re nutrition and autism

[Guest guest]

Hi Jeanne,

I have been a member of the list-serve for about 1-month. I am a SLP and a

parent of an 18 1/2 month old boy who I believe has AOS. I have seen your

postings re nutrition and autism. I want to share my experience with

you...especially following your most recent post re the enzyme study.

My son has many conditions seen in children with ASD (GI including a history

of reflux, ezcema, MULTIPLE IgG allergies/intolerances, a history of

candida). He also has sensory issues, general motor planning, expressive

langauge delays, and likely AOS. He has many, many symptoms of the

disorder.

He spoke words on time but we would never hear them again. I would not

quantify it as " regression " as he still does this. However in July,

following a 10+ month history of having intestinal candida and trying to

work with a functional medicine specialist to get rid of it, he did have a

transient regression as he stopped responding to his name, no longer made

eye-contact, stopped interacting with his family, demontrated decreased

coping skills, and other. I ended up taking him to a nutritionist and

homeopathic specialist who placed him on a candida diet and began treatment

for yeast. Within several days, we noted incredible changes. Unfortunately

he became sick with hand, foot, mouth virus and we had to stop the

treatment. We ended up switching to the same type of specialist purely due

to the fact that she specialized in candida tx. Once again, we saw only

gains. She also placed him on digestive enzymes and once the candida

infection was cleared, a host of nutritional supplements including fish oil.

My understanding is that if there is yeast in the intestinal tract,

nutrients may not be properly absorbed so she cleared this first. She also

does muscle testing to determine what foods he can/can't eat (right now he

can eat about 12 foods only) and to determine which supplements are best for

him personally.

He has been followed by a pediatric neurologist, developmental pediatrician,

and neuropsych (all at different points in the past 8 months). He does not

meet the criteria for ASD. Of course we will continue to have him

monitored. He also sees a DAN practicioner as I became very concerned as he

had so many of those co-morbid conditions but no diagnosis. I think that

both the DAN specialist and GI doctor are amazed.

He began to speak his first words consistently when she began the

supplementation. Of course, his therapies also began around this time so we

will never actually know what was most beneficial.

I have read extensively re I am a traditional person and my training as a

SLP is to look at evidenced based practice and " The Research " . I do not

know what we have witnessed or if my child is on the spectrum. I have many

thoughts about the situation (did we alter things that were going awry?, is

he ASD but is he doing so well that noone can diagnose it because we have

provided treatments early? etc.) The bottom line is we do not know right

now but I am grateful he is doing as well as he is. I believe that the

nutritionist is the reason why. When I saw the video of the enzyme study in

TX, I was in awe. I cannot help but ponder these questions even more as my

son has been on this for quite some time now. I had this conversation with

the GI doctor that we sees. She is very open to the idea of alternative

treatments. In truth, I am in amazement that he has not received a

diagnosis given all of these conditions and I do not understand what is

taking place. I think she understood my anguish as a parent and my need to

know...her statement rings in my head " It will reveal itself in time " .

Well...I wanted to share my story with you and thank you for posting this

information. As a parent and SLP, I am so glad that I am aware of all of the

non-traditional interventions that are available. In spite of what the

traditional specialists might say...this year has taught me to be open to

what is going on internally in the body.

For now, we will continue to do what we have been doing and add whatever his

body is telling us, try to heal his digestive tract, hope he continues to

take the developmental trajectory he has thus far, and see what reveals

itself in time.

Sincerely,

Jill Livermore

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