Is Autism hereditary? genetic?

My husband is thought to possible have autism, but as he then suffered encaphilitis as a 16 year old (he is now 38), nothing has ever really been disgnosed, but he has always had problems mainly with communicationg and socialising aspects. My son who is 18 months is also not talking, and we have a great deal of problems connecting with him. I just wondered if anyone knew if autism was hereditary or if it just affects people randomly? I am going to have my son checked this week, but there is a similarity between my husband and son's interation with people that just made me wonder

Apparently, it can be hereditary, or it can be caused by disease or birth trauma such as a lack of oxygen. But doctors can't always determine why it happens.

I work in mental health medical records, and I have noticed a lot of people with autism have relatives with autism, mental retardation, ADHD, schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder. But that's not always true, some people with autism have no family history of any of these things.

I don't think they would classify your husband as having autism since autism is supposed to have onset in infancy or early childhood. Based on what you wrote; I think a psychiatrist would probably call it "Personality Change due to general medical condition (history of encephalitits)" or they might call it something else depending on what symptoms he might have. People could have social anxiety and so on but not be classified as "autistic", for example.

It's possible they might diagnose "Atypical Autism" also known as "Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified" but that would be kind of unusual.

It's not thought to be hereditary. My son is high functioning autistic and there's no history of it on both side of the family. I think it's just one of those things.

Think so........it runs in my family

Possible resource.

First of bear in mind that no one is really sure what causes autism, it is not always hereditary, a child carrying certain genes do not guarantee the child will have autism. Autism could be caused by oxygen starvation at birth, premature birth, foetus exposed to high levels of testosterone in the womb and many other causes.

Some scientists believe that children are more likely become autistic if they are carrying certain genes. Letting children under 5 watch television or play games on the computer or playing on video game consoles greatly increases the chances of a toddler with that gene developing autism. If a child has Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD although the D can be omitted and just called Autistic Spectrum) there is a 50% chance that each of their siblings will have autism. As a casual observer I have noticed that children with autism often have at least one autistic parents with other autistic relatives. Getting toddlers to socialise frequently at an early age probably reduces the risk of autism developing.

Yes. Check out the Jackson family in Blackpool, bang it in on Google. The youngest has problems walking and talking. The second oldest son has witten a book called Freaks Geeks and Aspereger's syndrome, look that up.

your husband may have aspergers which is a form of autism, you cant really tell unless u have him tested. Aspergers can be genetic and is it mostly males who have it. Go and try to get a diagnosis.