Any experience with/ knowledge of gliosis?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm hoping to hear if anyone has had experience with this co-occuring with ASD or related symptoms.

My 4 yr old son just had an MRI where they found white spots on his brain. The pediatrician called them gliosis and said they were usually found with adults who've had a stroke or head injury. He did have an injury when he was 21 months old. he never lost consciousness (sp) so we thought he'd be okay. The doc said she'd consult with a pediatric neurologist and get back to us; i suppose she didn't want us to worry.

It's all very confusing because we had him tested for ASD when he was a little over two, and they couldn't detect anything at the time. They said he had a developmental delay of about a year (now it seems more like 2 years) and a speech delay. Now as he's grown, his symptoms are more compatible with the results of a head injury. He's only 4; what's this going to mean as he gets older? I've read that some kids never potty train, and may even lose speech if the injury was on the frontal lobe as his was.

His dad and I want to think ahead about therapies that he will need. We should at least teach him sign language. We have auties in the family already but this seems like we'll need a different approach. Don't know what to think.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

You need to act fast if you want to maximise his potential for speech. After a certain point children lose the ability to develop language skills if they haven't by that time.

I can not remember what the appropriate professional is called (maybe speech therapist?) but you should get onto it as soon as possible. It may be the case that the injury will prevent speech entirely, but you need to find out.

Sign language wouldn't hurt even if he doesn't lose his speech, definitely bring up your concerns with the doctor and have her tell you what you should do while waiting to hear back from the specialist.

Thanks for your replies.

We're compiling a list of questions now. We already invested in some Signing Time videos, and I'm pricing ASL classes at one of the colleges for myself.

He's been receiving services frm a speech/language pathologist for a little over a year. We can understand much more of what he says now, about 75% of the time (as opposed to hardly ever before therapy started). Now that we understand him better, it's been more apparent that what he says is developmentally young for his age.

I think our biggest concern (besides potty training) is the behavior piece. As he gets taller and heavier, it will get harder to redirect his attention and/or remove him from a meltdown situation.

Compile a list of signs/ symptoms as well, record as many incidents as you can, etc. As it will be harder for your doctor to brush anything off. We had a really hard time getting our doctor to say anything more than "Oh, she'll catch up" with my sister, it took YEARS and demands and such to finally be referred to a specialist (I don't like our doctor, she's an idiot who dismisses anything she either didn't think of or doesn't know what the problem is.)

We were really scared about the behaviour part with my sister because she was very violent, and even as a toddler her strength was something to be matched- She was throwing diningroom chairs shortly after she learned to stand, she bit, kicked, scratched chunks out of your skin, etc. and had to be physically restrained as there was no redirecting for her when she suddenly turned like this. Other times redirection worked, but these times it didn't, we thought she'd have to go live in a home with people who are trained for this sort of thing eventually. Now she's 13 and doing MUCH better, it's very rare we have a violent outburst, and if we do it's much shorter and easier to defuse the situation. There is hope for your son no matter what, and even if you don't get the diagnosis you feel fits, keep pushing and help him as if you already had the diagnosis.

This sounds good, thanks! My husband and I have been talking today about what seems right for our son, regardless of what his teachers or doctor says. We've heard the same thing: he'll catch up. Yes, maybe but what if he doesn't?

He has frequent outbursts as well, hitting and kicking us and his siblings. Sometimes hitting himself. He takes huge risks, and almost always misjudges where his body is in space. Like jumping from sofa to chair to floor. We manage to catch him at it before he gets going usually, but it's hard. We only half-joked today about going minimal with all of our furniture and belongings just to minimize the damage he could do; much like you'd do for a baby who's just started walking and getting into things.

When we describe this behavior at home to his teacher et al, they say he sounds like a typical pre-schooler. Yes, but most kids would remember that they'd hurt themselves or had a time out for the same thing several days in a row. He just keeps going as if he has no memory of what happened the day before; genuinely puzzled that it turns out the same way each time.

After a horrendous IEP meeting a couple of weeks ago, we started keeping a more detailed journal of his behavior, sleep, and eating habits. There's not really a clear pattern and that's worrisome. It's like a switch goes off in his brain: happy to screaming in 60 seconds. Sometimes we can get him to tell us what's wrong; like a headache. I wish it were always that simple.

He had a birthday yesterday, and we talked all day about how old he was now. Today I said to him: "How old are you now?" He looked at me like i was from Mars. When I prompted him saying, "1,2,3..." and holding up my fingers, then he lit up and said "FOUR!" He honestly didn't remember what we'd talked about all day yesterday

We're looking into other pre-school programs that have more experienced staff. Looking into programs for the later grades would be a good idea too. Crossing fingers and toes.
Thanks