The Adventures of the Reese's Pieces Gang

I'm so sorry that it has been 5 days since my last post on Autism. When Philip reached the age of about 18 months we noticed that he understood more than Thomas did. He was talking more than Thomas and could understand basic commands. We started to notice these things February 2005. We could tell Philip to pick up a paper and go through it away. We'd put a piece of garbage in Thomas's hand and tell him to go throw it away and he would go in circles and have a blank look on his face. It was at this time when one of my dear friends was taking her child to Marshfield Wisconsin for testing for Autism. I then started to research our Autism because Thomas had many of the characteristics that her son had. The more that I read about Autism the more I knew in my heart that Thomas was Autistic. This led to 2 months of praying, researching, crying, trying to figure out what to do next all while on bed rest for child number 6. Phil and I knew that Thomas was Autistic and we hoped that with some type of official diagnosis that we'd be able to find out what to DO about it! Our public school did a bunch of testing with Thomas and were encouraging me to go see a physician too. So on April 25th, the day before I was scheduled to have Nathan I took Thomas to our family doctor, explained my concerns, which he agreed with and referred us to a Pediatric Neurologist. We were not able to see that doctor until August 19.

While recovering from having Nathan, I started to read everything I could get my hands on about Autism. I first read the book Unraveling the Mystery of Autism & PDD by Karyn Seroussi. That book caused Phil and I to consider putting Thomas on the Gluten & Casein Free Diet. I continued my research throughout the summer months averaging about 40 hours a week of reading and searching for hope that my son would not be trapped in the world of autism forever. In May we were introduced to glycobiology and started Thomas on glyconutrients. This supplement caused some amazing results with Thomas's speech! By July he was adding new words each week! This progress as a result of just one supplement helped to open our minds to the possibility of more supplements. We met with the "autism mom" of our community who had a son diagnosed with severe Autism at 18 months old. She used diet, supplements, therapy, and other natural treatments to help her son progress. She spent time talking with us and helped to guide us toward supplements and other changes that could help Thomas. We were trying to process all this while still waiting for the official diagnosis from the August 19 appointment. We still hoping that the Doctor might be able to offer more information that would give us hope for Thomas's future. I'll tell you about that Doctors appointment in my next post on our story.

My Autism Tip for Today: Try the Gluten and Casein Free Diet. Make sure you are ready to commit to it and give it all you have for at least 1 year. It could change your child's so much, what do you have to loose? If you have a friend who is doing dietary intervention with their ASD child encourage them and find out what treats their child can have. Keep a few of these special treats at your house or in your car for when you see your friend. It will mean a lot to their family to see you willing to accommodate their child's special needs.