Discussing Autism

Kirkman labs recommends B6 with Magnesium Chewable Wafers for children with autism.

In our house we biomedically treat our son with a variety of vitamins including magnesium, calcium, Vitamin C, selenium, Vitamin B5, and even Vitamin D. We have yet to attempt Vitamin B6 shots even though we have heard of the benefits.

A study back in 1968 found dramatic improvements in children with autism if they took high doses of B6. Three of the children actually spoke for the very first time. The children made more eye contact, showed greater interest in social interaction, and had fewer behavioral outbursts.

Many researchers believe that children with autism suffer a deficiency of magnesium and B6 and that supplementing can benefit both behavior and health. In fact, thousands of children with autism have been given Vitamin B6 without any significant side-effects. Magnesium should always be given with B6 so that side effects like tingling in the hands and feet from peripheral neuropathy does not occur (a side effect that DID occur when magnesium was not given with B6).

This weekend I received a bi-monthly update from my b5media managers that included information on how to effectively search out your blog status, name, and how people link back to your blog. You would think that after over a year of blogging that I would know how to do this but unfortunately, I didn’t.

Thank goodness it was easy (simply typing in a few keywords like my name or blog title into search sites like googleblogsearch.com, ask.com, and icerocket.com). What I found on one of my searches was a writer/father who was pretty disgruntled about my post about AJ’s institutional autism that I had posted at Chicago Moms Blog and the Chicago Tribune. (more…)

We had a meeting yesterday to discuss AJ’s current BIP, or Behavior Intervention Plan. After a rough start to the year (and I am sure some of you remember my rantings and ravings about his Occupational Therapy) AJ is finally starting to make some really GOOD progress.

In the last few weeks we have seen tremendous gains not only at home, but also at school. We started him on Risperdal about two weeks ago after seeing a Psychiatrist because he was having rages that he was not remembering (and in public, nonetheless). We were a little nervous about putting him on a drug with so many side effects (drooling, tics and twitches (which can be irreversible), sleepiness, increased OCD tendencies, increased urination, and rapid weight gain because of increased appetite) because he also takes Clonidine for sleep but he seems to be doing very well and tolerating it well. (more…)

Parents of children with have fought with insurance companies for years to get coverage of simple things like sensory integration therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and so forth. However, insurance companies won’t pay because autism is not curable and is a developmental disorder.

The most controversial coverage is ABA, a therapy used to help teach children with autism social and daily living skills like looking someone in the eye, brushing their teeth, or waving goodbye. ABA is controversial because of its heavy price tag. (more…)

Wait, so Autism is not the end of the world?

Since we adopted our son from Russia in the summer of 2005 we have struggled with him. From his fingertips to his toenails the child is a medical mystery and developmental mess. (more…)

The AAP, the American Academy of Pediatrics, has released a statement (finally) on the recent government court case involving autism and vaccines. (more…)

Easter is right around the corner and society says that your child’s Easter basket should be filled to the brim with candy. There are Gluten Free/Casein Free solutions for our children if you want to include candy. Make sure to check this post for the most comprehensive Gluten and Casein Free Candies that I have seen. Remember to check all the labels before eating anything because manufacturers can change anything at anytime. (more…)

You have all heard the news; that a monetary compensation is imminent for the Poling family, a Georgia family who filed, and won, a claim against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services because their daughter, Hannah developed autism after the 9 vaccines she received when she was 19 months old. However, it seems that Hannah Poling actually has a mitochondrial disorder that was exasperated by the vaccines, not autism. Ironically, the courts did not make a clear cut link between the vaccines and autism.
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Every parent makes their own choices based upon science, medicine, religion, or even theology or ideology. But, when does the safety of other children come into play?

I talk a lot about how vaccines affect the public, the safety of vaccines, the medical aspects of vaccines, and our family policies.
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Since 1986 the number of vaccines the CDC recommends has gone from 10 to 36. But do we, as parents, HAVE to give our children all those vaccines?

New studies show that most children will naturally chelate toxins like mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde, ether, and antifreeze (?) out of their system within weeks (thus the fever and flulike symptoms for a few days…the body working hard to get rid of the toxins?). (more…)

I mentioned last week that a large part of the Feingold diet is the removal of Salicylates. But what exactly are salicylates?

Salicylates are chemicals found in plants but are also found in foods, medications, and cosmetics. Salicylates, when intolerable, can cause immediate effects such as headaches, nasal congestion, flushed cheeks, rashes, stomach pain, and trouble breathing.

But, for some children, like AJ, salicylates have a different reaction. AJ reacts by getting hyper, by stimming, and making odd noises. The problem is that he just can not control it.
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Alright, enough talk about diet, right? But it is the season of the diet…cookies, cakes, candy canes (well, and us watching our diet, right?). Yum. And how do you handle a 4,5,6 year old who is madly out of control? Running, jumping, screaming at the top of his lungs because he had a sip of hot cocoa?

The diet is said to aid in helping behaviors such as hyperactivity, impulsiveness, compulsive actions and over emotional responses to normal actions. Additionally, many parents report increases in academic behaviors such as improved attention span, and cognitive and perceptual disturbances. We noticed an immediate difference in AJ’s sleep patterns when we removed foods high in salicylates (like apples and cinnamon). We had been feeding him rice cereal with apples and cinnamon for a nighttime snack (per our doctor) to fill his tummy. When we removed this he actually slept.

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Now that you have gotten the handle of casein free eating (or at least started to try it out) its time to get started on the gluten free shopping, cooking, and eating. (For the record, I don’t do the cooking part unless it is from a package but I will provide you with some great sites to get some recipes.)

Our gluten free cooking main consists of mixes from the Namaste brand because they carry the best sugar free products out there. AJ loves waffles, muffins, cookies, pancakes, and pizza, but they are hard to come by in the sugar free and yeast free varieties. Even breads are difficult to find unless one has time to cook/bake shortbreads from scratch that are yeast free.

Our main issue with finding products is that AJ’s diet is very limited, as many of you may find down the road. As we started to eliminate foods we started to see more issues arise, like peeling the layers of the onion. When we removed all milk products we finally noticed the gluten. When we removed gluten we noticed the corn. When we removed corn we noticed the salicylates. It was never ending. But, the more we solved, the better he got.
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AJ spent the entire day today trying to lick my shirt sleeve, trying to scratch my arms, face, and all of the couches. His eyes were glazed over the entire day, he was laughing uncontrollably and not listening, clearing his throat simply because he knew it made upset, hitting me and everyone else, kicking me, throwing things at me and the dog, screaming at me, and testing me to the limits. I just wanted to send him to time out.

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After Amy’s comment yesterday I promised to provide you more Gluten Free and Casein Free information.

Basically, how does one get started on the diet, where does one go, and what foods are best?
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