Autism or Absent Seizures or both?

[RosieJess91]

My 3 year old has been attending preschool since September.

They reported to me within about 2 or 3 weeks of him starting that they were worried he may have had a seizure, was it normal. I said no, they explained that he had had a moment of about 30 seconds where he stopped, stood like a statue, staring into space, not focused, wouldn't react to his name being called, tapping on his shoulder or waving in his face. But he all of a sudden snapped out of it and carried on as he had been.

I asked them to let me know if it happened again, and put it down to him just being a cheeky toddler thinking he could get away with being a bit silly. Especially as we'd never seen this.

I asked about a week ago about it and was told that they happen every single day. I was astounded, how could they not have told me, but there must have been a miscommunication because they thought I had been told.

Either way, I've now spoken to our GP and he's now on the waiting list for an EEG and having bloods taken on Tuesday.

But - his older brother is autistic, with ADHD, and he has a lot of moments where instead of shutting down, he explodes. Curls in a ball, rocks, makes lots of noise. Our 3 year old is currently on the waiting list to also be tested, because he's non verbal and shows a lot of other similar signs that our 7 year old showed.

Could there be a chance that this is just our 3YOs way of blocking things out? Rather than some sort of seizure, he shuts down to stop himself getting too overwhelmed? (Something our 7YO can't do...)

We have also wondered whether if it is seizures, could that be linked to the non verbal thing? He learns new words all the time, says them a few times for a day, but by the next day he's completely forgotten them and can't wrap his tongue around them. It's like something in his brain shuts them out?

I'm so confused. He gets so frustrated, whacks his head on the floor, slaps himself round the face, pushes his younger brother over, because he gets so angry about not being able to communicate, but he's very good at gesturing, he's such a clever little boy.

I'm just feeling a bit lost and hoping someone else might have been through similar and able to help? I feel like if I wasn't worried about everything else going on, I would have spoken to a GP and sorted this months ago.

Something to note, he has got Long QT Syndrome, a heart condition that can cause seizures, fainting problems, etc, but his strain shouldn't be doing this. And secondly, I've personally only noticed him doing this at home once, but as the school have said, they can last up to 30 seconds, so there's a chance that with 3 kids running around me, I may not have noticed them, whereas his preschool are very 1-on-1 with him. And I only noticed it today, and quite possibly only because I have been looking out for them since last week.

My son 14 has both autism (very limited verbally) and absent seizures. He was non verbal until nearly 9 (no words at all during that time). He has some words now but regularly will loose them completely or the pronunciation which is already poor will change and become worse, it does appear worse when we are having bad seizure periods. When he was first diagnosed with epilepsy at 11 he lost all the verbal language he did have, most of it eventually came back but different.

Frustration related behaviours are very common for children who are non verbal/having severe communication delays. Ds did all of the above as you describe and still does but far less. It massively reduced when he started having success with his communication aid. It's worth noting that epilepsy/seizures can significantly increase behaviour also.

I understand what you are saying about him shutting down at times, my son has always done this however absent seizures look very different. If he is giving no response at all when he is talked to or touched then it's good he is getting an eeg. For us they happened far more when he attended school as they were very much stress related for him. We get some at home but far far less.

Can you ask the nursery to get one or two on video, this far easier if they are longer. It's going to be far easier if the doctor can see what is happening and will be able to tell you either way. The nursery obviously aren't qualified and you are only going off their opinion, a doctor being able to see them will give you a much better idea. We struggled with an eeg due to ds's needs, he was ultimately diagnosed purely off video evidence.

Thank you for all of that. It's very interesting to read!

I never put preschool down as a stressful environment, but he's not really one for playing with other kids, so I guess it could be when you're being put into an area where you have to involve yourself with other kids. He's always been a bit funny about noise, he loves making it, but hates others making any. The only time we've seen him shut down was when his younger brother was running around banging things (as toddlers do!).

It will be very interesting to see what comes up on his EEG.

Have you found there might also be a link with obsessions with food products or anything like that? He sometimes have days where he will only eat 1 thing, breakfast, lunch and dinner. But the next he eats whatever is given to him.

I will definitely ask about getting a video. And now they've said that he has them every day, I wouldn't be able to say if there is a link between learning words and forgetting them. But I guess this would make a lot of sense.

In a way, I'm glad I'm not alone in this and that it sounds like you've gone through similar. Been feeling a bit stumped and lost regarding him for a while. Thank you so much.