OK, big issue, lots of theories.

AS tends to run in families, so I am told.

If any of you have read "Life and How To Survive It" you'll also
appreciate that all personality traits run in familes.

So, are all people exhibiting AS truly AS, or just the product of
improper parenting?

If my parents failed to give me appropriate signals as a child, I
would have become confused at school. I may have resolved these
issues, but I may not.

On another tack ... imagin a mother, who fails to give good facial
contact signals to a newly born baby. Now, if the baby failed to show
appropriate eye to face contact, it would be suspected AS/Autistic.
But if the mother failed to feed it back, would it 'unlearn' what it
is normally programmed to do?

Alternatively, if AS truly exists in that family, if the baby failes
to 'offer anything' in the way of facial contact at an early age,
then the mother might never learn to give it back. Hence reinforcing
the whole signal failure.

I think I need to do a PhD.