Research on 85 families found that siblings with autism had the same genetic risk factors less than one third of the time. In nearly 70% of cases, tests on the siblings revealed little or no overlap in the mutations known to contribute to the condition.
The findings challenge the presumption that the same genetic risk factors are at work when autism runs in families. “We knew that there were many differences in autism, but our recent findings firmly nail that down,” said Stephen Scherer at the University of Toronto.
My sons and myself all had blood drawn in order to contribute to Dr. Scherer's research. When an article was published last year highlighting some of his work, I immediately got in contact and begged for my children to be included. My youngest was less than a year old, and I was desperate for any answers. While he very graciously allowed us to be included, the results are a long time coming. Hopefully we'll have some answers by summer.
My hope was that someone could point to a glitch in the tall one's genetic code, and say, "Look! Here it is! This is why!" I was hoping that the same person could point to the short one's code and say that the glitch isn't there. As time passes, I realize more and more that it's a little more complicated than that.
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