Re: AIT question about who can benefit from AIT

[Guest guest]

Hi Aliza. Those who are affected by continued heavy metals issues

and other toxicities, wouldn't be great candidates for AIT. Thanks

so much, , for your great list and your comments!!)

Lately I worked with a child on a heart med and her doctor insisted

that the dosage wouldn't cause problems - so we proceeded with the

AIT.

A child who's had clogged ears who's in early childhood may still

have some diet and other steps to take before he's completely ready

for AIT - but on the other hand, the parent might decide to give the

child a chance for more hearing and efficient auditory processing

NOW anyway just because he's in a sensitive period for learning and

developing. And doing AIT later on would likely be a good idea too.

While there are no fast and set rules, it's great when the brain can

be well-positioned to make the most of AIT. That would mean having

dealt with food sensitivities, yeast, leaky gut, metals, etc, having

made a good amount of progress in that direction first, with

adequate supplements for support. But again, child development

matters a lot - parents must judge and decide.

I've worked with several children who have either lost their ASD DX

before AIT or have come close to it. Towards the last bit of

chelation and diet intervention, several have come for AIT when

their health practitioners recommended it.

But for years there were no such interventions and children were

still making good gains after AIT.

As far as AIT for children who are low functioning, high

functioning, verbal, or non-verbal, I have not come to any opinion

about this. It varies so, individual per individual. If a child is

very predictable on the playground, using only a couple pieces of

equipment a certain way, if at all, changes with AIT are often

noticable right away as the child starts playing in a more typical

manner. There are profound changes that happen for children with

different levels of functioning, but some changes may not stand out

so readily for those who are high functioning.

For example, a child with no imaginative play ofen starts

interacting and playing in a more typical way early on. A 3 year-old

with affected strongly by autism is saying new words this week

during AIT and is chatting up a storm, right now, making short

sentences for the first time, and this stands out.

When children are very high functioning it tends to take more time

to be sure what the changes are, but there are gains nevertheless.

On the other hand, a 17 y.o. with Aspergers proved to be able to

organize herself so much better. It took organizing a " finishing AIT

group picnic " and later packing for a trip out of town for parents

to be sure of clear change - and this happened pretty quickly.

I regret that I can't answer definitively, but hope this helps.

info@...

> >

> > Hi all,

> >

> >

> >

> > Thought I would weigh in on the AIT conversation. We have done

> the Berard

> > Training twice with Carole Swick and both times have had very

> negative

> > results (I'm still wondering how we convinced ourselves to try

it

> a second

> > time, but it is very hard to watch a kid day-in and day-out who

is

> so

> > obviously bothered by any sounds – a symptom of his autism that

> really

> > didn't manifest until about age 7 – 7 ½). Anyway, both times he

> regressed

> > significantly with socialization and behavior – not just

> temporarily (6

> > months) as was warned, but long-term. He is now one of those

kids

> that

> > prefers to have headphones on. We held off on allowing him to

> block sounds

> > or wear any type of headphones for about a year and half after

> each set of

> > sessions, but we were seeing no improvement from the AIT and

gave

> in to the

> > open-weave Sennheisers for music listening and, more recently,

> just outright

> > sound-blocking headphones when we are in particularly noisy

> venues. It's

> > that or he becomes so anxious that we're apt to see a meltdown.

> >

> >

> >

> > Dr. Green has referred me to a couple of studies that

showed

> that AIT

> > could have negative effects similar to those our son has

> experienced. I

> > don't have them in my computer now or I would pass them along.

> >

> >

> >

> > In retrospect, I think we could have put the $2,000+ to better

use

> on any of

> > a number therapies or aids for him.

> >

> >

> >

> > LHS

> >

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Thank you for your candor. I think many of our children have heavy metal

issues, as you put it. We didn't really believe our daughter did until we did a

chelation challenge. If AIT is a contraindication, we should all be cautious.

jenscov wrote: Hi Aliza. Those who are affected by

continued heavy metals issues

and other toxicities, wouldn't be great candidates for AIT. Thanks

so much, , for your great list and your comments!!)

Lately I worked with a child on a heart med and her doctor insisted

that the dosage wouldn't cause problems - so we proceeded with the

AIT.

A child who's had clogged ears who's in early childhood may still

have some diet and other steps to take before he's completely ready

for AIT - but on the other hand, the parent might decide to give the

child a chance for more hearing and efficient auditory processing

NOW anyway just because he's in a sensitive period for learning and

developing. And doing AIT later on would likely be a good idea too.

While there are no fast and set rules, it's great when the brain can

be well-positioned to make the most of AIT. That would mean having

dealt with food sensitivities, yeast, leaky gut, metals, etc, having

made a good amount of progress in that direction first, with

adequate supplements for support. But again, child development

matters a lot - parents must judge and decide.

I've worked with several children who have either lost their ASD DX

before AIT or have come close to it. Towards the last bit of

chelation and diet intervention, several have come for AIT when

their health practitioners recommended it.

But for years there were no such interventions and children were

still making good gains after AIT.

As far as AIT for children who are low functioning, high

functioning, verbal, or non-verbal, I have not come to any opinion

about this. It varies so, individual per individual. If a child is

very predictable on the playground, using only a couple pieces of

equipment a certain way, if at all, changes with AIT are often

noticable right away as the child starts playing in a more typical

manner. There are profound changes that happen for children with

different levels of functioning, but some changes may not stand out

so readily for those who are high functioning.

For example, a child with no imaginative play ofen starts

interacting and playing in a more typical way early on. A 3 year-old

with affected strongly by autism is saying new words this week

during AIT and is chatting up a storm, right now, making short

sentences for the first time, and this stands out.

When children are very high functioning it tends to take more time

to be sure what the changes are, but there are gains nevertheless.

On the other hand, a 17 y.o. with Aspergers proved to be able to

organize herself so much better. It took organizing a " finishing AIT

group picnic " and later packing for a trip out of town for parents

to be sure of clear change - and this happened pretty quickly.

I regret that I can't answer definitively, but hope this helps.

info@...

> >

> > Hi all,

> >

> >

> >

> > Thought I would weigh in on the AIT conversation. We have done

> the Berard

> > Training twice with Carole Swick and both times have had very

> negative

> > results (I'm still wondering how we convinced ourselves to try

it

> a second

> > time, but it is very hard to watch a kid day-in and day-out who

is

> so

> > obviously bothered by any sounds – a symptom of his autism that

> really

> > didn't manifest until about age 7 – 7 ½). Anyway, both times he

> regressed

> > significantly with socialization and behavior – not just

> temporarily (6

> > months) as was warned, but long-term. He is now one of those

kids

> that

> > prefers to have headphones on. We held off on allowing him to

> block sounds

> > or wear any type of headphones for about a year and half after

> each set of

> > sessions, but we were seeing no improvement from the AIT and

gave

> in to the

> > open-weave Sennheisers for music listening and, more recently,

> just outright

> > sound-blocking headphones when we are in particularly noisy

> venues. It's

> > that or he becomes so anxious that we're apt to see a meltdown.

> >

> >

> >

> > Dr. Green has referred me to a couple of studies that

showed

> that AIT

> > could have negative effects similar to those our son has

> experienced. I

> > don't have them in my computer now or I would pass them along.

> >

> >

> >

> > In retrospect, I think we could have put the $2,000+ to better

use

> on any of

> > a number therapies or aids for him.

> >

> >

> >

> > LHS

> >

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

>>>>>>>Those who are affected by continued heavy metals issues

and other toxicities, wouldn't be great candidates for AIT.

If the theory is heavy metals contributes to our children's autism,

shouldn't this mean that they should NOT be subjected to AIT? In other

words, this should NOT be a viable treatment for children with Autism based

on the premise above.

[Guest guest]

It must have been the issue with my child as he is still excreteing

metal.

[Guest guest]

---

, thanks for clarifying that. I do wonder what went wrong - was it

with the auditory not sufficiently re-training - or beyond the

auditory, etc. I've never seen anything like what either or

describe. If volume used starts out too loud (for the individual) and

stays that way, I suppose the ears and the brain could resist it

altogether. Just theorizing. Maybe I haven't seen this, and other

practitioners I've worked with closely haven't seen this, because of

the WAY we work, I don't know. I've worked around early childhood

educators, special ed teachers, and speech therapists who handle things

and think about things the way I do.

As far as the issue of contra-indications and heavy metals, metabolic

issues, etc:

A child is going to be able to make the most use of ANY therapy or

intervention better AFTER metals, yeast, methylation, etc., etc.,

issues are lessened.

This doesn't mean that we would put off OT, Speech Therapy, ABA or RDI.

In addition, AIT does open doors for many children regardless of their

bio-med issues. AIT can make these other therapies more effective.

As far as AIT before during the detox or diet process goes, there's no

black or white to it. It's a matter of degree. One would need to be

prepared for a partial? loss of AIT benefits that COULD happen if

massive quanities of metals were to pour into the bloodstream during

the first part of chelation. This happening would be both neuro-toxic

and oto-toxic and it would disrupt a lot of things for a child, not

just AIT. I've not seen that happen, but I've heard from others that it

can happen. I've heard of parents feeling anxious at seeing what looks

like a loss of benefits only to see them come back. I don't get

this...I'll be the first to admit.

Having a fear of this happening would not be reason not to do AIT.

I know of one boy who had no diet or bio-medical treatment who didn't

get far with ABA until he did AIT. Then the therapist couldn't write

enough programs for him.

He also went from eating 5 foods to about 25, no longer having gag

reflexes and strong aversions to most foods. This occured in a matter

of weeks after AIT. He gained much-needed weight.

He started saying " I love you Mommy " , " I love you Daddy " , 8 weeks after

AIT when previously it was just scripted speech, and commands

painstakingly learned in ABA over months. He learned to ride a bike

that had sat in his garage for months - asked to ride and learned in a

day shortly after finishing AIT. when he'd previously not been

interested. He's done bio-medical things since and hasn't lost auditory

benefits.

Another wouldn't pick up and use a pencil without coaxing, but within a

month of AIT he had a desk full of every kind of art medium appropriate

for a 5 y.o. He was a prolific creator of pieces after that.

He started singing, telling his mom that a boom box must be playing

more slowly than the one at his school last year because he could

understand the words. (child verbal - CP)

Mom knew that the song wasn't slower - but he was likely hearing with

less distortion. Before he only sang one song out of six in preschool.

It was too much work before. Then he went to singing anything he heard.

I have worked with a number of children, including children of

physicians who are DAN! oriented, with diet and detox work that had

already made for a significant amount of improvement in the child's lab

tests, behavior and functioning. With AIT, progress went forwards, not

backwards, across the board, while chelation continued.

Of the parents with some involvment with bio-medical treatments, more

have been well underway than finished with it altogether. Such takes a

lot of time, and if a child can get more language, calmess,

comprehension, etc., (which usually happens with 10 days of AIT), the

parents would not consider missing important developmental windows over

a couple years' time to be completely finished with bio-medical

treatments, etc.

When we can test a child before and after AIT (usually with a mental

age of about 6 and the ability to communicate is needed - that's true

for me when I do audio-tests, anyway), we can see peaks of hearing

become 100 times less sensitive than they have been. The audio-test

graph narrows, making the variation in hearing much narrower. It

doesn't matter who does the testing. It's common to see that many

frequencies are percieved more evenly, making processing and decoding

much easier. I wouldn't deny a child of this opportunity unless the

situation was severe and in the beginning stages of chelation, etc.

One in five of us has these auditory issues, but we manage them, and

don't even know that how we hear is inefficient. People on the spectrum

are particularly challenged by imbalances that others can compensate

for in other ways.

Ocean waves can sound terrifying to some children on the spectrum.

Voices around them can be very displeasing, and something to avoid.

Commercial toilets and being in a windy place can drive a child to

distraction or melt down. Changes with all of this can bring about so

many helpful gains for a child. Parent's judgement, intuition, and the

(trusted) health care provider's opinion can best determine at what

point the child needs support for the auditory. (I say this relative to

the subject of detoxing and diet changes.)

I don't know of anything that supports auditory function like AIT does.

A lot of interventions address the auditory, such as Interactive

Metronome. But a child can't easily do this method if he has lots of

distortions going on. With that, one hears beeping in both ears,

beeping of different tones, volumes, and so on. One must have a mental

age of 6 or more.

IM is great - but many children need their auditory abilities to be

made more efficient before they can even begin to manage a session of

IM. Not to get off the subject - just to explain that AIT is a

foundational intervention - not something to put off till last.

In Texas-Autism-Advocacy , " ginam " wrote:

>

> >>>>>>>Those who are affected by continued heavy metals issues

> and other toxicities, wouldn't be great candidates for AIT.

>

> If the theory is heavy metals contributes to our children's autism,

> shouldn't this mean that they should NOT be subjected to AIT? In

other

> words, this should NOT be a viable treatment for children with Autism

based

> on the premise above.

>

>

>