Gluten Free/Casein Free Diet
Briefly, gluten is a protein, and so is casein. Gluten is a protein fraction found in all wheat, rye, barley, and most oat products. Casein is a protein fraction found in all dairy products. To most Autistic children, gluten and casein are the equivalent of poison. They leak into the gut, undigested, and attach to the opiate receptors of the autistic's brain. Essentially, many autistic children are "drugged" on wheat and milk products, as if they were on a morphine drip.
Although parents have been reporting a connection between autism and diet for decades, there is now a growing body of research that shows that certain foods seem to be affecting the developing brains of some children and causing autistic behaviors. This is not because of allergies, but because many of these children are unable to properly break down certain proteins.
Researchers in England, Norway, and at the University of Florida had previously found peptides (breakdown products of proteins) with opiate activity in the urine of a high percentage of autistic children. Opiates are drugs, like morphine, which affect brain function. These findings have recently been confirmed by researchers at Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. The two main offenders seem to be gluten (the protein in wheat, oats, rye and barley) and casein (milk protein.)
Facilitated Communication
This technique assumes that by supporting a nonverbal child's arms and fingers so that he can type on a keyboard, the child will be able to type out his or her inner thoughts. Several scientific studies have shown that the typed messages actually reflect the thoughts of the person providing the support.
Holding Therapy
In this technique, the parent hugs the child for long periods of time, even if the child resists. Those who use the technique contend that it forges a bond between the parent and child. Some claim that it helps stimulate parts of the brain as the child senses the boundaries of his or her own body. There is no scientific evidence, however, to support these claims.
Auditory Integration Therapy
The child listens to a variety of sounds with the goal of improving language comprehension. Advocates of this method suggest that it helps people with autism receive more balanced sensory input from their environment. When tested using scientific procedures, the method was shown to be no more effective than listening to music. However, some parents report that children make significant behavioral and language gains following this treatment.
Vision Therapy
While impaired vision is not the only neurological problem spectrum children exhibit, the dominant role of the visual system in learning and development makes impairment of this visual system particularly deleterious. The child with autism cannot use his or her visual system efficiently, and must depend on more rudimentary senses of touch, smell or taste.
Autistic children display many of the symptoms associated with vestibular involvement. It permeates most of the literature in other disciplines. Although many autistic children cannot verbally describe how they feel, it becomes quite apparent from their actions and in performance in vision and movements. Although their visual system cannot be measured or verbalized in the same manner as other sighted individuals there is a way to observe and change their performance. At The Center for Visual Management I have designed a Non-Verbal Battery which involves pre and post tests utilizing ambient yoked prisms to evaluate their ability to change posture, attention and disposition.
The concept that vision is learned plays a significant role in modifying autistic behavior. What one learns from experience, one can change by experience. In the visual management of autism I use performance enhancing lenses combined with a developmentally designed sequence of movement procedures for the autistic to experience a revised interaction with their world. The child moves through stages of awareness, attention, and automicity of information processing. The neural system responds by regrouping their synapses. Can we say then that the child is no longer autistic? Not quite, although he or she experiences a higher level of performance, improved behavior, many gain language with reduced symptoms that define the label. www.autisticvision.com Dr. Melvin Kaplan, author of "Seeing Through New Eyes"
CranioSacral Therapy
CST was pioneered and developed by osteopathic physician John E. Upledger following extensive scientific studies from 1975 to 1983 at Michigan State University, where he served as a clinical researcher and Professor of Biomechanics.
CST is a gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the functioning of a physiological body system called the craniosacral system - comprised of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord.
Using a soft touch generally no greater than 5 grams, or about the weight of a nickel, practitioners release restrictions in the craniosacral system to improve the functioning of the central nervous system.
By complementing the body's natural healing processes, CST is increasingly used as a preventive health measure for its ability to bolster resistance to disease, and is effective for a wide range of medical problems associated with pain and dysfunction, including:
SER is a therapeutic process that uses and expands on the principles of CranioSacral Therapy to help rid the mind and body of the residual effects of trauma. SERI offers applications designed to enhance results using CST and other complementary therapies.