"I have a question—how a mommy with a first kid with special needs decides to have another kid, especially for autistic kids, they say there is a chance for the second kid to be autistic as well," the email read. "I have one boy and I am not sure if I should have another kid or not, I fear that my second will be autistic as my first. Same time, if the second was a typical kid, I will have someone to take care of the first kid and watch over him in case anything happened to me. I am in a debate inside my mind. Is there any advice you or other mommies can help me with?"
Max had a stroke at birth, and while I did have some anxiety about having another child, Dave and I wholeheartedly knew we wanted a second. For us, going to a high-risk practice helped alleviate a lot of worry. It's different when you have a child with autism, as this mom notes, because there is a proven risk. A 2011 study from The University of California, Davis Mind Institute found that parents who have a kid with autism have about a 1 in 5 chance (18.7 percent) of having a second child with autism.
If you look at the flip side, four out of five children who have a sibling with autism will not develop it themselves. And because the study averaged rates of autism among 664 children, the risk may actually may be lower for some families (and higher for others). As the director of environmental research for Autism Speaks told a New York Times reporter, "Family history is a strong risk factor, but there are other risk factors as well. There are strong environmental risk factors. We don't know what those are yet, but this is not the only factor that goes into an autism diagnosis."
If you look at the flip side, four out of five children who have a sibling with autism will not develop it themselves. And because the study averaged rates of autism among 664 children, the risk may actually may be lower for some families (and higher for others). As the director of environmental research for Autism Speaks told a New York Times reporter, "Family history is a strong risk factor, but there are other risk factors as well. There are strong environmental risk factors. We don't know what those are yet, but this is not the only factor that goes into an autism diagnosis."
How have you dealt with the decision to have another child? Please share, and help give this mom some perspective.
