Speech Regression. Wont Sleep or Eat. Autistic Traits. Absent Spells. HELP

Updated on January 25, 2014
G.P. asks from Concord, NC
4 answers

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

What can I do next?

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R.M.

answers from San Francisco on

I'm sorry you're going through this. You need to find another doctor who will diagnose your daughter. Falling is not a symptom of autism. Doctors should not send poor parents home to spend hours on the internet trying to diagnose their kid and terrifying themselves in the process. They need to work with your daughter until they figure out what it is. You might need to be extremely vocal and insistent with the doctors, if they are just sending you home.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.G.

answers from Chicago on

My son did that trace thing at 2. I do believe it's normal. They are distracted by something, and while we think they are in a trance, they are actually engaged with something other than us. I just figured it was a 2 thing. But he's now 4 and will still space out while talking. I think he loses his train of thought or can't find the word. He is perfectly normal, i might add.

Also, the hugging and kissing thing. Some kids do this at 2. I'd have to see it, but I'd say it's normal. It's socially awkward, but normal.

lastly, lots of kids are picky eaters and fearful. I have a friend who couldn't take her son places till he was close to 4. he couldn't stand noise. There is nothing wrong with her son. He is now a happy kindergartner. He just didn't like certain things.

Get a second opinion, but if the doctor says she's normal, chances are, she is normal. kids are weird. I use to worry there was something wrong with my oldest, then I realized, kids are weird. They are socially strange, with weird ticks. They do things like insist things happen in certain ways, that only so and so do Y, etc. But it's all just a part of them learning how the world operates. They also have stuttering phases, shove everything in their mouth (my oldest would lick me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

I hope you find answers, but I'd say everything you mention here falls under "normal."

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

Posting the exact same question under 3 different titles makes me think spammer at the least and troll at the worst.

If you don't like the answers you are getting from your doctors/therapists then get some 2nd opinions.
You are not going to get answers from a parenting web site.
Video tape/record the things you want the doctors to observe.

I never heard of swaddling a 29 MONTH old?
She's a toddler - stop with the swaddling.
At that age it's like tying someone up and that makes it look like something abusive.

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C.B.

answers from Boston on

Our oldest daughter did the trance thing, and at that age she could not leave the house without 2 little plastic characters, one in each hand. A few times my husband was home with her at that age and asked her to do things (one time he wanted to watch the news and she was watching a cartoon) and she got so upset when he changed the channel that she basically pitched a fit and ended up throwing up from it. She is now 16, and honor student and very introverted and prefers things calm and predictable, but you would never know when she is laughing and talking with good friends (but still very shy and uncomfortable with those she does not know well).
Our younger daughter LOST weight when I stopped nursing at age 1 and was put on PediaSure (that she LOVED and it is expensive). She drank 3 bottles a day for a long time and then slowly started adding solid foods. We switched to Carnation Instant Breakfast (vanilla flavor) in Chocolate milk since that came close to the chocolate Pediasure flavor (and much cheaper). She is now 13 and still slender but on the height/weight charts at about 15%.
All kids when they start to walk stumble and fall a lot. Both my girls did not crawl at all and started walking around 14 months and did a lot of stumbling and falling for a very short while because they skipped the crawling phase. Looking back they basically went from sitting to running, with a short phase where they pulled up on things and fell back down, or took a few steps and fell. Did your daughter crawl? Not crawling and learning how to use opposite arm/leg motion can point to lack of left/right brain connection which can be a sign of dyslexia. One of our daughters has dyslexia the other does not, and they both did not crawl (much, maybe for a week).
The kicking motion in the car seat and some of the other things you mention could be because she is super sensitive, which could just mean she will be a great artist (our oldest is) or it could mean more to the point of sensory integration issues.
So it COULD all be in the range of normal, or it could mean something more. We are not doctors and from a short description it is hard to know what is happening.
If it was my child I would get a referral to a pediatric behavioral specialist. It seems true medical issues have been ruled out with the tests, so now you might be in the realm of trying to separate normal from clinically diagnosed behavior. I googled and found this near you:
http://www.carolinashealthcare.org/services-developmental...
Regardless of the diagnosis, just love her and accept her and try to figure out what environment makes her happiest. I myself am super sensitive (to sounds, irritating fabric tags, bright lights, etc.) so I made sure my sensitive daughters had a calm home with a very steady schedule and were never over tired or hungry and they thrived. My husband bristled at times at the need to not take them into a lovely but noisy or strongly smelling place (a brewery was one time, or a street festival another time) when he really wanted to do an activity that their sensitive systems simply could not endure. So while young we adjusted their environment to them, and now that they are teens they are able to adjust to their environment. Sometimes it is difficult to accept that our children are not what we hoped they would be (we are both RAVING extroverts and our kids are both incredibly introverted and shy) but we can only surround them with love and the things that comfort THEM (not us) so we allow them to thrive. You are a good mother to be concerned but sometimes the very odd is actually genius.
PS: the sleep issue should be investigated since not sleeping enough certainly makes me act not-normal the next day.

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