Question: Autism and Genetics: Will Our Next Child Be Autistic?
We have one child on the autism spectrum, and we're expecting our second. If autism is genetic, will our next child be autistic?
Answer: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have a strongly genetic component, but it's not as simple as you might imagine. In general, the likelihood of having a child with ASD is about 1 in 150. Once a couple have had one child with ASD, their risk of recurrence rises to somewhere between 1 in 50 and 1 in 12. But these numbers refer to groups of people -- not to any one couple. For any one couple, the risk may be higher or lower than this average figure. In order to determine if there is an identifiable cause with a specific recurrence risk, you should have your children with autistic spectrum disorder evaluated by a board-certified pediatric geneticist. Such individuals are typically located within the Department of Pediatrics at university-based medical schools.
