Autism
How is Autism diagnosed?
There are no medical tests that can definitively diagnose autism. Physicians and psychologists use a system of specific behavioral evaluations that can help determine if your child is at risk for developing the autism. If your baby shows any sign of the following, please ask your pediatrician for an evaluation:
- No big smiles, or other warm, joyful expressions by 6 months or there after
- No back-and-forth sharing of sounds, smiles or other facial expressions by nine months or thereafter
- No babbling by 12 months
- No back-and-forth gestures, such as pointing, showing, reaching or waving by 12 months
- No words by 16 months
- No two word meaningful phrases (without imitating or repeating) by 24 months
- Any loss of speech or babbling or social skills at any age.
Treatment options
A significant amount of data has been collected that evaluates the benefits of various treatment options for autism, they include:
- Ruling out allergies (food or environmental);
- Addressing any problems with the digestive system
- Testing for/and eliminating any issues with toxins
- Ruling out underlying infections
- Specific nutritional supplements that support cognitive development and help with stress management.
74% noticed an improvement to detoxification
72% noticed an improvement with B12
69% noticed an improvement with a gluten-free casein free diet
66% noticed an improvement with melatonin
62% noticed an improvement with digestive enzymes
58% noticed improvement with an anti-Candida diet.
45% noticed an improvement when the eggs were removed from the diet
These are just some examples of treatment options that help some patients. It would probably be best to schedule a consultation so that we can determine which treatment options are best for your child. At my office I use a number of diagnostic tests including allergy testing, heavy metal testing, test to evaluate the digestive system, and neurotransmitter testing. This can help us find some of the underlying causes and give us a way to track our progress.
Whenever someone in the family is dealing with a chronic health issue, it affects everyone in the family. Healthy lifestyle changes can help everyone feel better and deal with the stress more easily.
Some of my patients have expressed concern implementing dietary changes and how they might further isolate the autistic child from the members of the family. As part of my medical school education I personally tried many different restricted diets. There are a wide variety of products available that can help parents follow a restricted diet still provide their children with foods that they can enjoy. We have helped hundreds of patients with healthy lifestyle changes and can provide shopping lists, recipes and answer any questions that you might have to make this process as easy as possible.