Treating/Overcoming Autism…

There are many, many opinions about Autism. Some believe Autism is not a disease, that people on the Spectrum don’t “have it”, and therefore Autism is not treatable. Others are offended when a child, or their own child, is referred to as “being” Autistic. There are also many who now believe that Autism is not only treatable, but that those on the Autism Spectrum can overcome it to one degree or another. There are those, too, who argue that Autism is caused by preventable actions such as vaccines, while others counter that children are born Autistic, as though the cause of Autism were genetic.

The reason there are so many differing opinions about Autism is clear: Autism remains a mystery to the medical community and to parents alike. So when our little girl Madison was born nearly 12 years ago, the world knew even less than it does today. Diagnoses were based upon the opinions of the individual doing the assessment. Because Maddy is clearly what many would call “high functioning”, we were warned that she probably would not even get a diagnosis. Considering the major Autism symptoms which affected our little girl’s life, our family and her ability to function in the world as we know it, on our initial trip to North Bay Regional we (I) drove to the initial assessment prepared to be disappointed.

On our first visit to Kaiser San Francisco’s Autism department I learned another startling bit of information. When talking with the first doctor, I mentioned that in my experience we have learned far more from other parents of children on the Spectrum than we had learned from doctors and the medical community. I was surprised as the doctor nodded her agreement and said politely “I understand. We really don’t know anything yet.” It was at that moment that I realized how valuable the other parents we had begun to network with really are.

Nearly 3 years after Maddy being diagnosed PDD NOS, we are very clear about several things now. One is that people can and do overcome some of their Autism symptoms. We aren’t certain what causes Autism, although we are certain that vaccines either cause or exacerbate Autism and/or Autism symptoms. The recklessness and overt denial offered by our government and the medical community who issue these vaccinations in response to legitimate questions from concerned parents about these vaccines and their contents, which include mercury, which is a potent nerve toxin, as well as aluminum, formaldehyde and monosodium glutamate. The lack of honesty displayed by the U.S. government has convinced us that putting these poisons in our childrens’ bodies is not good, and is indeed likely to cause Autism.

But despite the lack of any real results of research and the lack of any real facts about the cause of Autism or the effectiveness of various treatments of Autistic symptoms, our family has experienced undeniable, documentable and phenomenal – what can only be described as “miraculous”, really – success at overcoming most of the life-long Autism symptoms my daughter and our family have lived with for her entire life. Because there isn’t a lot of documentable research established in this arena, we can only look at what we’ve done, what we’ve tried and we’ve identified several probable actions which faciliated Maddy’s remarkable recovery from most of her symptoms. We have turned over every rock and tried everything we’ve learned from other parents in our effort to help Madison to be, at the least, less affected by her Autism and accompanying symptoms. We also suspect that because every child is different and because the Spectrum includes so many different symptoms that solutions to eliminate or even affect a person’s symptoms will likely vary greatly. Research and networking with other parents of children on the Spectrum are vital, we believe, to finding methods, supplements, and involvement in sports, music, art and/or classes which might help a child or an adult on the Spectrum to overcome some or all of symptoms which typically limit or make difficult communication with those of us who love them.

Add a comment October 18, 2010

SCC, Maddy and Me…

…and Maddy and my wife Dawn picked out “He Knows My Name”, a Tommy Walker song which mentions “I have a Father…”, perfectly fitting for the Father’s Day theme.

Continue Reading Add a comment June 21, 2010