Autism can be caused by spontaneous mutations or inherited genes, and parents of children with autism may show subclinical traits.

“i mean in some cases i think there's spontaneous mutations i think others you know i remember when rachel was diagnosed with autism um you know ann said you know well clearly it's your side of the family and i said what do you mean what about your what about your uncle so and so and so there was those kinds of discussions um so yeah hard to know i mean i think i think clearly you see um autism in in parents of kids with autism and and they may not be fully diagnosed but you definitely see that a lot of times um and i think that that's quite common”