My Son's Recovery from Autism- Without Pseudoscience!

A year ago, when I wrote "My Normal Baby's 12-Month Regression," I made a mental note to come back and update everyone in a year about my son's progress. After a significant developmnental regression, I knew that it was extremely likely that he, like his older sister, would be on the autism spectrum.

I never would have guessed just how remarkable the last year would be for my son. I never would have guessed that I would go from having an autistic one-year-old to a non-autistic two-year-old.
 Anti-vaxxers collectively spend millions on "curing" autism with bizarre treatment-- check out "10 Batshit Autism Treatments" for more on that-- but these treatments don't work and, worse, they're dangerous. I'm happy to say that my son was "cured" of autism in the only way that is backed by scientific study and endorsed by the Amerian Academy of Pediatrics.

I'll preface this with a (fictional) story. Suppose that a toddler's parents recognize that he is left-handed. There's a safe, effective method that can teach most left-handed toddlers to become ambidextrous, and the toddler's parents use it. Within a year, the toddler is functionally ambidextrous, and is able to use tools and machines designed for right-handed people, eliminating a problem that many lefties face.

This situation would not mean that a left-handed child is defective, or broken. It wouldn't mean that people should stop accommodating the needs of left-handed children and adults. It wouldn't change the fundamental fact that the child was born left-handed. It would simply mean that the child was given tools at an early age and was able to keep the good parts of being a lefty while never needing to worry that a classroom tool is made for someone else's grasp.

This is how I see my son. He was never broken and he was never in need of healing, but I gave him the ability to thrive in a world that is not made for people like him-- to such an extent that he effectively became neurologically "ambidextrous."

Darwin on his first day of school, last week.

My son Darwin's story goes like this:

At twelve months, Darwin had an extreme and sudden developmental regression. Since he had an older sister on the spectrum and had seemed "different" from birth, I contacted my community's Early Intervention program, which evaluated him and found that he had significant delays in several areas, including social-communication and motor skills. We began a weekly home-based program to address developmental problems including gross motor delays, extreme anxiety, sensory difficulties, disordered sleep, delayed speech, poor eye contact, and selective hearing.

At one point, Darwin's delays were so significant that I made myself come to terms with the possibility that he may grow up to be nonverbal-- the "bad" kind of autism that most parents fear.

Darwin's progress was by no means immediate. Even with Early Intervention, he did not walk until seventeen months and his sleep disturbances were so severe that, as a single mother, I was losing my mind. His neurologist suggested that I keep a tally chart to see how many times per night he was awakening, and I was disturbed to wake up and see fifteen to twenty tally marks every night. Several times, I fell asleep at stop-signs and red lights while driving his older sister to school. He would not respond to his name. He wouldn't speak to me. He wouldn't make eye contact.

At around a year and a half, it was pretty undeniable that Darwin was on the spectrum. His pediatrician, Early Interventionist, neurologist, and developmental pediatrician all agreed that it was unlikely that he was not autistic. Yet, he started to make progress, bit by bit.

In addition to his weekly Early Intervention meetings, where we discussed home-based strategies that would help him, Darwin received occupational therapy to help with his sensory processing difficulties. He also had speech therapy, which helped address early signs of echolalia (compulsive repetition of another person's words) and difficulty with auditory processing.

Every parent has a few moments in their child's development that they savor the most, those precious memories that they return to when they need to remember why it's all worthwhile. First words and first steps are common, but for the parents of special-needs kids, there are unsung milestones that matter just as much. I remember when Darwin finally (and suddenly) started speaking in real sentences. When he responded to his name. When he answered a question with "yes" or "no," instead of repetition. When he waved bye-bye for the first time following his regression. When he heard a washing machine and didn't scream in terror. When he let me buckle him into a car seat without a huge fight.

These memories mean everything to me. And, collectively, they added up to create the wonderful two-year-old that Darwin is today.

In the three weeks since Darwin's second birthday, we've had some amazing developments. He had his annual evaluation with Early Intervention, where we found that he'd gone from having severe delays in several areas, to being extremely advanced in every area tested. His social and communication skills are exceptionally advanced and he's finally hitting gross motor milestones on time.

 He speaks in long, complex sentences-- "Mama, if story time is over, would you like to rock in the rocking chair instead?"-- and plays well with his peers. He can run, jump with both feet on the ground, and initiate conversations with his peers. He started preschool last week and is thriving completely. He only wakes up once or twice a night and usually puts himself back to bed. Today, he "tested out" of occupational therapy and speech therapy, since he has no delays and his sensory processing abilities are now essentially typical.

Part of the summary sheet from Darwin's last home EI visit.

I couldn't possibly be more proud.

Given his monumental advances in the last couple of months, Darwin's care team now largely believes that he does not, at this point, have diagnosable autism. He has an evaluation scheduled for this November, after which I'll be able to say with certainty if he is currently autistic... But, at this point, I would be surprised if he meets any of the diagnostic criteria.

There's much about Darwin's story that is bittersweet. The part that hurts me the most is that I know, in my heart, that his sister would have had the same level of progress if I'd been as vigilant about evidence-based treatments, but I was so wrapped up in crunchy culture that I delayed and avoided these treatments when they would have been most effective. While she is happy and wonderful and thriving in her own way, it hurts as a mother to know that I could have helped her sooner but was too arrogant to do so. It hurts to know that her own struggles would have been far easier if I had put her needs ahead of my ideals.

I'm currently 24 weeks pregnant with a precious little boy, my third child. It's amazing to think about how much I have learned and grown as a parent through every step of my children's journeys. In my eight years as a mother, I have become a completely different person because of an ever-evolving struggle to be the parent my kids deserve. After all I've learned through my oldest two, I can't wait to see what my third will be able to teach me.

I don't want to change my kids. I don't believe that autism is a disease to be cured. However, I do want my children to be happy and healthy and to thrive to the best of their abilities. If I was able to "cure" Darwin's delays and sensory-processing difficulties to the point that he fell off the spectrum, I view that as something worth celebrating--

and as one more sign that the answers parents need are in science, not in naturalistic idealism.

Jeff Bradstreet Abuses Children, Commits Suicide

I normally have deep sympathy for suicide victims, but there are rare exceptions. For example, I wasn't sad when Ariel Castro offed himself, and I'm not particularly sad that Jeff Bradstreet-- a child-abusing quack who endangered dozens of kids' lives with his "alternative" treatments-- is dead.

Bradstreet was an example of a truly vile and disgusting human being who put his goal of profit far ahead of his oath to protect his patients.

He became famous when he published a series of studies, none of which made the cut for peer-reviewed scientific journals, stating that thimerosal-- a mercury compound once used as a preservative in vaccines-- is the sole cause of autism. I don't even need to cite studies to debunk his claims, since autism rates have continued to rise since thimerosal was removed from routine immunizations, and since my own daughter was autistic before she was ever vaccinated. But, for the record, 131 studies- 107 of them listed here-- have found no link between vaccines and autism.

Bradstreet's practices went far beyond simply encouraging parents to avoid vaccines, although that would be dangerous enough. He subjected children to painful and dangerous procedures that were entirely unnecessary and provided no benefit. One of thousands of victims was Colten Snyder, whose parents brought him to Bradstreet's office 160 times in eight years.

There was no reason to believe that Colten was suffering from  mercury poisoning. A hair test showed a low level of mercury in his hair-- less than average for his age-- while a urine test found no detectable mercury, and five blood tests over the course of six years showed mercury levels well within the normal range. But Bradstreet insisted that-- since mercury is the only cause of autism-- Colten was suffering from severe mercury poisoning.

What ensued can only be described as medical torture. Colten was subjected to numerous spinal taps, had scopes inserted into his stomach, and-- worst of all-- was forced into years of chelation therapy. Chelation therapy  is a last-resort treatment for serious forms of confirmed heavy metal poisoning. It is only used in extreme cases because it is an inherently dangerous process, even when medically necessary. When administered by quacks like Bradstreet, it routinely causes dehydration, malnutrition, kidney damage, liver damage, allergic reactions, anemia, cancer, and-- ironically-- developmental disabilities caused by the toxicity of the treatment.

Even Jeff Bradstreet himself admitted that Colten reacted poorly to chelation therapy. After each session, he would experience discomfort, illness, weakness, and developmental regression. Yet Bradstreet continued milking Colten's parents for money while administering abusive treatments for eight whole years. In 2009, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims determined that not only had Bradstreet engaged in dangerous and unnecessary mistreatment of Colten, but that Colten's treatment was indicative of a larger pattern of medical abuse of autistic children in Bradstreet's hands.

Bradstreet managed to continue practicing his corrupt and abusive form of medicine, but not without drawing the attention of the FDA. In June of 2015, the FDA raided Bradstreet's office with the help of the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency. Although the FDA hasn't been clear about the reason for the search, the involvement of the GDNA suggests that he may have been involved in dealing controlled substances in addition to his long-standing career in the medical abuse of children. Whatever was found during the raid, it was damning enough that Bradstreet shot himself less than a week after the search, while the FDA carried out their investigation.

It's not surprising that conspiracy theorists have claimed that-- in some mind-blowing effort orchestrated effort by the Pharmaceutical Industry, the FDA, the GDNA, local and federal law enforcement, and an unspecified hitman-- Bradstreet was murdered. They say that this was to hide the success of his "treatments" and to continue covering up a link between autism and immunization. So far, I haven't heard anyone explain how murdering him could have possibly been necessary or beneficial to preserving anyone's profits, but conspiracy theorists aren't known for being the most sane or stable people.

I feel sorry for Jeff Bradstreet's family and loved ones. Losing a loved one is always difficult, especially when it happens through suicide. However, I have very little sympathy for Bradstreet himself. I don't feel sorry for people who become wealthy by abusing children and then make a cowardly escape when there a a threat of accountability. When child abusers die, it makes the world is a safer and healthier place for children. My sympathy goes only to his loved ones and his victims.

10 Most Batshit Autism Treatments

Trigger warning: this stuff is disturbing, especially if you are a survivor of child abuse.

When the news about parents using enemas of Miracle Mineral Supplement-- also known as chlorine dioxide, or bleach-- to treat autism made the rounds over the last few months, I was relatively quiet about my feelings on it. This will be the first time I admit why I didn't say or write something sooner.

You see, back in my crunchy days, I messed up in a lot of ways,and this was one of them.

I knew that this was happening six whole years ago, and I did nothing to stop it. 

No, those aren't worms. They're pieces of a child's intestines.

I even personally knew one of the victims. She was seven. Her name was Danielle. When her grandmother, a friend of mine highly involved in alternative-medicine, told me that they were using chlorine dioxide enemas to treat her PDD-NOS (now known to be a form of autism), I thought that sounded strange and worried about what it might be doing to the Danielle, but I ultimately looked the other way and figured it was none of my business and her family was doing what was best for her.

Since then, I've seen graphic photos of bloody diarrhea and chunks of intestinal tissue pop up in parenting groups, where mothers using MMS asked if these results were normal or a sign that MMS was working. I feel sick-- not just from the horrors of the treatment, but also from knowing that it happened to a child I knew, and that I didn't do anything to stop it.

MMS bleach enemas have become the most notorious quack treatments for autism, but there are many more that are equally dangerous. Here are nine others, which are often (in cases like Caroline's) components of Munchausen-like cases of abuse.

1. Dolphin Therapy

This one might seem harmless enough, but swimming with dolphins is deadly and cruel-- not just for the dolphins held unfairly in captivity, but also for the children who are endangered by the practice. As I discussed in a previous post, dolphins are 300-pound predators who, when confined to unpleasant lives in captivity, can become unpredictable and deadly. You wouldn't treat autism by tossing your kid into a tiger cage, would you?

2. Chelation Therapy

Chelation therapy is a dangerous treatment that pulls heavy metals out of the bloodsteam. For people with extreme, life-threatening cases of heavy metal poisoning, it is sometimes worth the risk. However, even children with severe lead poisoning are almost never subjected to it, because it can cause lethal side effects including infection and organ failure. Using it to save the life of a child who ate an entire box of iron supplements might be sane. Using it to treat autism-- a condition that has nothing to do with heavy metals-- is deadly and abusive.

3. Chemical Castration

Parents actually do this to their children. Lupron is the trade name of a powerful drug that blocks the production of testosterone. It has no accepted medical use for children, except for sometimes delaying puberty in children with serious hormonal disorders. Parents request it for their autistic children largely because it can prevent what they call "testosterone-related behaviors" like masturbation and curiosity about sex. It doesn't appear to matter to these parents that the treatment has severe long-term physical and psychological consequences.

Some parents train their kids with shock collars.

Others use starvation and treats.
Others use clickers and rewards.
Others think their children are human.

Minor difference of philosophy.

4. Dog Training
In addition to "neutering" children with autism, some parents and medical experts also advise the use of dehumanizing therapies that are in practice nearly identical to dog training. Applied Behavioral Analysis is evidence-based in that it does "work" to make autistic kids more compliant and communicative, but it comes at a cost to the children's mental wellbeing. One ABA method, for example, involves making children go hungry and then rewarding them with food when they speak. Another involves the use of clicker training. It's not surprising that ABA is wholly condemned by most autistic adults who were "trained" with these techniques.

5. Shock Collars

In one disturbing form of autism treatment, popularized by a leading facility, children with  autism are forced to wear backpack-like devices that administer electric shock when he child misbehaves. Noticing a pattern here? Many of the most deranged forms of autism treatment are cruel even compared to the way we treat animals. It's not surprising that the ASPCA recommends against shock collars to punish barking dogs. Why treat your child worse than you would treat your chihuahua?

6. Holding Therapy

Holding therapy sounds benign enough-- nothing wrong with holding a child, right? Right-- unless you use the form of "holding therapy" commonly prescribed by quacks to treat autism. In a previous article, I discussed just why this "therapy," which involves restraining children against their will and forcing them into physical contact and eye contact, is actually very dangerous and inhumane. Not only is there no evidence supporting the use of holding therapy, but it's psychologically traumatizing and even deadly. Children have actually died as a result of injuries incurred from holding therapy and related forms of abuse.

7. Restrictive Diets

Of course, there's nothing at all wrong with limiting your kids' intake of junk food, regardless of their neurology. And, of course, parents have an obligation to avoid certain foods when the child has a bona fide allergy to their ingredients. The problem is that restrictive diets for autism go far beyond what could be considered safe or healthy. I discussed here why I will absolutely never use these restrictive diets for my children. In short, they can cause serious nutritional deficiencies and can worsen food-related compulsions in autistic children, who as a group are already highly susceptible to disordered eating.

8. Adrenal Cortical Extract

Adrenal cortical extract-- essentially the stress hormone of cows, in the form of an injection-- makes no sense as an autism treatment. There is no conceivable reason that it would treat autism and no evidence that it does so, yet parents like Caroline's gladly inject it into their children. I'll never understand why these parents, who are so terrified of injecting their children with researched, sterile, life-saving vaccines, eagerly inject them with cow hormones. The side effects of ACE can be very serious, and most often include painful infections of the site of the injection. Why do that to a child?

9. Putting Children in Refrigerators
It sounds like a bad joke, but it's real. Parents who use "packing" to treat autism strip their children down to their underwear, wrap the children up in cold towels so that they can't move, and then actually put their children into refrigerators. They do this several times a week. The treatment, which is most heavily promoted in France, has no known effective uses, and while proponents claim the risk of hypothermia is low, I can't imagine that it is healthy or safe.