Autism is a neurological difference. The brain functions differently. When the brain functions differently, then the rest of the body functions differently. These differences can be fine, and they can affect the person’s quality of life.

My goal, until Nolan can make these choices on his own, is to do my very best to make Nolan’s quality of life best I can. I want him to be happy, healthy, and successful.

I, ideally, would like to put as little in Nolan’s body that I can. I try homeopathic and natural solutions best I can, but sometimes pharmaceuticals are necessary.

I will share what we are doing in general, but I am not a medical professional. You need to have these conversations with your doctors and find the plan that works best for your individual.

Therapy

We find therapy to be a great way to help Nolan to grow and learn new skills.

ABA Therapy (in center)

He goes to an ABA center 5 days a week for a total of 23 hours. This is personally tailored towards his goals and it closely resembles an IEP with life skills, safety, social skills, and academics all in a one on one setting.

School

He goes to 4k in the public school with an IEP. This is a part day program. His IEP includes a one on one aide (the early childhood special education teacher or her educational aide). He is integrated into the classroom using is talker and then pulled out when the noise level of centers is too loud to do his own centers.

He is also pulled out twice a week for 15 minutes each for speech at school. They work on using his talker currently.

Speech

In addition to speech at school, we do private speech as well. We are currently working on using the talker and strengthening that form of communications, but if he would become ready, we can do speech therapy in actual use of the tongue, cheeks, and mouth to form words correctly (he was doing this before his speech regressed).

Chiropractic

I have heard a lot about the benefits of chiropractic care and children with autism. The thinking is the spine holds the pathway to the brain and if that pathway is restricted or not straight, the signals to the brain are having a harder time getting there. Chiropractors can help to streamline that and make sure things are flowing best they can. The article linked above states, they do not treat autism but treat individuals with autism to alleviate some of their symptoms.

Overall Health-Vitamins

Tried:

We worked on helping Nolan’s gut health with the Nemechek protocol. We feel it helped some, but then when life got crazy and we missed a couple doses, we realized it was not making much of a difference to fight with him daily (he was not a fan of the fish oil) we decided to take a different route. I do believe in the science of gut brain connection and would consider bringing it back in a while to re-heal the gut.

We also attempted a Gluten free and dye free diet. We read this may benefit some children including those on the spectrum. We eliminated gluten and dye from his diet for a couple months. We made most of our purchases at Aldi-they made it easy. After months of being gluten free, we did not notice any difference and with not noticing a difference and the added expense to the grocery budget, we discontinued this. I do encourage you to consider this being an option for your child though, I have seen it make a difference.

Doing:

We know that children who are on the spectrum tend to be picky eaters due to sensory issues. This can then lead the children to be deficient in crucial vitamins and minerals for optimal body/brain function. We found the Simple Spectrum Supplement to cover all of these bases. We order directly from the site on auto-ship. It is also noted that many insurance companies would cover the supplement as well. There is also an amazon option.

Sleep

Tried:

When Nolan first struggled with sleep we started with the usuals. Bedtime routine, running to get tired, being calm, no technology, soothing projectors, music, lavender, bubble baths, bubble baths with lavender, weighted blanket/stuffed animals, Boston’s Bed Soxz compression sheet, etc. None of it was making a difference.

We spoke with our doctor at this point and he advised us to try melatonin. After starting it, and then upping it, we maxed out the dose and it was not improving his sleep. This was OUR case though. It is still a great starting point if your child would respond.

Doing:

It became clear that we would need more help. We went to children’s hospital of Wisconsin and received an insomnia diagnosis. We were then prescribed a “go to sleep” medication and a “stay asleep” medication.

We have an intricate bedtime routine. It consists of:
* prescription sleep medication to go to sleep given 30 mins before bed
* If it is bath day we still use lavender scented things
* Nasal spray (stuffed nose bothers him and keeps him up. We had adenoids removed).
* Eczema cream (Itching keeps him up-he only gets it in the winter)
* prescription sleep medication to stay asleep (and help with is neuronal instability).
* Teeth (we use a 3 sided brush to make it as fast as possible and smooth as possible for him)
* Book (all 3 kids read in his bed so he can get tucked in)
* Pray
* Tuck into bed with: Boston’s Bed Soxz, Weighted blanket, weighted scented stuffie, and sound machine.

Seizures

Kids on the spectrum are more likely to have seizure like activity. Remember, it is all about the brain. After having an EEG and MRI done, we know Nolan has irregular neuronal activity for up to 3 seconds. They are not full blown seizures, but they are seizure like electrical impulses.

We were treating with his “stay asleep med” as it was already a seizure medication. That being said, we continue to see regressions, trouble retaining newly learned things, and language issues 18 months later. We have decided to treat the instability with an additional seizure medication in order to hopefully give the brain a break from these impulses, heal, and form synapsis to allow him to learn better. This particular medication must be tapered very slowly taking 3 months to get to full dose and know if it is working.

Once we know if it is working, we would like to see about eliminating other medications. We will also monitor with another EEG to see if it is helping the seizure activity. If there is no change on the medication, we do not see the need to stay on it. As mentioned, we genuinely want to try to stay on as little medications as possible to maintain as high quality of life as possible. If he is not noticing differences, why add the stress of getting a medication in, if it is highly successful and he begins communicating and learning, then it is worth it.

Stimming/Sensory Seeking

Stimming is the person’s way of soothing. We have no problem with Nolan stimming and see it as a normal way of life for us. We know this is a great part of what makes Nolan who he is. That being said, we are also noticing that his drive to sensory/stimming is so high at times he can literally think of nothing else. He cannot hear lessons in class, he cannot see safety issues, he cannot hear us call him. He is just looking around for the next thing to drum constantly–and to such an extreme it leaves him winded.

As we are going for quality of life, we wanted something that would help him multi-task. We want him to have the stimming with also having the ability to listen, participate, and learn.

Nolan was put on a prescription medication that helped him slow a bit. It worked for a short while and then it wasn’t working so great. We had to up the dose. Then that was working but because it has such a short half life, it was not making it through the school day. Now, it is dosed once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Again, we monitor for if it is working. If it is working and helping his quality of life, we keep him on it. If it is not making a difference, why put more medication into his little body.

Quality of life

As we have mentioned, what it all comes down to is quality of life. We want the highest quality of life for our child. We do not want to take all his spirit, energy, stimming, and Nolanness out, we want to keep all that in while allowing him to learn, grow, and enjoy life.

We also want as little medications in him as possible. If it is not doing anything, why put it in there. Also, he takes medicines pretty well, but it is not fun to have him take syringe after syringe multiple times a day (in addition to us remembering, he doesn’t love it). If we can take him off something, we will absolutely do so.

For you

I do not give you specific drug names because I do not want you going to a doctor and asking for a specific medication. These are all tailored specifically to our child in our situation.

What I do want you to do is to get an idea of things to try, bring up these ideas to your doctor, and custom tailor your child’s plan to their needs. This gives you areas to look into, types of medications to look into after diets, supplements, etc may not be all that works.