PROGRESS.. .PROGRESS... PROGRESS... :)

Hi Everyone!


My post Tonight is simply to layout everything we have done with Handsome and the progress we have seen from it :) I hope this helps a little bit and gives others some ideas and HOPE :) Handsome has made so much progress on biomedical treatments :) and I'm so grateful to our wonderful DAN doctor!

Here is a video to show you Handsome at 2 yrs old before he was diagnosed :

And a video of Handsome last month 6yrs old reading to me :

I will start at the very very beginning, right after his diagnosis with autism at 2 1/2 yrs old. Our first visit was with a doctor at The Melmed center and this is what we started with
- 1 tsp of Super Nu Thera daily
- 1/2 tsp of Cod Liver Oil
- Casein Free diet
- speech therapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Physical therapy
- Music therapy

We saw alot of improvement when we started first with removing casein, more eye contact, was more compliant with doing hand over hand signing words like, more, drink, milk, please, thank you. Once we added the supplements we continued to see improvement with eye contact and he started signing on his own. By the end of 2007 Handsome started speaking, he said his first word BA - for bubble a few months before he turned 4. During all this time he had each of those therapy once a week, except for Music, we were not able to get music therapy paid for until 2008.

During 2007 I did alot of research on biomedical treatments and ABA, floor time and also researched into parents and docs who did not use biomedical interventions. After comparing both I thankfully :) chose to do biomedical interventions:). We continued on the pace we were on and Handsome started Preschool at in 2007 as well.

In 2008 we started him on the Gluten Free diet as well as continuing the casein free diet. During this time, we were able to start in home ABA on our own, we can not afford to do ABA therapy intensively the way he really needed it, but I took training in it and use it in home on behavioral issues ect. The sad part about this is that I know in my heart of hearts  that if I could have afforded to do ABA therapy 40 hours a week he would not have alot of the behavior issues as he does now :( but I'm thankful for how far he has come :). We saw some progress after taking out gluten from his diet with his bowels and he didn't have as much gas, but this year he digressed really badly, we saw NO progress for over a year. In June of 2009 I made the biggest decision to take him to a DAN doctor and it changed our course of progress :)

2009 was the BIGGEST year of progress :) We were able to get Handsome in to see a DAN doctor Dr.Schneider has been the biggest improvement to Handsomes life! I am so grateful to God for her and her wonderful staff at CARE.

I will list everything we have done with Dr.Schneider, it may not be in particular orders, but I will let you know what progress we saw with each :)

- MB12 Shots- Lots of eye contact, lots more speech, sleeping through the night!
- Diflucan- HUGE speech progress,he went from 2-3 word sentences to 5-6 word sentences! and his belly use to be so bloated but not anymore (unless yeast is rearing its ugly head again :( ) No more constant gas as well!
- vitamin D 5000 iui - His skin tone went from being severely pale to a suntan look
- Methyl Folate - More eye contact
- Magnesium Taurate - helps with trying to keep him regular and NOT constipated
- AKA - He has very high levels of ammonia :( and this has helped alot with keeping him focused more
- TMG - I've noticed this helps alot with his verbal stimming, he still does it, but NOT as much as he use too, it also helps with his hand stimming
- Zinc - I haven't really noticed a difference with it, but its a much needed supplement for him
- Vitamin C- a MUST to help keep him regular so he isn't constipated, Constipation is a HUGE problem for him :(
- Glutathion Lotion- right away we noticed he sat still more and didn't lean on his tummy over and over again
- Selenium- didn't notice anything, but again a much needed supplement for his health
- IV Chelation and IV Glutathion- HUGE improvements with wanting to eat new foods!! MORE speech, more eye contact even BIGGER improvement in no leaning on tummy and HUGE improvements with sitting still at dinner table, listening more when being talked too, following directions more able to follow 2 step instructions, starts memorizing songs (not children songs, songs like I'll be there by the Jackson 5), memorizing books, when asked safety questions like what is your name, your moms name, your dads name he can give them to you. Is able to identify 16 words and read them in a sentence :).

Now this is just the progress I can think of off the top of my head with out delving into my papers. Handsome has made so much progress being on biomedical treatments. I am so glad that I chose to take this road for him.  I am so grateful that he has come so far, and I realize he is much further along than many of my wonderful Warrior parent friends, he still has so much further to go. We struggle daily with sensory overload, chronic constipation, major behavior issues, and lots of receptive language problems, BUT I know that the further we go on in our biomedical treatments, the more progress he will make and I am so grateful to the Lord for our DAN doctor and the wonderful community of autism parents I have meet and become friends with.

My hope is that one day ALL of our children will be whole again. God gave us a perfect child... MAN gave us autism!

Much Love!