question for message board participants

i'm curious to know how many of you think asperger's syndrome is something that developes, or something an individual is born with, or if it is in part both.

there are enough moms and dads posting and browsing on the message board, and the occasional adult fitting the diganosis.

i guess it depends on the individual we are talking about too.

I'm pretty certain it's something an individual is born with, according to it both being a genetic disorder (hereditary), and due to the birth trauma that is often involved. Asperger's Syndrome isn't a personality disorder, and it's not an emotional disorder or something that develops due to environment.

Asperger's Syndrome can generally be detected at 2 or 3yrs old. I was personally taken to a behavioural psychologist at age 3 for being "weird" but the medical community didn't recognise AS until the 90's here, so I was just dismissed as "normal" rather than be diagnosed 23yrs earlier.

I would say that the background/environment a person with AS lives in affects how AS affects them. I presume that I am not an OCD Asperger person because my parents beat it out of me when I was very young when I was far more obsessive. I am still extremely obsessive of course, and can spend 18hrs a day online every day for a week, or 20-28hrs sometimes.

As a final point, there are different "types" of people with Asperger's, and ones who are forced into being shut away all their life will pretty much be mildly traumatised, and probably deeply traumatised by their late 20's. My parents still don't understand me. They (and doctors) seem to believe all my issues are attributed to being someone with AS, when the truth is that having Asperger's magnifies my other issues and makes them more difficult.


RE:

i'm curious to know how many of you think asperger's syndrome is something that developes, or something an individual is born with, or if it is in part both.

there are enough moms and dads posting and browsing on the message board, and the occasional adult fitting the diganosis.

i guess it depends on the individual we are talking about too.

I do not think it develops, but is something that you are. It might take a while to show itself, depending on the severity of the AS, but it is always there.

IMO, I think my son was born that way. (I did have a very tough pregnancy and tough labor and c-section.) I had no idea how different he was until I had a second child. Looking back, my son from birth had little eye contact, in infancy would sit and watch people, looking so smart, but not engaging. First word after dada was "ceiling fan" at a very young age. The list goes on, my point is, he was born that way. I feel my anxiety, strict diet, pre eclempsia (sp) and undiagnosed post partem depression all contributed to who he is though.

As an adult with Aspergers I have to say I have always been this way. Looking back at family movies of my infant years I can see the Aspie behavior. I do know I had a traumatic birth, was injured by forceps and may have been deprived of oxygen and have reason to believe my mom was given DES.

However I find it very interesting there are an increasing number of moms saying their kids acted normal till they contracted Lyme disease and then started exhibiting autistic behaviors. But those kids tend to be lower spectrum. Anyone else aware of this?

I believe it is present from conception, and is just an alternative way to be human. Since the school district suggested my daughter was autistic last May, I have done nothing but research this topic. Everything they told me was a symptom, I could trace to my own behavior, leading me to wonder at first if I "taught" Julie how to be autistic. I know, denial ain't just a river in Egypt!! But then I moved on and slowly (horrifically at first) began to realize that we act these ways because of inborn autism. I think that parents who don't see the autism in themselves want desperately to find a cure, or at least lay blame away from themselves, and after Bettleheim's refrigerator mother hypothesis, who can blame them for trying to shift the blame. But I believe strongly that this is ALL genetic. Historical studies support this theory, citing suspected cases of AS back into the 1500s.
Juliesmom

I am a mother of four children. I have a 7yr old son w/AS and he was the only child I had no complications w/during child birth (one of my others was a 40 hour labor w/forceps and another was an emergency c due to a prolasped cord) and also the only child that was was given multiple shots at 18months of age. My husband and I do not find any real family links other than my first cousin w/few possible symptoms. I am very much on the fence as to whether he was born AS or something in the environment after birth is the cause.

For the record, Julie was born with the help of forceps. I had planned/hoped for a so-called natural delivery, but after sixteen hours of labor and increasing terror on my part, I asked for an epidural, much to the dismay of my OB/GYN, and finally after 27 hours of labor, Julie was born with the use of forceps and seemingly the entire staff pushing on my belly to get her out. I had the most coddled pregnancy possible, having resigned from my job at three months pregnant, and age forty, to devote myself to taking the best possible care of myself (and going into debt in the process). In short, I don't think I could have done anything else to ensure a healthy pregnancy, but nevertheless, Julie is autistic. So are plenty of other people in my family. I believe it's genetic, but no one knows.
Please take heart, there are plenty of successful autistics in this world, and with love and patience and help, your child can be one of those. If you haven't read any biographies yet, I'd recommend that you start with Temple Grandin's Thinking in Pictures. No, we can't all be college professors, but I STRONGLY believe that there is a place in this world for everyone, including autists. And if not, then it is our job as parents to MAKE a place, period. As my momma always told me, it takes all kinds to make a world.
Juliesmom

I knew since before my son could talk that he was different. Someone with a child diagnosed with aspergers syndrome told me about the condition and i am researching it as a possibility for my son. In general i believe their are things that humans are born to do with their lives. I believe people are born with gifts that they have the power to control. In short i believe it is something some people are born with and develops.

John Hopkins U just came out with two genes for synapsis expression for Aspergers, and there are many adults with Aspergers, many.





Pi

my book is international called
"My Asperger soul"
on Amazon and Barnes and Noble