Dr. Faisal Abdul Karim Malim
Pediatrics
The following is an actual conversation between an iCliniq user and a doctor that has been reviewed and published as a Premium Q&A.
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Patient's Query
Hello doctor,
A 26-month-old girl stopped talking at 19 months and started showing less response and a medical assessment was done and termed the child as differently abled. Some home therapies were done and the child was then allowed to interact with more people and now she showed drastic improvement in terms of behavior and restarted uttering some words but still could not identify her face and body parts, toys and diaper, etc. Can she be a normal child like others? All these happened in a gap of two months. Her EEG is fine and MRI scan not done yet. The doctors team said she needs speech therapy and other motor skills therapy which is yet to be started next month.
Please help us find what is her actual problem and whether she will be a normal child.
Hello,
Welcome to icliniq.com.
1. Please get an MRI brain done with a repeat EEG to rule out any anomalies in the brain and its functioning.
2. From your history, this seems more like a psychological issue rather than anything else, very important clues being that the child was apparently alright and had no history of any convulsion or any brain-related events prior to this episode. Another very important clue is that the child improved drastically over a period of two months.
3. Please get an MRI brain and repeat EEG for the child and then consult a pediatric neurologist and then if required, consult a child psychologist.
4. It is too early to comment on the prognosis or actually what the child is suffering from since I have not seen the child or interacted with the child. The signs that you mention may be early signs of autism.
Patient's Query
Thank you doctor,
Now, she does not try to repeat what elders say and puts her fingers always in her mouth, I mean both hands twisted together in a peculiar way and sometimes lost somewhere. She utters something when she likes. The child was living in a secure and loving environment. The previous doctors' team said she has little retardation and need therapies of all types but did not give an actual diagnosis. Can she be a normal child again? She actually does not try to naturally to eat alone from her plate and pain sensitivity is less but she always responds to name and plays, but less company with other children. What are all these signs?
Hello,
Welcome back to icliniq.com.
A mentally retarded child will be mentally retarded from the very beginning and not suddenly show loss of gained milestones unless there was a brain-related event that has taken place. As per your history, the child used to talk previously and then stopped talking without any adverse brain-related event taking place.
Hence this proves that the child was mentally alright previously and then has lost milestones without any adverse event that took place in the brain. So, from this history, it is less likely that the child is mentally retarded.
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Pediatrics
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