What has helped your children the most?

Our battle with autism is one of body, mind and spirit. 

Over the years we have tried to heal the body with special diets, supplements, behavorial therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, chelation, homeopathy, neuro-feedback therapy, vision therapy, Tomatis, porcine whipworms, anti-fungals and many others.  We have tried to reach her mind first with Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and then Rapid Prompting Method (RPM, see below) and now with mainstream education.  Our spiritual journey has led us to healing prayer.

It’s hard to say which of these have been effective because we have overlapped many of our educational, biomedical and spiritual interventions.  Time is of the essence and we don’t have the luxury to wait for the double-blind studies to verify what works.  With intensive interventions, I believe there is a path to full recovery.

2.

Where do I find a good autism doctor?

As a first stop for parents, I highly recommend Defeat Autism Now (DAN), an organization that trains doctors in the latest treatments that are helping our kids.  Their website, www.defeatautismnow.com, has a section which allows you to find a DAN doctor near you.  It is important that you are comfortable with your child’s doctor and that he or she has significant experience with autism.  Most DAN doctors see parents as partners and work closely with them doing numerous tests and interventions.  To educate yourself in the DAN protocol before your first visit, I recommend Autism: Effective Biomedical Treatments by Jon Pangborn, Ph.D and Sidney Baker, M.D.

3.

How can I reach the mind of my non-verbal child?

For non-verbal children with autism, finding a communication method that allows him or her to learn to write is crucial.  We found the Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) was the breakthrough that led to all of Elizabeth’s subsequent successes.  You can buy the book Understanding Autism Through Rapid Prompting Method by Soma Mukhopadhyay or visit her website, www.halo-soma.org to sign-up your child for a visit to their Austin, Texas facility.  Because of her success, it is difficult to see Soma but she has other capable personnel at the facility.  If your child is non-verbal and at least five years old, please try RPM.  It has made all the difference to reaching Elizabeth and hundreds of other children.

More to come...