> Children and Parenting > Diseases and Conditions > autism

Several years ago a woman called my office because she had heard of my success in treating children with learning disabilities. She wondered if I could help her child who was severely autistic. I informed her that I had not treated any one with autism yet, but I thought I could help.

I had learned a special technique for correcting learning disabilities, which included cranial adjusting, from Dr Karl Ferrari of New York. When I studied this technique, I felt there was a connection with the misalignments of the bones in the skull and autism.

This mother started to bring her son to the clinic for treatment. He was the most “off-the-wall” child we had seen thus far. In the beginning, it was extremely difficult to do any work on him, because as soon as I touched him, he would take-off out of the room and down the hall screaming wildly. Once I gained his confidence and was able to start realigning the bones in his skull, changes happened. His mother reported that his outbursts were much less frequent and less severe. His compulsive repetitive actions diminished. His ability to do what we would consider normal things, like tying his shoes or brushing his teeth, became easier. His mother was impressed with our results. Since she was the president of the autistic society in her city, she invited me to come and talk to their group. I started treating 11 of their autistic children. The lady who volunteered to host the clinic in the back of her health-food store had little idea of what kind of noise and commotion 11 autistic children could make. She did not invite them back for future clinics.

The severity of the autistic tendencies varied considerably. Some had mild repetitive compulsive movements and were passive or withdrawn. Some were more aggressive and exhibited extreme behavioural abnormalities. The initial boy that I treated was the most severe case, others were less severe and some were not autistic, but had Attention Deficit Disorder or hyperactivity.

Observations

I noticed the following during treatments:

• Each of the 11 children had structural misalignments in the skull, significant enough to be causing pressure on the brain and interfering with its function. Their histories were full of birth traumas, forceps deliveries, falls and numerous head injuries.
• Many of them started to demonstrate symptoms shortly after receiving their early childhood vaccinations, usually around age two or three.
• The case histories revealed a tendency for childhood infections in such areas as tonsils, adenoids and ears. All of these infections had been treated with many doses of antibiotics.
• The diets of these children were, for the most part, atrocious (the standard American diet or as we like to refer to it, the SAD diet). Their SAD diets consisted of processed, prepackaged, denatured and microwaved foods. Fruits and vegetables were nonexistent. Comments like; “I can’t get them to eat those things,” and “No, they don’t drink any water,” were common.
• There were only two families who were taking any supplementation at all and they were just guessing at what the child needed.

I suggested that each child receive a darkfield microscope analysis of the blood to determine exactly what the nutritional deficiencies were and which infections were present. The analysis revealed:

• Severe parasite infections.
• Evidence of yeast infections.
• Blood that was clumped together, indicating a lack of oxygen, enzymes, and poor digestion.
• The level of toxicity was high, accompanied by severe liver stress.

Cranial adjustments were recommended for each of them and nutritional programs (including supplementation) were suggested according to their darkfield microscope analysis.

The factor that had the most influence on the degree of results obtained was the parents’ ability to follow through with the treatment protocol. Some did not change their diets, others did not add the supplements and still others did not bring the child in often enough to make the necessary corrections to the positions of the bones in the skull and spine. However, those that did follow through were very pleased with their results.

One boy, (who my assistant felt was the worst behaved), was disrespectful and argumentative with his mother and displayed irrational emotional outbursts, which were followed by a complete withdrawal. His mother made all the necessary changes to his diet, adding the necessary supplementation and they didn’t miss an appointment. She reported that, after just two short months of treatment, her son was now a totally normal, happy, capable child.

All of the children who were able to follow through with the complete treatment protocols experienced improvements in their abilities to do day-to-day activities, communicate with others, control their emotions and learn new skills.

Conclusion

Autistic children can be helped, some a little, some a lot. Improving their diets, eliminating toxins, strengthening the immune system, detoxifying the liver, correcting nutritional deficiencies, adding protective supplements and correcting spinal and cranial misalignments are all part of the complete treatment for autistics. The results of those that missed any of these components were not as good as those that did all of the steps.

The cranial and spinal corrections for the misalignments in the skull and spine are what make the difference.

Roger L. Turner is a practising chiropractor in Barrie and North Bay, ON.

Source: alive #219, January 2001