seeing colours on peoples faces is making DS attack them..........

[devientenigma]

what should we do? When he sees red and blue on peoples faces he is physically assaulting them. So far 8 people this week have had it.

How is he seeing red and blue? Is there actually red and blue reflecting onto it or is it somehow brain related?

lol, no it's what we have managed to get from him. These attacks are very different to his usual aggression. He's blanking out while doing it and taking a bit to return from his trance after it. So don't know if this is anything to do with it.

What has been happening when he has attacked them? Is there anything common between the occasions?

maybe there is a sensory/visual processing issue exacerbating him, would call your specialist optician monday morning to see if he can advise?

Can you ask him where on the face he sees these colours devient?

Is it makeup? like red lipstick? hats they are wearing?

Does he look as if he is lost or dizzy? I am only asking because I used to suffer with fits when young and my vision was what I can only describe as the people around me looked like black shadows but the whole picture was covered in coloured dots. It made me anxious and shakey and I would want to run for it.

Does sound like something neurological. Sees something weird, blanks out and acts violent, goes trance-y afterwards.

The on-call paediatric registrar at the local hospital via A&E? Out of hours doctor? Urgent GP appt ASAP? Would his paediatric specialist speak to you by phone early on Monday?

Tbh, I think you should call NHS direct or your out of hours service tonight. Just noticed the hints in your post that it's new, and you said its been 8 times this week already, so worth getting it sorted SOS. It doesnt sound like the sort of aggression where the usual tricks will work particularly well, so meanwhile someone qualified can be looking at whether it's this or something else fixable.

in light of other people's posts and links sounds like you do need to get him seen by doctor asap to rule in/out whether this might be seizure related.

Thanks everyone. I have been in touch with his optician, I have him on facebook.............he needs to ask quite specific stuff so he's told me to phone him Monday. I am also going to take him to see the GP, however fingers crossed he does better today.

To add to the seizure stuff, he had an EEG many years ago, it was inconclusive, however due to behaviour they only got 2 pads on his head. He was just going blank and staring and you couldn't get him out of it. Then the psychiatrist said they were autistic trances.

Could non epileptic, inconclusive absence seizures change to complex partial epilepsy?

from what I've read, it's not that unusual for kids on the asd spectrum to start having epileptic seizures round the time they hit puberty (epilepsy is more common amongst people with ASD than NT people).

Good, I'm pleased that you are going to get this checked out. For his well being but also for all of you around him. Sounds like it can get very scary.

on phone and out? netter things? sorry don't understand x

When the EEg came back inconclusive due to behaviour and lack of pads they wanted to try MRI but as these absences were managable and him having a heart condition they said the risk of anesthetic outweighed the benefit. However if they take this on board it looks like the MRI is the way to go...............so not looking forward to this.

think zzzz meant that as she was on phone she could only do a brief post, and netter was a typo for better.

could you try and get someone to video him having an episode? just thinking that given risks of mri they might be prepared to to try epilepsy meds on basis of the description of what's going on, particular as there's been such a recent increase/frequency.

yeah I felt that light just glad someone clarified it.

Your in it before you know it so would probably get the end and it's like his behaviour vids not getting the beginning lol. I was thinking if we could eliminate some more of his stress would it decrease, I do have a feeling what may be making it/him worse and although it's small to some, to him it would be huge.

Dev, what ds has described about seeing colours on peoples faces rang a bell with me for something another parent said abourt her ds who saw particular colours when he heard certain sounds. The syndrome is called synesthesia and is apparently much more common in people with autism and epilepsy.
link to one article here
neurologicalcorrelates.com/wordpress/2009/07/22/is-autism-really-a-form-of-synesthesia/
but probably lots more on google or other people here may know more.

i don't know anything about the condition, but it sounds really plausible - glad you're on the way to finding out what's troubling DS

what a fab mum you are - far too many parents would ignore this and call it a 'phase'

I honestly don't know what to say re:eliminating stress, as he finds so much stressful in day to day life, eg tuition, going out etc, but then tiredness/stress probably could exacerbate these episodes. In an ideal world, someone would get to root cause of the stress, but I know that help has been very hard to find for you and him.

so light you are saying meds is the way?

I honestly don't know. Obviously if it is epilepsy then yes, he would need meds for that. In terms of psych meds, I don't know what would be safe for him given his other conditions. It may be worth giving his cardiologist a bell as well this week, just in case re:these episodes.

yeah, never thought of that. Thanks.

Really hope you get some answers as to what is causing this. Sending positive vibes your way.