Delusions in a 2 year old

My best friend's foster child suffered frightening delusions last night.  She is 27 months old, very verbal but has a very sensitive disposition. She has separation anxiety and is very clingy and whiny.  Her foster family has had her since she was three months old after being removed from her birth mother who was very young and irresponsible and had very questionable prenatal care. I believe she claimed that she was clean and sober during her pregnancy but it's doubtful.

Last night she was sitting with her family at the dinner table, eating a chocolate chip cookie when a chip stuck to her finger. She flipped out and became INSTANTLY hysterical that there was a spider on her finger. No washing her hands or reassurance was good enough to calm her down. She was screaming and terrified for a long time. Even after she came out of the booster seat, she refused to walk on the floor because of the spiders. She literally crawled up her mother's body. She was walking on tip toes to avoid the spiders. She was inconsolable.

They finally got her to sleep, but in the middle of the night she once again became instantly hysterical, screaming in her bed that there were spiders on her, on the mattress, on the bars of her crib. It took nearly two hours to calm her down. Her mother wasn't able to convince her that there were no spiders, so she kept telling her "wipe them away with your blankie". That helped a little, but she was still completely hysterical.

In the morning, she mentioned spiders but seemed more able to deal with it. They took her to day care because it's a happy, safe place for her and she usually enjoys her time there.  Mid-morning, the daycare called to tell my friend that the little girl had pulled off her shirt and was screaming about spiders climbing all over her.

My friend had already called the social serivces agency that handles the little girl's case to document this strange and scary behaviour and had made an appointment to see the pediatrician for later in the day.  The day care was able to get her down for a nap.

The pediatrician said if it wasn't a head trauma of some kind (no injuries) then it could be a food allergy (even thoguh she ate no new foods) and it could take 72 hours to clear the system.  We had thought that could have been the case this morning. That perhaps she had an allergy to something that made her skin feel like it was crawling and in her young mind, she just couldn't figure it out...but that couldn't possibly explain the spiders that she saw on the floor, on her mattress, the crib, her pillow, etc.

Personally, I don't think it's an injury to her head, nor is it a food allergy. I don't believe it's a physical ailment or disorder, I believe it's neurological/emotional/behavioural. We don't know alot about her birth mother except that she had FASD and some drug problems. But the birth mother was in a foster home herself during her pregnancy and was supposed to be getting good guidance, prenatal care, proper nutrition, etc. The abby was not premature. She reached her physical milestones on the late side of normal. She's extremely verbal, not very trusting and very clingy.  We have suspected a separation anxiety disorder for some time.

What is the cause of this sudden terror to such a young child? Any advice or guidance would be extremely helpful. Thank you.

AJC06

[girlybuff]

Wow, I've never heard of such a thing.  I would say that it's probably in the child's best interest to be evaluated by a professional.  I don't really think it would be separation anxiety though because the child really hasn o conscience memory of her "mother" if she was taken away and placed in the care of her present parents at 3 months old.  It very well coul dbe an allergy.  I wouldn't wait on this though.
Best of luck to them.