Austin's Story

Austin and his twin brother (neurologically typical - nt) were born 12 weeks early. I spent the last 5 weeks of the pregnancy in the hospital on medication trying to delay their birth. Austin did surprisingly well in NICU where he spent his first 9 weeks of life. He never required a ventilator or c-pap for breathing. The only extra help he got while in the hospital was a cannula to remind him to breathe and injections of caffeine to keep his little heart beating.

He weighed a mere 2 lbs 5 oz. His entire hand was the size of my thumb nail. Brian on the other hand had more serious problems. He required a ventilator and c-pap, plus a blood transfusion. Funny how things turned out. Brian spent an extra week in the hospital and was the weaker of the two, yet he has no issues. Both boys had their hepatitis vaccine way before they were even supposed to be born.

We later (at age 4 1/2) found out that Austin had klebsiella in his gut. I was told that klebsiella is common in hospitals and it causes pneumonia. In Austin's case it was in his gut and caused his leaky gut. He probably got it while in NICU. Until we cleared up the klebsiella (with an herb called Uva Ursa), Austin had diarrhea. We cleared it up at about age 4.10.

Austin was actually an early talker. At his 12 month check up, he asked the doctor if he was "All Done??" The pediatrician said to me, I thought I just heard him ask me if I was all done. Just to confirm it, Austin said it again. It really was amazing. At his 12 month check up with the developmental specialist, they reported that both boys were actually ahead of their development -- except in one area. Neither one could name an object e.g. 'ball', 'bell'. They suggested I buy some flash cards and show them to the boys and work with them to get them to name objects. Well, I bought a box of cards that had pictures on the front and the written word on the back. When they were about 15 months old, I was showing Brian the cards and Austin was standing behind me. Austin was reading the words off the back of the cards. He had memorized the entire stack of 200. Some of the words were 3 syllable words! It was shocking.

By the time he was 18 months, he was sounding out words. I had a tube of prescription cream for my psoriasis on the kitchen counter and Austin picked up the tube and read Dovonex. At the time, we thought we had a little genius on our hands. We put him in Montessori school. His teacher told me in 30 years of teaching she had never seen anything like it. She said unlike most children Austin seemed to just know things. Once again, more confirmation that he was extremely intelligent. By this time, Austin was 2.5. I started to become concerned because it was sometimes difficult to get his attention. He seemed unreachable, had bowel problems, would run off and was difficult to control, he was sound insensitive at times and sound sensitive at other times. He did talk -- but his pronunciation was not clear to most people.

Austin and Brian both needed tubes put in their ears at 18 months. Both boys had repeated ear infections from age 6 months and on. The ENT said that Austin had no hearing because of the fluid buildup. I suspect this was also a big contributor to his problems. When he was about 3, I took him to our pediatrician and I asked him if Austin was autistic. He said, no. Mostly I think because Austin was so affectionate and had language, albeit mostly scripting and echo at this point. But the doctor and I didn't recognize it.

There were times when Austin would make sense but these times were becoming less frequent. At 3.11, we took Austin to a psychologist for IQ testing, still thinking he was gifted. The psychologist couldn't evaluate him because he wouldn't cooperate and suggested that he had Aspergers. After that, we took him to a well known psychologist in the area and Austin was diagnosed with PDD-NOS and Hyperlexia. His IQ scores ranged from 50 something to 157. The 157 was for reading and the psychologist stopped the scores at 157 saying that there was no sense in continuing. His language was mostly scripting and echo, he was on his toes, had poor eye contact, rare give/take conversation. He had some but not all of the symptoms of autism.

I have to tell you, my husband and I cried, no mourned for weeks afterwards. It was the lowest, most difficult time of our lives. The way the psychologist talked, Austin would always require assistance. He hinted that he would never be able to care for himself. Only another parent of a child with a disability can know what we felt. Devastation. On the ATEC, Austin was 89 at this point. I have found that the ATEC is a useful tool to use to evaluate an intervention.

The psychologist had given us several phone numbers to call: the autism society, the Autism Research Institute in California, ARC. He also recommended we get him into speech and language therapy, PPI classroom, Occupational Therapy, Sensory Integration Therapy, and Physical Therapy. We did it all. My every instinct told me that I was treating symptoms -- not the cause. These interventions helped because Austin had lost almost 4 years. They were needed to help him regain what he missed out on.

I also found out about Auditory Integration Therapy. Austin had a round of AIT in May 2000. We saw immediate improvement. He started responding by day 3 of the therapy. I found a doctor who had a child who was recently dx'd as autistic. I took Austin to him and he recommended I consider the diet. His wife is a dietician. She took me under her wing. She met me at a health food store and showed me what was ok and what wasn't. For this reason, Austin was almost 100% GFCF from the start. She also introduced me to Paul Shattock. We put Austin on the diet mid-July, 2000. Just by chance, Paul Shattock was in Michigan and speaking. I went to his presentation. By this time, Austin had been on the diet for about a week and was going through withdrawal.

He lost all language and didn't speak for almost a week. Paul Shattock told me that the worse the withdrawal, the better the outcome. Well he was right. This was the key. Austin had serious gut problems. With the GFCF diet, the diarrhea improved but never really went away. He continued with the loose stools and with the least diet infraction, the diarrhea would return with a vengeance. The same week we went GFCF, I started Austin on Super Nu Thera vitamins. In November, I went to a DAN doctor for the first time. At this point, Austin was about 10 on the ATEC. He did the stool study that found the klebsiella. With a couple doses of Uva Ursa, Austin's diarrhea went away -- completely. To this day, even with infractions, he doesn't get the diarrhea. With the diarrhea resolved, Austin was finally able to be potty trained.

At this point, he was 4.9 or 4.10 yrs old. Also he was zero on the ATEC. This is the point at which I felt comfortable saying he was recovered. I have given him other supplements: calcium, msm, l-glutamine, zinc,acidopholus. The only one I have stuck with is the calcium and the acidopholus. L-glutamine and zinc caused regression in Austin. About 2 months ago, we put Austin through a second round of AIT. Reason we did this is because when they re-did the IQ scores, Austin was consistently average in the verbal testing areas and superior in the non-verbal testing. The psychologist (different psychologist from the original diagnosing psychologist) said he was not autistic. However, because of the gap between the verbal and the non-verbal testing, he suspects a central auditory processing concern. Austin was 4.11 at this time, exactly 1 year after the original dx. This has also improved with the AIT or with chelation -- I'm not sure which.

We were recently told that Austin no longer qualified for services in the public school. During his final IEP, even I was amazed at the results of his speech and language testing. When Austin started SLT at 4 yrs old, he couldn't answer a single 'wh' question and had the speech and language of a 2 to 2 1/2 yr old. He was re-tested by the school at exactly 5.0. His scores ranged from 5.6 to 7.3 age equivalent. I cried tears of joy. Next year, he will go into a regular kindergarten with his twin brother. The school has called in the gifted and talented coordinator to assist!!!

A reading specialist will work with him because his comprehension level is beyond a 3rd grade level. We are now chelating with the DAN protocol of every other weekend for 3 days DMSA and Alpha Lipoic Acid every 8 hours. Also, I am going to start using enzymes. My hope is that one day, Austin will be able to go off the diet and not need all of the supplements. We maintain his recovered state with the diet and the supplements. Austin will always be different -- but in a good way. So, that's Austin's story. My baby is back and I wish the same for you. It is possible.