My daughter is 29 months old now.
When she was younger she spoke in sentences and was very vocal. But around 18 months she started these trances and become distracted and less volcal. At first i wasnt concern but after weeks of this it just became worst, so around 20 months I took her to her pediatrician and he was immediately concerned. He tested her for a long list of metabolic disorders, she had an MRI, an EEG, her hearing, her sight, it all cam back normal. &before all of this, basically since she started to walk she was unbalanced and fell a lot. Anyways after all these test came back normal they started to lean towards autism. She was set up with a speech therapist and play therapist. She did regain a lot of her speech, but is still distracted, doesnt converse (as in conversations) with us. She met with a behaivoral and developmental specialist and he concluded that it wasn't autism and he would meet with her again right before her 3rd birthday. But the more her pediatrician, her therapist, and my family consider it. They pointed out that autism usually leads a child to communicate only when they need something, avoid hugging, and pretend play. Which she does do all of that. But now I'm at a point where her doctors think she's a " average 2year old" but I don't feel the same.
SO..
She has a couple "qurks" that I'm very concerned about.
First she goes into this very intense trance that only last about 10 seconds. When this happens in can be mid sentence she freezes and blankly stares her pupils get larger and her chin goes in towards her neck. And I can not regain attention until its over, the rare times I do she becomes violent and mean. This can happen 0-5 times a day. Which her doctors never had a chance to witness themselves, I recently recorded one of the episodes and plan to play it for her doctor.
Secondly she is terrified of swings, tricycles, etc.
She awkwardly kisses every child she sees, and sometimes licks myself and other family members. She has this weird leg movement she does while she's in her carseat. It looks like her diaper is full its sort of a leg kicking motion. Another thing she does is while were in public she'll insist on kissing and hugging every other child she sees but refuses to talk to other adults. She acts as if she doesn't hear them and she looks down and mumble to herself in a baby like jumble.
And her doctor thinks she might have some sensory issues.
Btw. She also eats very little. I mean its extream i get desperate for her to just eat anything. And she has trouble staying still and falling asleep. Some days she'll refuse to fall asleep and literally hold her eyes open until 2-3 am.. ive tried putting her in the dark. Playing lullabys. Not letting her nap, swaddling her in a fleece blanket. Rocking her. Books
Warm baths.. everything
....
I've heard of a couple diseases and diagnosis that seem to match.
1. Petit mal
2. Sensory ocd
3. Sensory integration dysfunction
I'm sorry but why are you asking this same exact question 3 times and just changing the top main line?
It looks like you have just copied and pasted all of the text and just changed the title of the question. What exactly is the purpose of that???
Petit mal seizures immediately came to my mind when you described the short "blank-outs." Has she been tested specifically for petit mal epilepsy? Just because the doctors have not seen an episode does not mean it isn't happening. She may need to wear a tracking device all day and in her sleep at some point. My friend's son did, so that doctors could finally trace why he was having "white-outs" as he called them (he is far older than your child, though and his white-outs were due mostly to stress).
It sounds as if you may need to be more assertive with the doctors who say she is fine. If she is having these incidents repeatedly each day, she is not fine.
However - and it is a huge "however" --it also sounds possible that you are searching so hard for a diagnosis that you are out there shopping the Internet for possible conditions that fit your child. Be very careful about that; it's extremely easy to get scared to death by dire things on the Internet.
Instead, keep a detailed diary of every minute of her day and everything she does. Keep it over a month or so and then see the doctors with it. You say you've been told she has sensory issues -- but did the doctors then DO anything with you about how to work with those sensory issues? It sounds like you've been told a diagnosis and nothing else!
The blank stares (and the violent reaction when you try to touch her during those stares) sound a lot like a form of epilepsy BUT many of the other things you describe sound like normal things a child her age might do: Kicking in her car seat. Kissing and hugging other kids freely. Being very shy and mumbling around adults. Even licking -- I've known kids this age who do lick others for a while then stop doing it; its a great way to get a reaction from adults. (If you react to the licks by leaping to intervene and saying, "No, no, we don't lick," that is giving her attention for the behavior, which might be exactly why she keeps doing it--calm down and ignore it instead.)
As for not falling asleep, you say you have tried everything, but it also sounds as if you have tried too much, too hard -- has she ever had a very, very consistent bedtime routine that never changes? Or have you tried so hard to find the one thing that might work, that you keep changing what you do each night or every few days, so she never gets any sense of a regular routine? It's very easy to fall into the trap of "Maybe tonight it will work to swaddle her" then "That didn't work yesterday, tonight I'll move her bath time instead...." That means she never knows what to expect or what routine signals to her that bedtime is approaching.
Get some good books on child development from your library and study up on her age for things like the sleep issues, the extreme affection with other kids (pretty normal for some children), the aversion to talking to adults. You may find she is really quite normal.
But for the blank-out stares, yes, I would be more assertive about pursuing that with doctors. If you go to the doctors with every little normal thing, as if it's a problem, they frankly will take you less seriously about the things that ARE serious, so try to ramp back your own fears and be focused on just what seem to be the real issues--the blank stare incidents and the sensory issues.
I recommend seeing a pediatric neurologist. Some of those behaviors are perfectly normal. My son also hugged all children for a while (personal space is a more adult and cultural convention), many toddlers have a 'shy' phase and will interact with children but avoid eye contact with adults. The licking people is also often normal - although unpleasant.
I also think seizures.
Most of my students with autism and sensory issues benefit from swinging.
The leg thing sounds like self-stimming.
It very well could be seizures or autism. I would keep looking for doctors who will test her or seizures. She may need an overnight sleep study or something like that but there are seizures that manifest exactly as you describe. But the no eye contact or touching with adults and her licking you and family members makes me think autism. I think it has to be one or the other and you need to keep taking her to doctors until someone figures it out.
Get a referral for a neurologist that will be aggressive with testing.
My niece had similar behavior starting around kindergarten. she was diagnosed with absence seizures. She was not medicated or treated for it in any way.
The episodes got less and less frequent. Now at at 19, it's probably been 2 years since she had one.
:)
