Autistic mute discovers he can sing

You would never imagine that the song you are about to listen

in the video above, it is from someone who has never

spoken a full sentence and is still non-verbal! 
His name is Kyle Coleman who is 25 years old. 
He was diagnosed with Autism at the age of three.

This is exactly what I see on Tommy. Tommy can memorize songs. If someone who doesn't know him, hears him singing, that person would think that Tommy is verbal. Specially, when he is singing a song  and he suddenly changes the lyric. The new words  that he has introduced sometimes rhymes with the song.  My neighbor was the one who noticed it last year. He keeps doing it that even his  Aids at school have noticed it. Just last Sunday, I heard him singing:

Blue Bird, Blue Bird in the tree...

and he suddenly changed it to:

Blue bird, blue bird in the window

(while he was looking outside through the window). 

All kids like music, as well as, most kids with Down syndrome respond well to music, but they don't develop "affinity" as kids with Autism.

Here is where I see Tommy's Autism diagnosis being stronger than his Down syndrome diagnosis. Tommy has totally developed affinity with everything related to music including his voice for singing. He has a melodic voice for signging and can copy the high pitches on a song, including the ones in The Star-Spangled Banner. The way to get into his world is through music. The best way for Tommy to learn language is through songs. The best way to introduce a new concept is through songs. This is why at home and at school we sign for everything we are teaching to Tommy. Even for route counting, school uses song so 

Tommy can count at the tune of the songs. He is even learning the Pledge of Allegiance through the song of Lee Greenwood! When he was learning to recognize sight words, he could recognized them by picking the cards; howsoever, I knew he could say the words. So I began to sing the words and Tommy immediately began to read his high frequency words. We are also using visual resources to support what we teach through music, but the first choice is music. 

You may have seen this video before,
But you probably didn't pay attention on the way
 Tommy is reading. He is signing the words!

I will never let you down

"I will never let you down" were the words I promised to Tommy when he was an unborn baby. I promised this to him on October 31, 2007. It is going to be exactly seven years. I keep that promise stick to my heart, it is what give the perseverance I need to find ways to help Tommy.

Today, I received a phone call from United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. For the first time, I talked to someone knowledgeable about this issue, and for the first time, I felt I am being understood. The possibilities Tommy can have mitochondrial dysfunction are there. Now, I found the right sources that will lead me to an answer. This foundation will put in contact with other moms, who are passionate about this topic like me.

God is listening to our prayers!

A roller coaster of emotions

In the last 2 months, it has been like a roller coaster of emotions for me. Many family events that truly made me tumble, I guess because there were too many at the same time. My mom had a car accident and her ankle got split. She couldn't have surgery right way, so she had the surgery on September 26 (Exactly, a month and a day after the accident). She is recovering really good. A week after my mom had the accident, my grandma began to have issues with her heart, which ended in a stroke. Days after the stroke, she got diagnosed with a sever pulmonary illness. I  talked to her oh Thursday, she is in a good spirit and feeling better. There also some issues at my husband's work that are keeping us a little concern.

At the same time all this was happening, God began to make his wonder by listening to our prayers to heal Tommy. We are just blessed that we find a doctor that goes beyond the standards as well as a great therapy for Autism, Mendability. I truly cannot put in words what I am experiencing with Tommy. I just can say that He is rediscovering the world. I know that there is still a lot to do to help Tommy, but I think the window to pull him out of Autism may not be locked anymore. This has been like the light of a candle among all the darkness around me.

While I am so happy for Tommy, I am a little concern for Francis. He is developing seasonal allergies and possible food allergies/sensitivity. It just started two weeks ago. This is when sometimes I think things happened for a reason. If I wouldn't know about Autism as much as I know now, I wouldn't be aware that if Francis is developing those conditions there is common factor which is the underline cause candida overgrowth/internal inflammation.

• Seasonal allergies causes inflammation in the lungs that lead to Asthma. Sesonal allergies is a symptom of candida overgrowth. I noticed Francis different wendsday night. He was extremely tiered to the point he felt asleep on the floor (not normal for Francis). I am glad that it was raining and the storm woke him up, so he came to our bed. A few minutes after he felt asleep, I realized that he was wheezing, Not good! He was in the yellow zone, the warning zone before an asthma attack. Because I already when through this with Tommy, I knew what to do and the wheezing went away.  
• Food sensitivity has a slow reaction, which began to create internal inflammation in digestive system. But this internal inflammation may be caused due to candida overgrowth that leads to yeast infection, which causes Licky Gut Syndrome. This is when antibodies pass to the blood from the digestive system straight to the brain. This is the reason why Licky Gut Syndrome is linked to Autism in a developing brain.
  
  My charming boy!

ACTION PLAN

1. Prayers: They always are the number one in the list of my action plan. I feel much better knowing that my mom is healing really good and that my Grandma is feeling a lot better. I will keep praying for everything is not going in the right path, so everything comes back on track.
2. Hard Work: I will keep my hard work with Tommy, but I am keeping in mind that I will accomplish as much as it is possible and when it is not possible, there are many things I can do in our daily routine to keep stimulating him. I am so glad that we decided to transfered him to the new school. He is adjusting really good! 
3. Be proactive: I am a little concern for my precious boy Francis, but at the same time, I know what to do and how to treat it before it becomes a problem. We will hire the Nutritionist that helped a lot when Tommy was in his first year of Autism diagnosis. Nutritional intervention may be necessary depending on the food sensitivity test results. The only issue is that Francis is not a good eater as Tommy. I will also make an appointment with his pediatrician to request a Stool Analysis Test to get the treatment. I am 99.9 %, it will come back positive for candida overgrowth. I know how candida looks like. Francis has also complained several times that his tummy is hurting. My mother's instincts never fails.
4. Resting: I am resting more by trying to go earlier to bed or taking short naps on the weekends. I need to recharge more that before of the roller coaster of emotions. I have to keep myself healthy to keep going in my journey with my boys.

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT! 

Back to school

Tommy couldn't attend our home school last year because the needed equipment wasn't available at his home school, so he attended the main elementary school of the school district. Today, we went to his new school to meet his new teachers because we couldn't attend the open house last week. Tommy's new teacher are Miss Kummer and Mr. Henken. I am so glad to have them in Tommy's team because a good chemistry between them was obvious to me. Tommy walked into the building and the staff began to melt with his smile and an outgoing personality, which surprised me because I haven't seen him so outgoing after his Autism diagnosis. This truly made me feel good! We also saw two of Tommy's paraprofessionals and they came to greet him.  I also met some personnel that knew Tommy from the other school. They wanted him to sing the National Anthem, but he didn't want to. Tommy even shacked hands with the principal.  It truly felt like a second family! 

The new school is beautiful! I am so glad that we missed the open house because I could talk to Miss Kummer and Mr. Henken for about 45 minutes and they gave me a tour around the entire school. I was impressed! The resource room is very nice. They created it with a comfortable environment where the interior design resembles a leaving room. 

I have never been so excited for Tommy going to school until today. I was worried about Tommy going to first grade due to many challenges need to be conquered for him to reach his full potential. But today those worries were smoothly dismissed. I think it is a good sign that he didn't want to leave school because he was the center of the attention. I am very confident that my boy is ready to go back to school tomorrow!

Here is Tommy at his new school.

I am praying for him to have a wonderful school year.

Understanding Autism (Part 1 - The Genetic Side of Autism)

My curiosity of understanding how environmental factors can affect a child with AUTISM has brought me to a deeper UNDERSTANDING of AUTISM. Autism big puzzle is starting to take shape after many studies; howsoever, there is a lot  that needs to be done to actual complete this puzzle. Recent studies have been crucial in having a better understanding of Autism and maybe one day a cure and prevention for every child affected will be available. 


A Large-scale population study finds environment plays as big a role as genes in autism, below are fragments of the Newsletter of the Autism Research Institute:

"Study co-author Abraham Reichenberg comments, “We were surprised by our findings as we did not expect the importance of environmental factors in autism to be so strong.”...children with a brother or sister with autism were ten times more likely to develop autism than other children. They were three times more likely if they had a half-brother or half-sister with autism, and two times more likely if they had a cousin with the condition. These results did not vary according to gender." 

The genetic side of Autism

Does Autism run in families?  The answers is YES! Researchers has enough evidence to know the short answer. But genetic is complicated, so they exactly don't know why. A connections between autoimmune disorders and Autism has been found, which could explain it, but more studies needs to be done. Therefore, Autism seems to be an autoimmune disorder rather than just a neurological disorder, which involves metabolic issues as well. Therefore, Autism is starting be considered as a neuro-immune disorder. This makes more sense and it could explain why so many kids are affected and why this kids have other organs in the body affected by Autism rather than just the brain.

The autoimmune disorders that are being studied to find a relation with Autism are Celiac disease, Rheumatoid arthritis and Type I diabetes.  Scientist are looking into Parkinson as well as other link to Autism because  PARK2 or parkinson protein 2 has been found in kids with Autism. Recently, Parkinson has been proposed as autoimmune disorder as well. 


A new study has showed that Mothers with Celiac disease have a greater risk of having a child with autism than mothers with Rheumatoid arthritis or Type 1 diabetes. Urinary infections during pregnancy may also pull the trigger for the genetic side of Autism in a developing unborn babies. Developing brains are the ones attacked by Autism because they don't have the immunity well developed to fight back the antibodies that cross the blood stream from the mother to the fetus and go right straight to the unborn baby's brain. But also it could happen that the child's body create the antibodies. A group of people with Autism has been followed for about 30 years, the antibodies related to their Autism diagnosis that were found in their brains when they were babies still remind in there brains after 30 years. I did have a urinary track infection while I was pregnant with Tommy, so I got a little sad when I learned this in a webinar.


According to NBC News, "...Danish researchers analyzed medical records of 733,826 children born in Denmark over 10 years. Of those babies, 35,766, or nearly 5 percent, were documented as having jaundice. Of those, 1,721 children, or nearly 5 percent, developed a range of psychological disorders, including autism." The liver seems to work slower in kids with Autism, and it impresses me that this Danish study showed that nearly 5% of kids who developed jaundice were later diagnosed with a neurological disorders as Autism, so I am a believer that jaundice or non-share factors in the treatment for jaundice may pull the trigger for Autism later in these little kids –Tommy did have jaundice at birth!


Scientists are working on a test to find babies at risk of Autism. But it will take time to complete it. I do believe urinary infection during pregnancy as well as jaundice may be some of the early signs doctors will be looking into it to screen babies at risk of Autism. 

A study concluded that:

 "...Autism and ADHD are known to share symptoms, and approximately 30 percent of children with autism also meet the criteria for ADHD². The two conditions oftenappear in the same families, and twin studies and genetic studies have suggested that they share genetic risk factors.
The new study is the first to look at the transmission of the two conditions from one generation to the next on a population-wide basis. It is also the first to find that a parent’s diagnosis of ADHD increases risk of the disorders in the child.“We’ve known for decades that ADHD is heritable. But now we’re starting to collect a body of evidence to suggest these two disorders do share some liability,” says lead investigator Erica Musser, assistant professor of child and adolescent psychology at Florida International University..."

Even the study for ADHD was done in mothers, there is a factor that cannot be diny: ADHD is heritable! If my memory doesn't fail, my husband was diagnosed with ADHD when he was a child and he was treated with Ritalin. My husband grew out of ADHD. 

All the genetic information for the autoimmune disorders, neurological disorderes and non-share factors mentioned above some how are part of Tommy's genetic. All 4 autoimmune disorders mention above run in our families and all of them have something in common, MITOCHONDRIAL DYSFUNCTION, which just recently was proven to be very common in kids with Autism. 

Tommy's genes are compromised due to

 his genetic disorder and they are also 

more sensitive due to our families health history, 

so I believe now that there was not way 

Tommy could scape from Autism.

TO PARENTS:
The Autism Research Institute is a great source in understanding Autism and keep you update about the new findings and possible treatments for your child. Attend to the ARI's webinars, which are free. I highly recommend them!

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!

THANKS GOD FOR GUIDING ME. 
PLEASE  GIVE ME STRENGTH TO KEEP 
FIGHTING AGAINST AUTISM
TO RESCUE MY SON!

References:

Is Parkinson’s an Autoimmune Disease?
Large study links autism to autoimmune disease in mothers
Enviromental factors as important as genes in understanding Autism
Autism Link to jaundice in Newborns, study finds
Related Disease

Fourth Appointment with Dr. Sultan (Thyroid Issue)

This past Saturday, we had our fourth appointment with Dr. Sultan to discuss the Thyroid and Liver results. The good news, the liver panel came back OK nothing to be worried about it. So we will discuss it  in more detail in our next appointment. Howsoever,  the thyroid lab came back showing an issue as I was expecting it. 

There are many thyroid hormones, but most doctors just focused on T4 and T3, which can be a problem for the patient. Why? Because the TSH will show normal results, but there are other form of T3 that need to be on balance for the body to work properly.  Dr. Sultan explained to me according to the test results that Tommy's T4 is in optimum level, but his T3 is low. To find how the T3 was working, Dr. Sultan also tested for Free T3 and Reverse T3. The test results show a problem in Free T3. So I searched how the Free T3 can affect my little boy. SURPRISE! It is the cause of HIGH CHOLESTEROL LEVELS. The connection between thyroid and cholesterol has been well-known for decades, it seems it has been forgotten for many physicians and endocrinologist. 

Dr. Sultan switched Tommy's medication from a synthetic thyroid to a natural thyroid hormone. Tommy's current thyroid medication just have T4, but he also needs T3. We made the switch on Sunday. I discovered that the synthetic thyroid Tommy's used to take has LACTOSE. Lactose comes from milk and Tommy has milk intolerance. We told his endocrinologist that he had milk intolerance and she never changed his medication. We have been working with this endocrinologist since Tommy was a baby, and she works in one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country. This one more example why, I am taking the lead in my son's health with professionals that has passion for their profession.

Enjoy the video of Stopthethyroidmadness.com. It is a great source for patients with thyroid issues. They also have an article that explains why the TSH test is not the best for patients with thyroid issues. Click here!

Third Appointment with Dr. Sultan

What improvement do we have seen? 
We have seen Tommy with more energy, reported by grandparents and swimming instructor. My husband and I have noticed that he is becoming to notice things around his environment, like the light switches when is dark as well as following better directions in English and Spanish. He is verbally communicating more with me than before. He has requested drink, snack and eat. Yesterday, he came to the pantry and told me 'Chips' when I was looking for something to give them for snack. Good eye contact! He had a period of time were he avoided eye contact, so this has been a battle. And it was more noticeable when he met estrangers. This is something I can say completely overcome.  It  was hard to keep him on a task because he had the flight or fight reaction. It has improved a lot in just one month on the treatment. Big punch to Autism, Yahoooooo!

Medical Intervention:

• Big Cells:  I had put 7 shots to Tommy already of Vitamin B12. We will have to do it for 2 more months. 
• Candida: We are treating Candida with anti-fungus, No yeast and No sugar diet. Getting food for his new diet has become easy Now that big retailer stores like Walmart has expanded their selection of organic food. We still need a few stuff from Whole food, but not as much as before because we can find them mostly at the groceries stores near by. 
• Low Iron: Tommy is taking Ferrous Sulfate Iron, which is used to treat or prevent low iron in the blood. This form of iron is better absorbed. So we started him on this new iron supplement Thursday May 29. 
• Thyroid and high cholesterol: I took Tommy's tempeture for 5 days and his temperature is very low.

Second stage of the Medical Treatment:

The main concern right now is Tommy's Thyroid. Dr. Sultan think is not working properly even when he is taken synthetic thyroid. Tommy's temperature is way too low from the normal range, which is a strong indication his medication is not working as it should. There is also another indication, Tommy has lost 5 pounds too quick. His appetite hasn't changed, so we know there is something wrong. So Dr. Sultan has ordered more testing for the thyroid and not just the common tests our current ENT always orders. So depending on the test results, we will stop working with our current ENT. Since the first appointment, he was very persistent that the thyroid could be one of the big issues in his Autism diagnosis. Thyroid is also a big issue in kids with Down syndrome, so I am just glad Dr. Sultan has been very proactive in this matter. Dr. Sultan also ordered a complete panel of liver function, which it has made me  a little nervous  because liver dysfunction is a big issue for kids with AUTISM as well for kids with DOWN SYNDROME as a single diagnosis. So I don't know if for having two coexisting conditions could affect Tommy's liver even more than kids with a single diagnosis. So I am praying if there is something wrong that it can easily be treated.

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!

Please send your prayers in Tommy's way.

Tommy's treatments

I wish I could be a stay home mom, so I can have time to get everything that needs to get done with the boys, Tommy's interventions, paper work, the house, etc. Howsoever, I am very HAPPY because things are just getting better and better for Tommy and I am very proud of how much I have accomplished in this tree years of Tommy's Autism diagnosis. I am getting him out of isolation!

Tommy's Interventions

First Stage of Medical Intervention:

• Big Cells:  I searched online about the big cells and the B12 injections correct this issue, so it is a relief that this can be fixed with the proper treatment. I already got Tommy his first shot, it was very easy and didn't give to much thought, I just did it. He even didn't feel pain because Dr. Sultan prescribed a cream to numb the area and I waited until Tommy fall asleep. So he doesn't know he got a shot last night.
• Candida: He is already in the medicine that will kill this fungus that it is cousing the problems in his stomach and some of the Autism symptoms. He will be on this medicine for a month. Tommy is already in the No yeast and No sugar diet to get back the candidada bacteria on balance. I will be cooking on the weekends, so I can have time during the week to get done everything in Tommy's intervension. Now, cooking for him has became more challanging because I will have to do my own dressing as well as watching for his cholesterol. Thanks to God that he made Tommy a good eater! So not problem in the change of food.
• Low Iron: Tommy is taking Ferrous Sulfate Iron, which is used to treat or prevent low iron in the blood. This form of iron is better absorbed. So we started him on this new iron supplement Thursday May 29. 
• Thyroid and high cholesterol: I have to star collecting data of Tommy's tempeture and I will fax it as soon as we complete the 5 days. So Dr. Sultan will let us know the next step on the treatment for his thyroid. I am trying to watch for food that contains cholesterol and avoid it or decrease its consumption. So we got wild cought salmon and Organic chichen with 98% fat for Tommy.
• Multivitamin: Tommy started his new vitamin, ASD-Plex Thursday May 29. I noticed that this vitamin doesn't include Vitamin A. Kids with Down syndrome need high amounts of vitamin A. So before asking to Dr. Sultan, I revised the treatment plan. So I found in the treatment plan that Dr. Sultan will address specific vitamins separetely, including VITAMIN A. This is the reason I like this doctor, we talk the same language regardless our strong acents. He always has the answers before I make the questions. Tommy doesn't like his new vitamin, so it is a challenging to give him the vitamin, so I will make smoothies to mix the vitamin, it has work well before.

Dr.Sultan's plan is to balance Tommy's entire body system because this is how the body functions. So I have a few things I will include about underline causes of illnesses in Down syndrome.

Neuro-developmental Program 
Tommy has a new evaluation on May 30, and his Neurodevelopmentalist was impressed on his progress, specially that he is getting out of isolation.

• She noticed Tommy's looks of my attention and keep a good eye contact
• Repetitive behaviors are decreasing. She noticed he is not flapping his hands, I still see it, but I realized on Friday that it has decreased a lot and it is consistent with what My mother-in-law commented to us last weekend. 
• She was please with Tommy's academic progress in just a year in the program. 
• In our next goals is to improve playing independently with toys. Tommy had play skills closer to his age, but everything was gone when Autism stroked him. So in my search, I have found that video modeling works really good for kids with Autism, so I got a Teach2Talk DVD Play series. Tommy has been watching the video over the weekend, and then, I transferred what he watched in the video to his environment and it was a success. He began to play with a puzzle almost independently! 
• Tommy's visual scanning has also improved. It was very bad!

Linda Kane is our neuro-developmenatlist who had a child with Down syndrome. This is one of the reasons I like to work with her. She understand for what we are going through as a family. She  developed a new Individulizzed Neurodevelopmental plan on the weekend, but I haven't been able to go through the entire plan yet, but I will do it this week because I have to get new materials to work on the new goals every time we have a revaluation.

Mendability (Neuroscience)

It is truly helping in strengthening Tommy's brain because I am witness how he is better processing and how it regulating better sounds and having better transitions by targeting his brain rather than targeting a specific skill. I have increasing resting time as well as the touch-and-smell root activity. I am pushing my self every day to get the time to complete at least one of the branch activities session. I am working on sensory enriching the house. I got the bathroom and Tommy truly likes it because it is very calming for him due to the textures and colors. When I finish redecorating the house based on sensory enrichment, I will post the photos. 

Swimming Lessons
Tommy has also showed improvement in the pool. He is working on learning back stroke swimming style. It is hard for him due to his upper body is the area more affected by the hypotonia, but he is working on it. I am also very curious how his medical intervention will help to strength his body, which may result in a better performance at the pool. Why do I say this? Because hypotonia can also be treated through nutritional intervention, but I didn't know this until I began my journey with Autism.

Craneosacral Therapy

We have increased craneosacral therapy. We have been doing it for a little over a year. And I just recently watch a webinar in the Autism Research Institute where a doctor explains the benefits of this therapy for Autism.

I am glad I have put in place all the interventions that I have been planning. Working with a schedule and a routine is helping me a lot to get though everything needs to get done every day. A structure routine has allowed me to work on communication routine with Tommy and it is helping to bring those words he can perfectly say out his mouth. I will post when I have time about communication routines, so it may help other parents with their non-verbal children. We are very bless all these interventions are available for Tommy.

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!

KEEP SENDING YOUR PRAYERS IN TOMMY'S WAY!