in MD

[Guest guest]

It is good to hear everyone's feedback with therapies. We have just started RDI

also with my son, and think it would be a good fit. It seems in our case to

really target areas that will cause him future functionality problems in life,

such as subltle communication cues we all can decifer, but many of our kids

cannot. My son is very inflexible and this program works on it in a natural

way, that is non-threatening to him, but also does not let him stay inflexible

either. It is like teaching a child a new language they do not know.

I agree that unless there is direct conflict with biomedical treatments, if

someone does not agree with it, who cares, if the therapy helps anyways. It is

good to let these practitioners of ABA, RDI, ect. see our kids improve with

physical healing of the body. Some need to see this to believe it. The tide

needs to turn in how people view many cases of autism, this is my way of helping

others realize this.

Angie

between 0000-00-00 and 9999-99-99

[Guest guest]

I do personally know one child who recovered from ABA alone. A LOT of ABA,

started before she turned 2. She is 5.5 now.

Kristy

Re: re: in MD

When we saw Dr. G for the first time, he asked us how much ABA helped our

son. To be honest, it helped some, but did little to address core deficits

in communications and socialization. I believe he's support of interventions

such as ABA, speech and OT to " catch up " a healed, whole child--a child

who's not in pain all the time and whose immune system is functioning

properly (or at least better). I don't know of anyone whose child recovered

through ABA.

Anyway, just my two cents.

Robyn

Cheryl Lowrance <c.lowrance@...> wrote:

No, Dr. G is not a fan of ABA. But also remember that Dr. G was in

UCLA when Lovaas (Lovass, in my opine but that's neither here nor

there) was using electroshock punishment, straight jackets,

isolation, etc. all in the name of ABA study. So Dr. G isn't a fan

and really, who can blame him? *But* ABA has changed a lot since the

70's and like any other, it's only as good as it's therapists. He

doesn't mind if you are using ABA so long as it's done in a very

natural manner. He does not like DTT, he doesn't like being spoonfed

scripts, etc. Pretty much all the things I don't like about ABA, he

doesn't like so we get along great on that aspect! He's okay

with it but it's a fine line between being okay with it and not. It

really needs to be a very " loose " ABA program and if you have good

therapists, you should be able to accomplish the goals of ABA in a

manner that's acceptable. If I was using an ABA company that did not

take my child's needs into consideration, I wouldn't stay with them.

They have to be able to work *with* you and it takes a while to learn

the difference between a good ABA therapist and a bad one. My first

few were bad and I really had no clue as it was my first experience

with ABA. When I got some good ones, I could immediately tell the

difference. Now I don't have any problem knowing when someone is

going to be good and when someone isn't.

cheryl

On Apr 14, 2008, at 8:51 AM, Robins wrote:

> Question on RDI. I met with an RDI consultant when I was visiting

> another city. She seemed to know her stuff and she wanted us to

> talk with Dr. G. before making a decision as to using her therapy.

> (My son had late onset of symptoms, which is something she hasn't

> seen). My son has a difficult time following instructions right now

> or following through. From what I gathered, RDI might be more

> helpful if he were farther along in his recovery. Right? We need to

> do something, however. He needs to have more boundaries and

> learning opportunities. I need a formal program to help me through

> this. I can certainly modify something.

>

> We have done Floortime since onset of his symptoms, and I think it

> helped me into his world. But I also think the program (at this

> point) has reinforced some stimming that he wouldn't have had as

> much. But I think this may be because of the limitations of our

> therapist. Also, the Floortime therapist dumped us last week. She

> and I did not see eye to eye on diet and medication.

>

> Dr. G. is very much against ABA and I understand his concerns, but

> I'm wondering if such a program if done well could help my son

> improve his attention span. I know that ABA could be disasterous if

> not done correctly, but I've heard of great successes too. I'd love

> any feedback you could give. I have a non-verbal child who does not

> play with toys. He spends a great deal of time climbing and

> spinning sticks.

>

> Re: re: in MD

>

> I don't think it's fair to throw the baby out with the bath water.

> *Any* behavioral therapy you enter is only as good as the therapist

> you have, not the person that created it. If we all judged

> everything on that, we wouldn't be doing *a lot* of things that we

> do, including see Dr. G. I'm sure we all have areas where we

> disagree with him to some extent. If I based ABA/Floortime/RDI/

> TEEACH/etc. on their creators, I wouldn't have anything to do with

> any of them and mostly because they don't believe in biomed (I have

> numerous other reasons I could use but that's the biggie). But then

> that would only be a disservice to my son. Do what works, it's more

> important for children to get the help than it is to refuse a program

> that may be of great benefit because you don't like the creators

> attitude.

>

> If I based my decision on what other people thought of Dr. Goldberg,

> I never would have been here as I had way more people volunteering

> how unhappy they were with him than people telling me how much they

> love him. Dr. G and I don't see eye to eye on many things but he has

> done the most for my child and I won't leave him just because I don't

> agree with his view on vaccines. Results are what matter. Any

> program is only as good as the therapist. I've had bad therapists,

> I've had great therapists. It has to fit the child and the

> therapists have to understand how best to work with the child.

>

> Cheryl

>

> On Apr 13, 2008, at 6:29 PM, Doris and Steve wrote:

>

> > personally, I would stop doing RDI. I attended a 3 day talk/

> > workshop by

> > Dr Gutstein

> > and found him to be rude, intolerable of new ideas and boring. His

> > ideas

> > are good but

> > there are many other Drs doing similar techniques who are more

> > knowledgeable.

> >

> > What is significant progress? how has this been measured? before

> > and after?

> > Doesn't Compart do chelation and color therapy?

> >

> > To be more informed on what is, I would buy the Mississippi DVD

> > from the office. I would also look at the articles posted on the 2

> > websites:

> > www.nids.net

> > www.neuroimmunedr.com

> > I would locate the article on SPECT scans done by Dr Mena and Dr

> > Goldberg.

> > I would read Zimmerman/Pardu (JHU)'s article on brain inflammation.

> >

> > d

> >

> > Doris,

> >

> > Thank you for your information. I'm currently with Dr.

> > Compart in Columbia and Dr. Gutstein for RDI. We have

> > seen significant progress. I think I need to learn

> > more about . What is the best way to do that?

> >

> > Best,

> > Dawn

> > --- Doris and Steve <sjsmith@...

> > <mailto:sjsmith%40cablespeed.com>>

> > wrote:

> >

> > >

> > > <sigh> , Sharryl, Aimee, Edwin and I could

> > > only hope!

> > >

> > > All of us are working with a variety of physicians

> > > who remain 'open' to

> > > the idea.

> > > Dr Compart in Columbia told a mother once that she

> > > would recommend patients

> > > to Dr Goldberg but she herself didn't know that much

> > > about the immune

> > > system to

> > > treat children. We use a pediatrician in Severna

> > > Park who monitors

> > > and helps us with prescriptions and blood sucks.

> > > I continue to exchange thoughts and ideas with Dr

> > > Zimmerman as his crew

> > > is doing a great job in the research arena.

> > > We're all slowly passing around the Mississippi

> > > dvd to physicians to

> > > show them what Dr Goldberg is doing.

> > > I *understand* that Dr G has talked with Dr

> > > Zimmerman and Dr Layton

> > > (allergist

> > > in Towson) and I don't think either exchange was

> > > positive for him :-)

> > > There is a CFIDS center in polis that looks

> > > 'interesting'

> > .. It's headed

> > > by Dr Teitelbaum (From Fatique to Fantastic)

> > > I called them once to see about doing some bloodwork

> > > on me. The initial

> > > consult / cost = $8000. They will work with you on

> > > getting insurance to

> > > reimburse

> > > most of the costs. According to CFIDS sources, he's

> > > well respected and

> > > the bloodwork

> > > he does is very similar to Dr G's.

> > >

> > > Some of the parents in this area travel to NNY to

> > > see Kathy and her crew.

> > > I understand it's about a 7-8 hr drive.

> > >

> > > doris

> > > sville, MD

> >

> >