Biomedical Treatment Debate

[Guest guest]

My daughter Nina is six and was diagnosed last year,

specifically with PDD-NOS (whatever that means). She has been in play therapy

and speech therapy for a year and has made significant progress. In school

(first grade),she has an aide and also receives speech therapy. She is doing

well academically but still struggles socially. My husband and I are wondering

if she would benefit from the GFCF diet or other biomedical interventions. We

have a DAN doctor in town but it will cost at least $1000 for initial visits

and testing. I’m sure you can understand that our finances are stretched

thin. We are also considering a new therapy called Relationship Development

Intervention (RDI) developed by Gutstein. Because of the cost issue we

really can’t do both. In my research on biomed interventions, it seems

the kids who benefited the most went from being nonverbal to verbal or had

serious sensory issues that improved. Nina was never nonverbal and has no

sensory issues. Do any of you know kids like Nina who benefited from biomedical

intervention?

Many thanks to Kirby for writing his book and

sponsoring this list. I often wish I had never heard of autism. But reading

Kirby’s book and being part of this list makes me think you all have

redefined the phrase “good parenting.” You are helping me stay

strong for Nina.

[Guest guest]

My son is verbal and he only has some sound sensory issues. He doesn't stim and

was potty trained by age 3. He does have hyperactivity and was behind in his

speech by about 15 months but verbal. He has been totally gluten free for only 2

weeks now (we did the weekly process of only eliminating one meal at a time so

it wouldn't be so over whelming). He has been doing so much better. He talks

more, makes more eye contact and is a lot less hyper! His teachers have noticed

it, too.

I don't know about this other therapy but I can say that biomedical is great. A

little over whelming at first but so was autism and now I feel like an old pro.

Hope this helps.

>

> From: " Mita Gibson " <msgibson@...>

> Date: 2006/03/09 Thu AM 11:51:34 EST

> <EOHarm >

> Subject: Biomedical Treatment Debate

>

>

>

> My daughter Nina is six and was diagnosed last year, specifically with

> PDD-NOS (whatever that means). She has been in play therapy and speech

> therapy for a year and has made significant progress. In school (first

> grade),she has an aide and also receives speech therapy. She is doing well

> academically but still struggles socially. My husband and I are wondering if

> she would benefit from the GFCF diet or other biomedical interventions. We

> have a DAN doctor in town but it will cost at least $1000 for initial visits

> and testing. I'm sure you can understand that our finances are stretched

> thin. We are also considering a new therapy called Relationship Development

> Intervention (RDI) developed by Gutstein. Because of the cost issue

> we really can't do both. In my research on biomed interventions, it seems

> the kids who benefited the most went from being nonverbal to verbal or had

> serious sensory issues that improved. Nina was never nonverbal and has no

> sensory issues. Do any of you know kids like Nina who benefited from

> biomedical intervention?

>

>

>

> Many thanks to Kirby for writing his book and sponsoring this list. I

> often wish I had never heard of autism. But reading Kirby's book and being

> part of this list makes me think you all have redefined the phrase " good

> parenting. " You are helping me stay strong for Nina.

>

>

>

>

>

H.

I love someone with autism!

[Guest guest]

Dear Mita,

My opinion, from reading as much as I can from the parent lists,

indicates that biomedical intervention is far more important than

behavioral/educational intervention in aiding " recovery. " I have

also looked into RDI for my son (5, verbal, mild to moderate autism)

but do not consider it as important to his overall development as I

do a biomedical approach. If the foundation is faulty, the house

will not stand; the achievements from RDI would likely not be as

great unless Nina first(or also) had biomedical intervention.

Personally, I'm still considering GFCF diet and chelation but I am at

present trying Traditional Chinese Medicine (2 weeks of herbs and the

results are noticeable and promising) as an alternative to diet

restrictions and lots of medical tests and supplements. My daughter

(7) is not autistic, but has suffered with eczema, asthma, hearing

loss, geopgraphical tongue, allergies (which also seem to come up

frequently as conditions associated with children who are diagnosed

autistic). When she was 3, her eczema was cured by taking 3 month's

worth of TCM herbs. I am now treating her asthma with TCM and again

the results after two weeks are impressive. I did not need to use an

inhaler during a recent cold...used a herbal cold remedy and her

breathing normalized. This was the first time in 6 years that I have

not resorted to an inhaler to relieve her " reactive airway disease. "

RDI seems to be the best behavioral approach for encouraging the

development of social interactions; you might also want to explore a

technique called Pivotal Response Training (PRT, Koegel + Lynn

Koegel) which encourages children to expand on their verbalizations

to help with her comfort level in social situations.

My son was late in speaking and has no physical or sensory issues,

mostly speech and socialization difficulties. Since I started the

herbs 2 weeks ago, his teachers report more interaction and

communication and they are surprised at his initiations, both with

children and staff. I have not told them of my alternative

biomedical treatment and I doubt that I will...at the moment, I'm

just enjoying the positive reports and am very pleased that I managed

to find a way to help him feel better...all of the educational and

behavioral techniques cannot do that for your child.

If you have to choose, I would find a biomedical approach that suits

you and do that first.

All the best, Randi

>

>

>

> My daughter Nina is six and was diagnosed last year, specifically

with

> PDD-NOS (whatever that means). She has been in play therapy and

speech

> therapy for a year and has made significant progress. In school

(first

> grade),she has an aide and also receives speech therapy. She is

doing well

> academically but still struggles socially. My husband and I are

wondering if

> she would benefit from the GFCF diet or other biomedical

interventions. We

> have a DAN doctor in town but it will cost at least $1000 for

initial visits

> and testing. I'm sure you can understand that our finances are

stretched

> thin. We are also considering a new therapy called Relationship

Development

> Intervention (RDI) developed by Gutstein. Because of the

cost issue

> we really can't do both. In my research on biomed interventions, it

seems

> the kids who benefited the most went from being nonverbal to verbal

or had

> serious sensory issues that improved. Nina was never nonverbal and

has no

> sensory issues. Do any of you know kids like Nina who benefited from

> biomedical intervention?

>

>

>

> Many thanks to Kirby for writing his book and sponsoring this

list. I

> often wish I had never heard of autism. But reading Kirby's book

and being

> part of this list makes me think you all have redefined the

phrase " good

> parenting. " You are helping me stay strong for Nina.

>

[Guest guest]

My son has always been on the mild end of the spectrum. I would highly

recommend a biomedical approach. We did very little in the way of

therapy/education and what we did have was provided through the local

child development services so we did not pay a dime (Maine is different

than other states). He was Dx'd at 3 1/2 (with 2-3 word sentences at the

time) and was already getting 2 hrs of speech. We added 5 hrs of

developmental preschool and 2 hrs OT the following year. His last year

before being Kindergarten eligible he went to a regular preschool twice

a week. When he finished up at CDS last summer he tested above average

in OT and speech. He still has sporadic skills-so high some low, but his

averages overall went way up. We homeschool now with no services at all.

We started GFCF 2 years ago, and that by far produced the biggest

improvement. I think part of it is because it was the first thing we

did. Cod Liver Oil also was very helpful with eye stims (the only kind

he has). We just found out today that we can stop chelating, the metals

are out, so we are now trying to improve his glutathione and cysteine

levels that are incredibly low. We also do various supplements and

antibiotics/yeast treatments based on testing.

Becky

[Guest guest]



Dear Randi,

My name is Marina, I have a 9-year-old autistic son. I live in Kaliningrad, Russia. I have read your post on EOHArm list. Would you mind writing to me where I can find more info on Traditional Chinese Medicine and probably order the herbs?

Thanks,

and all the best to you.

Marina

Re: Biomedical Treatment Debate

Dear Mita,My opinion, from reading as much as I can from the parent lists, indicates that biomedical intervention is far more important than behavioral/educational intervention in aiding "recovery." I have also looked into RDI for my son (5, verbal, mild to moderate autism) but do not consider it as important to his overall development as I do a biomedical approach. If the foundation is faulty, the house will not stand; the achievements from RDI would likely not be as great unless Nina first(or also) had biomedical intervention.Personally, I'm still considering GFCF diet and chelation but I am at present trying Traditional Chinese Medicine (2 weeks of herbs and the results are noticeable and promising) as an alternative to diet restrictions and lots of medical tests and supplements. My daughter (7) is not autistic, but has suffered with eczema, asthma, hearing loss, geopgraphical tongue, allergies (which also seem to come up frequently as conditions associated with children who are diagnosed autistic). When she was 3, her eczema was cured by taking 3 month's worth of TCM herbs. I am now treating her asthma with TCM and again the results after two weeks are impressive. I did not need to use an inhaler during a recent cold...used a herbal cold remedy and her breathing normalized. This was the first time in 6 years that I have not resorted to an inhaler to relieve her "reactive airway disease."RDI seems to be the best behavioral approach for encouraging the development of social interactions; you might also want to explore a technique called Pivotal Response Training (PRT, Koegel + Lynn Koegel) which encourages children to expand on their verbalizations to help with her comfort level in social situations.My son was late in speaking and has no physical or sensory issues, mostly speech and socialization difficulties. Since I started the herbs 2 weeks ago, his teachers report more interaction and communication and they are surprised at his initiations, both with children and staff. I have not told them of my alternative biomedical treatment and I doubt that I will...at the moment, I'm just enjoying the positive reports and am very pleased that I managed to find a way to help him feel better...all of the educational and behavioral techniques cannot do that for your child.If you have to choose, I would find a biomedical approach that suits you and do that first.All the best, Randi>> > > My daughter Nina is six and was diagnosed last year, specifically with> PDD-NOS (whatever that means). She has been in play therapy and speech> therapy for a year and has made significant progress. In school (first> grade),she has an aide and also receives speech therapy. She is doing well> academically but still struggles socially. My husband and I are wondering if> she would benefit from the GFCF diet or other biomedical interventions. We> have a DAN doctor in town but it will cost at least $1000 for initial visits> and testing. I'm sure you can understand that our finances are stretched> thin. We are also considering a new therapy called Relationship Development> Intervention (RDI) developed by Gutstein. Because of the cost issue> we really can't do both. In my research on biomed interventions, it seems> the kids who benefited the most went from being nonverbal to verbal or had> serious sensory issues that improved. Nina was never nonverbal and has no> sensory issues. Do any of you know kids like Nina who benefited from> biomedical intervention?> > > > Many thanks to Kirby for writing his book and sponsoring this list. I> often wish I had never heard of autism. But reading Kirby's book and being> part of this list makes me think you all have redefined the phrase "good> parenting." You are helping me stay strong for Nina.>

[Guest guest]

I think you'll find many parents who would advocate behavior therapy

such as ABA in conjunction with biomedical treatment (costs aside).

We have had an intensive at-home ABA/VB program in place for about

1.5 years for our 4 year old son with autism, and are now starting

the biomedical treatment. We have had tremendous success with our

ABA verbal behavior program and hope for even more gains through the

biomedical approach.

>

>

>

> My daughter Nina is six and was diagnosed last year, specifically

with

> PDD-NOS (whatever that means). She has been in play therapy and

speech

> therapy for a year and has made significant progress. In school

(first

> grade),she has an aide and also receives speech therapy. She is

doing well

> academically but still struggles socially. My husband and I are

wondering if

> she would benefit from the GFCF diet or other biomedical

interventions. We

> have a DAN doctor in town but it will cost at least $1000 for

initial visits

> and testing. I'm sure you can understand that our finances are

stretched

> thin. We are also considering a new therapy called Relationship

Development

> Intervention (RDI) developed by Gutstein. Because of the

cost issue

> we really can't do both. In my research on biomed interventions,

it seems

> the kids who benefited the most went from being nonverbal to

verbal or had

> serious sensory issues that improved. Nina was never nonverbal and

has no

> sensory issues. Do any of you know kids like Nina who benefited

from

> biomedical intervention?

>

>

>

> Many thanks to Kirby for writing his book and sponsoring

this list. I

> often wish I had never heard of autism. But reading Kirby's book

and being

> part of this list makes me think you all have redefined the

phrase " good

> parenting. " You are helping me stay strong for Nina.

>