Seizures and Autism

I have had an interest in seizures ever since I witnessed my first one. I don't know how old I was but I was amazed that something could take over a person's body in such a violent way and yet, they were okay afterwards. Later I worked with persons with mental retardation, many of whom had seizures. I learned to treat them matter of factly and yet to be alert to especially violent seizures or seizures that lasted too long. A seizure becomes an emergency, by the way, when the following conditions exist:

• A seizure that continues more than 5 minutes or a series of seizures without full recovery between them
• Persistent breathing difficulty (Often the person may appear to stop breathing briefly during the seizure, but breathing should resume quickly.)
• Injuries sustained during a seizure
• Persistent confusion or unconsciousness
• A first seizure
• A significant change from that person's usual seizure pattern in terms of seizure type, seizure length, or associated symptoms
  

(See this eMedicine Health link for more info)

There is a long-standing link between seizures and autism. Early studies indicate that by the time a child with autism reaches puberty up to 25% of them will develop seizures. Whether this figure still holds up with the recent increase in the number of children with autism is unknown, at least by me. There are also studies that show a link between children who experienced infantile spasms (West Syndrome) and a subsequent diagnosis of autism. Children with Tuberous Sclerosis sometimes have both symptoms of autism and a history of infantile spasms. Children with Landau-Kleffner Syndrome also may have symptoms of autism and on-going seizures and abnormal EEGs. Children with a defect in the ARX gene have also been found to have symptoms of autism and a history of infantile spasms.

For more information on autism and seizures see our links below:

Seizure and Autism Links:

Febrile Seizures and the Amygdala in Autism-Spectrum Disorders by Teresa Binstock