Do you believe if you have one special needs child, your next will be SN too?

Question

Nothing severe but my bio daughter is adhd, my step daughter has significant development delay and speech delay, but she just came off IEP in third grade and no longer needs special education so wondering if our first child together is at higher risk?

Answer

Maybe for ADHD because that is genetic but the speech isn’t genetic it’s developmental

Answer

Not typically. There are some things that are genetic and extremely likely, so you’d likely have multiple children experience it. Other things may be genetic but are unlikely so the odds of having 2 with the same traits would be even less. And then of course, there are things that are random and not necessarily associated with genes or environment, and those would be even less likely to happen twice.

Answer

I do know that my daughter is Autistic, and there is a higher chance for any of our following children to become autistic as well. Reason being is genetics. I've only ever looked into autism though.

Answer

Is ADHD considered special needs? Genuinely curious.

Answer

ADHD is genetic all my family has it lol and this baby I swear already has it and he’s not born yet

Answer

No way!!! Don’t let that stop you from conceiving! I have ADHD and I’m a mom, in nursing school and working 2 jobs, if anything it’s helped me in life

Answer

No. I mean there’s genetic things. But there’s also a lot of links to behavioral things with diet, build up of metals in the body, gut health, environmental, gender, etc. 
I have an autoimmune disease which wasn’t officially diagnosed until right after the birth of my second child (symptoms started long before I had kids). My first child has suffered from eczema, gastrointestinal issues, and behavior issues. He’s currently being evaluated for autism after discussing some alarming behavior with his pre-school teacher and doctor. With my second child I’ve just done things a million times different. We do spaced out vaccines with a detox bath later to help rid of metals (the idea here for us is genetically they’re more susceptible to having their immune systems go over active and developing an autoimmune disease so we’re just trying to do the best we can), he does probiotics and cod liver oil drops (DHA). He also was able to be breastfed and we decided to do all homemade foods. He actually eats kale and pretty much an extremely organic diet whereas our oldest just wants chicken nuggets and cookies and fights us on vegetables. My second child’s health and behavioral development so far has been a million times better. We’re realizing that outside factors combined with genetics can play a big role. Watching my oldest struggle and then getting my diagnosis has really kicked us into gear to change our lives. We’re still working with our older child to change his diet and we have been able to clear up his eczema with probiotics and a diet change. 
So from my personal experience, I do think some environmental changes has lowered the risks for our younger son. I do feel guilty for doing things so different, but I also don’t let myself because I did the best I could at the time. And autism or not, he’s a very, very smart child. He has tummy problems, but it’s getting better. His violent rocking has even been getting a little better! But I do have hopes that our second child will continue on this healthier path.

Do you believe if you have one special needs child, your next will be SN too?

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