Read this article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-med-autism-birt... about how a new study shows that it's POSSIBLE that close birth spacing puts kids at a higher risk for autism. Part of the article says:
"Close birth spacing may put a second-born child at higher risk for autism, suggests a preliminary study based on more than a half-million California children. Children born less than two years after their siblings were considerably more likely to have an autism diagnosis compared to those born after at least three years. The sooner the second child was conceived the greater the likelihood of that child later being diagnosed with autism."
Just curious if we could do our own survey. All you moms with kids that DO have autism, were they born less than two years after their siblings? Could this be true? Is it true in your situation?
My first born has autism. His sister was born 14 months after him and most definitely does not have autism. Mostly what I am seeing is that the boys tend to be the ones with autism or pdd-nos and their sisters are not. There's something with the X chromosome that seems to be susceptible to ASD it seems.
We're already dealing with the repurcussions of a false study showing vaccines causing autism. Do we really need to find someone to blame? Especially the mom? To tell a mom that her child could be autistic because she had her children too close together is cruel. Not only that, when you consider how many children are 10 -12 months apart, and then look at how many of those have autism, I just don't see how there could be a link. It's called a cooincidence.
People want to find a "cause" for autism. Well, I found ours. My dad's family has strong aspie signs. My dad's family is also very successful. So, maybe my son's autism is a gift from them. I certainly hope so.
My first child has Asperger's. So there was no connection for us...
I have 3 kids and they are all very close in age, about 19 and then 21 months apart. I don't think much of the study because my middle has Autism but my oldest is being tested. I know there are families with 3 kids then their was a family on tv a while ago with 6 kid's on the spectrum. I think there is a family gene for sure but I don't put much into spacing being a cause.
EDIT* Sorry I forgot to add that my youngest does not have Autism.
Mine are 11 mos apart, the second one does not have autism. My niece has 2 sons, the firstborn has sensory disorders due to autism, the second son (15 mos later) does not.
Not in my case. My oldest and youngest have it, and the middle one is almost 3 years older than the yongest.
M.
Despite what all the "experts" have told us, I believe the largest factor in autism is genetic. My husband is likely to be at least aspie, and he recognizes this in himself, or actually, did recognize it while we were going through testing for our youngest son. He has an aunt in Georgia with full-blown autism who must be cared for by her sister, she is only barely functional, and another uncle who is moderately functional
(interestingly enough, was also born with cleft palate, not sure if that's any connection or not). My oldest daughter and older son both have markers of asperger's, my youngest son has moderately high functioning autism. Birth distance makes no sense when the firstborn and the child born six years later are ones with markers, and the child born two years after that has autism. I think it's just as possible that the 'close birth spacing' may be a coincidence, since MANY families with autism have multiple children.
my first born has autism - my other two do not.
I wish more attention would be paid to the environmental factors that could be causing autism and what in the human genetic structure has changed in the past few decades. I do believe there is a family genetic link but you would have to interview every family on the whole planet to get an accurate assessment to that.
My nephew is autistic and has a brother and sister one year apart on both sides. They are not autistic. We believe his father to be asbergers but he refuses testing.
My sister worked as a care giver to a family who had two autistic daughters 5 years apart.
My hope is a study like this does not cause more panic and more worry for people.
Yet another guilt trip for moms! Sorry, but my brother was born with autism in the 50's (third child, 5 YEARS after the previous child) and my parents were told it was their fault because my mom was "cold and distant and intellectual". She was the opposite of cold and distant. At that time they said kids with autism were most likely to be the oldest child...which is me in this case. A friend with 3 kids has one with autism...the oldest.
This is only individual evidence, but I wouldn't worry too much. The theories about autism change over time, but as far as I know the causes are still a mystery.
Baah! Humbug! is what I say about this so-called report. When I saw it mentioned in my local paper, I wanted to find the author and give that person a slap!
I have three boys with spacings of 5 years then 34 months. All three boys are diagnosed on the spectrum. Two are Aspergers and the third (and youngest) is high-functioning autistic.
Don't consider this report when wanting to space out your children for the best you can give your children. That's my advice.
(I am in total agreement with Josie A about the vaccines! Bah humbug, again!)
My kids are 14 months apart... and neither have autism.
my nephews are 8 (in march) and 4 (last oct). the younger one was diagnosed with autisim when he was about two.so thats ..what three and a half years apart.
* the first child was born overseas and had no vaccs until he came to the states around fourish? the second was born here and did get all of his vaccs. we see him rarely so i cannot tell his development from my experience. his parents claim hes been diagnosed as no longer autistic. they followed information about vaccs and autisim connection and are trying to reverse the issue.
I just recently heard this same information in the news a couple of days ago. BUT you know I honestly don't beleive that to be true. I my self have 2 boys 4 years apart and neither has autism, BUT... one of my cousins has 2 kids their older child which was thier first has autism (he is 5 yrs old) and their second child daughter who is 4 does not. So that pretty much proves their theory wrong, could it be something in the genes?
I don't know if this will help your survey, but I hope it does.
