True Recovery

[Guest guest]

I have not been active on the list for many years since our

son's recovery, but I did read the list today and noticed the thread

on true recovery. I just wanted to share our story to give hope to

others that true, complete recovery is possible.

Our son was diagnosed with " autism " () at 2 years of age and we

began medical treatment with Dr. Goldberg and ABA therapy through

CARD when he was 2.75 years old. Our son was

definitely " autistic " . He was nonverbal, had stim behaviors and

lacked significant social skills. After 3 ½ years of intensive ABA

therapy and medical treatment by Dr. Goldberg, he was recovered and

entered Kindergarten without any difficulty.

Now our son is 11 years old and in the 5th grade. He is truly

indistinguishable from his peers in every way. His teachers have

been unaware of his past history and always comment about what a joy

he is to have in class. He is a straight A student, competes on the

school spell bowl team, is a starter for the travel soccer team he

plays on, frequently receives awards in class (including for good

behavior) and most importantly, has normal friendships. In fact,

this year he has started getting phone calls and gifts from girls at

school. I'm not sure I'm ready for these upcoming teenage years but

he certainly is!

Our son has not taken any medications for for over 4 years

now. We do continue to watch his diet; he avoids dairy and whole

grains in order to keep from overly stressing his immune system. We

also continue to monitor his immune system through yearly blood

panels with Dr. Goldberg. Our son is unaware of his previous

diagnosis and only remembers that he had trouble talking when he was

young due to an immune system problem and that he needed speech

therapy.

I do not believe our son would be recovered today without both the

medical treatment by Dr. Goldberg and the intensive therapy. It was

a very long and difficult road to travel with major sacrifices to

make it happen. But it did happen for our son, and he is not the

only one. We have dear friends whose son was also diagnosed

with " autism " at the same age and time of our son. They also sought

treatment using Dr. Goldberg and the protocol and intensive ABA

therapy. Their son is also recovered.

I do not mean to imply that this approach is for everyone or that

full recovery is always possible. I just wanted to encourage those

parents who needed it. I know what a long difficult road it can be;

and I dare not think what might have happened if we hadn't pursued

and persevered with our son's treatment.