Autism Spectrum Disorder

I wanted to take this opportunity to explain something that I am sure it is very obvious for those of us that have a child on the Spectrum, but not so clear for our family members and friends.

In my previous blog I mentioned that Jonathan's DAN! Dr. believes that Jonathan does not meet the criteria for autism but believes that he is still somewhere in the spectrum and would diagnose him as "very high functioning aspergers".

The word "Autism" is used to describe someone that may be diagnosed with any of the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but it is also one of the ASDs. And this makes the term complicated to understand (at least it was to me).

ASD is a spectrum of psychological conditions characterized by widespread abnormalities of social interactions and communication, as well as severely restricted interests and highly repetitive behavior.

The autism spectrum disorders are categorized by 5 different forms: the severe form called Autistic Disorder (also called “classic” autism), to a milder form, Asperger Disorder. If a child has symptoms of either of these disorders, but does not meet the specific criteria for either, the diagnosis is called Pervasive Developmental Disorder not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). These forms range in severity levels from low functioning to high functioning. Other 2 rare, very severe disorders that are included in the autism spectrum disorders are Rett Disorder and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) provides the criteria for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders.

Doctors diagnose based on observations and parental anecdotes. They perform a number of psychological assessments to gather information that will help them better assess the condition of the child. But there are no blood tests that can diagnose this disorder. Therefore, the diagnosis of a child can vary from doctor to doctor.

Jonathan was first diagnosed to have mid to severe autistic disorder. After a few interventions (6 months of gluten free / casein free diet, supplements, intestinal yeast protocol, Tomatis auditory processing and ABA behaviroral therapy) he was evaluated by a different group of doctors and the diagnosis changed to high functioning autistic disorder.

What his DAN! Dr. meant was that he believe Jonathan no longer meets the DSM-IV criteria for autistic disorder; but because he still has some odd behaviors and language problems, that will keep him in the Autism Spectrum.

Based on the DSM-IV criteria, I agree with the Dr. that Jonathan does not meet minimum number of items under the "autistic disorder" to be labeled under this category. I believe he still meets 4 of all the items listed, which means that he is still in the spectrum, but he needs a minimum of 6 to be categorized under the autistic disorder. And after reading the criteria for Aspergers, I disagree with the Dr. about the Aspergers diagnosis, because Aspies speak very well and that is Jonathan's main problem right now. I would consider him high functioning PDD-NOS. We'll see what Children's Hospital says.

Having said all that, I feel that we have reached a very significant milestone in our recovery journey, and I thank all of you who have reached out to us to give us their good thoughts. It is huge to be out of the most severe form of ASD. And we have worked very hard to reach this point, but we are still in the ASD world and we need to continue everything we are doing to make Jonathan as high functioning and indistinguishable as possible so that he has a fully independent and happy life. The good thing: we are definitely on the right track.

Chelation information

In very simple terms, chelation is a therapy used to detox the body from heavy metals. You can use natural chelators, like high doses of vitamin C or E (anti-oxidants), or ALA, or you can use chemical chelators like EDTA, DMSA or DMPS. There are other products that claim to chelate metals like zeolites , clay baths and others.

All the doctors that are currently treating children with ASD agree that one of the main issues is the amount of heavy metals trapped in these children's bodies and they all treat the heavy metals. Each doctor may have their own protocols and preferred chelators, but what is important is that they all agree on treating heavy metals. Therefore, chelation is a critical part in the recovery of our children.

I have used transdermal (TD) DMPS (cream), transdermal Glutathione (cream), NCD (zeolites), high doses of Vit C, DMPS suppositories, EDTA pills and suppositories and through Yasko, I have worked on getting Jonathan's body balanced enough so that he can produce his own glutathione (the most powerful antioxidant that the body makes) so he can auto-detox.

I have tested his urine, hair and stools to check for high levels of heavy metals and he has been dumping metals for the past 3 years. The most significant time was when we went to step 2 in Yasko's protocol. His urine was crystal clear for weeks and had a very strong metallic smell. I never tested it, but based on Yasko's experience, I know that clear urine means metal dumps.

We have been using a French lab to test his levels of mercury and even though they have dropped in a year, they are still 300 points above normal. So that is the reason why his DAN! Dr. decided that we still have about 2 years of chelation. We will continue with suppositories (DMPS and EDTA) and zeolites and the Yasko protocol. I haven't graduated to IVs yet, and I don't know if I ever will. But I know a number of parents who have been and continue to be successful with IV chelation.

Interested in Family Members and Pictures

Out of the blue, Jonathan asked my dad yesterday what his dad and mom's names were and if he knew them. My dad answered all of Jonathan's questions. Minutes later, my dad left with Javier and Vanessa to the grocery store, and Jonathan came to me and asked me if my dad had brothers and sisters. I told him yes, and asked him if he wanted to see pictures and he jumped and said yes. We sat for about 30 minutes looking at pictures of my dad and his family and my mom and her family and then Javier's family. He then asked me to show him pictures of him when he was a baby. And I did. Soon after Vanessa arrived with Javier and my dad and she sat with us. We saw lots of pictures together, from when they were babies to recent ones. They had a blast.

This was the first time ever that Jonathan does something like this. Vanessa had sat with me a couple of times in the past 6 months to look at pictures (she loves to see pictures of family members), but Jonathan had never cared.


Happy Birthday Marco

We had a birthday party at a local gym today. The kids had a great time. I filmed most of it, and took few pictures. I haven't edited the film but here are some pictures. Jonathan interacted and played like any other kid. The only thing that made him different was that his voice was louder (e.g., when the girls asked all the kids to tell their names and age, all the kids used a tone that was loud enough for everyone to hear, but without screaming. Jonathan screamed both his name and age.) He was also loud when he responded to the teachers questions/comments. Everything was appropriate, just the volume in his voice and the intonation were off.

Other than that, he listened and followed instructions and played and ran and jumped and did everything the girls told the group. We was a bit loud when he laughed. I stayed away watching him and the other kids and the teachers. He behaved as one of the kids. That was great for me to watch because that gives me an idea of how he is going to be in summer camp. I didn't tell the girls that ran the place today that he had any problems. And they didn't treat him any differently than the other kids. I know I'll need to tell the summer camp instructors just in case he has a bad moment. But I feel better about it.

Dismissal of some IEP Services

Quarterly DAN! Dr. Visit:

I took Jonathan to see his DAN! Dr. on Wednesday. The Dr. was happily surprised to see Jonathan's improvement. They are quite remarkable. Jonathan was talkative, interacted well, asked a couple of questions. I explained to the Dr. the drastic changes I had made to his supplements since the beginning of April. He asked me to what I credit such fast improvements, and I told him that I believe it was due to a combination of HBOT's healing process, stopping all the herbs and supplements completely for 2 weeks allowing his body to jump-start, and the new supplements I am giving him. I know for a fact that when I stopped CCK, he stopped being hungry all the time. Since April, Jonathan has lost 4 pounds, looks healthier and has tons of energy.

The Dr. told me that Jonathan no longer meets the criteria for Autism. He still has language issues and some minor stims that are hardly noticeable. So he still considers him somewhere on the spectrum, but not autistic. Perhaps very high functioning aspergers or minor case of ADD with language delay. In either case, his point to me was that Jonathan was out of the danger zone and he will have a full and independent life. Now we need to work on the remaining items, which could take another 2 years. His porphyrin test still shows high levels of mercury. So we need to continue the detox route for a while. And he prepared me for the school. He believed the school would take away most of the services and perhaps just leave the expressive language services since that is his only major problem at the moment.

I submitted an application to have Children's Hospital re-evaluate him and I am waiting for an appointment. 3 years ago they gave him the label of "High Functioning Autism" after 8 months of biomedical intervention. I wonder how they would qualify him now. He hardly spoke 3 years ago, had terrible sensory problems, tons of stims, little eye contact, had a receptive language of a 12 month old child and they still said HFA. I'll keep you all posted.

I spoke with the Dr. about Jonathan's flat voice (lack of proper intonation), and he said that he would always have it. Some kids when they recover still have a flat voice. There isn't much I can do. But if you know me well, you know I cannot just take a "no" for an answer. I am a masochist because I have kept going to this doctor for years even when he told me that I had to come to terms with his condition. Well, I proved him wrong and I will prove him wrong again. And this is yet another challenge. I will fix his intonation. This is my new challenge.

We also spoke about some social deficits that I still see. He sometimes misses some social cues (like when other kids do something and he misses the facial expressions or words (like when it is his turn), or when he wants to do something and other kids don't want to do what he wants and then he gets bossy). But it is not so bad that it would be too disrupting. Once the kids tell him twice, he gets it for the most part. He has actually gotten even better in the past month. Unless he is really into something, he catches on; otherwise he keeps insisting. But I have seen neuro-typical kids do the same. The Dr. said that Jonathan will catch up. He imitates so well and he is able to understand most body language and that what he needs is to be exposed to situations that will teach him. I agreed with him. I mentioned to him that we had enrolled Jonathan in regular summer camps this year for the first time (sports camps, farming, gymnastics, dancing) and he was very excited and said that Jonathan is ready. These situations will be ideal to teach him social awareness and social cues, because he is capable of getting them. He just missed the milestones when he was a baby and needs to relearn all these.

We also spoke about low muscle tone. I did all the blood work for mitochondrial disorder and they results came back normal. A couple were a little high, but within range. But he agrees that he does have a little bit of low muscle tone and that in his case, his mitochondrial disorder is due to a damage after he was born and not genetic. The genetic mitochondrial disorder is very uncommon but the mitochondrial disorder due to environmental insults (virul, metals, etc.) is very common, particularly in the autistic population. I told him that I will still take him to the specialist in June just in case we missed something, and he agreed that that was a good approach.

Lastly we spoke about Jonathan's obsessions. He is obsessed with academic type materials and with electronic devices. But his obsession is used well. He teaches himself how to operate the devices and uses them appropriately. The video games help him with eye-hand-mind coordination. And after we did his brain-map, I can see that his brain is craving the information. However, because he is willing to transition well when we ask him and is willing to even drop them when we offer something fun like going to a fun park or to get ice-cream, the Dr. does not qualify them as "autistic type obsessions" where the kid is so obsessed they can't be taken away without a meltdown. That is not his case anymore and he believes that since his brain has already developed and craves these devices, he will end-up using them when he grows up for something good. He actually does not consider this typical OCD. But rather inclinations and hobbies. We all have them. And he will learn (as he is already) to control how much he craves them.

First Grade IEP Meeting:

We had his 1st grade IEP meeting today. It went well, but as expected, they took away 3 out of the 5 services they had been providing since he was accepted into the program 3 years ago. The Speech Pathologist made a comment about how remarkable his progress has been since he started when we was 3 years old (he has been going to the same school since 3). We are dealing with a very different kid: loving, social, talkative, intelligent, active, eager, hard working, no sensory issues, etc. I almost had tears in my face, but I contained myself.

IEP Present Level of Performance:
Strengths:
Jonathan has demonstrated significant progress regarding his receptive and expressive language skills. Within the classroom setting, he is able to answer yes/no questions and WH questions, follows directions given to the entire group, follows directions with a discrimination (all kids with green shirts get up), and participates in small and large group language activities. His knowledge of basic concepts and curriculum vocabulary continues to emerge. His expressive samples are becoming more complex with regard to sentence structure, and errors in syntax are decreasing.

Needs:
Jonanthan continues to evidence a deficit in oral language skills, characterized by a weakness in sentence structures, use of proper syntax, morphological rules (word endings such as plurals and "ing") and proper vocal intonation.

The only 2 services left (as foreseen by his Dr.) were oral language (expressive language) and grammar (sentence construction). He has mastered everything else: receptive language, social skills and OT. The label "autism" was kept, but he will continue to receive "Learning Disability" services. He will be placed in a mainstreamed First grade, with 5 hours a week of LD support (1 hour a day of help in the classroom), and 1 hour a week outside the classroom support with other LD (non-autistic) kids. These are kids with reading problems (dyslexia) and other learning disabilities, but otherwise neuro-typical. There will be 26 kids with 1 teacher. But the current teacher believes he will thrive.

His current kindergarten teacher shared some experiences and told us that Jonathan was a wonderful kid. She is completely blown at his progress, particularly this past quarter. She said that Jonathan does not stand-out at all anymore. Anyone that comes to the room and does not know Jonathan, could not tell that he has a problem, let alone autism. He blends, he plays, all the kids love him and get along with him, he pays attention, does his work with minimal prompts, asks questions and participates, and he is now even joking. She has enjoyed working with him and wants me to send her pictures of him and progress comments during the summer. She got attached to him being that he is the only kid with autism left in her class. The class started with 4 kids, and he is the only one left. The other ones moved back into the special classes for kids with special needs as the environment was too difficult for them. My baby survived it and excelled :)

His K teacher told us a funny story that I wanted to include in today's blog. On Tuesday, I told Jonathan that we were going to see his DAN! Dr. on Wednesday and that he was going to get some blood out. Well, he went to school and told all his friends that he was going to be absent on Wednesday because he was going to the doctor to get ALL his blood out. The teachers laughed and asked him if he was sure it was going to be ALL his blood out, and he said yes. Then his teacher said, no honey, the doctor is just going to get some blood out in a small tube (now I know why he asked me about the tube). Anyway, the next day, the teacher had forgotten why Jonathan was not in school and all his friends said "because Jonathan went to the doctor to get ALL his blood out" :) The fact that he is sharing so much with the class and they remember fills me of happiness.

The K teacher gave us already his readiness score. This is the test that kindergarteners take to pass to first grade. The maximum score is 193. The kids took this test 2 weeks ago. His score was 192. I cannot remember what the average score is. But regardless, she was extremely excited to share this with us because it shows that he already behaves, reads, and writes as a First grader.

I told everyone in the room that since we were told that he does not qualify for the county's extended school year program, that we had enrolled him in regular summer camps with the county's park program and they were all thrilled. Particularly his teacher said that he will love them and excel. He is ready.

Summary:

The fact that two independent groups of people (his DAN Dr. and his school teachers) feel that he has mastered most developmental issues except expressive language and that needs to mature on social cues and interactions and that he is ready to be in regular summer camps give me a good indication of his progress. It has been quite amazing.

But I can't say that he is recovered yet because recovery to me means indistinguishable. I admit though that he has come a very long way. And, like a friend of mine says, "you cannot tell that he has any problems at all until he starts talking. That is when you know he is a bit different". So he is not indistinguishable yet. I agree with the doctor that we have 1.5 to 2 years of chelation left. And in addition, I really need to work on his expressive language skills and voice intonation. I would like to do 3 more loops of Tomatis auditory processing therapy, I would like to do 60 sessions of neurofeedback therapy and I would like to enroll him in more group speech programs where the kids read stories and need to express what they are reading and get corrected by a speech therapist. In addition, I will continue with chelation and biomedical interventions until Children's Hospital drops the label. I am going to finish the alternative biomed program I am doing this summer and then go back to Yasko.

We are almost there!!!!

"I Wish It Was Saturday Already"

It has been a couple of weeks since my last update. So I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

Improvements:

Expressive Language: Jonathan's language keeps improving. I notice improvements daily.

• I was shocked today when he told me that he wished that it was Saturday already because he wanted to play with his Wii. We were so active this weekend, that he had little time to play with the Wii. But it isn't just that. The fact that he understands and can appropriately use the word "wish" is a tremendous milestone. I had never heard him use it before.
• More language examples. He came and asked me where his computer was. Daddy told him that it was in the living room and he came to ask me where the living room was (remember that he is just learning all these new words and definitions, so living room is new to him). I told him and he went to check it out. He couldn't find it and came back to tell me that he couldn't find it. I went with him and said "yeap, Daddy lied to you, it isn't here". Daddy screamed from the back telling us where he put it. I opened a drawer, and there it was. But I asked him why he wanted it since he couldn't play with electronics during the weekdays, and he said "I know mom, but I want you to put it on the table so I can see it. I won't touch it until Saturday. But on Saturday, I am going to play with my computer and my Wii".
  
• Another example was this morning when I dropped him off at school. I took him with Vanessa and getting them ready to go to school in the morning is challenging. They are both high-maintenance. Today was going to rain and Jonathan asked me yesterday to give him his umbrella (he has a dinosaur's umbrella that I bought him a month ago). Today he reminded me, and I told him that I didn't want him to take it to school because he was going to lose it and I didn't want him to lose it. And he said "but mom, I am not going to lose it. I promise. Please, I want to take my umbrella to school." When I asked him why he said "because everyone has one and I want to have my own umbrella too". That was pretty incredible to hear, so I let him take his umbrella. I didn't even care if he lost it. However, I made him promise me that he wouldn't lose it. When I got him, there it was!!!

Social Interactions: Jonathan really enjoys playing with other kids and in groups.

• Lately, it has been wonderful to watch him play with other kids and get along and follow their leads. He is not overwhelmed. And if he doesn't care about someone, he will tell me. He now can tell me who he likes to play with and who he doesn't.

Energy Level: out of nowhere, he is always full of energy.

• The past month has been incredible. I have not heard Jonathan complain that he is tired in a month. Anything we do, everywhere we go, he is engaged, curious, energetic. At home, he won't stop. He is either playing with Vanessa or looking for things to do. He is always on his scooter. Quite a change. Pretty dramatic actually.
  

Reading: He can read full sentences and small books.

• He is reading better and now is paying more attention to punctuation and meaning (pragmatics).
  

Areas of concern:

Obsessions: he is still obsessed with electronics.

• The Nintendo Wii, our telephones, PlayStation, Daddy's iPOD, my digital cameras. He is very drawn to electronics. Since we cannot remap his brain not to be to drawn to electronics, we are trying to control their usage. No electronics during weekdays and limited hours during weekends are the best approach. We let him play with the Wii on Saturday and Sunday morning and then we do activities outside the house for hours so that he does not have the temptation to play. We also let him play for 30 minutes to 1 hour before bedtime.

Social Interactions: he is bossy.

• If things don't go his way, he gets confrontational and bossy. He will argue, and sometimes he will compromise and others we need to intervene. This is one of the hardest things for him because he is still lacking social cues.
• He has turned into a sentimental and also empathetic kid. He is particularly concerned about Vanessa's well-being. A couple of weeks ago, at a playground, a kid threw a ball at Vanessa and Vanessa started crying. He confronted him and said "hey, do not hurt my little sister", and threw a ball back at the kid. That was quite incredible to watch.
• He is learning to express his emotions much better. He came to me a couple of weeks ago and looked at me and said "Mommy, I love you very much. I want to be with you forever." And when someone pushes him or tells him something he does not like, he is doing much better at controlling his emotions and letting them know that he is not happy.
  

Stims: Self-stimulatory behaviors

• He is still humming quite a bit.
  
• He is not walking on the tip of his toes that much, but he still does it.
  
• He is still sucking his thumb, but has dramatically reduced the frequency and length.

Health / Gut: still not healthy

• Since I removed a number of supplements, he started having gut problems. His leaky gut returned and he is having bad bowel movements. He actually had an accident last Thursday and my dad had to go get him at school. Nothing bad. I had ran out of Candex, and he is a yeasty kid. I added it back on Saturday, and his gut is doing much better.

Expressive Language: still a bit rote and lacks melody. Not age appropriate either.

• My biggest concern, even more than the lack of melody, is that he still does not speak like a 6-year old and therefore in certain situations, he does not know how to play with other 6-year olds. He understands a great deal, but since he has a lot of catching up, games like treasure hunts are not known to him and he cannot follow and direct other kids as well. But he is getting better and does not feel intimidated.
  
• Also, sometimes when he speaks, other kids and adults don't understand him. I don't know if it is because his language needs more melody and intonation or if his is just not pronouncing certain words correctly. I have a meeting tomorrow with a speech pathologist to assess him.

Despite the items in the "areas of concern", I must say that Jonathan has come a very long way. It is like a dream come true. 3 years ago I cried when he came to me, out of the blue being in his own little strange world, and gave me a kiss. I thought that was the biggest breakthrough. Then when he could tell me with drawings (happy and sad faces) how he felt. That was huge. I have somehow forgotten the terrible and saddest moments. The improvements from the therapies are sticking and we see little regressions when we change things in his protocols.

Last week I was notified that he is going so well in Kindergarten, that he does not qualify for ESY (extended school year) in the county. I was counting on that for the summer and we saw ourselves drowning with anxieties regarding what to do with Jonathan. I don't want to send him to camps with kids with special needs that are in worse shape than he is because I want him to be around neuro-typical kids his age as often as possible. First grade is going to be tough and I want to expose him now when kids are not as mean and he is still pretty innocent. So after much research, we enrolled him in 4 different camps with the county parks. I hope he enjoys them. A couple of weeks of sports, a week at a farm, an a couple of week doing all kinds of indoors and outdoors activities. I am scared of how the teachers will react to the fact that he is on the spectrum, but I will meet with them personally the first day to explain and hopefully they will embrace him. The public school system and public parks have an obligation to not discriminate. And since he does not qualify for special services, he needs to be admitted in regular classes. Keep your fingers crossed.

Okay, this turned out longer than I originally anticipated. I have an appointment with his DAN! Dr. tomorrow and I will write more about it then. Here are a couple of pictures from this past 2 weeks. Enjoy!

Improvements Hold

I have not written in 2 weeks. It has been busy. But Jonathan is doind very well.

It has been 7 1/2 weeks since he finished HBOT and 6 weeks since I stopped the majority of his supplements (including enzymes and herbs). I actually stopped all supplements for 2 weeks. Then, I restarted some supplements.

Because of his high liver enzyme, I decided to give him a break from most supplements and chelation. I added supplements from www.GetHealthyAgainStore.com and removed all the enzymes and herbs. I have kept the mitochondrial cocktail, vitamins and minerals, MB12 shots and cod liver oil. I started him on 6 supplements from GetHealthyAgainStore.com on April 25 (Rejuvin, DHLA Nano-Plex, Zeolite Enhanced, PRP-Factor, Glutathione PleoLyposome, and Carnosine). He has reacted very well to these new supplements. I know these are not approved by the DAN! community or Yasko, but I read information about these and decided that Jonathan needed a change to spark improvement. I want to do this for 90 days and then run some tests to see how I can get back to a more "Yasko" type approach.

His improvement in the past 6 weeks has been phenomenal. My father left on vacation for a couple of weeks (just a week after I stopped the supplements) and when he returned he was shocked with the improvement.

The most noticeable is his energy level. He is not tired anymore. Not ever. From school, I have not received a note from his teachers in about 5 weeks and last week his teacher wrote me that he is doing absolutely great. Here is what she said: "He is doing such a fabulous job. He needs very little redirection, if any. He pays attention, participates, and even helps others. He is such an eager learner. I have seen so much growth in him. I can't wait to show you his DRA Word Analysis Assessment. I can already tell that he tested high. 3rd quarter and 4th quarter are proving to be very successful for him."

I credit the majority of his improvement to the HBOT. We noticed in the first 2 sessions that the biggest improvements were noted 6 weeks after he had finished all the dives. But since I started giving him the new supplements, that is when we noticed a huge improvement in energy level, attention, interest, engagement with others, etc.

Today, I opened the car's trunk and a bag of clothes fell out. There was a glass container and I thought it broke. We have been very careful lately with our language not to curse in front of the kids. However, I said the "sh" word. He calmly, from his car seat, said: "no mommy. don't say that word. Say "Oh man!"". That blew my mind. And like that, he is processing input better, he is expressing better, he continues to have little if any sensory problems.

One new thing is that he now has to sleep with a stuffed animal. An animal of his choice that will keep him save from monsters. He has been having night terrors. But the fact that he asks to sleep with a stuffed animal is a huge milestone achievement. He is also telling me that he wants to be with me "forever".

The issues we continue to observe are: (1) expressive language is still difficult. It is hard to describe in words why, and I'll video tape him and add a clip to the blog to keep as a record. But he cannot control his volume, his tone is very flat, and when he speaks in large sentences, his words are sometimes not in the right order and sometimes he speaks and cannot be understood. (2) OCD. He still has obsessions with electronics - phones, video games, digital cameras are his favorites. He is not even playing with the Leapster any more which used to teach him a great deal. Now he grabs our phones and plays with the settings, he plays with the settings of the Nintendo Wii instead of playing with games, he takes pictures and plays with the settings and changes the pictures formats, etc. (3) humming. He still hums quite a bit.

He Is Amazed with the Caterpillar

During this school year, Jonathan has been particularly interested in books about caterpillars. I don't know why, and it has not been an obsession. He simply likes caterpillars.

Today, he saw them in person (no books or pictures) all over the back yard and loved to play with them. He was so happy following them and staring at them really close. He kept saying that they were looking at him. I loved seeing his big happy smile.

He has been doing incredibly well the past week. I made a really big change in his protocol on April 25th, and we are seeing remarkable improvements. My dad came back from his vacation and is amazed at how much he has improved in just 2 weeks. His energy level in particular is high. I will post more about the new protocol soon. I believe the improvements come from a combination of making changes to his supplements along with the improvements that we were expecting from the HBOT. We normally see the dramatic improvements 4 to 6 weeks after we are done. And we are right about there.

For my own record, just want to note that his expressive and receptive languages have improved, but his comprehension and retentive memory has exponentially improved. We had a terrific weekend. He played with everyone, he participated in every family activity, he is even understanding simple jokes. It is awesome.

Other improvements we noted are: he is hardly sucking his thumb and touching his ears when he does; he is not scratching his throat like he has allergies; he is still humming, but less than before.

He is still obsessed with electronic toys and will not play by himself with regular toys. But if other kids or adults are playing, he will play.