Autism/AS *caused by* epilepsy?

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While Asperger's was not a term when I was a kid there were plenty of things at the time to indicate it. I got diagnosed as hyperactive. I took an IQ test and they decided I was gifted.

In HS I started having seizures and they put me on medications (which are essentially sedatives). I hate it -- I essentially have to choose between seizures and slowing my thought processes down so much I probably would score average on an IQ test now.

I just learned about Asperger's recently and want to get at least minimally screened for it, but it is a description of me that I can trace back through childhood.

This is probably quite accurate. I've been reading about William's Syndrome (the mirror opposites of us) and how it's been identified as different structuring of the brain, and as having a genetic basis. I believe the same will be found for Autism, but to a far smaller degree.

My son is AS and does NOT have epilipsy.

Even so, he wasn't identified as AS until he was 7. And he appeared to be "normal" until he was 4.

But looking back ... the signs were there. It's just that until a certain age a lot of AS behavior IS normal. Little kids don't have social skills, so you can't see the difference. And little kids are self-centered. And so on. When you have a really high functioning AS child, it is virtually impossible, IMHO, to see the AS until at least age 5. You may notice your child is "different," but it still appears to be well within the range of normal.

Also, there is the fact that developmental freezes and set backs are also common with AS. AS children develop in a unique pattern, and this can make it look like the onset was sudden, when it really wasn't.

You're correct - and I should also remember, I think, that although my mother (who spent far more time with me when I was a child) is NT, she is certainly somewhat eccentric herself. I was also her first and only child, and she wouldn't have been someone to get together with groups of other mothers on a regular basis and indulge in chats about how all their babies and toddlers are doing - to compare me to other children. It's possible that due to lack of input from others and her own personality, she assumed that - because I didn't seem distressed - behaviors of mine were perfectly normal that different parents might have questioned.

Additionally, something can be a partial cause of autism for some people, but not for others.


My thinking, which is similiar to what Callista wrote, is that epilespy doesn't put one on the spectrum, but can change where you are on the spectrum. As can environmental influences. I think physical illness or trauma or such can make one more visibly autistic.

I had a lot of absence seizures as a child but I am not sure if they caused my autism

I have epilepsy, play games constantly, and have never had a seizure from playing a game. Not everyone with epilepsy is photosensitive.

I have to wonder about OP's theory. I've had people who didn't believe me because I didn't present with autistic-like symptoms until around age 10 (around the time I'd, in retrospect, say that absence seizures started) and then after high school, I had my first grand mal, was diagnosed with epilepsy, and everything has been downhill since then. I didn't even develop sensory defensiveness until I was in my late teens/early 20s although I've always had this horror of being touched.