After a whole day of staying UNUSUALLY quiet on a very very hot topic in Australia yesterday after a national morning television program featured a mother who claims to have cured her son's Autism, I have considered my response carefully and I am posting it here.
Australian mum, Vicky Leon appeared on Australia's Sunrise program yesterday and discussed the dietary and biomedical interventions she had put in place for her beautiful little boy, Nicholas. see here for the full segment Prof Kerryn Phelps, president of The Australasian Integrative Medicine Association (see here for more info about AIMA) also appeared as the segment expert and backed up Vicky's approach to treating her son's Autism and explained how many symptoms of Autism will ease by implementing appropriately supervised (by a specialist paediatrician) dietary changes and vitamin and mineral supplements with a focus on reducing toxicity after a series of medical tests have been performed to properly gauge what dosages are required according to the individual child's blood, faeces and urine results.
I watched with interest as my sons follow the same dietary guidelines and are treated under the very strict supervision of a specialist biomedical paediatrician who is part of the MINDD foundation. MINDD Website link here
Here is a very short outline from the MINDD website to explain the philosophy behind the practice:
"The MINDD Foundation promotes an integrative approach to healthcare for the whole family with a focus on biomedicine, nutrition, neuro-development and allied therapies. We help practitioners and patients find effective treatments for Metabolic, Immunologic, Neurologic, Digestive, Developmental conditions that often affect the mind. "
As I watched Ms Leon talk about the biomedical practices and the changes she saw in her gorgeous little guy it was like I was hearing my own sons' stories to be honest except for one thing. Whilst I recognise that my children have come an incredibly long way, are coping better with comorbid conditions like the anxiety associated with Autism, progressing to having advanced language after an initial quite marked speech and language delay (in Jackson, not so much with Hunter who has had very good speech all along) and their classic symptoms like flapping, toe walking and other stimming (self stimulatory behaviours) have all but disappeared....... I recognise all of this and celebrate the progress we have made every day.... The one thing I do not recognise or agree with is Ms Leon's use of the word "CURE." I also strongly disagree with Prof Phelps' decision to appear on the program and not address the usage of that particular word. I feel it was irresponsible to use such a word as many parents in the thick of an Autism diagnosis will be given misleading hope and in this case I truly do not believe it is just a case of semantics. I dont believe that Autism can be cured. Ms Leon, stated her son had very few symptoms associated with Autism anymore, attends a mainstream school and has lots of friends, improved language and eye contact as her basis to back up the claim of curing her absolutely gorgeous son, Nicholas.
My children are all set for mainstream school, have excellent language, barely any classic signs of Autism anymore like the stereotypical lining up toys, greatly improved eye contact (that old chestnut of controversy in diagnostic land) and both are very engaged in our family and friend's worlds.
Cured?
NO WAY! Autism is so much more than eye contact, stimming and lining up toys. So so so much more hence the term, Autism SPECTRUM.
Both of my sons have residual issues like difficulty in crowds, social situations, sensory sensitivities and although they can blitz an IQ or language test they have lingering perception and processing problems that will probably remain with them for life.
The amount of times I've heard statements to this effect, "Oh my God, they have Autism? You can't tell they have Autism, they don't look like they have Autism!"
My question is WTF does Autism look like anyway?
Surely we are now past the entire world thinking Rainman's Raymond Babbit is the only presentation of Autism? Apparently not in many cases.
I am all for parents trying out any type of safe treatment approach when tackling the tricky and mysterious spectrum of Autism related difficulties that are present for the child in question and as I said, I am a happy passenger on the GFCF (gluten and casein free) biomedical train.
When I heard about this so called miracle cure for Autism when Jackson was first diagnosed I jumped aboard that train at the first biomedical station and have been holding on to my seat on this unpredictable and terrifying track that is our own Autism journey for grim death. Did I want a cure for my son back then? Yes I did. If any of the numerous "experts" I saw had have told me I could cure him by standing on my head, clapping my hands and playing the William Tell overture on the piano with my toes simultaneously, by God I would have done it and I would have done it to perfection so I could never ever look back and wonder if I had really tried hard enough to cure my boy.
The day after diagnosis, I read actress, Jenny McCarthy's tale of her son, Evan's recovery (she does not use the word cure contrary to public perception) from Autism called Louder Than Words see here in one sitting over the course of two life changing hours. I closed the back cover of the book and proceeded to find my local MINDD Foundation doctor and I begged for an appointment as though my life depended on it. It did. My son's life depended upon getting into this miracle doctor as far as I was concerned.
I took my son to that doctor with the express purpose of getting him cured.
How ignorant I was. How blissfully unaware I was of the complexities of Autism and also the gifts and a life of true beauty that can be possible within a life with Autism.
I no longer aim to cure my son. I understand Autism better now. I aim to reduce the difficulties my children face with such a diagnosis (including the digestive issues they had pre GFCF biomedical treatment that affected their behvaiour, attention, language development and mood regulation). I aim to raise awareness for them and help make the rest of the world more accepting of their probable lifelong differences.
It's been my aim all along to avoid any pharmacuetically based treatments and via biomedical treatment we have so far been successful and have yet to require any kind of medication for either child. It is important to never rule any option out though and I accept treatment is as complicated and as my children and will require constant review. Biomedical has indeed been life changing for our family.
It is not a cure though. I doubt it ever will be and I doubt I'll ever have that aim again anyway. This mode of treatment has been enormously beneficial in my house but it's not the same story for everyone so I respect those who choose not to follow this treatment plan and would ask for the same respect and courtesy with regards to how I choose to help my sons be the best they can be. Not be something they are not but be the best they can be.
Each parent sees things differently and the controversy this segment brought up on the social media sites I frequently hover around on getting tips, ideas and make friendships with others in the Autism world was massive. see here for Vicky's Facebook page I was a little shocked to see some of the comments from friends of mine judging Vicky Leon's decision to treat her son with biomedical practices and I was aghast to see one of them publicly denounce anyone who would put their child through a bloodtest to find out the appropriate dosages for such vitamin, mineral supplementation approaches. I admit that the five minutes of trauma during J's blood test was harrowing. I cried and wondered if I was doing the right thing whilst he was crying during the test. However, the previous months of anguish, meltdowns, communication breakdown and for me a near nervous breakdown because of my inability to cope with these issues was far more difficult than the one blood test my son was subjected to in order to correctly analyse his treatment needs.
I personally (and it's different for every parent) felt far more comfortable with this responsible approach to putting anything new into my son's fragile system than the previous paeditrician's casual scribbling of a trial prescription for three different drugs to just "have a go at making him a bit more normal before I see him again in 6 months." Yes, that is a true story.
We are under the very strict supervision of a world recognised expert in the biomedical field and the results have been fantastic for J and H who both seem much happier and more able to cope with the confusing world they live in and no longer live with excruciating gut dysfunction which is reason alone for our family to continue with this approach in conjunction with specialist sensory integration play based paediatric occupational therapy see here.
I repeat though. They are not cured and nor do I want them to be. I don't believe Autism is a disease. I believe Autism is a way of thinking differently. I believe Autism is an always complex and sometimes wonderful world to be a part of. I think trying to cure my sons would mean I am trying to change who they inherently are. This does not interest me as I love them exactly as they are but admit to thinking their path is more challenging than others because of some of the associated Autistic issues so instead of trying to change them or cure them, I am trying to help them overcome some of those issues.
I guess I now believe Autism is actually a way of BEING.
To cure or not to cure was my original question. I think I'll draw upon the genius of one of my favourite, complicated and quirky authors, William Shakespeare who happened to create a rather indivdual and complex character called Hamlet and quote him here as it's so appropriate. I change my question now to Hamlet's quandary, "To be or not to be? That is the question"
Yes, to be or not to be? That is the real question. If Autism is a way of being, I choose TO BE for my boys and I think they would to.
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