I TiVo’d the Discovery Health show Amazing Families when it featured a family of eight. All six of the children are on the Autism Spectrum. This was an extremely disturbing show for me. I actually have not been able to watch all three episodes. I am so conflicted by the episodes I have seen. First and foremost, these are not my children and I am not living their life, so I have absolutely no right or place to judge this family. It goes against my nature as the mom of an ASD child to EVER judge another family on the spectrum. I have not walked a mile in their shoes so I have no right to question their methods or decisions. But I look at these children and I see children that probably have heavy metal poisoning and I believe many of their classic Autistic traits could be controlled and possibly eliminated by doing a biomedical intervention. I really am not judging them, but instead I feel terribly sorry and concerned for them that these children could be doing significantly better if they were simply put on a GFCF diet. I don’t think it is a cure-all, and of course there are children that do not respond to the diet, but I am positive many of the typical, classic autistic characteristics are due to the side effects of leaky gut and physical pain.
I am not picking on this family. Instead it makes me mad that this family has not been told, by the medical community, that there are other treatments that can help their children. I feel the AAP, CDC, AMA and FDA have a duty to offer alternative treatments such as biomedical interventions to help cure or at least recover all children on the Autism Spectrum.
Watching this family only reiterated for me the fact that many of our children are suffering from true physical pain. And more importantly it highlighted the fact that “professionals” are not doing Autistic families any favors. Teaching families that they must accept this diagnosis and that there are no treatments, outside of OT, PT and ABA, for Autism saddens and scares me. It makes me want to cry. This family, and all families of Autistic children, deserve better. I want those children to have every chance at recovery. I think I looked into their faces and saw Matthew. Their oldest son had me considering what Matthew’s future may be and I could only pray for this child’s well being. If I could only have one wish this Christmas season, it would be that all Autistics recover. Biomedical interventions and therapies need to be investigated and all Autistics need the opportunity to try them with the help of their doctors. Mainstream doctors need to come around and be true pioneers, true physicians, and look beyond what they were once taught to what is really happening out in the real world. Obviously, for many of us, biomedical interventions are recovering our children. There has to be something real there. I guess I just want the medical community to GET REAL.
I know what you mean. It kills me that some parents have the knowledge of what to do, and some don’t–usually depending on when they hear what! it makes me feel bad. I watch my son recovering, and I watch many others not (who are not doing biomed and 30 p[lus hrs. ada one on one). It kills me.
That is exactly what I mean. The word needs to get out. These people just didn’t have the support and the knowledge to get the help their children needed so they were believing what the so called professionals were telling them – just take them home and love them and hope for the best. It made me really made at the “professionals”.
I have seen this same show and it just shocked me to see that there are hardly any interventions for the Aspergers children, they seem to just let stuff go. I wouldn’t let my children destroy the house or,live in such unorganized chaos. For my son if the house is out of order it makes him crazy and his behavior improves in a clean and organized environment. While I don’t agree with all the medical interventions I do see that they could be doing more.