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Strength Beyond What Is Normal …A Mother’s Story…
(this is a true story)
His name was “Curley”, and he was the meanest Bull that you had ever seen…and yes…I am talking about a real “Bull” with four legs and horns. Uncle Homer had always warned about Curley, and the whole family would shutter, as he would tell the tale of the time when Curley had him cornered and he had to crawl under the truck.
Well one day, as the family sat by the lake, my mother and her cousin who were only little girls at the time, were walking along the fence when they saw to their horror, “Curley was out!” My mother still remembers feeling Curley’s hot breath on the back of her heels, as she and her cousin Nancy ran toward the rest of the family, down by the lake.
Needless to say, when the family saw the scene, they all leaped up from their chairs and started running, all except one person…My Nana, my mother’s mother. She stood up, feet planted and with a determination, that we see in movies where the hero sacrifices himself on behalf of the noblest of causes…She picked up a lawn chair, and held it in front of Curley’s charging advances, while she said, “Stop, Curley!” Her voice was low, and resolute, and her stance was firm and unshaken…and…Guess What? Curley stopped…yes he stopped right then and there, and slowly turned and walked away.
You all may be wondering why I have just related this story, and what it may have to do with Autism. Well, I personally gain a tremendous amount of strength from the deeper meaning as we answer the pending question that we all have. Why would a slight little woman of only 5ft 4in, go up against this ferocious animal…especially, when everyone else just ran for their lives…a pretty normal reaction to a charging bull…don’t you think?
Well, you see, that little lady was reacting to an instinct that is stronger than any force out there…The intense Love and Protective Bond that a mother has for her child. Her child, her little girl, that she loved more than life itself, was in imminent danger, and so there was never a question in her mind when she held up that chair…she had to “Stop the Bull!”
All mothers have this knee/jerk reaction when it comes to the protection of our most precious possessions, our children, but when it comes to mothering a child that is on the Autism Spectrum…well, that is a whole different level and dimension of protection. To me, “Curley the Bull” represent “The Autism Spectrum”…and this bull is charging…head on towards our children. As mothers, and parents of our beloved children…we see the danger…and we face it, with feet planted, head on! We don’t hesitate, and we don’t even think of ourselves or our own fears…even though we may have them…Our children are our priority, and nothing shakes our focus from our love and protection of them.
We muster up, with strength beyond what is normal to face the bull that is Autism, and we grab a chair and hold it firmly in front of it’s advances. We face the bull that is Curley everyday with gut wrenching courage. It can take quite the toll as well, because the world that we live in, sometimes feels very ill equipped to deal with the “Bull” that is Autism. It is a constant protection that we feel we must bolster up as well, as this Bull of Autism has many faces, and of things that most mothers of typical children are not used to facing and protecting their children from. Things like school, peers, society, ect.
Others may not understand us, or comprehend the magnitude of this level of protection that we have developed deep in our hearts, just as all the others in my story that ran away. Nevertheless, they see it, and they admire it as something very rare indeed. As this is story of my grandmother and “Curley” the Bull is still a favorite tale in my family that is told again and again with much fondness, for now some 60 years.
So be of good courage, my friends…and stand firm…put on your concrete shoes, and grab up your chair! Take a firm grip, and “Face It”…with unrelenting vigor…The “Bull” that is “Autism”.
Kimberly Larochelle
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Time magazine put Temple Grandin on its list of the 100 most influential people of the year! HBO produced an award winning movie based on her life! Books such as, “Thinking in Pictures” and “Emergence: Labeled Autistic”, have been written as well in which Temple Grandin wrote about Autism.
Grandin, now considered a high-functioning person with autism, earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois and is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University . It is amazing to realize that when she was a child, the doctors told her parents that she should be institutionalized. This was a common recommendation for autistic children in the 1950’s. Thankfully, her parents refused and got her intensive intervention.
Temple Grandin spoke to an audience of 2,500 at Drury University . Mary Failla, and received a standing ovation. The autism community understandably admires her very much and her life’s work is exceptionally motivating. Here is a clip of part of her speech, and I hope all find it as inspiring as I did.
http://www.theautismnews.com/2011/03/04/autistic-professor-temple-grandin-inspires-crowd/
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Last week ABC Action News, Medical Correspondent, Linda Hurtado came to my office to interview me about my thoughts on this study. The study in BMC Medicine suggests that it may be possible to predict which infants are at risk of developing ASD based on patterns of brain activity. In this study, there were 79 infants, between ages 6 to 24 months, 46 of whom were considered at a high risk of developing ASD. Infants were fitted with net containing electrodes and their brain waves were measured, as the children watched a researcher blow bubbles. The brain wave pattern in the high risk group was different. If they can find a marker like this, it will give us some glimpse of early detection and therefore incorporate earlier intervention, thus leading to the best outcomes for these children.
Link to study and ABC News Story:
http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/health/using-brain-waves-to-predict-autism-spectrum-disorder-in-infants
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I recently had a patient present to the office for a neurological consultation regarding a learning disability, ADHD or an issue relating to the autism spectrum. It appears that the little girl was spacing out and had difficulty concentrating. In my seminars, I always speak about patients on the autism spectrum not having any hard lesions. That is to say, their MRI is normal in regards to not having any tumors, infections, malformations etc. For example if the child has a tumor, then his diagnosis is not autism but would be whatever type of tumor was found. It is only when all these hard lesions are ruled out that the diagnosis of autism is considered. This type of screening ensures that we are then dealing with a functional lesion. This means that all the structures in the brain are present. It then becomes a question of the function of the brain, its connections and coherence. Another fairly common test that is performed on a child suspected of being on the autism spectrum is an EEG. In this case, we would be looking for seizures. In the case above we would be concerned with absent seizures in which the patient seems to space out or be “absent” consciously even though they are present physically. In my practice ,we have quite a few patients that have both a history of an autism diagnosis as well as a seizure disorder. Please be aware that a patient can have an autism spectrum disorder, a seizure disorder or they may have both. The patient’s treatment will of course be affected by the category into which they fall. for example functional neurologist often use light as a technique to introduce a stimulus into the visual system. If the patient recently had an EEG in which the flashing of lights triggered a seizure, then that information certainly needs to be considered when developing a treatment plan for that particular patient. In any case, many patients being evaluated for these types of conditions will have an MRI and an EEG performed as part of their work up. Those tests should exclude other conditions being a cause of your child’s issues and your child not being part of the autism spectrum. A recent study in the Journal of Brain Development found that 24.6% individuals in the study with infantile autism had at least one epilepsy diagnosis versus 1.5% in the comparison group. The take-home of this article is make sure your basics are covered so that the most appropriate treatment plan can be instituted for your child.
Brain Dev. 2010 Jul 22. [Epub ahead of print]
A longitudinal study of epilepsy and other central nervous system diseases in individuals with and without a history of infantile autism.
Mouridsen SE, Rich B, Isager T.
Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Bispebjerg University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Abstract
Objective: To compare the prevalence and types of epilepsy and other central nervous system (CNS) diseases in a clinical sample of 118 individuals diagnosed as children with infantile autism (IA) with 336 matched controls from the general population. Methods: All participants were screened through the nationwide Danish National Hospital Register (DNHR). The average observation time was 30.3years (range 27-30years), and mean age at follow-up was 42.7years (range 27-57years). Results: Of the 118 individuals with IA, 29 (24.6%) were registered with at least one epilepsy diagnosis against 5 (1.5%) in the comparison group (p<0.0001; OR=21.6; 95% CI 8.1-57.3). Other CNS diseases occurred with low frequency in both groups and only cerebral palsy, unspecified (p=0.02) was significantly more frequent among participants with a history of IA. Conclusions: Our study lends further support to the notion that epilepsy, but not other CNS diseases, is a common comorbid condition in IA. Low intelligence, but not gender, was a risk factor for epilepsy in IA. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PMID: 20655678 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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The most common although certainly not the most popular diet for those on the autism spectrum is the gluten-free diet. In my practice, I find that I have the least resistance to recommending supplements. I have moderate resistance to recommending therapies. I have the most resistance when asking someone to comply with a diet. The most common diets we recommend are the elimination diet and the gluten-free diet. Although we offer assistance such as introductory information, support from other parents and even shopping trips to the grocery store guided by more experienced parents, many still seem to struggle with the gluten-free diet. Please check out this website that will ship ready to prepare gluten-free meals to your door. Obviously, there is a cost but for some the convenience is worth it. Here is the link http://www.gfmeals.com/ and here is a link on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/gfMeals?ref=mf
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One of the major findings with biomedical interventions and functional medicine as applied to autism spectrum disorders is gluten sensitivity. I found a nice video series Children’s Hospital in Boston that explains how to create a gluten-free home. In addition, this is only one of a series of videos which relates to things such as gluten-free cooking and gluten-free shopping. So check out this video and feel free to check out the entire series. I think the series will be very informative even to those of you who are experienced with the gluten-free diet. For those who are brand-new to the diet this is a wealth of information in a nice concise and easy to learn format. Just watch and learn.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ChildrensHospital#p/u/48/neqJJy-2INg
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When I stared this blog, I originally intended to just write about Autism from the doctors perspective. I thought that this would be different and not something I had seen out on the web. My patient’s parents convinced me to broaden the scope of converstion as this subject is immense in the way that it touches peoples lives. Of course, I try to write articles now and again to educate parents of treatments that are available especially hemispheric Integration Therapy and functional medicine. This week I was inspired and encourage by the news that one of my toughest patients ( if not the toughest) had made a little progress. He is a 10 year old non verbal autistic child. He is a very sweet boy but you can feel the frustration inside him at times. He has great parents and is a happy child. He is difficult to work with because as I always say ” the more the child can do, the more I can do with him.” That is, the more tools that are available to help him. So, unfortunately it is easier to help an high functioning child than a low functioning child. Things such as no eye contact and not being able to follow instructions or mimic movements make it more difficult to apply the concepts of Hemispheric Integration Therapy for the purpose of helping a child. It is not to say that it can’t be done but it is a longer slower process we have to eventually get the child to the point where he can do more active participation. This often requires quite a bit of creativity and patience to achieve the goal. However, it can be done. Many times it is not a matter of capability but one of cooperation. That is to say, that at times, the children can do what is required but for the sake of “control ” don’t want to cooperate or at least only on their terms. This is where the parent and I get creative in trying to find various methods tho motivate the child to participate, which of course is for his own good, even if he doesn’t get it yet. Lately, with this child we have been getting more out of him at his therapy sessions than ever before. Last week this boys was clearly trying to tell me to do something, more than he ever has before. He can make sounds such as “Bah. He made several sounds and gestured but neither I nor mom could figure it out. This is a time when you could see frustration. This week his mom told me that for the first time he made two sounds in a row. That is, he was trying to say “more coke” and said “mmm kkkk.” That is exciting to me, gave me a boost of energy and had me up most of the night trying to figure out a way to enhance his treatment plan after taking into consideration what he appears to be responding to. It is not always a matter of what a child needs but also what we can do with him . In any case, I hope we are on our way to helping this child speak (a big thing) and that would thrill me almost as mush as it would thrill his mom.
