From your own experience, what do you find useful in helping young children with autism?
Most helpful is teaching them what they need to know. Autism is hard-wired in the brain by the time it’s detectable; all you can do is teach them–and teach them the way they learn best–how to deal with the world those brains weren’t made for.
General health is important, of course. In fact, it’s more important than it is for a typical child because autistic childrens’ senses are often "unfiltered"–that is, they don’t ignore what typical brains might consider irrelevant, and are consequently flooded by sensory data.
If some of that data is coming from an illness–even a minor allergy or something like lactose intolerance–then it will almost certainly cause problems with learning and with coping with the world. That means that if your kid isn’t living in a relaxed, friendly, irritant-free environment, he won’t learn nearly as well as he ought to.
The biggest problem, potentially, is untreated epilepsy. Epilepsy can sometimes be difficult to detect and is very common in autistic people, so it’s important to make completely sure it’s either not there or carefully managed.
I got all my kids in regular school in a year, including one I adopted after having success with my own children. It’s caused by pathogens and toxins. You have to go slow, which actually will be much quicker than if you try to do it quickly. I guess most people on the forums including my children do MB 12, turmeric/curcumin/enhansa, digestive enzymes, probiotics, cod liver oil, milk thistle, gf-cf, and organic foods. Now, in addition to that, what is required are more things to support liver function, pathogen-killers, ALL types of pathogens (yeast, viruses, bacteria, mycoplasma, worms, protozoa), especially pleomorphic bacteria (Bartonella, Lyme, mycoplasma fermentans), mop up toxins like with Modifilan or alginates, and chelate with whatever fits your protocol and your doctors knowledge.
I never did ABA, but if it is provided free for you, than go for it. My children are not distinguishable from others. I will actually be speaking about my children’s recovery at the LIA Conference in June in Arizona. I feel this Conference has the latest and greatest and will include information on methods my family uses to keep symptoms away. You can learn more at http://www.LIAFoundation.org
References :
Most helpful is teaching them what they need to know. Autism is hard-wired in the brain by the time it’s detectable; all you can do is teach them–and teach them the way they learn best–how to deal with the world those brains weren’t made for.
General health is important, of course. In fact, it’s more important than it is for a typical child because autistic childrens’ senses are often "unfiltered"–that is, they don’t ignore what typical brains might consider irrelevant, and are consequently flooded by sensory data.
If some of that data is coming from an illness–even a minor allergy or something like lactose intolerance–then it will almost certainly cause problems with learning and with coping with the world. That means that if your kid isn’t living in a relaxed, friendly, irritant-free environment, he won’t learn nearly as well as he ought to.
The biggest problem, potentially, is untreated epilepsy. Epilepsy can sometimes be difficult to detect and is very common in autistic people, so it’s important to make completely sure it’s either not there or carefully managed.
References :
I’m autistic. After I was born, my mom removed all artificial substances from the house. My little sister was raised in this environment, was not vaccinated, ate no food additives, went without gluten and casein, and didn’t even eat any canned food until she was in her teens. She is also autistic. However, we are both coping rather efficiently with the sensory craziness and the social confusion. Since both my parents have strong autistic traits, I believe that autism is a genetic condition that can respond well to an irritant-free environment. My worst irritant? Polyester shirts! I can’t stand the feeling of wearing one!