Published on 12, July, 2020
The article linked below suggests that the children of older parents may be more likely to be autistic. It caught my eye because my dad was almost 50 when I was born and his own father was a similar age when my dad was born.
I’ve always assumed that it just took them longer to have families because they too were autistic (my dad certainly was) but the article suggests that older parents accumulate more mutations which they pass to their children.
Were your parents older when they had you?
https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/link-parental-age-autism-explained/
My Dad was 22, and my Mum was 26.
I'm 44, but was never in a meaningful relationship. The women, here, are usually taken by the time they graduate from Uni; or begin working after leaving school.
I agree with what you said here. I like your username BTW. Are you interested in numbers? I am... I don't know why though, I just love numbers find myself obsessed with them from a young age.
My parents were 31 when they had me, not sure if this is considered a late birth? I was then diagnosed with autism when I was 6 and a half... I didn't make eye contact, I hated being touched and I was constantly flapping my hands especially when excited. My parents were a bit younger when my sister and brother were born and they don't have autism.
There's only one thing that makes me regularly consider leaving this forum, and it's the posts from people about their partners and children, which just make me feel 100 times worse about myself. If I could have been given guidance during that most important time for our social development, it might have transformed my life.
It wouldn't just be guidance about communication but about social behaviour. For example, one of the things I did in my late teens in an effort to fit in was to copy how others dressed but that just made me look silly. Someone quietly telling me that it was an understandable strategy but just stop it, you're making it worse... would have been helpful.
Amerantin (former member) said: I think we could have mandatory classes in socialisation and self presentation for all teenagers. Then people like me could have benefited without the need for a label.
I understand what you mean, but wouldn’t that just lead to harmful conformity?
By having these types of classes made you could harmfully enforce that there is only right way to socialise which obviously is not true. Alternatively, these classes could also include an introduction to neurodiversity and therefore discuss different communication styles too.
Ah....an early adopter! Impressive. My jading became apparent in 2006-8 and I was awarded my full stripes as a major general b'tard in about 2016.
No need to worry about that, I was a jaded old b-tard by the age of 16.
Yes, in principle, I agree....but in practice (re: mandatory classes)?
Finding your way as a teenager must be ABSOLUTE hell these days, whether you are NT or ND.
Being a teacher these days must be unimaginably hard?
Plonking 30 kids in a classroom and telling them that you are going to teach them how to self-present and socialise with each other.....I can't see how that it going to result in anything tangibly useful. Or, maybe I'm just a jaded old b-tard?
Many articles about adjustments for neurodivergent people point out that the adjustments would help everyone else too. In that vein, I think we could have mandatory classes in socialisation and self presentation for all teenagers. Then people like me could have benefited without the need for a label.
In terms of my ability to work, I agree sometime in my 30s would definitely have been a good time to understand why I kept having to retreat to the office bathroom to recover.
This is precisely what I tend to feel, in relation to myself. I'm from the school of Temple Grandin's mum....just because you are different and special.... doesn't mean you don't have to be useful and superficially fit-in to be happy. I know this isn't popular these days, but I think it is fair in relation to me.....although I DO wish I could have found out, before I mega-burnt out....I'm guessing, for me, the sweet spot age would have been circa 35 yrs old.
This is an interesting point. Almost my first reaction to my diagnosis was grief for the life that i might have had if I'd been given the right support as a teenager. But I do wonder if being given a label at that age my have also given me a sort of permission not to battle through and I might not have achieved as much in life.
Danny, you've got me thinking there. I don't really know how I would have felt if I'd been diagnosed as a teenager; I may have wanted to run away and hide! It must be a lot to come to terms with when you're so young. But I'm glad I had the right diagnosis eventually, it has lead to me reading many books on the subject and given me so much understanding. I now have a lot of puzzles in my past that have, at last, made sense. So, with hindsight, even if it would have been scary, I rather wish I'd known when I was younger.
Ben
Precisely, oh thinking one. Epigenetics is not to be hailed in too high esteem. There are so many social factors that come into play.
It’s not clear to me whether age is a cause or merely a correlation - it could be that autistic men just take longer in life to reach fatherhood.
So.....
A large 2014 study, by the Swedes (they have centralised, very good whole-population data to work with), HINTED that the odds of autism in children, born to fathers of 45 and older, is about 75% higher than fathers in their 20's.
An earlier study from 2010, again from Swedish data, found that fathers over 55 were 4 times more likely to have a child with autism compared with fathers under 30 years old.
There are all manner of other surveys and analysis (I believe the first ever, was the Israeli's in 2006).......and ALL seem to confirm that there is an "increased" chance of autistic kids if fathers are older....and "much increased" chance of the fathers were 50+..
However, if you are so inclined.....and you want to "crunch the numbers" (as I did a while back).....I came to the conclusion [purely for my own clarification]......that, a dad's age has about a 0.03% percent EFFECT on whether they have an autistic child or not.
By all means - shoot me the hell down, all you statisticians out there.......but to me, that means is ain't no biggie?
That's great! Really hope it was a positive life changing experience for you. I was diagnosed in my teens, it was confusing and at the time I wasn't sure how to feel about it but now I'm an adult I'm so glad I know I'm autistic and feel a lot happier in myself.
I should add that I wasn't diagnosed until age 67.
My parents were 29 and 33, having married in 1949. I have always suspected that my mother was autistic, but she would not have been diagnosed as a child as there was no NHS and many people just couldn't afford to see a doctor. In mid-to-late life she showed a lot of ASC symptoms and received repeated treatment for anxiety, burnout and shutdown; all, of course, behind closed doors lest the neighbours should find out.
My parents were both in their mid thirties when they had me which was considered a later birth. My autistic sister was born a few years before me, my parents were about 30-31 at the time.
I wonder if this is the case for many on the spectrum? Thank you for sharing the article, it made intriguing reading and left me wondering.
I was 33 when my daughter was born and she's quite the character :)