It is such a relief to find this message board! I read a few messages and its nice to know I'm not the only one fighting hair cuts and nail clipping. My son is 31/2 and we got the diagnose just weeks before his 3 birthday. I'm scrambling around to find out as much information as I can such as the best route to take as far as therapy. He is attending a wonderful school and I just got him into an OT. I want to do as much as I can for him. I have heard of some children being integrated into regular elementary classes.
Does anyone have any encouraging words on when their children started talking and anything they did to help it along? He has some words but doesn't use them all the time. His school has helped a great deal with paying attention and he looks at us in the eyes a lot more now. He started following directions too. But there is so much I don't know yet and we have so far to go. I welcome any helpful hints!

Hi Meganpa,
I started my son on DMG, mag, and b-6 vitamins shortly before his 4th birthday. At the time, he only spoke 10 words, after 3 months of taking vitamins, he was up to 200, plus he had eye contact, and lost his repetive behavoirs. They also have supernuthera that you can buy through kirkman labs. I personally like to add dmg (dimethylglycine) to the mix when I use to use it. Many people I've met that have tried vitamin therapy have seen many improvements. Anyway, I wish you luck.

NICKSMOM
Thaks so much for your reply! I will be looking into that. My son is cosidered to have mild autism and I just (like all moms) want to do all that I can for him. I feel that I have catching up to do since his autism started to show up shortly after 18 months but we thought it was his ears (he had 8 ear infections in 1 year). It took us a new pediatrition, Pitts. Childrens Hospital, and a year to figure it out.
Thanks again
Megan

Megan,

My son is 5 1/2 and has come a long way in the last year. He is on Super Nu Thera along with other vitamins and minerals with the help of a nutritionist. Super Nu Thera was formulated for our children and is available through Kirkland Laboratories. You mentioned that your son has ear infections and so did my son. He had chronic ear infections from 3 months to 3 years. Two sets of tubes. First set was inserted at age 8 months. After researching autism, it was brought to my attention that alot of our kids have allergy issues as well. I bought a book called "Is this you Child" by Doris Rapp and decided after reading it that my son probably has allergy issues. I took him to see an allergist and sure enough he doe's. Milk is a problem for him and I wondered that for many years but was told that he was fine. Milk allergies have alot to do with ear infections. Have you had your child tested for allergies?

My son is in Speech and OT in the public schools as well as privately. He see a private psychologist once a week. He is taking music therapy and vitamin therapy as mentioned above. He is doing very well. His speech has picked up tremendouly (but still behind) and his fine motor skills went up 10 months in a 5 month time period (and still behind). He still has behavior issues we are working out, but these too have gotten much better. His attending skills have gotten better in school but are not where they need to be for kindergarten. They are saying that another year in PPCD and he will be ready for mainstream kindergarten. He is very smart. He knows his ABC's, Counts to about 25, knows his shapes, colors, address, telephone number, eats with a spoon and fork, is fully potty trained (since 3 1/2) and much, much more. I'm very, very proud of my son.

Last but not least, always believe and have faith in your child and you will see miracles happen right before you eyes. I see miracles everyday and you will too if you keep the faith.

Rachel

Rachel-
Thats great to hear! I too am proud of the progress my son has made in the few months he attended school. Thank you for the encouraging words! I have a lot of allergies in my family, in fact I myself have severe allergies and I have noticed environmental allergies popping up in my son but I didn't know that they were related to autism. I had not heard that they have an effect on our children.

I have my son in OT treatment and he is waiting to get speech. I had heard of music therapy and think my son would love it. He sings a lot! He watches childrens movies and picks the songs up very quickly. Sometimes it isn't all that clear but you can definately tell he is singing the song. I'm not sure if music therapy is available in my area. I will be checking in to it. Thank you so much for the advice!

Megan

Megan,

My son started music therapy through his OT. The company name is Vital Sounds. I think you can look them up on the internet.

Rachel