How to Look for Autism Recovery: Slow, Small Steps

On Friday, I went on a field trip with Zoe to the Rodale Organic Farm. As often happens when I see Zoe and other kids, I worry. The older they get, the more their distance grows, and she participates less and less. Some boys sitting near us got in trouble for playing Truth or Dare and talking about the girls, and I wonder if she could even possibly get that. Perhaps she does and I don’t see it.

And that, my friends, is the challenge with autism and autism recovery: You’re never really sure if you’re seeing it.

On Sunday, we were in church and I thought about my praying for your kids post. I realized that it had been a while since I had passionately prayed for her. Right there and then, I prayed for Zoe to be healed, completely and totally, and to regain what she needs to be more like other kids, to have an easier time with academics, behavior and friendships, to be able to really speak, to be physically healed of any medical issues, and if it’s not God’s will for her to be healed that I would know that and have peace. I further prayed that God would lead me with any therapies, any changes I need to make – stopping a treatment, taking a more vigorous approach to food intervention, adding a treatment, etc.

With that that done, I woke up on Monday and saw a new post from Autism TV Channel. While the ending is happy, it’s so painful to watch the beginning and I believe that Zoe could have been down this route, possibly, if we had not intervened. The video is worth watching. It shows kids screaming, emaciated teens in diapers beating themselves and others. It’s EXTREMELY painful to watch, but there is hope, they are cured in this video.

What an eye opener! I took it as a reminder from God to be grateful for where we are and how the path that He put us on with homeopathy and food intervention. We have come so far, and our earlier intervention may have prevented a blizzard of issues with her.

The thing is you need to know how to look for signs of recovery in autism. Here are some key steps that I’ve learned over the years to use to see it:

1. Take the long view.

Don’t think about last week, sometimes you can’t even look back at last season. Look back to one year ago. Use memorable events as a measuring guide – annual competitions, holidays, start or end of school – to track the changes in your kids. What are they doing now that they couldn’t do at this even last year? Two weeks ago when Zoe and Amelia both participated in the Field and Track Special Olympics. While it was a challenging day for Zoe because of the heat, she had an amazing day. She only did 2 of the 3 events she signed up for, but what a difference from last year! She stood on the podium – of course, wanting the #1 spot, but laughingly walking down to her spot and smiling for the photo. She wore her ribbons the whole day. Before being overcome by the heat, she was having a great time and really understood where she needed to be and what she needed to do to compete – where to stand, where to aim, where to go. It was beautiful and a total 180 from last year.

2. Remember that effective detox means regression.

We are experiencing regression big time, but it’s also lessening! That’s crazy and great. Behaviors have come back – more stimming, scripting, arm biting – but more positive behaviors are emerging too – more speech, more interaction, more typical kid behavior. For example, she now knows how to light tap (not “hit”) someone as a gag…yes, she knows how to joke around physically! That’s huge but I know that the more she heals, the more we’ll be experiencing stuff we never thought we’d see again. It’s just the nature of how detox works – to heal, you have to work through the bad reactions.

3. Put a positive spin on things.

Yesterday, she came home feeling crummy from a long day. We actually thought she had a virus but she was just run down from a challenging hike. Allergies are out of control here in PA this year, and she’s been sniffling. She had, I think, 2 viruses this year, which is 2 more than she’s had in years…but that’s good. Her body is reacting as it should when attacked by a virus or allergen: runny nose, fever, whatever the appropriate immune response is. We haven’t seen that in many years, so I’m happy when she’s a little sick.

4. Read the reports from your child’s staff daily.

Last year, Zoe did a project on Walt Disney. She selected him and barely sat through a 6 minute bio video but I was still so proud of her. Yesterday, Zoe’s aide told me she sat through a 45 minute “not engaging” presentation without a peep! After that, she participated in a 2-hour, challenge level hike – the same hike she refused to do last week. What changed? I’m not sure but I’m seeing so many positive changes on a daily basis. For a while, I was a little nervous that her aide was just being positive, but it all aligns with what I’m seeing at home, which is great news.

And, in case you’re wondering, what we’ve done has benefitted Amelia amazingly too. She barely has any sensory issues, but she can’t stand live music. This week in church I learned that after just 2 short weeks, Amelia has stopped putting her hands over her ears when the guitarist comes in to play for the kids in autism child care service. These “autism treatments” work great for other disabilities too! Check out my Mamavation post on 10 toxins that might be hurting your child with learning disabilities. I believe that environmental toxins are responsible for a great deal of these issues and healing the gut, food intervention, homeopathy and other natural treatments benefit all our kids with special needs.

I have to thank God for showing me a path that benefits my children, in doing what I do imperfectly and yet, their healing, their progress, their achievements are still in God’s hand. Your child can benefit too!