I know my wife and I came to terms with the fact that neither of us caused the ASD so that was never an issue. My brother is an Aspie and my children are both ASD so there is something there but it may just be a genetic dis potion running in the family. We have decided not to have any more children because of the risk and also our age.

The $5000 in testing did not tell us what we could not figure out on our own and again it is not like there is a cure so I would not spend another dime on this kind of testing

Both my boys had genetic testing. Thing is they didnt tell me it would be $5000 a piece out of pocket. I didnt leanr a single thing from their testing. For us it was such a huge waste and a waste of money. In the end its your decision. Good Luck

I have a different opinion.
I don't think it is a waste of time at all.
Money, well, it is one of the benefits of living in Canada I suppose. I don't pay for these tests.

Even so. Finding a (possible) cause to your child's autism can be its own reward. If it is a genetic problem, you can rest assured that you didn't 'cause' it by eating something during pregnancy, etc.

Likewise you want to know if the possible condition can be passed on to your child's future children.

As far as blood drawing (or anything with a needle) goes, it has been a complete nightmare for us as well.
My son's last test, he had 4 nurses & myself to hold him down.
Before that, he had an MRI and it was the same thing for the contrast dye injection.
My only advice is to pre-warn staff. Talk to someone on the phone and tell them your son needs this done quickly, and without discussion.

One of *the most annoying* things was for one of the nurses to think she could magically convince my son to cooperate for a stupid sticker. Really??
Let them know he will probably need 'all hands on deck'.
You can warn him, explain to him what is going to happen, but in the end, it just needs to get done.

Every time, my son says "that wasn't so bad". But the anxiety leading up to the needle is what causes all the mayhem.

I don't know how it works in the US, but as far as I understand up here, the geneticist will ask for enough blood that some of it can be banked for further testing if necessary, specifically to avoid having to go through the needles over and over... Maybe asking if this is an option is a good idea?

Good luck! :)

We haven't done one recently but we were able to distract our son with his favorite YouTube videos on the iphone and he stopped resisting and could do the blood draw while being restrained. I hope that still works as our son is much stronger now and need to do another blood test soon. Hope you figure it out.

Its not at a hospital unfortunately. :( Yeah, he's always been strong. Even when he was a baby!