One thing I find interesting is the genetics in some families that seem to at least predispose a child to autism. When my older boy was first diagnosed at UCLA years ago, the doctors were studying families that had more than one child that was autistic. In our case, the common factor that my three boys share is me - my older son is from my first marriage, and my twins are with my husband. yet all three are on the spectrum, and have varying degrees of the disorder. And the twins are NOT identical. There are several people on my side of the family who probably would have been diagnosed with Asperger's but it was not as widely known during that time period.