Autism and excessive blinking

[HappyTomato]

DSS has severe autism and is nonverbal. About a month ago he started blinking constantly. Not little blinks but hard blinking. We thought that maybe it was a new stim and it would stop but it hasn't. He's 18 and has never had this issue before. He seems quite happy despite it. It doesn't disrupt his routine at all. Anyone dealt with this before? At what point would you be worried enough to see a doctor?

[sbgrace]

He blinks all the time and has for a month? Does it come and go?

Thoughts?

tourette's

eye issue (ie allergies or infection type irritation--hard blinks don't seem consistent w/ that)

something neurological going on in the brain

I'd see a doctor at this point.

[christinelin]

FWIW, my kiddo who has Aspergers has just started doing weird eye things, too. In his case, of course, he can talk about it and he doesn't really seem to know why he is doing it. His therapist suggested that is is a stim of some sort and that is what it looks like to me, too. I am guessing for my guy it is a combo of sensory stuff and anxiety.

Good luck in tracking down some answers!

[EarthRootsStarSoul]

My brother with Asperger's or autism did that.  He blinked really hard every few minutes.  He still does it at 30, but it is much less.  I think it's a tic. 

[Kristine233]

Andrew did that for a year and shied away from lights as well. We had him checked out by the eye Dr who said everything was normal. He wore a cap inside school for awhile and eventually just stopped. It was weird.  All we can figure is that he was just overly sensitive to lights for awhile.

[Virg21]

I highly recommend magnesium, pref with calcium, over a week. It's available in capsules, and for our autistic son, we add the contents of a capusle once a day to his milk, sprinkled onto his breakfast, yoghurt etc, when he's blinking.

It really does stop it within a few days - the blinking itself is often a nerve issue.

You'll find your child is much more relaxed on regular magnesium, though one of the side-effects is a relaxed bowel - sloppy motions. If it happens, top him up with liquid minerals and acidophilus.

[Eyelet]

My DS also has severe ASD and is nonverbal. He went through a hard blinking stage that lasted a good 6-8 months. We took him to see an opthamologist and had our neurologist look at it, but in our case it turned out to just be a stim. He has since moved on to his new favorite stim, spinning.

[twofourone]

Probably a stim, but Its worth bringing it up to your dr./eye dr just for reassurance.

Some of the characteristics of ASD/stimming/tics can be similar to absensce siezures so while it is probably a stim/tic its worth mentioning at the least to rule it out.