autism in multiple births

[Braindrain]

I just saw something on our local tv news about a family with a set of
triplets...and all 3 of them have autism.:(

Here's the link to the story:

http://wjz.com/local/local_story_040160812.html

This has got me curious: how many other cases have there been
where autism was present in twins or triplets? I'm just wondering
if it's rare to find that more than one child in the same family was
diagnosed with autism.

[LIZARD]

All of my (numerous! :D :rolleyes: ) sources say autism in multiple kids within families is quite common, and it's especially higher in multiples. I suspect it's largely because their genetic makeup is so close, especially in identicals. Multiples are also more likely to be premature, which can lead to neuro issues that may make them more vulnerable to autism.



LIZARD :)

[Braindrain]

I can understand that multiple births are at risk for being premature and
susceptible to neurological disorders, but for some reason, I didn't think
they'd all have the same neurological disorders.

Thanks, Liz!:)

[Mother's Heart]

I know of a family in our area whose triplets all three have Autism. The two boys manifested more 'severely' than the girl...but all three.

.

[Braindrain]

Here's an update on the story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19007706/

What puzzles me is that even though all three children showed signs of
autism from birth, one of them had speech and then became non-verbal.
Is that an unusual occurance in autism? If not, what makes a child lose
his/her speech?:confused:

[Mother's Heart]

Here's an update on the story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19007706/

What puzzles me is that even though all three children showed signs of
autism from birth, one of them had speech and then became non-verbal.
Is that an unusual occurance in autism? If not, what makes a child lose
his/her speech?:confused:

Oh Yes, common. Actually, the loss of acquired speech is a hallmark of one sub-set of Autism. This is what we experienced.

Although my son never had typical, functional conversational speech he did have 300-400 words and a few stock phrases in his vocabulary just before his third birthday. In the next couple of months it was virtually all gone.
Reading the story of the Gaston's the descriptions of each of the triplets' speech sounds just like a description of different stages my son went through.

I think if it was known what causes the speech regression we would have a pretty good idea of what causes that form of Autism to occur.

[peglem]

Here's an update on the story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19007706/

What puzzles me is that even though all three children showed signs of
autism from birth, one of them had speech and then became non-verbal.
Is that an unusual occurance in autism? If not, what makes a child lose
his/her speech?:confused:

I don't know how unusual it is to lose speech, but it seems like that's what the parents of children who regressed into autism report. Allie developed some speech. she could say the alphabet, most of her numbers and color words and about 20 others. At about 6 yo, all attempts at speech became "puh, puh, puh." In retrospect, I think that was during a huge bout of strep, that went undiagnosed because nobody thought to check for it. She currently has no speech, except an occaisional approximation. My theory is that the puhs were a tic, triggered by the attempt at speech.

As far as all the kids ending up with the same neurological condition- I don't think autism is the same neurological condition-just the same dx. The spectrum encompasses a wide variety of conditions.

[Isabelle]

When my son was diagnosed at the age of 3 in 1979 and we started to meet other families with autistic children, the word was "one child per family", "there is no chance to have two" and then, came one family with two boys, one severe, one high functioning (at the moment both in their 20s are doing well, one communicate with a computer),nobody couldn't believe it, then families came with twins as usual one more severe than the other. I am sure by now there must be twins that are both severe if that is the projection.

[Braindrain]

I'm wondering if the children with speech regression had neurological
problems (Chiari, for example) that went undetected. As long as they
went undetected and untreated, they were susceptible to whatever
the condition might cause. And, of course, they would get worse over
time. Also, if they developed autism due to another neurological condition,
maybe the condition (whatever it might be) affected the part of the brain
that controls speech. But, I'm just guessing, here.

That's really strange that doctors in the '70's would tell parents that it's
impossible to have more than one child with autism. I wonder what they
based that on. There couldn't have been that much information/research
on autism back in those days.

[LIZARD]

There couldn't have been that much information/research
on autism back in those days.

There definitely was not. I'm sure I've told you about some of the books I started to read when Drew was dx'ed. One was from '89, I think (he was dx'ed in January of '97), and it gave horrifically gloomy prognoses for nearly every autistic child. (Sound familiar?? :mad: :rolleyes: ) I threw it across the room after reading the first page and never looked at it again. The same book, updated a few years later, is one I have recommend many times to parents. :) It's utterly amazing what we've learned in just the past couple of years!


LIZARD :)

[Braindrain]

That sounds familiar. Back then, we had the World Book Encyclopedia
and a 2-volume dictionary set to go with it. It was the strangest thing:
there was no mention of autism in the encyclopedia whatsoever.
But, there was a brief "definition" in the dictionary. I don't remember
the exact wording, but it had something to do with "being in a world
of their own". By that definition, any child with a vivid imagination
could be labeled autistic!

We still have the dictionaries in Baltimore, so the next time I go back, I'll
have to check and write down what it actually says.

(BTW, the dictionary and encyclopedia came out in 1975!)

[Isabelle]

she had her baby 10 years before mine and looked normal until got the new MMR vaccine, the recommendation in those times was to institutionalize. in my son's case was to send him to a very advanced school where he would receive early intervention at the age of 3.

[mrsjerome]

Back in 1967, they diagnosed autism as a psychiatric disturbance.that caused the child to recede into a world of his own. This is the definition of autism that I was told at that time. Their thinking was that something occured in the child's mind that he even forgot later and was causing this condition. This was told to me by the pediatric development specialist that was treating him. I had two little boys younger than Nick by the time his condition was diagnosed. At about close to a year of evaluating him My husband & I were told to institutionalize him for the "welfare of our 2 younger sons" Unfortunately this was are only recourse of action at this time. There were no treatment program or facilities in our area to work or wanted to accept our Nick. We were never told that this could be a genetic condition. My goodness, because we had a daughter (are only one)born 2 years later and another son (a complete surprise) who is 12 years younger than Nick. These children turned out to be healthy with no problems grew up and married and have children of their own. My grandchildren range in age from 10 to 17 and their are no problems with any of them. Not saying that there couldn't be something genetic going on in the family or some predisposed to whatever in future generations.
This is a little of my story with Nick. It was heart wrenching not being able to do anything for him. He was our oldest child the pride and joy of our life. We tried to get him all the help we could but just weren't able to do so.
There were no computers were theres so much information available at your fingertips. Well anyway that was the definition of autism back when Nick was diagnosed.

[LIZARD]

He was our oldest child the pride and joy of our life. We tried to get him all the help we could but just weren't able to do so.
There were no computers were theres so much information available at your fingertips.

My parents could sympathize in a very real way. (Check out my siggy. ;)) We really are lucky to live in a time when so many resources are available to us.


LIZARD, who (amazingly) lived to tell, in spite of it all ;)

[mc4_a]

I can't imagine. My daughter goes to school with a boy who has a younger brother that was just diagnosed. Points to more of a genetic or environmental cause (the second child received no vaccinations and has been on GF/CF his whole life because it was simply easier for mom).

[Braindrain]

This is from the 1975 World Book Encyclopedia Dictionary:

autism: a mental state marked by daydreaming and fantasy with a loss
of interest in external reality.

autist: a person who tries to escape from reality by indulging in fantasy.

autistic: indulging in fantasy; avoiding realities

Like I said, according to this "criteria" (and I use that term loosely!), any
child with a vivid imagination could be labeled autistic.:( :rolleyes: :mad:

[Mother's Heart]

This is from the 1975 World Book Encyclopedia Dictionary:

autism: a mental state marked by daydreaming and fantasy with a loss
of interest in external reality.

autist: a person who tries to escape from reality by indulging in fantasy.

autistic: indulging in fantasy; avoiding realities

Like I said, according to this "criteria" (and I use that term loosely!), any
child with a vivid imagination could be labeled autistic.:( :rolleyes: :mad:

What you have to realize about this is: this isn't actually a definition of the medical disorder of Autism. This is the definition of the word 'autism', which was selected as the label for the disorder because it was descriptive of the signs of Autism.

[Lara]

1975. Wow. Lots of changes since that date.
In my state in 1974 there was huge health reform. Up until 1974, there were hospitals here filled to overflowing with people who should never have been there. Many people in Mental Health facilities for example were people with conditions such as epilepsy or autism or you name it. They'd been dumping grounds. Shocking it was. Then with the health reforms, they emptied out the institutions and the poor people who'd been totally institutionalized found themselves in an even more shocking situation.

It doesn't suprise me that the 1975 World Book Encyclopedia Dictionary would say that.

This is the 8th of July, 2007 and the Medical Dictionary at the top of the page here on these forums suggests that

autism

Mental introversion in which the attention or interest is fastened upon the patients own ego. A self centreed state from which reality tends to be excluded.

(27 Sep 1997)
http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?autism

autism, infantile

A syndrome beginning in infancy and characterised by a lack of responsiveness to other people, gross impairment in verbal and nonverbal communication skills, and bizarre responses to the environment.

(12 Dec 1998)

http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?autism,+infantile

This is what the Medical Dictionary at the top of the forums says about Tourette's Syndrome... :eek:

Tourette's syndrome

<syndrome> A neurologic disease of unknown cause that presents with multiple tics (uncontrolled behaviour), associated with snorting, sniffing and involuntary vocalisations. The explosive utterance of obscenities is common. Treatment is with haloperidol.

(12 Jan 1998)
http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?tourette+syndrome

To start with...

1. TS is not a disease.

2. Coprolalia or explosive utterance of obscenities is not "common" as stated.

3. Treatment in this day and age with Haloperidol/Haldol is very uncommon.

The Medical Dictionary has another description with different spelling.

tourette syndrome

<syndrome> Both multiple motor and one or more vocal tics present with tics occurring many times a day, nearly daily, over a period of more than one year. The onset is before age 18 and the disturbance is not due to direct physiological effects of a substance or a general medical condition. The disturbance causes marked distress or significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. (dsm-IV, 1994)

(12 Dec 1998)
http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?tourette+syndrome

Well, a lot has happened since even 1998.
There is no requirement for severity or impairment. i.e. The "marked distress" and "significent impairment" criterion stated above, known as Criterion C, was deleted in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR)
(American Psychiatric Association, 2000)

Sooooooo........