Abuse is a possibility... Simple stress, too. If a person is pushed too hard, pushed to try to become more and more independent, maintain more and more skills simultaneously, do more and more on their own, look more and more normal--and they can't sustain those things--then eventually, they can just burn out. It seems to be sort of a self-preservation instinct; the brain drops all of those precariously held skills, goes back to the basics, just to survive. Sometimes with that intensive ABA stuff, that's what happens, when you push too hard. For me, it was less severe, but I did lose the ability to live on my own, and had to be hospitalized briefly. Since then, with several years of recovery, I am more independent than before--but only because I gave myself permission to do things the way I needed to do them, to stop pretending to be normal, to get the help I needed from other people.
It should help, whatever the cause, to remove sensory overload, make life simpler and more predictable for the kid--maybe take him out of school and teach him at home, in a more predictable environment with less switching around and less chaos.
At 13 years old, developmental demands increase sharply. You are supposed to be able to take care of all your own self-care, to talk about your own thoughts in an abstract way, to connect with your peer group. Physically, your body grows quickly, often leaving you sore and tired. Your energy demands increase. School is getting more serious, with much less play and much more abstract things--algebra instead of math, literature instead of reading, in-depth science and history. Rote memory can no longer get you the grades you need; you have to think more in-depth. Your peers are becoming ever more cliquish, but are still too immature to relate to those they don't understand very well, so that bullying peaks at this age.
The environmental stresses at age 13 are huge. If you are going to lose skills or hit a developmental plateau, it's most common around age three or four (the end of toddlerhood), then around six and seven (school age), then around adolescence, and finally at adulthood.
I don't know what would cause this. Meds are a possibility; so is all that new stress. So is epilepsy or some other organic brain issue. So is a psychological disorder, or abuse. Some kids just hold on to their skills so precariously that when they're stressed they have to drop some just to survive. Whatever the cause--and yeah, it has to be investigated--I can only say that the best approach for now would be to just give him a safe, predictable environment, and people he can trust, and to make sure that whatever he is saying, whenever he can say it, people are listening to him.
Another thing: Has he lost language, or just speech? If it's just speech, he might be able to reestablish communication by typing, sign language, PECS, or similar. Communication is high-priority, because it is the one thing nobody else can do for you. Insisting on speech when it's too difficult at the moment can shut off communication altogether--has he got a speech therapist that can establish some alternative methods for him?
27 Feb 2012, 10:25 pm
