Dated:  July 2008

When I notice a distinct improvement in Siddhu's functioning, I feel tempted to share his current regimen of interventions. Ofcourse, every child is unique, but perhaps, if you have a child with autism, you may have passed this phase sometime, or maybe at this phase at a future point in time. For what it is worth,  I wanted to share the details of his current environment and interventions.

Improvements:
He is at a point where I can take him to classes in the community, such as gym, art, etc and with me as aide, he is actually able to learn skills in a mainstream environment and eventually relate to the instructors, etc.
He can listen to music, and occupy himself using music or games like hitting a ball hanging from a ceiling, with a bat. To a stranger, he does not exhibit any obvious symptoms unless one attempted to have a conversation with him.
His pretend play has emerged (with play food, animals, doctors kits etc) but he still cannot imagine a series of events or an entire mission. His handwriting is neat and legible in print and is progressing to cursive.

Developmental gym programs have been extremely beneficial to him to enhance his balance, coordination, muscle strength etc. (Along with the mitochondrial support I describe below). The practice of art daily has helped him resolve his left/right perception, ratio and proportion and improve his eye tracking. His eye tracking ability is still not smooth which is affecting his ability to read.

Environmental changes:

• Minimized plastics in his environment, particularly in the kitchen.
• Minimizing EMF in the home: no cordless phones, getting a shielding canopy for the bed, switch off Wifi at night. (A site for products is http://www.lessemf.com)
  
• When he visits a potentially toxic place, like airports, malls with perfumes etc he comes home and has an epsom salt foot soak (with epsom salt, baking soda and Vit C).
• No chemical detergents, cleaners etc used in the home on anyone's clothes
• No chemicals in his food, mostly cooked from scratch.
• Occasional use of sauna and magnetic clay foot soaks.

Diet:

• A mild simplification of Body Ecology Diet http://www.bodyecologydiet.com - all grains soaked and sprouted, addition of raw foods
• Raw drink everyday: one fruit (mango or papaya), veggies: cabbage, spinach, soaked almond or cashew, some broccoli sprouts, celery, a fermented coconut drink and chia seeds,
  
• A serving of cultured veggies/saurkraut everyday

Mitochondrial support:

•  NT factor (Energy) by Researched Nutritionals, CoQ10, acetyl-L-carnitine, NADH.

Detox support:

• Periodical rounds of IV chelation with CaEDTA (and glutathione, Vit C)
• Cilantro and chlorella protocol (just getting started)
• Daily Pectasol Chelation Complex by Ecogenics after pathogen targetting herbals.

Targetting pathogens:

• Candida protocol from http://www.modernherbalist.com
  
• Herbal suggestions from Healing Lyme by Stephen Buhner (Catsclaw, Resveratrol,  Stephania)
• Rotation of probiotics: VSL3, Lactobacillus Sporagenes, Mindlinx, Klaire Labs Detox Support, Klaire Labs therbiotic factor 4.
• Immunological treatment: IVIG infusion
• TSO Helminthic therapy http://www.ovamed.org

General nutritional support:

• Highly nutrient dense food including soaked grains, coconut oil, almonds etc.
• Multivitamin/mineral geared towards ASD kids such as http://www.brainchildnutritionals.com Spectrum Support
• Cod liver oil, fish oil, flax seeds etc.

Growth factor proteins:

• FGF2 and other proteins.

Other progams of educational nature:

• Neurofeedback - helping him learn to listen to music, watch some videos etc.
• Video modelling for play - http://www.teach2play.com It taught him that its ok to say that an animal is wearing a stethoscope etc, taught him that pretending is ok, which hopefully will lead to flexible thinking.
  
• Gym - http://www.thelittlegym.com and http://www.mygym.com have been great in teaching mainstreaming skills: everything except academics, including waiting for turns, following group instructions, imitation skills etc. The exercises that probably help left, right brain integration have been great too.(Cross pattern walks etc). Look at http://www.braingym.com for more exercises of that nature.
  
• Art - both classes and home practice have helped him learn the ability to copy a picture, with correct orientation and proportion. It seems to build eye tracking and impulse control as well, apart from fine motor coordination.
• Handwriting: I found this program very useful: http://www.retrainthebrain.com He can print legibly now and is moving to cursive.
• RDI (Relationship Development Intervention): http://www.rdiconnect.com
• We are trying out a reading program based on the Lindamood-Bell method. I hope that it will help him move to the next level in reading.

If you have read this far, you probably have a child with autism. Hope you found something useful on this blog, I admire your perseverence, I dont know how everybody does it. Please keep going. Every day, close your eyes and picture your child, independent, competent, helpful, and feeling happy about his accomplishments. It will happen.