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Parents/genes/autism causes

Hibernating
over 1 year ago

I've been making the assumption, possibly incorrectly, that I inherited my autism from my undiagnosed mother.

However, I have just looked at some links and now I'm not sure.

The NHS site says that the causes of autism is unknown:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/autism/what-is-autism/

This link talks of a study showing an 80% risk from inherited genes:

https://www.autismspeaks.org/science-news/autism-genetic-study-finds-80-risk-inherited-genes

This earlier article says that children may inherit DNA from fathers who are NOT autistic, but I think (if I'm reading correctly) not from mothers.

https://www.science.org/content/article/autistic-children-may-inherit-dna-mutations-their-fathers

So, I'm a bit confused and would appreciate any clarification.

1. Could we inherit autism from our mothers?

2.  With regard to your parents, has either of them been diagnosed? 

I believe that some members of the forum are diagnosed and have children diagnosed, so I assume there must be some genetic link.

3. If your parents are/were undiagnosed, has anything led you to believe that one or both of your parents are/were autistic?

Thank you for any input.

Parents
  • over 1 year ago
    Hibernating said:
    Could we inherit autism from our mothers?

    From anecdotal evidence, the number of women diagnosed because their children were suggests this is possible, although the fathers of the children may also be autistic, I do not have enough data to know that.

    In my case (no diagnoses so feel free to discount) we reckon my Dad definitely is, and that his mother was. Not sure about my Mum, possible traits but very sociable, but there is certainly autism on her side of the family among my cousins and probably her sister.

    The fact that we seem to get on with other autistic people might confuse things though, as it is possible there are more than average pairings of two autistic parents, but this is pure speculation. I also speculate there are more of us out there undiagnosed than people think! Especially women, so if there are more undiagnosed mothers out there than is known then that skews any data.

Reply
  • over 1 year ago
    Hibernating said:
    Could we inherit autism from our mothers?

    From anecdotal evidence, the number of women diagnosed because their children were suggests this is possible, although the fathers of the children may also be autistic, I do not have enough data to know that.

    In my case (no diagnoses so feel free to discount) we reckon my Dad definitely is, and that his mother was. Not sure about my Mum, possible traits but very sociable, but there is certainly autism on her side of the family among my cousins and probably her sister.

    The fact that we seem to get on with other autistic people might confuse things though, as it is possible there are more than average pairings of two autistic parents, but this is pure speculation. I also speculate there are more of us out there undiagnosed than people think! Especially women, so if there are more undiagnosed mothers out there than is known then that skews any data.

Children
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