perceptual difficulties. There are subgroups of NLD now, since some kids with right hemisphere dysfunction exhibit only two of the three areas. However, the difficulty with social pragmatics and overal spatial sense tends to override motoric difficulties. I have seen a couple decent athletes with NLD, but most have trouble hitting baseballs, riding bikes, even knowing which way to run on a soccer field (so as not to kick in the opponent’s goal). Kids usually are very concrete in thinking, and have trouble with math and written language.</p>

<p>It is becoming better understood, but remains quite a difficult dx, that is not so easy to treat academically. In this way, there is an overlap with AS, as the written language difficulties are very similar.</p>

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<p>Allmusic,</p>

<p>That is very interesting and thank you for posting it. I have run into 2 autistic children who are also hyperlexic, and we suspect our son can read even though he can’t talk. The high functioning cases are more challenging because, at least in my view, it feels like they are “this close” to living a normal life. The pressure is intense to move them into the normal range. With the lower functioning cases, like our son, it is more intriguing than challenging. How can a kid with no expressive abilities and uncertain receptive skills learn to read? And yet some do. The human mind is absolutely amazing.</p>