My son 4 years is regressing, doctors uncertain, please help me.

[roog]

My 4 year old seemed to be developing normally. He was sensitive, kind, placid and certainly knew what was going on and would participate in conversations etc. He did suffer from ear infections early on in life but grommets but seemed to bring him out of his shell socially and he was very good at talking.

This year he suffered a seizure, and suddenly he is loosing speech skills, his ability to understand and participate in conversation. He also has difficulty getting to sleep and is now prone to aggressive outburst. An EEG, MRI, lumbar puncture and blood all came back normal. They were searching for a particular rare epilepsy type which they thought fitted really well except the EEG came back normal.

They have him on a waiting list to be checked for autism now, as the some symptoms sound like autism (but not alot I dont think). But if they knew him previously as friends and family knew him they would be shocked at his regression. Please can you help me as Im baffled at the huge change in this child, the doctors think he may have had autism all along, but NO-ONE who knew him before can believe this.

[aquila]

Tell your doctor about this article:

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi...1993.tb02414.x

[Monsterlove]

Sorry about your little boy. I am a special education teacher and I think he would have had signs of autism all along prior to his seizure. It seems like his seizure may have caused some brain damage. I saw on the TV show one case of a little girl and the mom didn't know what was wrong with her, too. Her mri/ekgs were all fine. Mom took the child to a different neurologist who specialized in children. The child had to be observed and hooked up to machines during the night. They video taped her sleeping, too. She had a very rare form of epilepsy and with proper treatment, the child is able to lead a normal life on the medication. The epilepsy could not be confirmed via the regular route and only through the night time monitoring could it be determined. There was a particular wave that was often overlooked that does not show up with the standard tests. It sounds like your child may have something like that child, with the night time seizures. In the meantime, you can involve your local public school to provide services, speech and occupational therapy. They are required to evaluate and provide the therapy at this time if you request it. They can't do the medical evaluations and I would not settle for the autism category at this time. It doesn't fit.