OT: Child "seeing" spiders and birds

My younger son is going to be 3 at the end of December and he "sees" birds and spiders ALL THE TIME! He was even a spider for Halloween! Lol. He'll say "Mommy, look there's a spider on you leg!!!" He isn't afraid either. This afternoon he was eating an orange at the kitchen table and was saying "Shoo birdie, shoo" Lol. I have always thought it to be his imagination!!!

I was going to suggest the eye exam as well. Floaters are normal for adults, but not common with kids. If an adult suddenly sees unusual floaters or larger floaters that don't go away they're told to see an eye doctor right away to rule out retinal tears or detatchment..or even indication of underlying disease. My mom is incredlibly nearsighted...like microscope eyes and she recalls having floaters very very early in life. Her health is fine. I'm noticing them more and more now too, I've got the nearsighted thing too. I hated working in offices with white walls..made it worse on my eyes with the floaters. The tub if white might have made his floaters more noticable if that what he's seeing.

Lovebug, My son turns 3 on December 23rd! I am going to check into this eye possibility, but I wonder if it is just something some kids go through....?

I hate to go off subject but what the heck are floaters.

in the absence of other behavioral problems, I tend to believe it's just his imagination. I'd be freakin' out too so i did a little research....there would be loads of other issues if it was anything serious.

This might be out of left field, but do you tend to point out spiders and birds, or does he like them more than other animals? I'm asking because at age 3 his imagination is probably really active and he might be seeing things like shadows or dust bunnies and just calling them spiders and birds. Good luck,

Port - He's Dec 27! My Mom works for an optamologist....he's had his eyes checked plenty of times....he's got great vision. I've always coughed it up to his imagination. He makes a train with his brother...he's the train and brother is the caboose...he's just one of those kids that can be entertained with NOTHING!

A retinal detachment is pretty serious (and has no other issues that go along with it), and I have seen that in children... just had an asymptomatic 8 year old I had to send out for emergency retinal detachment repair in both eyes. This is one of many reasons why kids need to have full dilated eye exams starting at 9-12 months of age, then age 3, then age 5 (just prior to kindergarten), to rule out ocular health issues, refractive issues, and vision related learning issues.

I meant imagination vs. hallucinations. I was referring to her OP's second question after she addressed the eye posts about it being something kids "go through" yes I agree she should check his eyes!

"Floaters" are a symptom, not a diagnosis of anything... If you look at a bright blue sky, or a blank bright white wall, you may notice little shadows in your field of view. They can look like faint little shadows, squiggly lines, darker 'bats', 'birds', or 'spiders', or a lot of different things. If you move your eye, true 'floaters' will float around in your field of view a little, not move exactly with your eye. There are several things that can cause floaters. Retinal tears/detachments... these are BAD. If not treated ASAP, the retina will slowly, progressively continue to detach. When the retina detaches, it no longer gets the blood supply it requires, so begins to die. Because retina is nerve tissue, and at this point dead nerve can not be regenerated completely, it can lead to permanent vision loss. Initial symptoms of a retinal tear is the presentation of new floaters. The floaters are caused by bleeding in the eye and the red blood cells casting shadows on the retina. This is why new floaters need to be checked out ASAP. Vitreal Detachment: The vitreous is the jelly inside the eye. This jelly is tacked down to the retina in a couple of different places. Sometimes the vitreous detaches from the retina and pulls some of the retinal pigment with it. The shadow caused by this pigment causes a floater. Although vitreal detachments alone are benign, the increased wobbling of the vitreous in the eye can trigger a retinal detachment, which is why it's important to be dilated immediately upon seeing a new floater and in this case, again 6 months later to be certain the retina did not detach (which can happen a very high percent of the time, anywhere from 25-50% depending on the study you read). Vitreal syneresis: The jelly inside the eye, the vitreous, isn't always a perfectly smooth, homogenous jelly. It may get little pockets of water or debris in it. These pockets of irregularities cast shadows on the retina, and those also may be seen as floaters. These can be irritating, but are completely benign. They are most noticable in people that are very nearsighted. One final thing that can cause the appearance of spiders, birds, or other visual images is called Charles Bonnet Syndrome. In people with very severe central vision loss, like end stage macular degeneration, or in children diseases like Stargardt's disease, the brain does not always know how to interpret the garbage information coming from the macula (central vision). Instead of just coming up with nothing, it will 'fill in' with all kinds of things, I've had patients describe everthing from maps to flowers to an attractive woman. I see a lot of people sit on vision problems, I see kids go entirely too long without eye exams and end up being labelled as 'learning disabled' when they actually just need to get their vision corrected (kids who are farsighted can pass every test a pediatrican or school throws at them, but they still can't learn to read very well). I've seen everything from brain tumors to juvenile diabetes in children, that I picked up solely due to eye exams... yearly eye exams are part of preventative health care, and unfortunately are often taken for granted. I absolute hate telling a patient "If we had caught this years ago, you'd be fine, but now you are not legal to drive" or "your child is legally blind, and we could have completely prevented that if he was seen 10 years ago". It's heartbreaking for all concerned.

I wouldn't think that a 3 year old is hallucinating. Check the eyes and go from there. I have one child who we put on Adderall for suspected ADHD and she hallucinated with "spiders and bees" in her bedroom -- it was JUST AWFUL, but she was 9 at the time and not 3. Obviously, we took her off of the meds and she's actually doing very well on her own without them. We just keep her very busy with sports. Keep us posted. I'd like to hear how this turns out for you. Sincerely,Josie

Josie that must have been TERRIFYING! Iknow some kids do well on ADD meds but the ones that don't can have such terrible experiences. Glad she's doing well with the sports!

I have had floaters all my life - I remember long car trips when I was as young as 4, and I would always see them as I looked out the window into the sky. About that time I came up with an imaginary friend, and I told my parents that she would communicate with me by sending me messages in my eyes. I don't think they ever realized I was talking about the floaters. My understanding is that the hyaloid artery (runs from back to front of the eye during fetal development) usually disintegrates before birth. In some people it doesn't fully disintegrate and leaves floaters. The best way to describe what mine look like - imagine looking at a small squiggly hair or fiber through a microscope. I have had perfect vision all my life and although the floaters can be really annoying at times, I definitely got used to them, most of the time I don't notice them, and they haven't affected my vision at all. Cate

As a nurse, I tend to agree to get his vision checked first. As someone who experiences visual hallucinations daily...well, I see squiggly tarantula sized spiders mainly on walls or ceilings. But it didn't start until I was diagnosed in my late 20's. I think if it were something along the lines of psychosis, that he would have other symptoms too, like auditory hallucinations etc. Blessings, Michelle

I know this is a long shot.. but my daughter sees birds too.. did you ever find out what is was? I know it's been 10+ years but I'm curious