// BLOG
What to Do If You Believe Your Child Is Autistic
August 7, 2009
It can be hard to come to terms with accepting that you or someone close to you has a child that is autistic. It is better, however, to start getting them the help and care they need and to start learning more about the condition sooner rather than later. Here are some of the first steps and a little advice you can take if you believe that your child may be exhibiting some of the first and most recognizable symptoms of autism.
Don’t let others persuade you away from seeking out advice. No one knows your child better than you and you know if something is out of the ordinary with how he or she is acting. Don’t let others dismiss your worries as nonsense or avoid getting help because you’re afraid of finding out the truth. You’re going to have to deal with it eventually, so it’s better to know more rather than less.
Research the condition. The best thing you can do for your child, whether you are sure of the diagnosis or not is to research all you can about autism and become an amateur expert on the subject. Go through the M-CHAT questionnaire and see if and where your child may fall within the spectrum of autism. It may not give you definitive answers but it will educate and inform you and give you things to watch out for as your child grows.
Talk to your pediatrician. The first and most important step to helping your child is taking him or her into the doctor to get a professional assessment. Only a professional truly diagnosis your child, and if you feel that your doctor isn’t being supportive of your concerns and offering you the advice and guidance you need then perhaps it’s time to find another doctor.
Get early intervention. If it turns out that your doctor believes that your child may have autism don’t wait to get help. There are numerous organizations out there that can put you in touch with people who can offer your child the best resources to help them develop and learn—things that are better done sooner rather than later.
Don’t forget to nurture your child. Throughout the whole process of diagnosis and analysis of your child, don’t forget that at heart he or she is still just a child and needs your love and support no matter what the outcome. It’s very easy to get caught up in the treatments and forget about the little person in there so spend time connecting and enjoying their company.
This post was contributed by Jill Gordon, who writes about the online nursing schools. She welcomes your feedback at Jill.Gordon25@ yahoo.com
Vitamin and Mineral Supplements Needs of Children with Autism
July 23, 2009
One can choose supplements if children or adults are not being fed properly. These food supplements can bridge the need and make sure that you are still getting the amount that is recommended.
Supplements can sometimes be recommended because it is difficult to have a diet that already contains all of the nutrients that are needed. Also, if you are getting most of the nutrients, you still have to make sure that you are getting the right amount. Therefore, it would be best if you will get a regular supply of supplements, so that you can also make sure that you are getting the amount that you need.
The kind of supplement that a child with autism has to take will depend on the food that he is eating. More calcium supplements may be required if a child is following a dairy-free diet. A test can determine the nutrients that a child needs. After the test, you will know which supplement is needed and which is already sufficient. You should undergo the test first to avoid getting overdosed with the nutrients as this can also hinder having a healthy body.
To sum up, supplements can be your choice if you need to enhance your diet and if you need certain amounts of nutrients that you don’t get in the food that you are eating.
You can get your child checked if you want to assess the improvements. You can try to measure the vitamin levels of the person, and you can ask a professional for the actual type of test that can best assess the vitamin and mineral levels.
For children with autism, there is a recommended amount of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients so that his body will also improve. However, as a person still has tendencies to have different needs, it would still be important that observation and tests be conducted to ensure that the right amount is achieved. The dosage would have to start low and gradually increase after a few weeks. This will help a person adapt to the changes, allowing his body to react the right way.
Tests would still be the best indicator of the amount that a person needs. The child’s weight will also be a factor to consider in the dosage recommendation.
This form of treatment needs to be done consistently. The diet should continuously improve so that dependence on the supplement will be lessened. Also, there are vitamins that should only be taken at a recommended level. Taking more of these vitamins can be harmless since the excess is secreted as waste, but there are others that can build up in the body and act as toxins. The nutritionist or health expert can help determine the right amount for a child. One should know his limits for the nutrients that he is taking.
To support this kind of treatment, there are also studies conducted that prove that when a person has a balanced amount of vitamins and minerals, there are improvements in his health and these are manifested in the body and in the behavior of a person.
This also supports the fact that children with autism have greatly improved when the right amount is taken. Sleeping patterns, the gut function, and other parts of an individual’s body also improved. With the higher amount of vitamins in the body of an individual with autism, the body reacts in a better way. This also improves the way that he behaves.
Moreover, several other studies show that children with autism suffer from oxidative stress, so they need extra sources of antioxidants.
If you think that there is “something not right” with your child you must find out as soon as possible if autism is the issue. Treatments are less effective with each passing day as we grow older, so find out now with the complete autism resource for determining symptoms and goes into depth about ALL treatment options for autism, natural AND medical. So do your family a favor and check out the information at Autism Symptoms
You can also make extra money to help pay for treatment and training by telling people about this helpful resource. You earn $26.30 for each book sold, so start making money by clicking Autism Symptoms Affiliates
Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Diet: Will it Reduce the Symptoms of Autism in Your Children?
July 23, 2009
This is Part 2, if you missed part 1 you can view it here.
If you will engage in this form of treatment, you will see that there is a visible benefit in the children. Avoiding these foods can improve the behavior of the children.
This form of treatment should be permanently done to get the benefits and to avoid risks of having the allergic reactions again.
Since dairy products should be avoided, you should still ensure that the child with autism is getting their calcium needs fulfilled. There are other food substances that can be used as substitutes for dairy products. One can also use calcium supplements.
You can simply try to engage in this treatment and see if there are improvements in the behavior of the patient.
To support this treatment, there are various studies done that claim the relevance of this improved diet to cure autism. The studies also show that the digestive enzymes may have some help, but it would still be best if the diet is the one that is altered permanently.
The studies also show that there is an abnormal level of peptide in the blood of the children with autism. The diet improved the behavior of the children and minimized panic attacks, hyperactivity, and other behavioral problems.
With this change in the diet, children with autism have a greater chance to improve. It can be used with other forms of treatment so that greater advantages will be achieved. There are also other forms of diet that are continuously being studied as this can also help treat autism or at least help in the improvement in the behavior of the children.
If you think that there is “something not right” with your child you must find out as soon as possible if autism is the issue. Treatments are less effective with each passing day as we grow older, so find out now with the complete autism resource for determining symptoms and goes into depth about ALL treatment options for autism, natural AND medical. So do your family a favor and check out the information at Autism Symptoms
You can also make extra money to help pay for treatment and training by telling people about this helpful resource. You earn $26.30 for each book sold, so start making money by clicking Autism Symptoms Affiliates
Autism Allergy: Do Allergies Cause Autism in Children Part 2
July 22, 2009
These tests cost some amount of money. If you don’t want additional expenses, you can still have another method by simply knowing the food that you should avoid. You can try eliminating foods that can trigger high-risk allergies. You should observe if through these methods, the child experiences improvements. You can bring back some food into the diet after a while to check if they could be safer to eat by then. Follow the rotation diet and observe for four days. When there is no reaction, you can once again eat that kind of food.
This form of treatment must be enforced permanently if the child manifests continuous irritation and allergy. There are also other instances when allergies disappear as the inflammation heals, and the digestive and immune system becomes normal once again.
Additionally, different studies that have also been conducted in the past support the fact that children with autism normally have food allergies. In relation to this, a study of Kushak and Buie shows that a person with autism does not fully digest the food he eats because of underactive digestive enzymes for complex sugars. As a result, the person finds it hard to digest foods that contain starch and also sugar.
More studies proved that this kind of treatment works. Lucarelli et. al. conducted a study on 36 children with autism, and they found out that within 8 weeks that the children avoided eating allergic foods, there was an improved change in their behavior.
Gut inflammation is found to be common in children with autism, and this is one of the seen causes why most of these children suffer from food allergies. With their guts inflamed, food eaten is not fully digested. It passes through the blood of the individual and triggers the allergic reaction.
If you will enforce this treatment method to a child with autism, there are more chances for improvement in the behavior of the child. Also, it would be easier to catch his attention and retain it.
FREE just released ebook “Study on Major Biomedical Treatments for Autism” available at Autism Treatments resource website.
You can also make extra money to help pay for treatment and training by telling people about this helpful resource. You earn $26.30 for each book sold, so start making money by clicking Autism Symptoms Affiliates
What is Autism Spectrum Disorder – This is the Answer to a Question That Every Parent Should Know
July 2, 2009
What is autism spectrum disorder? Eugene Bleuler first coined the term autism in 1912. This Swiss psychiatrist used the word when explaining a schizophrenic’s difficulty in connecting with others. He choose this word because if means self.
Later, in 1943, Dr. Leo Kanner, after studying eleven children suffering similar symptoms, used the expression early infantile autism. He also picked this word because of its Greek origins, which also came from the word meaning self. He did this because he felt that a main symptom the children suffered from included an interest in themselves but not the world around them. Dr. Kanner wrote a paper based on his observation that was published in a medical publication called The Nervous Child. While this publication has long since disappeared every symptom that Kanner described in his paper are still felt to be typical behaviors of autism to this day. There are different kinds of autism, the most common one is known as Kanner’s Autism.
The term autism describes a neurodevelopmental disorder with a variety of symptoms and characteristics whose focus is on abnormal social relationships and interplay, difficulties with communications of both the verbal and non-verbal kind, a lack of focus in normal play and repetitive pattern behaviors.
Around the same time that Kanner was working with his patients, Dr. Hans Asperger was having similar results with patients who were higher functioning but exhibiting similar symptoms. This disorder was later called Asperger’s syndrome. The Second World War delayed his findings becoming well known, as did a wait of nearly fifty years to translate his conclusions into English. I was not until the late 1990s that his work was incorporated into the ongoing research into autism.
When you put these two together you get what is now referred to as ASD; autism spectrum disorders. They are two of the five pervasive developmental disorders, PDD, listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
In someone with autism they way the perceive the world can be very different than someone without autism. Their sensory reactions seem to be affected strongly. Something with a light scent to you or I may smell foul or excessively strong to someone with autism. Light that just brightens our way can be found to be blinding to an autistic. Just like a gentle touch may feel painful.
It’s difficult to treat when each person suffers somewhat different symptoms. Since there is no cure there are controversies about treatment. Some say it’s not a disorder its what these people are born with. Others claim that treatment does more harm than good and that autistics are better left alone than intruded on. The last camp heard from feel that whatever can be done to help people with autism cope in the world is worth the time and money invested.
If you think that there is “something not right” with your child you must find out as soon as possible if autism is the issue. Treatments are less effective with each passing day as we grow older, so find out now with the complete autism resource for determining symptoms and goes into depth about ALL treatment options for autism, natural AND medical. So do your family a favor and check out the information at Autism Symptoms.
You can also make extra money to help pay for treatment and training by telling people about this helpful resource. You earn $26.30 for each book sold, so start making money by clicking Autism Symptoms Affiliates