Sudden signs of Autism

Hi there,

Recombiantsocks wasn't implying that his parents relationship caused his autism. Autism is genetic so what they meant was that one of your grandsons parents may have autistic traits themselves.

Autism is present from birth, but where a parent (or both) may have certain traits, they won't neccessarily recognise symptoms of Autism until there is an event that 'triggers' more serious symptoms which are harder to explain or dismiss.

My parents divorced when I was 10, from then on my own 'symptoms' grew progressively more noticable until I was eventually refered to CAMHS for OCD, as no one in my family or schools growing up had heard of Autism, I'd 'slipped under the radar'. And because of the divorce, many of my autistic symptoms were written off simply as the typical 'trauma' of a child caught between two parents fighting.

As Marjorie195 said, children (especially on the Autsitic Spectrum) often feel like the world is directly influenced by them, so your grandson may think that in some way he is responsible for the divorce, but not old enough to say as much. Plenty of support, reassurances and routine will probably help in the short term. When everything is being thrown into chaos, it always helps most with ASD to have something familiar they can cling to.

Hope things work out for you all!

Hi there,

Recombiantsocks wasn't implying that his parents relationship caused his autism. Autism is genetic so what they meant was that one of your grandsons parents may have autistic traits themselves.

Autism is present from birth, but where a parent (or both) may have certain traits, they won't neccessarily recognise symptoms of Autism until there is an event that 'triggers' more serious symptoms which are harder to explain or dismiss.

My parents divorced when I was 10, from then on my own 'symptoms' grew progressively more noticable until I was eventually refered to CAMHS for OCD, as no one in my family or schools growing up had heard of Autism, I'd 'slipped under the radar'. And because of the divorce, many of my autistic symptoms were written off simply as the typical 'trauma' of a child caught between two parents fighting.

As Marjorie195 said, children (especially on the Autsitic Spectrum) often feel like the world is directly influenced by them, so your grandson may think that in some way he is responsible for the divorce, but not old enough to say as much. Plenty of support, reassurances and routine will probably help in the short term. When everything is being thrown into chaos, it always helps most with ASD to have something familiar they can cling to.

Hope things work out for you all!