Has anyone had genetic counseling?

[Guest guest]

I am considering genetic counseling for my and I. I would like to rule out

fragile x for one thing, as I would like to have another child and it appears

this is passed on from mom to son. I have an uncle (Mom's brother) who had

issues thropughout his life and also a brother who was diagnosed with severe

add/adha (although since my son, my Mom has wondered od it might be more asd). I

also worry about the fact that my son has tics and an accommodative esotropia

causing a lazy eye (which we have been patching for 5 years). I find all of

these to be neurological in nature, and almost seem to run in my family. What

if it is something else causing the asd? What if it could help me to know when

considering having another child? Maybe I could feel ok having another child if

the testing comes out negative? I don't anticipate the results changing

anything in terms of treatment for my son, just the " knowing " one way or the

other would be nice.

[Guest guest]

I am considering fragile x testing as well, but as I have been researching, I am

seeing that there seems to be a genetic component in autism itself. I have

three kids all with issues and a cousin with autism, plus my husband and I both

seem to have problems as well. I have sensory problems, and my husband is very

" aspie-ish " but not diagnosed with anything. I would like genetic testing to

rule anything else out, but really I haven't found anything clear cut genetic

that my kids seem to fit. I think there is possibly a genetic condition that

makes these kids more prone to autism and maybe environment or shots or

something sets it off.

>

> I am considering genetic counseling for my and I. I would like to rule out

fragile x for one thing, as I would like to have another child and it appears

this is passed on from mom to son. I have an uncle (Mom's brother) who had

issues thropughout his life and also a brother who was diagnosed with severe

add/adha (although since my son, my Mom has wondered od it might be more asd). I

also worry about the fact that my son has tics and an accommodative esotropia

causing a lazy eye (which we have been patching for 5 years). I find all of

these to be neurological in nature, and almost seem to run in my family. What

if it is something else causing the asd? What if it could help me to know when

considering having another child? Maybe I could feel ok having another child if

the testing comes out negative? I don't anticipate the results changing

anything in terms of treatment for my son, just the " knowing " one way or the

other would be nice.

>

[Guest guest]

Plus I ran into a lady once who told me researchers are finding that some genes might switch on and off depending on the environment. My oldest the only one so far with problems watched Baby Einstein. We also live very close to a coal fired plant. It was upgraded recently but of our three he was the only one alive for a significant period before the updgrades. He is the least of of the TV hungary kid we have but still in the very early years he watched taht Baby Einstein where the others did not. Shots, radio towers, etc.... Who really knows. I think there probably is a stong genetic component. Another thing I have thought of is that society too has changes. We keep doing things earlier and earlier socially. Plus society now has lot most of its fomalities. An Aspie 100-150 years ago

probably wouldn't have so much trouble as a kid. Don't speak unless spoken to. Stand up at the dinner table when a women comes to sit. We had all kinds of rules and order.

I've also read in one of my sensory books that some theorize that some of the sensory issues are simply because things are so different now. Artificial light at night we have now. Noise from radio and TV constantly and then we miss the subtle sounds of nature. Kids aren't expected to do heavy proprioceptive work at a young age like they used to. Think of the boy on the farm starting chores as early as possible. lifting pushing pulling. We didn't have cars, so you had to walk, ride, or run everywhere you went. The point is that while for grown adults these changes are no big deal they all play a small role in the changing the stimulae our children get while developing.

There are a billion factors and certainly gentics is one of them. I'm an engineer. At a seminar I went to he said like 9 out of 10 ASPIES have an engineer somewhere as a close relative. This probably needs to be updated to include tech jobs now too. The point is that many of the strong male qualities that help distiguish men from women and give men their strengths also seem to be more exagerated in autistics.

Think of typical male traits. Stronger fight or flight, bad handwriting (poor fine motar skills), slower social maturity, less capbable of multitasking yet much better at focusing on a single topic for an extended period of time, less facial expressions, etc.... The list goes on believe me. So I do think the testosterone theory has strong merit. Perhaps our autistics are just too male like. Certainly the genetic code is meant to yeild all kinds. Our kids are just out at the end of the bell curve. Years ago some of these traits fit in much better in the male dominated world. My sister even read that some think Stonewall might have been an ASPIE. Apparently he didn't make natural eye contact but his men loved him to the point of suicide.

We all know about some of the famous ASPIES. The question is who has the problem. Is it the ASPIE or is it society who wants everyone to fit in some kind of tiny box that is normal. I have rarely found anyone to actually fit in this box perfectly. And when they do they are usually a big fake.

Now as anyone who has read my stuff here before knows. I still think its very important to try to help our kids NORMALIZE or improve. I want all my kids to be able to do whatever they want to. And I feel terrible when I think of all the parents that have sons and daughters who are really handicapped by their deficits. But if society can't accept them its societies problem not mine. Compassion is a great gift that too many including myself should exercise more.

Obviously we have to figure out how to cure these kids. The severe autistics are literally real people with real feelings trapped in a body that can't communicate. Imagine how much patience those poor kids would have once we figure out how to cure the immobolizing parts of Autism.

There was a study where they found that the ASPIE kids failed to exclude the kids from the ball game when the kid repeatedly failed to include the ASPIE. This was versus a NT child who once picking up on the exclusion joins the rest of the crowd by returning the favor. I'm seriously paraphrasing here. After some kind of behavior modification the ASPIE behaves more like the NT. Picking up on the social slight and then returning in kind. While the study noted the improvement one critique of the study called it "Curing the ASPIE of his benevolence or compassion or something like that. It a way that is what I'm trying to say. Being a different isn't necessarily a bad thing. Obviously we want our kids to be productive members of society who can enjoy there lives. But not all ASSPIE traits are bad.

From: jm.smoldt <jm.smoldt@...>Subject: ( ) Re: Has anyone had genetic counseling? Date: Sunday, December 12, 2010, 10:57 AM

I am considering fragile x testing as well, but as I have been researching, I am seeing that there seems to be a genetic component in autism itself. I have three kids all with issues and a cousin with autism, plus my husband and I both seem to have problems as well. I have sensory problems, and my husband is very "aspie-ish" but not diagnosed with anything. I would like genetic testing to rule anything else out, but really I haven't found anything clear cut genetic that my kids seem to fit. I think there is possibly a genetic condition that makes these kids more prone to autism and maybe environment or shots or something sets it off.>> I am considering genetic counseling for my and

I. I would like to rule out fragile x for one thing, as I would like to have another child and it appears this is passed on from mom to son. I have an uncle (Mom's brother) who had issues thropughout his life and also a brother who was diagnosed with severe add/adha (although since my son, my Mom has wondered od it might be more asd). I also worry about the fact that my son has tics and an accommodative esotropia causing a lazy eye (which we have been patching for 5 years). I find all of these to be neurological in nature, and almost seem to run in my family. What if it is something else causing the asd? What if it could help me to know when considering having another child? Maybe I could feel ok having another child if the testing comes out negative? I don't anticipate the results changing anything in terms of treatment for my son, just the "knowing" one way or the other would be nice.>

[Guest guest]

We had genetic counselling and it gave us the probability of re-occurance. I believe the final result was something like we were ten times more likely to have a child with ASD. It was interesting but not much more revealing that the stats you can find online.Take careFrom: cmt263 <gina9431@...> Sent: Sat, December 11, 2010 9:54:23 AMSubject: ( ) Has anyone had genetic counseling?

I am considering genetic counseling for my and I. I would like to rule out fragile x for one thing, as I would like to have another child and it appears this is passed on from mom to son. I have an uncle (Mom's brother) who had issues thropughout his life and also a brother who was diagnosed with severe add/adha (although since my son, my Mom has wondered od it might be more asd). I also worry about the fact that my son has tics and an accommodative esotropia causing a lazy eye (which we have been patching for 5 years). I find all of these to be neurological in nature, and almost seem to run in my family. What if it is something else causing the asd? What if it could help me to know when considering having another child? Maybe I could feel ok having another child if the testing comes out negative? I don't anticipate the results changing anything in terms of treatment for my son, just the "knowing" one way or the other would be nice.