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Autism and a second child. What are the chances?

My second husband has many family memebers who you would say were on the spectrum at some point of there lives. ( only 1 boy age 6 still has obvious issues). All of the adults have had families and careers. Anyway we had 1 boy together who is high autism. How many people % have a second. I really want another baby and hubby is not into adoption. So what are the odds of a second?

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  • Mom
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    There are the statistics that the person above me gave, which are accurate. With your husband's family history though, and the fact that you've had one child with autism, there's a good chance you could have another. I don't think anyone could give you an exact percentage though. I guess you need to decide if you could handle another child with autism. I have three kids, two boys and a girl. My second son has PDD NOS, which is a mild form of autism. Once he was diagnosed, we decided not to have any further, as there was a risk we could have another autistic child. And my husband and I have no family history of it. My son is very high functioning, but its A LOT of work, and I can't imagine if I had a severely autistic child.

    ANyways, I hope this wasn't too depressing, just some things to think about. Then again, I look at my daughter, who I had after my son (she was born before he was diagnosed)... and I think, thank GOD I had her, she's a miracle, because if I hadn't had her before my son got diagnosed, she probably would not be here.

  • 1 decade ago

    These are the actual statsitics,

    A child has a 1 in 150 chance of being diagnosed with an Autism Sectrum Disorder (PDD/NOS or Autism)

    When there is a sibling with autism, the chances of another child with autism go up to 1 in 20. That's high, but it's only a 5% chance.

    When there are 2 children with austism, chances go to 1 in 3 of having another.

    Source(s): I have worked with children with autism and have participated in a lot of research on it for the last 10 years.
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