Autism: Is It All In The Head?

[Ted Hutchinson]

AUTISM: IS IT ALL IN THE HEAD? (http://www.alternative-therapies.com/at/web_pdfs/1108_hyman.pdf) Interesting article worth reading.

[milivica]

You can have one or several of those medical issues, and not have autism.

You can have one or several of those medical issues and also have autism.

You can have medical issues that resemble autism if unrecognized and untreated because sadly autism is still diagnosed by symptoms in the DSMIV which makes (for instance) lack of eye contact gravitate toward a flag for autism when it can just as probably be a flag for some types of epilepsy.

You can have no biomedical issues in that article and have the neurology that is/gives autism.

Our experience has been, that the only thing that helped by leaps and bounds, was to give our child the ability to develop into a willing eager apprentice to our guidance, that is the beginning to the end of his autism. I learned 99% of what I know about autism and how to basically make it extinct from my child's brain, by studying and studying about nt development, not autistic. I needed to learn what was missing, not what was there...see if you look at (for example) lack of eye contact and say "Eye contact is not there" that won't do squat to help you help your child. If however you look at what is there, say "Oh, I see he cannot read my face or body language and that causes the lack of eye contact" then you enable your child (starting with referencing and working your way up developmentally) to read body language, the eye contact will come because the function and purpose for the eye contact will finally be there neurologically for your child.

I didn't read the whole article, it got all hairy and I felt like here we go again, making what is simple, all twisted and complicated. Autism is a VOID, picture a brain with wires missing, give your child those wires and autism is then extinct, gone, cured, what ever word you'd use.

There may be excellent points for some kids for biomedical issues, and curing those issues might create great gains absolutely. Didn't work for us though, and it didn't work for us cause our son has autism from his neurology, not biomedical issues. If he however, had say extreme dairy allergies and grain allergies, and we kept feeding him those, I don't know how well the RDI would have worked, it might not have. But I consider that autism-like symptoms from an allergy. See? And though that still is autism, yes, once the dairy and grain is removed the gains will be staggering and amazing because the neurology was there all along, a pre-wired nt with autistic behaviors from food allergies. Versus, a child without the nt wiring who also has autism...you can fix the dietary problem and see gains, but will still need to establish that willing eager apprentice to your guidance in him, cause the wiring isn't there.

Ok, I don't know how exactly to explain what I've learned, and more importantly UNlearned. Autism is not a forever sentence. Certainly does become more complicated with medical issues of course, anything is more complicated when co-occuring, and even further complicated with doctors and therapists that don't understand so do what is contrary to improving your child cause they're looking at what is there instead of what is not there that would be in nt development - knowing what is not there intrinsically (neurologically, developmentally) lets you know what to strive for. Ya know? If they've found medical issues that seem to often go hand in hand with autism, that's great cause that can become sort of a protocol of what where to start medically.

[Keggy]

I like this article, thanks for posting it. The way he uses a hologram to explain what autism is excellent. The article is very hopeful and describes an alternative medicine perspective where treating the whole body not just parts, is the only way to help anyone.
Of course, I also liked how the thirmosol study was wrapped up and likened too having the tabbacco industry study the effects of smoking.
Good article Ted!

[Naominjw]

My daughter does not have autism, just "associated characteristics." Biomedical IS neurological, AND immunological, AND endocrinological, AND metabolic... it is whatever is wrong in the biology whether that is in brain wiring or hormones or or mitochondrial function, or DNA, or food sensitivities or problems with metabolizing nutrition or absorbing, or sleeping.... The one things that biomedical is not is mental or emotional/psychological illness.

May parents did find that their child with autism had associated problems that seemed in common. That same discovery is what we made with our own daughter with a diagnosis of not autism, but "mental illness." And it was addressing all the biomedical issues (neurological, endocrinological, etc.) that made the symptoms of the "mental illness (http://www.ItsNotMental.com)" go away. We had to treat all of her. Even her "mental illness" was not "all in her head" -- it was something affecting her whole body.

Maybe the reason it keeps sounding like people are talking about different things is that we are talking about different things manifesting in similar symptoms. They get called a label based on the symptoms, but the underlying pathophysiology is different. We really are comparing apples and oragnges... but as if they have the same outer coating.

"Naomi"