Genetic links

by Melinda Westaway
(Springwood, NSW, Australia)

My daughter was diagnosed with PDD-NOS in March this year, just before she turned 11.

The diagnosis was a relief... Years of trying to understand her behavior and her obvious developmental differences in comparison to her older sister.

I found this health report ("Help for Autistic Spectrum Disorders") interesting.. ie vaccine connections etc but was a bit baffled by the lack of attributing genetics to ASD's.

You see, my brother (now 36) has ALWAYS had some sort of 'social' and 'communication' issues. Since my daughters diagnosis, I can plainly see my brother has been affected by this same disorder! My cousin believes she has a daughter with an ASD too. Her son is extremely similar to my daughter, and was recently dx with ADHD and ODD.

I just found out last night that yet another cousin of mine believes his son has issues with communication, at the age of almost 4 has very limited vocabulary.

This confirms in my mind, along with research that suggests that in 90% of cases, that ASD's are most likely genetic.... I do not disagree with other research that suggest otherwise, though I do not believe that all ASD's are 'reversible'.

I can and do live with hope that, with age and support, my daughter will learn the skills she needs to live a fulfilling life. My cousin and brother do, despite their issues!

If a person has an autistic spectrum disorder, some CAN 'learn to manage' the things that they are affected by, but that does not mean they are 'no longer' on the autistic spectrum... it just means they may have learnt to manage the behaviours.

Thanks for reading!