Health and Beauty Les Halles

If your child has a history of autism, then you will want to watch for one of the more serious symptoms: seizures. The first thing that you will have to learn if your autistic child experiences seizures is how to recognize an emergency. The following conditions make a seizure an emergency:

- If the seizure lasts more than 5 minutes, or if there are several seizures in a row without a full recovery occurring between them.

- Breathing difficulty that persists. Though it is common for an autistic child to look as though he or she has briefly stopped breathing during the seizure, breathing should quickly resume.

- If there are any injuries sustained during the seizure.

- Confusion or unconsciousness that persists.

- If it is your child’s first seizure.

- If your child has a history of seizures, but there is a significant change in the typical pattern, type, symptoms, or length of the seizure.

The occurrence of autism and seizures together is relatively common. The Journal of Child Neurology published a study called “Prospective preliminary analysis of the development of autism and epilepsy in children with infantile spasms” (Askalan R, et al) which showed that by puberty, 25 percent of autistic children will develop seizures. It is not known why the incidence of seizures increases so dramatically with adolescence. The study also showed a connection between babies who experience West Syndrome, which causes infantile spasms, and children who will later receive an autism diagnosis.

Autistic children who are at the highest risk for seizures are those who also have specific neurological conditions, for example, neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis, and untreated phenylketonuria.

Many parents of autistic children who display unusual behaviors often struggle to recognize the difference between these behaviors and seizures, or whether their children are indeed having seizures at all. After all, some autistic behaviors can include sudden repetitive movements or swaying, as well as a decreased awareness of his or her surroundings. This can be exactly what a seizure looks like, depending on the person.

To tell the difference between these unusual behaviors and seizures, use the following information:

- Seizures occur suddenly without being provoked by a specific occurrence. On the other hand, unusual behaviors are usually brought about by frustration, fear, anger, or as a consequence of a certain event.

- Seizures will usually follow a type of pattern within one person, though the length and intensity may differ from time to time. However, autism behaviors will often vary in their movements and mannerisms.

- Seizures are often accompanied with a sensation of cold or fear and are frequently followed by weakness, headache, or exhaustion. After a seizure, it is unlikely that an autistic child will simply resume an activity right away.

- Similar to staring ‘off into space’ of an autistic child, absence attacks are a form of small seizure that cause a loss of consciousness for 10 seconds or less, and may involve some mild facial movements or eye blinking. Lip smacking or shuddering may also occur in more complex partial seizures. These people would not respond to any environmental stimuli. However, an autistic child displaying staring mannerisms will.

If your child has a history of autism and you believe that he or she may be having seizures, it is important to speak to your doctor or pediatrician right away to discuss the severity of the seizures as well as possible treatments and preventative measures.

With it featuring so heavily in the media (and rightly so) a fear that many parents hold is the possibility that their child or children may be diagnosed with autism. However, before jumping to conclusions should you observe some symptoms or traits of autism in your child, it is important to get a professional diagnosis and to look carefully into that diagnosis to make certain that there isn’t something else causing the autistic behaviors to occur. There are a number of other health problems and disorders that are commonly misinterpreted and misdiagnosed as autism.

Misdiagnosis of autism can occur among the various autism spectrum disorders, or it can be connected to a completely unrelated condition. Parents should make sure to share all observations and considerations with the child’s doctor so that possible alternate diagnoses the appropriate attention.

There are five conditions within the autism spectrum, and each of them can easily be mistaken for another. These are:

1. Rett’s Syndrome – this is a condition found only in girls which was discovered back in 1966. It is currently believed by scientists that this is not an inherited condition, but is the result of a random genetic mutation. Symptoms of Rett’s Syndrome do not become apparent in babies until 6 to 18 months of age. When Rett’s Syndrome starts to become apparent, the development of the baby begins to slow and their heads no longer grow in a normal way. Normal speech does not develop and repetitive hand movements, unusual walking patterns, and torso shaking begin. Children with Rett’s Syndrome also frequently experience seizures, breathing problems, rigid muscles, retarded growth, and other health issues.

2. Childhood Disintegrative Disorder – this disorder almost always occurs in boys, and is extremely rare. Until the age of about 42 months, the child appears to be normal, but a dramatic linguistic and social skill loss then occurs. The child may also start experiencing seizures and lose bladder and bowel control. Typically, these children experience low intellectual development. CDD is the easiest of the autism spectrum disorders for doctors to diagnose.

3. Autism – Autism itself is often referred to as Classic Autism, Kanner’s Autism, or Early Infantile Autism. Until its recognition in the 1940′s, children with autism had been diagnosed as emotionally disturbed or mentally retarded. Autistic children show many different kinds of symptoms that also occur in other physical and mental disorders, making it easy to misdiagnose. Among them are issues with sensory integration and information processing, leading to a series of different kinds of behaviors.

4. Asperger’s Syndrome – Asperger’s Syndrome children are frequently mistaken for children with high-functioning autism. The syndrome does not typically present itself until after three years of age, as these children tend not to show any issues with language acquisition and use. Instead, they commonly form extreme interests in narrow subjects, and are often known for frequent (though not universal) ability to recite full book texts or movie lines, as well as a seemingly endless line of trivial facts. Some autism-like traits may present themselves, such as the desire for a strict routine, a struggle with social interactions and communication, and an inclination toward repetitive behaviors. Some also struggle with vocal control.

5. Pervasive Development Disorder (Not Otherwise Specified) – PDD/NOS symptoms are difficult to classify. This portion of the autism spectrum is essentially used as a “catch-all” diagnosis for children who present symptoms of autism that cannot be contained by the other four autism spectrum disorders.

Beyond the autism spectrum disorder, other disorders and health problems that can often cause children to display autistic traits – though they don’t actually have autism – are:

- Deafness or hearing loss – children who have a difficulty hearing may have impaired social responses, causing them to behave in ways similar to some autistic behaviors.

- Schizophrenia – though some symptoms of this disorder are similar to those of autism, schizophrenia normally presents much later in life than autism.

- Language delay, language disorder, or speech delay – children with linguistic disorders and delays can experience social impairments as a result of their inability to express themselves.

- Developmental delay or mental retardation – behaviors of developmentally delayed or mentally retarded children frequently mimic those of autistic children, but for completely different reasons. Before the discovery of autism as a disorder many autistic children were regarded as mentally retarded.

As there are so many different symptoms of autism and the disorder never presents the same way from person to person, it is easy to misdiagnose disorders both inside and outside the spectrum as being autism. This is especially prevalent among the various autism spectrum disorders.