Autism maybe?!


Question: my little sister will be eighteen in may and yet still throws tanrums, wets the bed and has speech difficulties. she is otherwise smart except math, which she is horrible at. she did not even get toilet trained in the day until she was eight. she was a normal child until she turned two and then she stopped talking, using the toilet and just shut down.

she eventually got almost to normal by ninth grade.. yet she still has the problems listed above and has problems relating to people and with personal hygiene (i.e. doesn't realize she stinks and such). She also will repeat a fact many times not realizing she has already told us that. is it possible she has a mild form of autism if she functions nomally when in public, just has these wierd quirks? she is normal at school, just can't socialize with others and stays to herself.


Answers: my little sister will be eighteen in may and yet still throws tanrums, wets the bed and has speech difficulties. she is otherwise smart except math, which she is horrible at. she did not even get toilet trained in the day until she was eight. she was a normal child until she turned two and then she stopped talking, using the toilet and just shut down.

she eventually got almost to normal by ninth grade.. yet she still has the problems listed above and has problems relating to people and with personal hygiene (i.e. doesn't realize she stinks and such). She also will repeat a fact many times not realizing she has already told us that. is it possible she has a mild form of autism if she functions nomally when in public, just has these wierd quirks? she is normal at school, just can't socialize with others and stays to herself.

As an adult that was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome unexpectedly 5 years ago at the age of 31, this definitely sounds like your sister is on the spectrum, and perhaps not Asperger's Syndrome, but a case that many parents and vaccine critics believe is associated with mercury, since a lot of kids on the spectrum appear to develop normally, but then around that time, suddenly regress, and then take a different developmental path than expected from there.

What none of the other posters seem to have hit upon is that there's likely a very logical (for an autistic person) reason for the tantrums as well as the bathing situation and the bed wetting, and it isn't about voluntary willful acts (largely) but is directly linked to sensory overload and sensory processing issues. Sensory issues can result in someone being undersensitive (sounds like perhaps she may be unusually insensitive to smell: I know I have almost no sense of smell, not sure why, since there may be more than one cause) and other things being overly sensitive. I'd wager that the bed wetting is a case where she can't feel what's going on, and/or is unable to precisely control it even if she can feel it: you can't control what you can't feel, and no amount of encouragement or punishment is ever going to change that. There may also be other medical reasons for bed wetting you haven't thought to check out, such as an abnormally narrow urethra, which can also lead to such things. If it isn't related to some abnormal physiology like mentioned above, if she goes into sensory overload (please look that up on sites listed below) even if she can normally feel things, once you're in sensory overload, you can't properly feel things or control things, as it is most closely compared to holding a microphone too close to the speaker and speaking into it, pushing it into a feedback loop: everything goes to a maximum level of input, and you can't distinguish anything from the input.

The repeating of the fact thing you describe is commonly referred to as echolalia, and this is a common thing, and is quite likely to happen under stress. I'm wagering that she also does what's referred to as stimming (please also look that up) and it's important not to try to keep her from doing that: it's a necessary part of how the autistic brain (at least of many of us) processes information, and repressing that reduces her effectiveness for being able to think, and it can also help to relieve sensory overload.

The socialization thing is also related to the sensory issues and how she's wired, and simply put, she's not wired to naturally process input and output of body language, and expecting her to do so is foolish, and working towards doing it requires a lot of conscious effort, and can get quite tiring.

She's probably quite practiced at "blending in" when in public, because she's been taught to act as normal as possible, but the more stress she's under, the less likely that's going to hold up. It's wisest that she doesn't try too hard to act "normal" because it isn't natural, and it's a lie, a form of acting, because she doesn't function that way like you do. Remember: once autistic, always autistic, and there's no such thing as a cure: someone formerly considered autistic isn't cured if they start seemingly to act "normal" they're just acting, and deep down, they'll always be autistic. They don't suddenly become autistic, either: autistic minds start that way, with an unusual development pattern, and I remember how I processed things and thought at the age of 1 on my first birthday as I dived into my birthday cake: nothing has changed much.

Might be Asperger's Syndrome which is a form of autism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergers

yea, it does sound like a form of autism. try taking her to a doctor who specializes in this kind of stuff.

It sure sounds like it.
I know a boy who just turned 18 this month. He was not diagnosed with autism until he was 15! He is also a slow learner, and has been in Special Ed since entering school. He is a senior now.

His doctor says he does not understand us, and we do not understand us.

He does talk....too much usually. He does not think he needs to bathe enough either. He thinks he knows everything, but what teen does not?

He really embarrassed his brothers at times.
He is usually very sweet, and at times very thoughtful.





The consumer health information on answer-health.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.
Copyright © 2007-2011 answer-health.com -   Terms of Use -   Contact us

Health Categories