Medical Breakthrough?! How Articles About Autism Can Mislead
In fact, the children may well have increased their use of language. What's more, the treatments may be perfectly legitimate (in one case the child was on a gluten and cassein free -GFCF- diet; in the other case the child was undergoing hyperbaric oxygen treatments).
But here's the problem: in both cases, the child in question was a toddler (age 1 in one case, age 2 in the other) when his treatments began. NO toddler of that age will have more than a few useful words.
In both cases, the child in question was four years old when the article was written.
According to this article, touted as "A Medical Breakthrough,"
Carman Inclan's son Michael is four. Just like any other child, he reads, plays with toys and loves to use the computer; but Michael isn't like other four-year-olds. "The greatest struggle is not knowing if he will be able to say when he's older that he's happy," Carmen told Ivanhoe. "It's devastation -- fear."Reading between the lines, we see that Michael, at age 2, was non-verbal. Now, at age four, he still can't tell his mother whether he's happy - but he can spell "aquarium" (often autistic children can spell and read above their age level without fully understand what they're saying). His mother says his words have tripled in 22 months - that is, in the two years during which almost every child's vocabulary explodes. And, of course, she's also told us that her son had NO language at age two - which would imply that he still has no language at all, since zero times three remains... zero.Everything he's able to do now is a miracle to his mom because he wasn't always as high functioning. "[He was] nonverbal and [had] no interest in social interaction of any kind," Carmen recalled.
Michael has made huge strides thanks, in part, to what he calls his "submarine" -- where he receives hyperbaric oxygen therapy or HBOT. The experimental treatment was originally used to cure scuba divers of the bends. Inside the chamber, Michael breathes 37-percent oxygen. The air we breathe is only 22 percent....
"After 22 dives, Michael's words tripled." Carmen said. Her son has been "diving" for almost two years. "Michael has really made some tremendous strides since we started using this therapy on him," Dr. Berger said. "One day he spelled aquarium," Carmen recalled.
Continuing to think between the lines, we have to assume that Michael has been in a variety of therapeutic settings since his diagnosis two years ago. Almost certainly he's been in speech therapy, which in itself could be responsible for an increase in language skills. He has also likely been in a specialized preschool program, where he may well have received play therapy or even Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
Clearly, in this case, time, normal development, additional treatments and interventions may all have played a key role in Michael's improved language skills. Michael is still autistic, with significant symptoms. And two years is a very long time to wait for verifiable results in a child who is as young as he is.
While the jury is still out on hyperbaric oxygen as a treatment for autism, this article would have parents believe otherwise. Meanwhile, parents are led to believe that oxygen treatment, alone, is responsible for improvements in Michael's ability to communicate. Almost certainly, this is not the case.
Let the reader be... aware.
Comments
You’ve made all good points. Did you happen to see the cost? Most insurances will not pay for this either. HBOT has been used for other things for years, I myself would need more documentation for the use of autism. I’d like to know which parts are effected by the increased oxygen levels? I’d also like to know how a child does with this chamber. If it were me, I’d completely freak out being enclosed like that!
I also would have to agree, most parents have a combination of interventions all going at the same time so it’s difficult to know which particular thing helped the most or was it that combination, or when that child’s developmental skills just happened to progress at that time. If there was a study of the HBOT being the only intervention, diet being the only intervention, it would be interesting to see those results.
And yet again, this article focus is language skills and verbalizing. There is much more to autism than the lack of words. I didn’t see much said about the other area’s of autism that can prove as difficult for the child than spoken language other than “The possible benefits fall across the board, way beyond social and verbal improvements.” I’d like to know which they’re talking about.
While the jury is still out on hyperbaric oxygen as a treatment for autism, this article would have parents believe otherwise.
If the jury is still out, it’s only because they crawled out the jury room window, shimmied down a drain pipe, and then high-tailed for home. There has never been any reason to believe that HBOT is an effective treatment for autism. How could it be? Autism is not brain damage.
Have you read this article about ABA services that ultimately led to the recovery of four autistic kids. It’s amazing:
http://www.centerforautism.com/images/LA%20Independent.pdf
Yes, NOW more than EVER let the reader beware!!!! You are so right on every point! Thanks!
Amazing if it was true.
I’m not sure why the gluten-free, casein-free diet was included with hyperbaric oxygen treatments in this article. And why does a change in diet that has no effect on nutritional content cause such a problem for the US psychiatric community? They recommend agaist a dietary change that has no side effects, while purveying only the need for behavioral/cognitive therapy at an average cost of $80,000 per child per year. Sure, therapy is needed, but come on. Gluten and casein (cow’s milk) have been medically demonstrated to cause neurological impairment and dysfunction in those who are sensitive. (It is important to note - those who are sensitive doesn’t mean everyone.) For example, in the 1970’s an american researcher discovered that schizophrenics who were sensitive to gluten/casien had resolution of symptoms after two weeks on a strict gluten-free casein free diet. Three days after reintroduction and the symptoms returned. (Singh MM, Science 1976) The US medical community rejected the idea out of hand. The research was successfully repeated in other parts of the world where they began to use a gluten-free casein-free diet immediately…and still do so today. Other neurological disorders directly or indirectly caused by gluten include ataxia, peripheral neuropathy, anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue, migraines, epilepsy, dementia, etc. If you want to read some truly amazing stories, look up Recognizing Celiac Disease, the book by Cleo Libonati, RN. The website has a section Reader Letters which include people with sarcoidosis, parkinson’s, hypothyroidism and other problems who are being helped by this wonderful book. Another important thing to note, is that the gluten-free casein-free diet is an elimination diet - which means 100% elimination of those items. If you’re sensitive and eat even a little bit (even 1 mg causes problems in some people), you will not achieve results…think of it like eating a little poison. Lastly, who says a 2 year old only knows a couple words? My 16 month old gluten-free nephew has a 180 word vocabulary. My sister has celiac disease, as does my mother and myself. Considering testing isn’t effective for toddlers, she decided he didn’t need to risk damage.
John wrote:
For example, in the 1970’s an american researcher discovered that schizophrenics who were sensitive to gluten/casien had resolution of symptoms after two weeks on a strict gluten-free casein free diet. Three days after reintroduction and the symptoms returned. (Singh MM, Science 1976) The US medical community rejected the idea out of hand.
The medical community did not “reject the idea out of hand”. It was rejected after Singh’s paper was reviewed and found to have serious problems.
Singh isn’t saying all schizophrenics can be treated - only those with celiac’s disease.
Neurological problems are frequently found in persons’s with celiac’s:
http://tinyurl.com/6c3aot
I have Asperger Syndrome. I am 44 years old and it was just figured out. It took for ever for several reasons, for exemple, not only was I born in another country, but I have developed on my own some ways to cope, such as yoga, diet and zen. Overall I believe it would be worthwile for the medical profession to look into my stuff, but I am at such a low point that I am at the mercy of Welfare… BEFORE I knew that HBOT even existed, I can tell you I knew I needed oxygen, as I obviously developped a need to breath “clean”oxygen, I am in pain due to its lack (nerve in my neck, acting like divers bend, all stimuli problems: smells, sounds, lights…I NEED OXYGEN as I just cannot breath when I am exposed to such, no to be exact, of course I can breath, but what happens is a violent headache and such!!! Based on my experience, it (HBOT) is obviously something to look into, I am slowly dying of asphyxy is what it seems like to me, and there is a chamber not even far from me, in my native language of French, a livesaving thing you can’t access even though it is so close by is called the “supplice de Tentale”.
Anne-Laure
Actually an article I found even more interesting described a 9 year old with mitochondria disorder who made huge gains (from being blind, amongst other things) with hyperbaric therapy.
I don’t know if it is a commonly used treatment for mitochondria disorder or not? but it would seem that if a child had ( whaat’s the new language)”autism like symptoms” with mitochondria dysfunction, then it would make sense that it could help. Seems very expensive though: maybe having ones’ autistic child tested first for mitochondria dysfunction before paying for the treatment would be more helpful?
After reading this article and having more than a little experience with hyperbaric therapy, I felt the need to respond to this.
For the past four years I have worked with the Hyperbaric Therapy Center in Georgia. I have witnessed firsthand the miracle of oxygen through hyperbaric therapy. Let me explain in simple terms what it is and how it works.
Hyper (increased) + baric (air pressure)
Henry’s Law = Gas under pressure dissolves in liquid.
Upon entering the chamber, the increased air pressure (equal to about 11 feet below sea level) allows your body to absorb more oxygen by basically giving your whole body a “big squeeze.” This allows oxygen to reach ALL the cells in your body (you are, after all, made up of over 95% water) instead of the normal way you get your oxygen by transportation through red bloods cells from the lungs.
This has tremendous benefits for many reasons. Oxygen is the most important thing your body needs, without it you would die within minutes. Most of the oxygen used in the body is used by the brain (75%) and the remaining 25% goes first to your organs and lastly to your extremities. This is why diabetics something have to have their toes removed - cell death due to oxygen deprivation.
Someone earlier stated that autism is not brain injury. This is a statement I disagree with wholeheartedly. It is a brain injury - we can see that on spect scans of the brains of children with autism. Areas of the brain that are oxygen starved. We can also so spect scans of the same children after 10 sessions in the chamber. The same areas that before showed low oxygen are lit up, proof that it does impact the brain.
Please do more research before dismissing HBOT. It is so beneficial for so many people not just those with autism. And the cost is not too great you can even purchase a chamber for your home for less than the cost of a new car.
Last thing I will say is that I personally have seen dramatic improvements in my own health since using the chamber.
www.hypertc.com
You can find many testimonials and MEDICAL STUDIES, articles, and videos at this website, including the spect scan study that I mentioned earlier. Please read the ones from families who have been to our center that have children with autism. Plenty of them do state that other therapies had been implemented for years with minimal success before HBOT, and after HBOT the same child in those other therapy sessions began to improve dramatically! So much so that they felt without a doubt that the HBOT was the cause of this rapid improvement. Why? Because oxygen was able to light up those parts of the brain that were starving before! And the improvements were much, much more than just increassed language skills. Here are the areas most often reported to have improved:
eye contact
concentration
social behaviors
sleep
following directions
less meltdowns
affection
bowel issues
motor skills
language
comprehension
sick less often
skin no longer pale
better reports from school
This list can be added to infinately but as you can see it is impacting many of the areas of concern.
God Bless all of you and may He guide you in your journey with autism.