My 4 year old daughter was recently diagnosed with Asperger's and I am beginning to recognize red flags in her 7 year old sister. I that there are some genetic links, but was wondering if there are other families with several children with this disorder, and how to cope. I'm 34 weeks pregnant with my third daughter and feeling overwhelmed.
Answer:
Well, my brother has PDD-NOS (similar to Asperger's) and I might have a very mild case of Asperger's, but I haven't been tested/evaluated by a psych. Yes, there are other families out there that definitely have two or more kids on the autistic spectrum. I haven't seen statistics on Asperger's, but for autism the odds of the sibling of a child with autism having autism as well are like 3-6%, and if two siblings have it the odds of the third sibling having it as well go up to iirc 20%, but I'm not sure about the latter number. Of course, the odds of a girl having autism/Asperger's are way lower than of a boy, so if you have two girls with an autistic spectrum disorder then you're pretty weird, to be honest.
Aspies range in how severe their problems are... plenty of them go to college and get married and such, although plenty of them don't. In fact, I'd recommend looking into yourself and your husband to see whether one or both of you show any symptoms... there's a fair chance that at least one of you has a very mild case of Asperger's (or Asperger's shadow, however you want to call it). There is a lot of information out there on the internet and such... use Yahoo Groups for example to find mailing lists for people with Asperger's and for parents of kids with Asperger's, etc. Some people see it as a disorder, others see it more as a different "personality type". Personally I think it depends on the severity of the condition. Anyway, your daughters might need a bit more help with figuring out social situations and such... you might want to explain those kinds of things more explicitly to them instead of assuming they'll just learn that stuff automatically. Also, I'm a fan of homeschooling... think about it.
Okay, I could write a ton more, but the point is that it's not necessarily all that bad to have kids that are Aspies and that there's a ton of resources out there that you should take a look at.
How serious is this? I don't know I never heard of this before. Does she get all the care she needs. Is it like a learning issue or more serious like ALS (lou gerhigs disease). Also, you should make sure your doctor gives you all the information you need and do everything you can to help her and increase her life expectency. I believe someone told me this was a neurodegenerative disease, but make sure you see your doctor again and see exactly what to do, so she will have a better outcome.
While I am no expert, I dated a guy with aspburgers's syndrome and 5 year old cousin has it as well, and is in fact borderline autistic. Jordan's (the boy I dated) sisters showed no signs of the condition, but he was a textbook case, so there is not always a genetic link. Therefore, don't worry about your unborn child, the odds of all of your three children experiencing this would be very rare. And even if your oldest and unborn child are also effected, think positively! The pure fact that i DATED a boy with this syndrome should be proof to you that this doesn't have to be terribly life-altering. This boy was a genius, and in his state-level honors choir. Aspergers doesn't have to old your children back, I realize that having special needs kids can feel overwhelming, but understand that this condition does not have to overwhelm your children. For now, they are kids, and they have years of LIFE in front of them, this will NOT stop them from being great people.
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