Published on 12, July, 2020
I wanted to ask if Autistic traits can come and go. I am so confused by more daughters’ behaviour and was hoping other people with children on the spectrum may be able to help.
Some background, my daughter is 2.5, and 6 months ago her childminders told us they were concerned about a change in her behaviour, she went from being the funny, sociable kid that all the other kids followed and ran to, to suddenly withdrawing, refusing to speak, look at or even acknowledge the other children, she also stopped playing. This along with a few things I had noticed at home sent us down the line of autism. At home I noticed my daughter was extremely sensitive to noises, i.e. terrified of vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, hand dryer, car engines etc. She also played quite obsessively with her dolls, I.e. going through the same routine with them over and over again. Also, she became hysterical when she noticed tiny scratches on her hands or if certain foods touched each other on her plate. We have an appt with a paed later this month.
However for the last two months the childminders commented and I noticed she was like her old self again; she was interacting with all the children. Playing well, socialising with anyone that spoke to her etc. Her reactions to the things like food, noises etc almost disappeared altogether, we started to think there had just been a blip and now she was ‘ok’ again. Then about two weeks ago she went downhill, so to speak. She has stopped interacting with the children again, she attends play groups, story time sessions and moves away from the huddled children and sits with her back to them. She also has suddenly almost completely stopped making eye contact unless I tell her to look at me, which she does fleetingly. She has also begun to ignore people talking to her, and almost looks ‘vacantly’ passed people. Is this just autism progressing / getting worse as she gets older? Is this what happens?
There have been no events to have caused the changes in behaviour, and I am struggling to understand what is happening. She is a very humorous, mostly happy, intelligent little girl with amazing language skills, both spoken and comprehension and I’m terrified that she is going to lose all of her skills with the way she is suddenly behaving. Has this happened to anyone else’s child? I’m certain its autism, I just didn’t think autistic traits came and went, from everything I’ve read, this doesn’t seem right to me.
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks for reading my super long post J
I say yes. If i could live a totally self directed life doing what i want to in the order I want to you would not notice anything odd about me. When control is taken away eg: work, relationships, busy streets etc I go very autistic. Then I stifle my reactions and end up unwell. Thats my experience.
I just noticed your post is almost 2 years old. Have you found more answers? How's your daughter doing? I'm so curious. I've never spoken to anyone whose child has gone through the same thing. Hope to hear from you!!!
the same thing happened to our 4-year old son--right before our very eyes he went from being a serious, but very happy and confident little boy, to suddenly having autistic behaviors: repeating words, being afraid to go potty alone, being shy, and actually having very violent (hitting and kicking) behavior, along with ticks moving his arms and making circles with his hands from the wrist. I thought he must have hit his head because it was so sudden. We took him to the hospital, my older sons neuro said to check for strep and ASO and Titers. Everything came back positive and elevated and, after ruling out other things, he was diagnosed with PANDAS. The PANDAS symptoms come and go. Sometimes he is our perfect little boy, but at the onset of any minor infection (cough, ear infection, sore throat, etc.) the symptoms come rushing back. we are also now going to rule out Lyme disease, which has similar symptoms, which fundamentally are both autoimmune disorders. If I were you I would do the research. Pandas parents join forces many times with autism parents to help find more answers. They are similar. Only autism is a condition where's pandas is a disorder. Hope this helps! Prayers for you and your family and may your baby girl be all better soon : )
MemyselfandI is right, often, autistic traits in those with high functioning autism become more pronounced when they become upset or stressed. Because your daughters so young, this might not be as noticable and may be manifesting in these small 'alternations' in behaviour. It may not even be a physical change to her environment or clothes, its could be one of the children insulted her or excluded her for doing something in a certain way, highlighting the fact shes different. While NT kids seem to bounce back from this sort of thing, autistic kids can cling onto this and analyse it, causing them to become pretty upset.
Better to get her checked out just in case.
Based on what you are saying, I would start to question ASD. However, I would not rule it out because it could be her traits come out more when she is uncomfortable. What makes ehr uncomfortable could be something that is inperceptible to NT people. For example, if she has an overdeveloped sence of smell, it could be that your childminder alternates the brand of detergant she uses and the smell of one is distressing your daughter, but the smell fo the other isn't It could be one lightbulb brand lets of a slightly different colour than another, and the change upsets her. I think before ruling it out, I would ask the child minder if there have been any changes in the tinyiest of things before and after she acts normal. For example did she use Ariel at first and then change to persil and back again. It may sound mad, but sometimes those little changes can have huge effects on behaviour.