Fw: Lyme / Autism Research Project

[Guest guest]

Hello,

My name is Mason Kuhn. I am a graduate student at the University of North Dakota

working on a Masters degree in Special Education w/ emphasis in Autism Spectrum

Disorders. For my thesis project I am working on a Lyme/Autism correlation

project. I decided to pursue this project when my son (who is on the spectrum)

tested positive for Lyme and displayed incredible progress when he started

antibiotic therapy.

What I am hoping to present in my study is documented, goal specific improvement

of children with Autism and Lyme disease after they start taking antibiotics.

There are many claims that kids " got better; " which I completely believe they

did after seeing the improvement in my son and the others in my study, but I

haven't seen any assessment tools used to show how they specifically " got

better. "

I am using an assessment tool called the SCERTS model and I plan to present that

the children improved in certain areas over the period they were on antibiotics

by creating an A - B chart. I also have some specific observations I am using

with my son like his reduction in the frequency he hand flaps (which has

completely stopped), the reduction in the duration he rocks in bed (we bought a

surveillance night vision camera to observe how long he rocked in bed at night

(It used to be for 45 min - 1 hour now it's about 30 seconds), and joint

attention (recording how often he seeks others to share his enjoyment of a

stimulus).

I would love to speak with other parents who have children who have a child with

an ASD diagnosis and tested positive for Lyme disease.

Thanks,

Mason