Choice of treatment.

Posted on 04-Sep-07

I will first point out that the following is not based on facts, but it is only our personal opinion which are expressed.

We found out very quickly that the only treatment which we would consider as a serious treatment is not widely known in Denmark. The treatment is called ABA (Applied behaviour analysis). We eagerly studied all available treatments, ABA, TEACCH, Sunrise, eclectic (Composite) treatments, etc. and we concluded that the ABA, globally, proven and without parallel, is the most evident cure existing today.

We were much surprised to learn that many within the established Danish health-care and even persons within the Autism Denmark organisation (Which is the national organisation of parents to children with autism, with myself included as a member) leadership was opponents of the ABA method and used every opportunity to defame the ABA. When we discussed the ABA treatment with those opponents we realized that their knowledge of the ABA was equal to zero and that their opposition was purely based on their own prejudices and assumptions. To learn that the Autism Denmark organisation management was opposed to introduce the world's most evident method seems to me totally incomprehensible since this organisation is a organisation which should support up on all the treatments which the parents deem appropriate. Without going deeper into this issue I Unfortunately must assume that there are people who have major economic interests in blocking the introduction of the ABA method as an option. Since there at the time was tight connection between the the Autism Denmark organisation management and center for autism who almost had monopoly rights in terms of providing autism expert assistance to municipalities, I must assume that some people bring their own profit and earnings over the children's best interests.

In our quest for the best treatment we visited a couple of big, beautiful special institutions in our home municipality and a pair of ABA treatments in other municipalities. These visits removed any doubt about what treatment Rasmus should have.

We have great respect for the established health-care and the parents who choose the latter, in turn, I stresses that the following is not about what is right or wrong, but on what we personally consider to be right and wrong.

The big, beautiful special institutions could almost seduce you. The location was beautiful and there were wonderful happy children with various mental disabilities and a dedicated staff. It was obvious that there was not nominated enough staff to provide "one to one "Lessons for more than an hour a day per child. It was also obvious that Rasmus would imitate the large quantities of undesirable behaviour which the variety of disparate mental disabled children on the spot showed. The Authority's offer was specious. It all was for free and Rasmus would be transported with Taxi every day, but we unfortunately had to conclude that this is not to be considered as a treatment, but just a care taking offer in an environment which we consider to be the worst possible environment for a child with autism. I went tearful out of the door after the visit of the first institution. I wept over the hopeless in the situation. It could not be right that our Rasmus had to be stored away on a special institution for the rest of his live without a chance for a decent life.

The first ABA treatment observation we attended was the first glimpse of hope in a dark time. For the first time in our quest so we saw something which apparently had a major impact on the child's development. Here, I also tearful went out of the door after the first time to have attended ABA training, but this time it was of joy and relief to see that there, after all, there was hope for the future. A hope that we could increase Rasmus's development potential significantly. Here, there was no chat about everything the "autist" will never be able to cope with, but instead they identified the strengths "the child with autism" were in possession of and they used those strengths to begin a systematic building up of skills. We realized that it was possible in much the majority of cases to be able to increase the child's quality of life considerably when using the ABA treatment method.

Posted on 12-Feb-08 Rasmus has now been in the ABA treatment for more than 6 months and he develops at a fantastic pace. We have in the past few months studied all available material about any physical causes of Rasmus's autism and the possible use of functional medicine and various diet / mineral and vitamin grants. When you look at the large quantity evident reports and factual findings on this issue, it begins to be obvious to us that, like the educational part (ABA treatment) we should also focus as much on this part. Since Rasmus developed quite normal until 3 weeks after the MFR vaccination, it will be obvious to assume that there was something in this vaccine which caused Rasmus's disorder. This issue is very complex and critism of vaccination programs is very sensitive. Science themselves do not really comprehend the issue yet, so we will not just accept any scientific reports which reject or "prove" something. This obviously applies both ways. We are not looking for somebody to blame for Rasmus's autism. The only thing we have in mind is to try to find the cause and, if possible, to improve his condition and learning skills. The only way we can help Rasmus is to study all the available material found in the area and then to decide the action list for our dear little Rasmus. Rasmus's action list looks at the present as follows: The gut function should be investigated. Here, we exclude, for example, traces of measles virus (or other unwanted viruses or bacteria cultures in the gut, read this) Analysis of heavy metal levels. (many children with autism have abnormal high values) Check of Allergy and food intolerance. (check whether there is inflammations in the gut, Urine test for traces of morphine peptides) Vitamin and mineral levels. (Captures the body the necessary vitamins and minerals) Amino acid profile. (Captures body proteins in the normal way) Even that researchers in many other countries work on the above matters, such as Sweden and Norway See interesting link on the subject here, I have not yet managed to find any people within the Danish established health-care system who will make the above analysis. I almost get the feeling that the Danish professionals must have covered their eyes and put their fingers in their ears in order for them to avoid any new knowledge since none of them knows about this development in autism treatment even it is discussed openly and loudly in the rest of the world. Unfortunately this means that we ourselves must identify a private clinic and that we ourselves must find a way to pay for the expensive analysis, since the Danish established health-care system has not managed to be kept updated about the "physical part" of the autism treatment.