Dealing with Autism - EEG Adventures

I've shared here before that Willow's pediatrician and neurologist believe that she may have PDD-NOS, which is a high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder. She often zones out and it will take calling her name upwards of 10 times to get any sort of reaction out of her. The neurologist wanted to be sure that her lack of response wasn't miniature seizures so 2 weeks ago we went in for a 24 hour EEG to monitor her brain.

 

We got there at 8 am and the nurse got her set up with her monitors. They put little chunks of a conducting gel all over her head, attached a wire, and then placed medical tape over it to hold it in place. She was such a little trooper, she was so excited that the wires gave her "Rapunzel hair".

Then they wrapped her entire head in gauze, and put her wire pack into a little back pack for her. Then we spent the rest of the day in a room the size of a doctors office with only a bed, fold out futon, TV and the monitors. The poor kid spent most of her day being told to stay still, and taking naps because she was bored. 6:30 am could not come fast enough for her, she was so excited to go home to see her Daddy and sisters!

We got the results from the EEG back at the end of last week and everything came back normal. We're so happy it isn't seizures! We'll be doing a follow up next month to discuss other possibilities but at least we have something that we can rule out!