ASD parents--is this the case with your kid too?

kcisthebombdotcom

So at the present time dd seems pretty mildly affected--she responds to her name, answers simple questions, plays appropriately, etc. When she is sick she appears way atypical. For example we wait in the gym to pick up ds from preschool and she was stimming nonstop, was nonresponsive and lining up stuff the entire time. Does this happen with your kiddo too?

typeset

We have the opposite. He gets damn near NT when he's sick or running a fever.

MirandaHobbes

No, it's opposite for us. I know auntie has discussed the phenomenon where kids with ASD become more typical with a heightened temperature, i.e. DS is better behaved and has less stimming behaviors when he is sick. He is calm, and he speaks more quietly and less rote. DS's stimming behaviors ramp up when he is either very bored or very excited.

A2TP

DS1 also has a mild ASD presentation and gets more atypical when sick. I assume it is tied to him sleeping poorly when sick? He always has a harder time when he is short on sleep.

A2TP

Interesting. We haven't had an illness that included fever since before we started to suspect ASD. Not that I want him to get a fever, obviously, but I am very curious now!

lite-bright

Yeah, we're in the opposite camp as well. I definitely notice DD1's verbals get smoother and more emotional when she's sick. 

bumpuser511563

That is all new to me.

I haven't really noticed much since DS is my only one. Maybe because I am at work not to notice such things.

kcisthebombdotcom

Figures my kid would do the opposite of what's expected. Lol

august06mom

That is DS2! When he is sick, his quirks come out in full force and he's a miserable mess.

august06mom

He's also incredibly rigid when he's sick. Impossibly so.

d.f

There's not much of a difference but he very rarely runs a fever. He usually gets an a upper respitory with no fever and breathing treatments or inhaler. The abuterol and steroids ramp him up. He did have a stomach bug with a fever last week and I think he was communicating a little better but it wasn't significant.

kcisthebombdotcom

august06mom said:

That is DS2! When he is sick, his quirks come out in full force and he's a miserable mess.

Ah, glad I'm not the only one! I got the first bad behavioral report home from school yesterday and she had meltdowns over everything. Fun times.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

kcisthebombdotcom

-auntie- said:

KC_13 said:

august06mom said:

That is DS2! When he is sick, his quirks come out in full force and he's a miserable mess.

Ah, glad I'm not the only one! I got the first bad behavioral report home from school yesterday and she had meltdowns over everything. Fun times.

I hope it was a one off. Everybody gets to have an off day.

But the other piece to consider if it continues is the notion of ASD and emotional delay. Usually kids on spectrum function emotionally at about half their chronological age; kids with more Aspergers presentations are about 1/3 behind their same age peers. This is an issue even when the child is unusually bright and subtle in presentation. 

I find adjusting for age, same as you'd do for a young preemie, helps me understand behavior in the context of the emotional stage he's in rather than where his peers are. As DS got older, and that 1/3 gap covered more years, I was sometimes lulled into thinking we skipped some obnoxious phase like "middle school mouth" only to have it pop up in high school. Grr. Looking at your  ticker, I would suspect perhaps you are seeing "the terrible twos" if this continues.

emotional immaturity is definitely one of our biggest battles here. However in regards to the terrible twos she hit it at a completely age appropriate time--right around 2 years 4 months so a little later than my ds but in the appropriate age range. With ds three was worse than two so it could be rearing its ugly head again. But she is definitely acting like she does when sick and the behavior tends to fade when she's well again.

kcisthebombdotcom

McRib said:

This is definitely the case with my kid KC. As he got closer and closer to NT we saw his behavior go in and out on a 3 week cycle. I'd watch for a pattern. So every 3 or so weeks we see the language tank (he just can't really put sentences together)., an increase in anxiety, he will often stop answering questions and even starts poining with his full hand instead of one finger. Basically his "autism" goes in and out so they are calling it PANS or 'infection induced autoimmune encephalopy" (spelled badly)

I still haven't figured out of this is the cycle of one of his bugs (he has several infections ranging from lyme to clostridia) or if it is an autoimmune response to another trigger (strep, mold, virus, etc). The pattern makes me think the former but the doctors are teling me it's the latter. Have you checked to see if ibuprofen makes things better? That is a good test.

It's weird--dd has never reacted well to pain meds. Both ibuprofen and Tylenol give her bad gas and tummy aches and she's fussier than before we give the meds. We tend to do lots of homemade Popsicles and warm baths when she's sick.

Junebug060609

typeset said:

We have the opposite. He gets damn near NT when he's sick or running a fever.

Us, too.

His stimming pics up if he is tired or bored.

lemen99

Andrew is much worse when he is tired or sick.  He is so affected!