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We have another thread going on autism, but I was curious - my nephew is autistic and it was probably the most horrible birthing experience in the entire world for my sister. He was her first child and labor eventually had to be induced when he went about 10 days past due. The doctor had her check in, they started the drip...several hours later her water had to be broken. However, apparently this was a timed birth and was on the doctor's schedule and not the baby's....labor began progressing rapidly and they actually slowed her labor late stage - and I mean SLOWED - to where my newphew's head was already into the birth canal...and it was slowed for over two hours. When he was born he looked like a Saturday Night Live conehead (I don't mean that in a vicious way, that's just how it was). He seemed a little slow to respond on the first Apgar, but the second was fine and we were told "that's just how it is". With 6 months we knew there was something wrong. He didn't arch his back or scream uncontrollably like with colic - on the contrary, he was just too peaceful. He was watching t.v. intently at 4 months old from his infant seat but wasn't making eye contact or cooing...he wasn't sitting at 6 or 7 months (maybe 9 months?) obviously delayed speech at a year, late walking...every mile marker was delayed badly. Finally his pediatrician caught on (sigh) and he was evaluated at Arkansas Children's Hospital and determined to be autistic.
Since his diagnosis, we have wondered if his delayed birthing could have contributed to his autism. Interestingly, the OB/GYN moved to another state after several threats of lawsuits over bungled deliveries, circumcisions, etc. (my nephew had to be circumcised twice). My sister wanted to check into legal options, but her husband stayed in denial until maybe two years ago about my nephew's condition - he is now 9 years old.
Did anyone else have a difficult labor/delivery, and do you think that could have a bearing on your child's autism?
Does anyone else know anything about the school of thought that two very bright people are more likely to produce an autistic child? My sister and her husband are both brainiacs and I was curious about that after reading an article several years ago where the correlation between the two was being studied. My nephew also has CAPD, as well as a hearing loss in one ear....and all the normal sensory problems that everyone knows about. Just interested in hearing other folks experiences. What's done is done, and way outside the statute of limitations - still, we have to wonder if F's birthing process or gene pool had anything to do with his autism. My sister has had two perfectly normal children since then. The younger son seems to be delayed (or maybe lazy, he's only 5). The girl is way ahead of herself at 7.
My boy came a couple of weeks early, no prenatal care and (probable) exposure to alcohol in utero and he tested positive for methamphetamines at birth. Labor and delivery was quick and he had strong Apgars at birth. He was late on every milestone you can think of from sitting up, to walking (to this day he is a toe walker despite intensive physical therpy over the years) to potty training. Hypertonicity, as well as depressive states, noted by professionals when he was under a year old. Echolalia and perseveration noted by a neurologist by the time he was 3. Biological parents both thought to be low IQ (as is he) and they are proven substance abusers. Multiple bio sibs, far range of dx including ASD, impaired intellectual functioning and varied mental health issues.
Hmmm. Well, I have to make this pretty quick. (As the entire forum collectively breathes a sigh of relief.) First of all, the school of thought on bright people producing autistic children: Not with the percentage of total births resulting in an eventual diagnosis somewhere on the autistic spectrum (bear in mind that it is a verrrrrrrrry broad spectrum whose criteria have loosened and widened considerably since twenty-ish years ago...but still). One in 160 births today will result in a child placed somewhere on the spectrum. I doubt one in 160 people is a genius. At least not the ones I've met! However, INTERESTINGLY...all of the people on my husband's side of the family are rumored to have been extremely early talkers and a majority have tested on the genius level (of those IQ tested...that was all the rage in schools for a while); and this is the identical situation in my family. I read at the age of three, fluently (I'm not a genius though, by scores); so did my oldest son--I tested him by giving him books he'd never read before, in case it was just memory. It wasn't. Yet...we have two children who don't speak, and one of these tests very very low cognitively.
Okay. The birth. Well, the *pregnancy* was awful. Bleeding and spotting for 12 solid weeks, literally. Repeat ultrasounds to make sure there was even still a baby in there; there always was. Incredible pain, for unidentifiable reasons. Premature labor at 21 weeks which was stopped; I then went the full 40 weeks, or, well, 39 weeks and six days.
The labor was RIGHT QUICK. Holy granola. My first labor was a painful 16 hours of Pitocen-augmented hell. With C, I thought I "might" be in labor so I went to my regular OB appointment and was told I was 8cm dilated! We rushed to the hospital. I walked myself in. I was right as rain.
No drugs, zero; not even a Tylenol. For the love of ham, there was just no time.
Then at pushing time--about 20 minutes after entering the hospital--oh my GOD. PAIN. PAIN pain. Pain, as in, HOLY FARK my body is splitting. And ironically--it was! The front of my pelvis split apart. Now, the front of the pelvis (which is actually three connected bones) is supposed to stretch; no surprise there. But I mean mine physically split apart, all the way down, two full inches of gap in the front of my body. I didn't walk for three weeks. I used a walker and carried C in a Snugli. There was just no other way to do it. I was physically unable to lie down and slept in a chair for six weeks. But I did eventually heal. I had terrible hip pain for quite some time, though. When you have two inches of gap in the front of your body, it misaligns the sides and produces terrible hip pain.
I found out later that my son had, and has, a very large head. I have heard that connected to a certain syndrome that I've been interested in looking into for a while, but I just keep dropping the ball on it; I'm not sure why. His head was well over the 100th percentile at birth and that, coupled with the extreme speed of the delivery, is probably what caused the split rather than just the normal stretching. Oh, and he was just large in general--not huge-huge, but 9 lbs., 1 oz.; I am only five foot one, not a big woman. Today C is only the 50th percentile for height and weight but still has a head in the 95th percentile.
Last edited by JerZ; 09-02-2007 at 04:28 PM..
Reason: 160...not 260
My son is not autistic, but ADHD/LD, and I noticed the high IQ thing. He attends a private dyslexia school - 850 students and you look at the parent directory and it's just a Who's Who of smart people - both parents doctors, both parents lawyers, successful business people, CEOs, executives. I thought something must happen to kids' brains when both parents are smart. This school accepts some high functioning Aspergers kids, too.
My friend is a brainiac and her husband is an artist, their son is autistic.
During her pregnancy, we had an extremely hot summer that was aggravated by a blackout that lasted almost 24 hours. I sometimes think this may have played a role. Birthing was by C-section.
I'll pass along the "two smart parents = autism" to my friend. Perhaps she will at least have a nice laugh despite the situation.
My son is Asperger Syndrome, where is your sister's child on the autism spectrum?
He was exactly on his due date - but a terribly long labor that ended in c section - Apgar 8 then 9. He weighed 9 # 2 oz. He has an extremely high IQ - but was delayed on everything else.
I have been tested as highly intelligent (even if my typos say otherwise) and his father is quite smart, and each grandfather has superior intelligence and both finished high school and college early. His dad also has obsessive compulsive disorder.
This is probably the article about brainiacs and autism you heard about
My son is not autistic, but ADHD/LD, and I noticed the high IQ thing. He attends a private dyslexia school - 850 students and you look at the parent directory and it's just a Who's Who of smart people - both parents doctors, both parents lawyers, successful business people, CEOs, executives. I thought something must happen to kids' brains when both parents are smart. This school accepts some high functioning Aspergers kids, too.
Just a thought here, I am extremely familiar with these private schools and the tuition is generally very expensive, and out-of-range for the average-incomed household. Thus, typically when I look at the students whom are fortunate enough to attend these programs tailored to their needs, they are from higher income bracket households. We have a number in our area and there is no way DH and I could provide such an education for our son, despite our desire to give him the best.
Just a thought here, I am extremely familiar with these private schools and the tuition is generally very expensive, and out-of-range for the average-incomed household. Thus, typically when I look at the students whom are fortunate enough to attend these programs tailored to their needs, they are from higher income bracket households. We have a number in our area and there is no way DH and I could provide such an education for our son, despite our desire to give him the best.
Sara
I had this thought too.
I'm not saying there isn't something to this theory (Grammar Police, where are you?), and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but sometimes I think we tell ourselves that our kids are different because they're meant to be special. I've heard theories that autism is the next step in evolution, and theories that autistic children are "indigo children"--some sort of new-age-y thing. I've even read The Einstein Syndrome, which explains how many PDD-NOS children (like my son) and other diagnoses along the spectrum are actually apraxia of speech (aka dyspraxia) and are in fact more intelligent than their neurotypical peers.
Again, perhaps one of these is true. Perhaps more than one, or a combination. But I have to say that I really think we also, as parents, have this hope that it's all for something better; for some great reason. I've had these thoughts too, and often. Again, one in 160 is heavily slanted v. the percentage of geniuses today; I'm sure of it. One in 160 people is not a genius and/or prodigy. Somebody correct me on this. So I don't really believe that autism is "above" the average. I believe it's "different from" the average. I also believe it's very, very heavily environmentally triggered; perhaps not environmentally *caused*, but triggered. In other words, the genes that would make someone autistic v. neurotypical normally wouldn't go crazy if it weren't for the unbelievable amount of toxins we breathe, eat and bathe in, the absolutely insane amount of vaccinations we now innoculate our children with, the hormones we inject our beef with, the medicines we keep "improving" on by making them farther and farther from anything our bodies would naturally expect to see, the amount of nuclear "accidents" we've been exposed to (that stuff DOESN'T go away, folks...well...not for a few million years...and yes, we are breathing Chernobyl)...etc.
Sorry to go off on a tangent. Again, not trying to hurt anyone's feelings. We all want to believe our children are extra special but go back to when you were pregnant. Did you want extra-special? You probably just wanted "normal". What you got was neurologically atypical. That is crushing to many of us, and frightening, thinking about the future, and how our some-day-adult children might function without us. It's scary, it's somewhat uncharted, there's no blood test for it, there's no vaccine against it and no pill to take to "cure" it. It's scary. I think that's why we have so many theories about it.
ETA: I just wanted to add that you should take what I say with a grain of salt and your own conclusions; these are mine but they might be slanted because I don't have the experience of having an autistic child who has a high IQ, or who has evidenced anything mentally extraordinary or anything like that. He's pretty far behind cognitively. So it could just be because that's my personal experience. I figured I should be honest and point that out, but based on my own experience with my own son, the above are the conclusions I've drawn.
We have 3 sons, all with Asperger's. All 3 were overdue, all on the verge of being induced when I went into labor first. My oldest son was 17 days overdue, the second son was 12 days overdue and my 3rd son was 14 days overdue. I knew exactly when I got pregnant as they were all planned, so there were no miscalculations. The last two son I delivered naturally, no drugs or anything. My oldest son (and the one the longest overdue and the most affected with the Asperger's) was delivered by emergency c-section after 10 hrs. of labor when he was not getting enough oxygen (cord wrapped around his neck twice)
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However, INTERESTINGLY...all of the people on my husband's side of the family are rumored to have been extremely early talkers and a majority have tested on the genius level (of those IQ tested...that was all the rage in schools for a while); and this is the identical situation in my family. I read at the age of three, fluently (I'm not a genius though, by scores); so did my oldest son--I tested him by giving him books he'd never read before, in case it was just memory. It wasn't. Yet...we have two children who don't speak, and one of these tests very very low cognitively.
Incredible pain, for unidentifiable reasons. Premature labor at 21 weeks which was stopped; I then went the full 40 weeks, or, well, 39 weeks and six days.
