The boys are making wonderful strides in their therapies. Don and I have decided to try out a DAN (Defeat Autism Now) doctor. This comes after much prayer, research, thinking, and more prayer. They aren't cheap and insurance doesn't cover their services. That being said, many children have made tremendous progress after receiving help from these people. DAN doctors take a biomedical approach to treating autism that the regular pediatricians just don't get into. In fact, much to my horror and surprise, a pediatrician in our practice that I spoke with never even heard of DAN doctors. ANY parent of an autistic child has heard of them. Heck, I've heard them talked about on Oprah, Dr. Phil, and just this week-Montel Williams (thanks, sis, for letting me know that was on at the time). You practically have to be living in a hole to not know what they are. If you have a loved one with autism, that is. I couldn't believe that this man treats children, probably many with autism (now the stats are 1 in 94 boys are on the spectrum), and he hasn't taken the time to learn more about the disease. It floored me. We got our list of docs from our wonderful occupational therapist. The pediatrician got his pants in a wad about that, too. How dare anyone else refer HIS patients to another Dr. without his permission? I hate to break it to him, but I have the freedom to take my children to whatever doc I want to. They are his patients, not his property. We are the customers. He is only one of four doctors in our pediatric practice. He is my least favorite and if he was the only one, we'd be finding a new doctor-pronto!
I'm sure we'll have to start a gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) diet. I was trying to avoid this, but this is usually the front line approach that DAN doctors take. So please don't get offended if my children can't eat some things that are offered to them. I want to see my children well and if it means a special diet, I'll try it. If they were diabetic, I certainly wouldn't be shoving sugar in their face! If it works, it works, if not, then we tried! I feel like my boys are on the verge of something good. It's been at me for a couple weeks. Sure, we certainly have our bad days-yesterday's "haircut day" for example, but they seem to be engaging more, understanding more. I feel like just a little extra help will give them the boost they need. So please pray and hope with us!
1 comment:
We will be praying as you seek out this new avenue. In my own personal relationships I have heard of phenomenal breakthroughs being made with diet changes, but like you, I would not have wanted to go that route. What a pain.
More and more I hear that in autism cases you have to be your child's own advocate because the average pediatrician is just not up on the latest breakthroughs and information. Kudos to you for doing this. We will pray that the funds will be available and that you will see some real progress soon.
We love you guys.
PS. I love your autism clipart and I am going to put that on my sidebar today.
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