To think autistic toddler is ‘seeing things’

[NCtoddlerq]

My 3 year old was diagnosed with Autism last week after two years of waiting. We are lucky to already have support from different services.

Whilst my toddler is three he has the mental age of a one-year-old with extremely delayed development in everything except is mobility.

He is completely non-verbal, cannot understand instructions, cannot feed himself. He has horrific meltdowns multiple times a day and I know he is frustrated. He doesn’t cope in a nursery setting and we do not have special needs nurseries nearby, however we have started his EHCP. I’m worried he’s lonely.

The biggest issue is he hits himself. Hard and constantly, in the head. No matter the emotion. You can hear the smacks on his head from the next room and it’s like he doesn’t feel it. His head is always covered in bruises. When we try to help him stop we get hit and it HURTS. My partner got hit in the eye the other day by mistake whilst DS was having a meltdown and he fell to the floor and went dizzy. It is extremely worried and I am scared he is going to do serious brain damage. He gives himself nosebleeds.

Everyone is aware of this and sees it every time they see him - family, health visitors, paediatrician, portage workers. Everyone.

It wasn’t until last night that we wondered whether maybe he is seeing things.

Basically, he often has a vacant stare. He often doesn’t look at us when we’re talking however we can see the difference between hearing us, and generally just being… not there, focused on one thing and blocking out everything around him.

He doesn’t sleep well, or for long. Sometimes we’re up from 3am because he’s so hyper and refuses to sleep. He rarely naps.

Last night we woke up to horrific screaming coming from downstairs… he was on the sofa screaming, terrified. He never goes downstairs at night, always walks down when we’re up in the morning. We took him upstairs and nothing would soothe him, he was petrified. We slept in his room last night on the floor - but every time we were out of view he sat straight up and started screaming, like something was there. It was really disturbing.

I have bipolar disorder (stable for a long time) but when I was 4, I would have hallucinations to the point I jumped from the top of the stairs because I saw something chasing me, and my mum walked in on me screaming and kicking the air. It went away eventually but I did see these things, it was real to me.

I’m worried this is happening to DS, but he cannot tell us because he cannot say any words. He makes noises, but he cannot tell me what is wrong.

So what do I do? Any advice? I just don’t know what to do in this situation. He is hurting himself constantly and last night was honestly awful and so scary for all of us.

The vacant stare could be absence seizures, my ds with asd had them when he was young

Could be night terrors and sleep walking if he's asleep ? Mine still sleep walks sometimes now if he's over tired , although doesn't have night terrors any more

Timetomoveit speaks sense. An occupational therapist can order a helmet to stop him hurting himself, your peadiatrician should be able to help.

Sound tough I hope it gets better soon

I think night terrors and absence seizures are the things to investigate. Do you know when you're next seeing the paediatrician? Wouldn't hurt to bring up your own childhood experiences and query that too.

Have you ever been asked to keep a diary of what happens when he hits himself - what happened immediately beforehand (potential causes) and what happened after (consequences)? This is a likely first step in investigating that behaviour so it might be worth keeping a note between now and your next paediatrician visit to get ahead a little bit.

It sounds like you used to have sleepwalking night terrors , what you described would be unrelated to your bipolar but could definitely be something your DS experienced last night.

As for him hitting himself, it is unfortunately very common with severe autism, I think it's unlikely he's having day time hallucinations but maybe have a look into absence seizures if you feel he is becoming vacant suddenly

My son has asd but is verbal. He has night terrors and absence seizures.

He also has something called hypnagogic hallucinations and sadly for him they are frightening. He now has melatnonin which makes him fall asleep before they happen.

OP my DS is autistic and he has night terrors where he wakes up screaming for no reason, he seems wide awake but he's inconsolable, it's really disturbing to see. I have bipolar (and ADHD) and I used to see things at night as a child as well, it was terrifying, I've never come across anyone else who did, but I know exactly what you're worried about. If he does have bipolar hallucinations as well and can't communicate them, can you think about how you would have liked to be comforted when you had them? I would have liked my mum to sit with me and give reassurances that everything was ok (and a light on). IDK if that's the right thing for everyone though especially if your DS can't understand you at all.