Regressive Autism

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I have a video of my son in June 2009 at 31 months, standing up with some bread spread around him he is looking at the camera smiling and pretty animated and saying 'two mite' which means 'two pieces of marmite on toast'. He also points at the bread and says 'It's mite', and then proceeds to spread margarine over it with his finger substituting for a knife. It shows key skills that he has either lost or no longer uses:
-Speech
-Pointing
-Imitation

He also used to dance to the Wiggles and follow the actions and normal things like that. It seems unreal now.
By the time December 2009 rolled around that seemed to be going, his words become less and less frequent. By mid 2010 he no longer spoke, appeared to listen or even really be aware we existed; the usual.
It seems strange but apparently not uncommon. I think thats why the vaccine theory got traction, people want to have some idea of why changes like this happen.

Anyone else have a similar story?

I don't have a similar story, but I can offer many alternatives to the vaccine theory.

1. A genetic neurological metabolic disorder that has yet to be identified.
2. A a mild autoimmune encephalopathy.
3. Some type of seizure disorder that went undetected and resolved.
4. A viral infection that resolved.
5. Genetics....it's entirely possible that the genetics dictating the development of his brain was such that it began to deviate from a neurological structure/wiring that could support these skills, to something that could not.

While I don't believe it's responsible for most cases of autism, I do believe there are a small number of people who are predisposed towards vaccine injuries. I've heard of a small number of cases where I think a child has incurred a vaccine injury, but this was usually characterized by an acute reaction which developed the same day or the day after the child was vaccinated, resulted in hospitalization, with some altered state of consciousness, and the child simply never really came around from it. But I do believe this is rare, and none of the cases really followed the pattern of late onset autism, which is generally not so acute.

We have a not dissimilar one: my son's language skills did not regress, but his behavior did right around age 3. While I don't agree with the vaccine theory, I do agree that this is probably the reason people believe in it; it continues to amaze me how people confuse correlation with causation.

However, another interesting correlation occurs at that age, so I'll add one to Chronos's list: synaptic pruning. Babies actually lose neurons between birth and five years old, and this is one of the processes that is thought to support neuroplasticity. I hope someone is studying this.

nostromo,

http://www.minddisorders.com/Br-Del/Chi ... order.html

Basically, it is synaptic pruning gone awry.

Ooog. I hope that this article's somewhat dire predictions for the outcome are extremely overstated - or that this article is like the old "refrigerator mother" articles about autism, that there are basic misunderstandings about the mechanics at work.

I suppose if I were faced with this information, I would keep working with my kid and to get as much information from as many sources as possible - specialists, etc. as well as the internet.

My son recently wrote a fictional narrative that, once again, showed me how extreme his desire is to eliminate many of those pesky things we call emotions. He literally works his mind to control or eliminate this aspect of himself. As a toddler, he told me, he tried to learn to not feel pain (that didn't go as well as he would liked, so after limited progress he dropped it). Still, he has this idea that he can decide, by re-programming it in advance, what he will feel, how he will, and what he will say. He says he has had a lot of success with this all his life, although obviously he cannot program himself to have skills he doesn't have; it's all about turning things OFF. Hard to imagine an NT making those claims or having that need.

Which has left me wondering.

Put a toddler with a developing brain into a situation they are not happy about. What if they choose to rewire their reactions, and do this at a time some connections are being permanently reset? Can they affect a change in themselves that is permanent?

It's an interesting question, DW. One of the reasons we sought help for DS so early (sadly, we started looking when he was four...sadly because it took us 6 years to find appropriate help.) was because I do believe firmly that the plasticity of young brains can be an incredible asset.

Your description of your son is quite funny to me, because both my parents are the same. I spent my life struggling to feel emotions (Mr. Spock was our family ideal. I wound up being something like Data.)

This is also why I'm so concerned that neurological research is so often peppered with dire pronouncements. I've read about parents of autistic children as recently as twenty years ago being told their children would be in a near-vegetative state for life. I've heard the same about Down's parents and children. While I wouldn't say that there are never children who are critically disabled, there are always those kids who blossom and many exceed everyone's expectations.

http://www.frontiersin.org/neuroscience ... 7/abstract

I think this might explain regression in some small children.

My 8 1/2 year old son was diagnosed Autistic this week.

This is all new to me! I'm still learning, reading, researching, seeking.

While my son is low functioning - developmentally between 2-3 years, I have noticed in the past month a huge regression in his ability to calm himself, handle changes, and has a higher level of frustration.

I so hope to learn how to help him!!

Yikes ! I haven't noticed any changes in his motor skills, his fine motor skills seem pretty good, better than his much older sister (who has Dyspraxia) and he can run about and jump up and down like a maniac on the spot (although never been keen on jumping down).

I saw a documentary...its called Asperger Grampa (I think it was a BBC special it had a few different stories) I actually just mentioned it to someone on here because i thought it had a lot of positive stories of Autism and Asperger's. Anyway there was a woman with two sons. Her first was diagnosed with high functioning Autism at around four (I think) .and then her second son seemed neuro-typical, speaking, ect but then at four started loosing speech and drew into himself. He is now non verbal. That was the first story I had heard of a regression at such an older age. If you want to see the documentary the only place I know you can get it is on Vuze and you have to put this into the search word for word and character for character ADHD-Asperger-syndrome-Tourette's-Autism-Dyslexia
There are some really good documentaries in there. I have a older daughter (NT) with dyslexia and ADD, I want her to see that one Im hoping she will get around to downloading it.

Anyway, I certainly agree with you when you say that this type of regression is why a lot of people started questioning if it were the vaccines. Even Temple Grandin thinks that Autism and Regressive Autism may be two different types of disorders. My daughter never did any of the pointing or waving or responding to her name. Even as a very young baby she would only smile at objects or light and not at us. So I have no trouble saying she was born Autistic. I think maybe the kids with regressive Autism still have some signs of autism but then something happens at a certain time and they regress instead of progress.

My son was never normal I guess, in hindsite he always had some Autism, at 2yrs we took him to get his ears checked as he seemed to not hear and he wasn't talking, not even 'no'. But then he did start getting words, and it is amazing to see how 'functional' he had become by 2.5yrs in the video I was discussing. But his talking was still infrequent. Some words he pronounced perfectly and they were heard only once ever. He got to about 40 words.

Now he says a word about once a week out of the blue, although I'm never around to hear it. E.g. 'more' and 'cake' and 'go'. His main verbal communication is 'bahh' or 'dohhh' both of which seem to be the equivalent of no. Thats all definately better than nothing, and I think (being optimistic) to indicate potential.