Re: Genetics & Autism ???Question for Sissi and all...

[Guest guest]

> I'm like Sissi in that I think there is a genetic link with autism

> and genes...however, why do we as parents the ones who are closest

> of all to our children not see that something is wrong until 18-24

> months of age ??? I swear my child was sooooo normal until that

> time...he laughed, smiled, interacted with others, said " cheese "

> to the camera when someone wanted to take his picture, actually

> looked at the camera and smiled...and then poof it was all gone so

> quickly, anyone have any answers ??? (mom to Will 4 ASD)

I don't know the answers, but I have no doubt that parents who say they are

sure their children changed after bad reactions to immunizations are right.

I know how much Dillon changed after his illness and it IS definitely an

autoimmune disorder.

The difference is amazing.

I need to post about my conference with his teachers today. What they

revealed was, well -- startling.

Sissi

[Guest guest]

> I'm like Sissi in that I think there is a genetic link with autism

> and genes...however, why do we as parents the ones who are closest

> of all to our children not see that something is wrong until 18-24

> months of age ??? I swear my child was sooooo normal until that

> time...he laughed, smiled, interacted with others, said " cheese "

> to the camera when someone wanted to take his picture, actually

> looked at the camera and smiled...and then poof it was all gone so

> quickly, anyone have any answers ??? (mom to Will 4 ASD)

I don't know the answers, but I have no doubt that parents who say they are

sure their children changed after bad reactions to immunizations are right.

I know how much Dillon changed after his illness and it IS definitely an

autoimmune disorder.

The difference is amazing.

I need to post about my conference with his teachers today. What they

revealed was, well -- startling.

Sissi

[Guest guest]

--- ,

You know, I did not see the signs of Autism with until he was

at the age when he was supposed to be talking and he wasn't. But now,

when i think back to his early days, I can really see some of the

things that weren't " typical " . was my first child, I had

nothing to compare him to when he was a baby. As of yet, they do not

know what causes Autism..and it could be several factors. Maybe part

is genetics and part is some sort of environmental trigger. nobody

knows what that may be if indeed there is. maybe there is more than

1 trigger. It is so confusing to figure out the why? because someone

may have several genetic characteristics but do not develop autism,

while someone else does. who knows. All I know is that for my son,

if there were an environmental trigger, it had to have been early on.

He was a very very fussy baby who never slept, arched his back all

the time when held, and was constantly on the go. Both my hubby's

family and my own family have genetic characteristics that definitely

could fall along the spectrum too. Daeley

[Guest guest]

--- ,

You know, I did not see the signs of Autism with until he was

at the age when he was supposed to be talking and he wasn't. But now,

when i think back to his early days, I can really see some of the

things that weren't " typical " . was my first child, I had

nothing to compare him to when he was a baby. As of yet, they do not

know what causes Autism..and it could be several factors. Maybe part

is genetics and part is some sort of environmental trigger. nobody

knows what that may be if indeed there is. maybe there is more than

1 trigger. It is so confusing to figure out the why? because someone

may have several genetic characteristics but do not develop autism,

while someone else does. who knows. All I know is that for my son,

if there were an environmental trigger, it had to have been early on.

He was a very very fussy baby who never slept, arched his back all

the time when held, and was constantly on the go. Both my hubby's

family and my own family have genetic characteristics that definitely

could fall along the spectrum too. Daeley

[Guest guest]

--- ,

You know, I did not see the signs of Autism with until he was

at the age when he was supposed to be talking and he wasn't. But now,

when i think back to his early days, I can really see some of the

things that weren't " typical " . was my first child, I had

nothing to compare him to when he was a baby. As of yet, they do not

know what causes Autism..and it could be several factors. Maybe part

is genetics and part is some sort of environmental trigger. nobody

knows what that may be if indeed there is. maybe there is more than

1 trigger. It is so confusing to figure out the why? because someone

may have several genetic characteristics but do not develop autism,

while someone else does. who knows. All I know is that for my son,

if there were an environmental trigger, it had to have been early on.

He was a very very fussy baby who never slept, arched his back all

the time when held, and was constantly on the go. Both my hubby's

family and my own family have genetic characteristics that definitely

could fall along the spectrum too. Daeley

[Guest guest]

Some autistic children are different from birth. They are extremely " easy "

babies who don't need or want a lot of attention. Others are

extraordinarily difficult babies who need constant physical stimulation.

When parents notice differences from birth these seem to be the two

categories infants fall into.

Other kids develop normally until around 2 and then regress or just stop.

In some instances there is an apparent environmental insult or " trigger " - a

vaccine, a high fever, a severe illness. In other cases the changes are

very gradual. Some think that parents just don't see things until then

because of the level of development -- that it's just harder to see small

differences in younger babies, or that there's such a wide range of what's

normal that the delays don't drop below normal until that age. Am I making

any sense there? I am pretty tired & should probably wait till tomorrow to

write this, but oh well!

Anyway, some experts have done studies where they look at video of a child's

first birthday party and can tell from very subtle things whether that child

was later dx'd with autism. But I don't know if they ever put that together

with asking parents, " When did you notice? "

was different from birth. We swaddled him for EVER but it had to be

just so. His first night home we put him in a bassinet -- he wouldn't sleep

unless there was an arm on top of him. The second night I pulled him into

bed to nurse him & fell asleep with him there, and he has slept with us ever

since. He would never take a pacifier or a bottle, only " the real thing. "

Even expressed breastmilk in a bottle was unacceptable. He had to be

held CONSTANTLY and I do mean that literally. I could not put him down for

10 minutes without him SCREAMING even if he was sound asleep when I eased

him onto the bed. I would lay down with him and nurse him to sleep and

snuggle a firm bolster up against him and oh-so-carefully sneak away,

knowing full well I would be back up there in 20 minutes max but NEEDING

that time to myself. Baby swings, bouncy seats, mobiles - forget it. In

arms, in the sling, or crying -- those were our choices. And even so he

cried on average 6 hours straight every night from the night he was 2 weeks

old until about 5 months. At that point he learned to sit independantly and

he was a much happier baby from then on.

Looking back I see so many sensory issues that were apparent from birth. I

wish, I wish, I wish we had known. I have no idea if there are people who

do sensory integration therapy with newborns but there damn well should be

'cause they would have saved us a whoooooole lot of greif.

All right, I'm going to try to sleep again.

-Sara.

[Guest guest]

Some autistic children are different from birth. They are extremely " easy "

babies who don't need or want a lot of attention. Others are

extraordinarily difficult babies who need constant physical stimulation.

When parents notice differences from birth these seem to be the two

categories infants fall into.

Other kids develop normally until around 2 and then regress or just stop.

In some instances there is an apparent environmental insult or " trigger " - a

vaccine, a high fever, a severe illness. In other cases the changes are

very gradual. Some think that parents just don't see things until then

because of the level of development -- that it's just harder to see small

differences in younger babies, or that there's such a wide range of what's

normal that the delays don't drop below normal until that age. Am I making

any sense there? I am pretty tired & should probably wait till tomorrow to

write this, but oh well!

Anyway, some experts have done studies where they look at video of a child's

first birthday party and can tell from very subtle things whether that child

was later dx'd with autism. But I don't know if they ever put that together

with asking parents, " When did you notice? "

was different from birth. We swaddled him for EVER but it had to be

just so. His first night home we put him in a bassinet -- he wouldn't sleep

unless there was an arm on top of him. The second night I pulled him into

bed to nurse him & fell asleep with him there, and he has slept with us ever

since. He would never take a pacifier or a bottle, only " the real thing. "

Even expressed breastmilk in a bottle was unacceptable. He had to be

held CONSTANTLY and I do mean that literally. I could not put him down for

10 minutes without him SCREAMING even if he was sound asleep when I eased

him onto the bed. I would lay down with him and nurse him to sleep and

snuggle a firm bolster up against him and oh-so-carefully sneak away,

knowing full well I would be back up there in 20 minutes max but NEEDING

that time to myself. Baby swings, bouncy seats, mobiles - forget it. In

arms, in the sling, or crying -- those were our choices. And even so he

cried on average 6 hours straight every night from the night he was 2 weeks

old until about 5 months. At that point he learned to sit independantly and

he was a much happier baby from then on.

Looking back I see so many sensory issues that were apparent from birth. I

wish, I wish, I wish we had known. I have no idea if there are people who

do sensory integration therapy with newborns but there damn well should be

'cause they would have saved us a whoooooole lot of greif.

All right, I'm going to try to sleep again.

-Sara.

[Guest guest]

> I'm like Sissi in that I think there is a genetic link with autism

> and genes...however, why do we as parents the ones who are closest

> of all to our children not see that something is wrong until 18-24

> months of age ??? I swear my child was sooooo normal until that

> time...he laughed, smiled, interacted with others, said " cheese "

> to the camera when someone wanted to take his picture, actually

> looked at the camera and smiled...and then poof it was all gone so

> quickly, anyone have any answers ??? (mom to Will 4 ASD)

Some people see the change earlier than this. I do think it can be

" triggered " by vaccinations in some kids. 18-24 mos. is the range for

the MMR vaccine usually. Who knows for sure? My personal guess is

that a genetic pre-disposition to it has to be present, and then it

either just develops slowly, or it's triggered by some event. I look

forward to more answers in the future from the Medical community. I

think we will get more info. When my grandfather was diagnosed with

Alzheimers in 1985, they didn't know anything about it. They know a

lot more today. If Karyn Seroussi's theory about it being an

autoimmune disorder is true than vaccinations are a huge assault on

the immune system for sure. There also seems to be more than one way

to become Autistic. In Jake's case there were some subtle signs since

he was born practically - but I just didn't recognize them. I wish I

would have avoided vaccination completely, but I didn't know back

then. Even so, I was vaccinating very slowly, and selectively with

supposedly thimerosol-free vaccines. But if it's auto-immune in

origin than the simple exposure to diseases (several at a time even)

could harm him without the presence of mercury. Since everyone's

immune system responds at it's own level, that would explain why

everyone's child is so differently affected and as to time and

function. All I know for sure is that auto-immune disorders have been

exploding on the world scene for about 20 years now and Autism is

exploding in number as well.

Time will tell. hopefully.

~ Karin

[Guest guest]

>

> > I actually decided a long time ago that for me personally, I

didn't

> > care what caused it anymore, cause it wouldn't change anything.

He'd

> > still be autistic, and frankly, I've felt much less stress about

the

> > whole thing once I just accepted it.

>

> I agree wholeheartedly. That's how I feel too.

>

>

> >

> > I also discussed with my mom 'what if he wasn't anymore' He

wouldn't

> > be Mitchel. Much of what we love about him comes from his autism.

The

> > way he looks at the world, his sheer JOY over simple pleasures.

>

> Me too. ME TOO. If you took away the autism I'd be lift with an

NT kid --

> but he wouldn't be MY kid.

>

> Jacquie

Yea, it's such a 'catch22' now huh?

Kerri

[Guest guest]

> I'm like Sissi in that I think there is a genetic link with autism

> and genes...however, why do we as parents the ones who are closest

> of all to our children not see that something is wrong until 18-24

> months of age ??? I swear my child was sooooo normal until that

> time...

, that sounds so much like the descriptions people give when they feel

vaccines are responsible for 'triggering' the autism. Have you considered

that, or looked into it at all?

I know that i knew something was wrong with around the time he was five

months old, although when I look back I can see the signs were there even

earlier.

Jacquie

[Guest guest]

> I'm like Sissi in that I think there is a genetic link with autism

> and genes...however, why do we as parents the ones who are closest

> of all to our children not see that something is wrong until 18-24

> months of age ??? I swear my child was sooooo normal until that

> time...

, that sounds so much like the descriptions people give when they feel

vaccines are responsible for 'triggering' the autism. Have you considered

that, or looked into it at all?

I know that i knew something was wrong with around the time he was five

months old, although when I look back I can see the signs were there even

earlier.

Jacquie

[Guest guest]

> I'm like Sissi in that I think there is a genetic link with autism

> and genes...however, why do we as parents the ones who are closest

> of all to our children not see that something is wrong until 18-24

> months of age ??? I swear my child was sooooo normal until that

> time...

, that sounds so much like the descriptions people give when they feel

vaccines are responsible for 'triggering' the autism. Have you considered

that, or looked into it at all?

I know that i knew something was wrong with around the time he was five

months old, although when I look back I can see the signs were there even

earlier.

Jacquie