I feel like i'm graudually losing my DD.

[MissNutty]

I feel awful. DD may have ASD. Because her syptoms weren't particuarly extreme, I really felt like it was something we would learn how to cope with. In the last few days though, she seems to be changing. Her speech, which has always been behind, has just become rather slurred and it seems to take a long time before I get an entire sentence out of her. ON the way back from pre school I kept trying to ask about her day and she just kept making strange noises and sticking her tounge out and blowing raspberries. She has always gone off in her own little world sometimes but not like this.

I'm scarred that this is just something that will gradually get worse.

I can't pull myself togeter. I feel like i'm on another planet today. I feel like i'm losing her and it's unbearable.

She is nearly 4

missnutty,i know how terrible that is Keep a close eye and get her checked out if it continues.

My DD has ASD and is nearly 5. She did this during the summer, babbling, loss of words, mis pronounciation, in fact she didnt speak as well as usual for about 4 weeks. We put it down to stress from dealing with routine changes. Towards the end of summer her usual speech returned...in fact her sentence forming became a little better. She doesnt respond to direct questions very well at all, finds them very uncomfortable...she responds to questions about pictures though or books. We are waiting to see what specific speech and languge disorder she has in our dx report.

Hope your DD is ok.

when my dd regressed the salt said it could be down to her struggling with next stage of language,sounds like that with your dd wooly? I did 'lose' my DD a bit but this is so rare that she is being referred internationally so I'm sure there will be an improvement /simple explanation for your DD.

the neuro said most asd regressions occur before 2, 4 would be extremely rare.

woolytree, it's good to hear that. She's watching Peter Pan at the moment so i've got a few minutes to come on here.

May I ask when your DD had her diognosis? What were her syptoms?

woolytree,meant symptoms.

Fanjo, thanks for the reassuring words. I hope you're right. I feel awful right now though. I'm asking her simple questions and i'm not really getting a response. For example she's pretending to be an owl at the moment rather than answer me. It's very frustrating and also incredibly worrying.

I'm a bag of nerves at the moment.

this place is great for that,was shaking so i could barely walk earlier,now going into work.

Hugs MissN

I'm going to speak from a purely technical level now. Please don;t think that doesn't mean you don't have my entire sympathies: ds3 regressed at a younger age but I know how scary it is (he does have ASD) and if you were close enough i'd give you a huge hug.

OK. technically, regression after the age of 3 isn't ASD. That's a fairly basic diagnostic criteria set down in the DSM- and ICD manuals.

Now, my ex[erience is that kids who ahve an ASD do take back steps when tehya re under stress, or for example if they are incubating an illness which mayw ell be all that is happening here. Indeed it does rather mirrow what ds3 does even now, in which case it is not permanent but a temporary setback. For example, it was several eyars of these setbacks in teh field of toiletting before he becmae properly dry- every chan ge would start him back again. Now, ds3 has exactly teh absences (distances) you describe when that happens.

But mainly as a precaution ds3 is currently wearing an EEG monitor to check tehre is no epileptic activity, and tbh if your child isn't out of this in a day or so I woudl be asking for an emergency appt with Paerd and neurology becuase rarely, very rarely it could be something else in which case earliest warned is best.

Sorry,, feel free to ahte me for saying that. It took years to face up that ds3 needed the tests he is currently having but at least when tehya re done I will know one way or tother. good luck.

She only has an initial dx, ASD with a speech and lang disorder, as we are waiting for a report. We thought she was behind in talking for several years but after hearing tests, it was 'possible she had suffered from glue ear' they said, she went nursery as we worked and she did learn more words...but 6 months later I found out she rarely spoke at nursery! She has sensitive hearing...always has, sellotape pulled off the roll would make her wake and cry as a baby! She loves routines, obsesses over things...pixar, mickey mouse, windmills, satellites. She plays alongside...but thinks she has made friends, she hates crowds, is very literral, loves numbers...understands into 100's, loves letters, writing, drawing. She has irrational fears of dogs, meercats, grey clouds, hand dryers...toilets on and off. She can pretend but its repetative, rigid play...usually re enacting a film. Her 'meltdowns' arent too bad...we can normally calm her quickly but she is getting more violent and over emotional...school stress....I could go on for days with traits!

Nursery at school flagged her in December and we have had a combined clinic assesment and seen Psychologist for a cognative assesment, in touch with inclusion service...hopefully hand over to autism outreach soon, waiting for SALT. Phew!...that was quite a long ramble..:)

You haven't been doing any DIY have you? Have friend who had terrible problems with lead poisoning in their child on the spectrum. I agree with sancti that slurring should be checked out. I would be less concerned about the tuning out- that comes and goes ime.

PS...I find in order to engage DD is a basic conversation I have to touch her arm and ask her to listen to me as she doesnt understand body language, tone or process questions well....she doesnt get that Im talking to her unless I may it a bit more obvious....and she frequently entertaining herself in a squeaky mickey mouse voice or toy story way. :) She does have absences...zones out when over stimulated, only occassionaly shes completely 'gone'..as in wont respond to talking or waving.

Ds3 does allo those too (As indeed does ds1, who has AS)

I do find my success rate of reaching ds3 rises if I use a voice in a tone much lower than my usual one, not sure why though.

For ds3, the absences and obsessions are the buggest issues for him: his speech is shot but I think I have become used to that IYKWIM. But after some inclusion in the MS section of his school he is now withdrawn to SNU except for PE and topic (PE active, topic doesn't matter if he partcipates or not- am sure it's lovely for the kids to learn about the Ryder Cup being a few yards away but you know, DS3 ain't gonna care LOL. he's bright (year 6 level in maths) but it is the absences that prevent him managing anything with that potential; I am fairly sure in my own ehad that they are ASD absences and he will always be fairly severely impaired by tehm but there is a chance theya re epileptic, and if so could A) be dangerous if undiagnosed, and B) if there's even a tiny chance that tehya re caused by a disorder that might just respond to meds then I need to know, if that makes sense?

But ds3 had a head injury not long before regression whcih always lingers in my mind so am aware that influences things.

I do think the slurring should be checked though. Sometimes it's as simple as an infection (often ear infections) that teh childc an't articulate and could be picked up by a GP visit.

My DD also will also re enact films. Literally from begining to end. Used to think it was clever and cute but it's now concerning. Most of my family still just think it's something she does and that it's a talent and nothing more.

Don't know what to think anymore.

She is definitely coming down with something. Went swimming on friday and since then she's had a cold but I think it's turning into something more. I suppose that could have something to do with it.

Haven't been doing any DIY, but my partner has his own building company and is around her quite a lot at the minute. Definitely be keeping my eye on her. Her speech is alittle better at the moment though.

Could well be an ear infection.

Get an EEG! This is almost exactly what happened to our son around 4, and it turned out he had Landau Kleffner syndrome. Can be successfully treated if caught early. Our first response was 'oh but it can't be epilepsy, he doesn't have seizures' but the seizures were nonconvulsive while he was sleeping so who would have guessed.

Well a couple of weeks ago she was mentioning her ear hurting but she's not mentioned it recently. Very confusing.

Selfishly asked her dad to take her out whilst I try and get my head together. Been blubbing for the last 15 minutes and feel on the edge of a panic attack. Oh what fun!!

I too have been shaking a lot. It feels as though it's getting out of control. I know people are going through worse, but i'm just not handling this well atall. Evidently.

I have suffered depression in the past, since I was 12 actually, but I can honestly say i've never felt this dark. People keep trying to help and tell me it's not as bad as I think, but in my heart I know it is. I'm just looking at all her baby pics and pics from a year or so ago and thinking, where did my gorgeous little girl go?

MeganH..that is interesting..they haven't ruled out LKS for my DD, her EEG was clear but she didn't go into a deep sleep.

MIssN - It is understandable you are upset

you poor thing. it is completely normal in the early days of accepting something is amiss to feel very bleak about it, it's all very well and good for those who aren't parents to a kid with SN to say it's not that bad, but really, how the feck would they know.

IME - when DS was under the weather he could become more harder to reach/more of the telly talk but nothing as pronounced as slurring speech. agree with the other ladies about getting it checked out - you would probably be better off going to paed A & E than GP, as hospitals can arrange specialist referrals more quickly if need be.

btw my DS (language delay with subtle social communication difficulties) was like that with telly scripts at age 3 - it was awful as he couldn't speak in sentences at all, he could only memories telly scripts! this has thankfully faded over the years as his language has improved.

it's absolutely normal to feel like that during teh diagnostic period, I think most people do. It almost ended my normally verys trong marriage and DH ended up suicidal on anti depressants! You are not alone, you will learn tom live with it but do ask for help if you need irtr. I am certain if I hadn't made dh get help I'd no longer have him.

I just can't believe how many people there are out there with the same sort of problem to a greater or lesser degree. I've got the health visitor coming round tomorrow to assess her. She has already seen her at nursery. She had a very good day when she was there though, which isn't necessarily a good thing. I'm nervous about what she'll say tomorrow.

Also, we've got a couple of ladies coming next week from the inclusion support service. Can anyone tell me exactly what there job is? I did ask when I briefly spoke to them on the phone when they were very vague and sharp to be honest.

My inclusion service are great, they make sure school support DD properly...have just started a weekly visit..whole morning to give DD 1:1. :) They also arranged a meeting with SENCO, new teacher etc to plan school, they give input in assesement stage with own report, did a home visit, gave info on support available, referred us to Autism outreach...and when they were unavailable started the process at school. Very understanding and supportive to make sure DD gets what she needs. :)

Well that's very reassuring. I hope ours are as good as yours.