8 months of chelation and still non-verbal 4.5 yr old

[Guest guest]

We started chelating my then 3.8 yr old son in October of last year.

We started at 6.25 mg DMSA (now up to 12.5mg DMSA/8.33 ALA), Cutler

protocol. Within the first two

rounds, he started more babbling and then after a few more rounds, he

finally said " mama " purposefully (did it only one time though).

However, that was the extent of

his " breakthrough " in speech. He still has trouble making vowel

sounds and every second syllable is " uh " . He does attempt to repeat

words but mostly with words that start with b or m. I'm getting

really frustrated and depressed, as he is starting kindergarten this

fall (in the severely affected special ed class) and I don't know how

much longer it'll take before we get speech!

We've tried the high omega oils protocol for apraxia, DMG, mB12

shots, acyclovir, difuclan, and numerous supplements. While he has

improved in receptive understanding and also can now swallow pills

(YAY!), it's his expressive speech that I'm most concerned about. He

has no motivation to want to even communicate. He'll just sit on the

sofa all day if I let him.

Anyone here with a child who started speaking relatively late, ie.

after 4.5/5 yrs old? I know Dana's story well, as I've read her

website many times... I just need to hear some encouragement to keep

me going.

We just did our first IVIG infusion and has not seen any positive

changes. Some other families we know have been successful with IV

chelation and speech and as much as I understand how this group feels

about IV, it does seem to help a subset of children with speech.