My 18 month old has tremendous trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. She used to be obsessed with me rocking her in the rocking chair, but now seems obsessed with rubbing my arm skin. She does this for at least an hour to fall asleep initially and then will wake in the night and require only skin on our arm to soothe her back to sleep and this rubbing often goes on for very long periods of time in the night. She does not wave bye-bye. She was doing it infrequently several month ago, but stopped despite efforts to teach it to her. We've tried to teach her basic sign language like "no more" and she will not repeat it. She does clap when we say "yea" and blows kisses. She is fussier than the average toddler.
She is a social girl with us and seems very engaged. She has always been really good with her vocabulary and is usually above her age in this skill. She says at least 130 words now. She will feed her doll milk and brush her doll's teeth with her toothbrush and she holds the phone to her ear often.
She was diagnosed with sensory problems, but the therapy isn't helping her sleep. I'm wondering if it is possible that she has autism, asperger's, or something else. ??????????
To my knowledge, which is only what I have obtained through my own research into Asperger and autism spectrum disorders since my son's diagnosis, symptoms of autism do not appear until age 3 or so. You should definitely check with your pediatrician if you feel your child has a neurological disorder of any kind. Keep in mind there is no 'treatment' per se for the disorder, only the symptoms.
My nephew is autistic and at 10 years old if he gets overstimulated the only way to calm him is to rub him.. he will sit for HOURS on end just as long as you dont stop rubbing him.
Autistic children typically have a problem communicating verbally, socially, making eye contact, and usually have sensory problems. some cases are severe and some are slight.... But one big clue is the loss of skills and learned activities. Being able to speak and then losing that ability is a huge red flag.
Asperger's is a high functioning form of autism and many times will not be noticeable by anyone not familiar with the child. Can have a completely normal life.
SID stands alone as a diagnosis.
(Altho an autistic child can have SID, SID children are NOT autistic.)
A SID child does not "lose" skills. Their development is usually quite typical, and you will see above average + IQ. Which is good because they need their high IQ to work thru and understand their SID.
SID can interfere with a child's ability to learn.
Sensory issues are:
1. touch of clothing or foods,
2. auditory processing (not being able to filter out all the sounds in a classroom)
3. not processing words correctly that the teacher is saying,
4. visual problems unrelated to vision per se, etc.
These problems are worked thru in therapy and drugs tend not to help.
Some SID kids are misdiagnosed as autistic or ADD or hyper. then their therapy does not help. So you have to know what is really going on with the child.
True ADD or hyperactivity can be helped with meds.
SID is managed thru OT --and many children seem to "outgrow" or learn to manage their symptoms as they get older.
Some adults just avoid the sensory situation altogether and get along fine.
A typical sensory problem for most people is the sound of fingernails on a chalk board. We all hate it ---
This may be the way an SID child feels about some of his/her sensory issues. It can get in the way of everyday learning.
Dyslexia, dsygraphia, dyscalculia, are all things that can stand alone as a diagnosis as well but require therapy.
