NAC Friday Night: Gary Null PhD

Late last night (we ended after midnight!), Gary Null, PhD, a nutrition and health sciences expert, health advocate, and documentary filmmaker, spoke to and took questions from parents. He discussed generally his work in developing protocols for treating autism as well as his new documentary "Autism: Made in the USA". In this documentary he presents the research he and his colleagues conducted regarding causation, treatment, and why he believes we have been misled in many respects. I. am very curious to see the documentary! He also urged us to watch his earlier documentary "Vaccine Nation," which is not autism-focused but addresses death and other serious damage suffered by some families following vaccination. Dr. Null also discussed his research in other areas including AIDs, Alzheimer's Disease, cancer, aging, menopause and a host of other conditions. He has made numerous documentaries, including several on AIDs (and he currently is at work on another). He speaks at professional gatherings as well as before political leaders and challenges them -- as well as us -- to step outside the current health and medical paradigm, to not just accept what we are told but to challenge, and to dig deeper for the truth.

NAC: Dr. Anju Usman on Apraxia and Autism

Dr. Anju Usman gave a detailed overview of many issues important to children on the spectrum including malabsorption, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, impaired detoxification/methylation, GI issues, immune system and inflammatory issues. Children with apraxia (even absent an ASD diagnosis) often present with these issues as well and can benefit from many of the treatments used for ASD. She suggested getting oxidative stress under control before doing HBOT. She recommended certain tests for children with apraxia and, based on results, foundational nutrients such as antioxidants (incl. fat-soluble), fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E, K, good fats, phospholipids, l-carnitine, methyl B12, glutathione to help with apraxia. Dr. Usman cautioned to monitor fat-soluble vitamin levels carefully.

For apraxia, she also recommended lymphatic drainage with craniosacral therapy or other modalities.

NAC: Dr. Theoharis Theoharides on Autism as an Emerging Neuroimmune Disorder

Dr. Theoharis Theoharides just finished an amazing lecture on the potential role of mast cell activation and autism. Dr. Theoharides discussed the changing understanding of the role of mast cells - far more things can activate mast cells than the antigens that cause IgE-mediated allergic reactions. There are many things that can activate the mast cell without degranulation (basically an explosion) seen in IgE reactions so that the activation is hard to detect. There is evidence that stress-related compounds, such as corticotropin-releasing hormone, can activate mast cells, for example. The mast cells are in the brain near blood vessels and neurons and when activated can open the blood brain barrier and have effects on nearby neurons. The opening of the BBB can result in compounds that have no place in the brain entering it. Moreover, mercury can activate mast cells
and can act synergistically with other things to activate the mast cells at a higher level and viruses also can activate the mast cells. I found these to be an exciting reason to keep investigating the potential role of vaccines both with and without mercury preservative. Dr. Theoharides also discussed discoveries relating to the potential role of mast cell activation in mitochondrial fragmentation (fission). As he spoke, I was amazed by the potentially powerful effect of these mast cells. The science was complex and I have barely touched on the doctor's many salient points, and I hope that I have given you a good taste for this emerging area of research.

NAC: Roy Leonardi & Phyllis Musumeci on De-Escalation Techniques to Avoid Restraint

From NAA-NY Metro President Sabeeha Rehman, a report on De-Escalation Techniques:

Dear Parent:
"Don't wait to get involved." If the school staff is using restraints on your child, and you are not aware of it, your child is likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Prone restraints (child is pulled down on the floor, face down) have led to death.

Look For These Signs:
1. School asks for consent for crisis intervention. Ask them to demonstrate the intervention.
2. School is using weighted sensory devices with your child without your knowledge.
3. School is reporting aggressive behavior more and more frequently.
4. Your child does not want to go to school.
5. You are not permitted to observe your child's class.
6. Window's of the glass are covered.
7. Changes in child's behavior: agression, does not want to be touched, regression, lack of appetite, sleep issues.

Here is what you can do:

1. Have it written in your EIP that the school will not use restraints, they will not call the police, and there will be no 'crisis intervention'. If the staff still puts it in the EIP, as a parent, you have the right to put in a written statement that you are NOT in agreement. This statement will protect you legally.

2. If you get complaints from the school about agressive behavior, have the school do a functional behavior analysis. It must include ABC data and should state what happened prior to the aggressive behavior. It should be over several days and in many settings.

3. Check the school's restraint log.
4. Once a monthn go to the school to observe.

5. Verify that the staff is trained and certified in crisis management, de-escalation, and restraint. Find out which organization trained them and ask for the training manual.

6. Write a "no restraint" letter to the school.

7. Document all conversations with school.

8. Reach out to your legislators to support restraint laws that protect your child's rights.

Don't wait to get involved.

Live from the NAC: Dr. Dan Rossignol on Assessing & Prioritizing Treatments

Dr. Dan Rossignol is presenting on how to assess and prioritize treatments. He focuses on treating the child as an individual -- based on his or her symptoms not only the labs and to look at the "POEM"s - patient-oriented evidence that matters, not only disease-oriented evidence, which will not provide the whole picture (i.e., a drug that improves the condition it is intended to treat but eventually kills the patient!). He helped patents to understand the different types of studies out there, how to assess the strengths and weaknesses of study protocols, and questions to ask about the safety of medications. While emphasizing the individuality of each patient, he is discussing some of the most common treatments for the most common symptoms and the basic lab work patents should consider to help parents understand what is available and how to prioritize what is right for YOUR child.

NAC: Dr. Julie Buckley - treating Autism as a Medical Disease

Dr. Julie Buckley presented on many of the underlying pathways that might "malfunction" in our children, the importance of glutathione -- critical to so many biological functions -- as well as things that parents can do at home with natural remedies to start their child toward healing and the many biomedical treatments utilized by doctors to treat children with ASD. She emphasized the 3 (or 4) "R"s as a basic roadmap to treatment: Remove (such as gluten, casein, other foods that cause reactions, as well as environmental toxins); Replenish (our guts with good probiotics); Repair and Restore (with enzymes, vitamins/minerals, Omega 3s, yeast management, etc.). She also discussed the great success her practice had had with hyperbarics. She also reminded us not only to treat our children but to do the rights for ourselves too - eating well, avoiding toxins and generally caring for ourselves. (The photo is the pool at the conference - sorry, I could not resist!)

Rapid Prompt Method with Soma Makhopadhyay at the NAC

The first speaker on Friday's NAC agenda was Soma Makhopadhyay, presenting on her Rapid Prompt Method ("RPM"). Many people who have heard of Soma and her son Tito may think RPM is a communication method. Soma explained that it really is a method of learning and with learning comes communication. She showed how the method works for a variety of children, verbal and non-verbal. For all children, she works on higher thinking skills, finding that many children may be very verbal but still cannot express higher level thoughts and that non-verbal children, when given an effective means, can demonstrate how much they know and how well they can learn using RPM. Soma was introduced by NAA Vice-President Ann Brasher, who shared her grandson's amazing breakthrough using RPM...a very inspirational story!
(photos: Soma with NAA-NY Metro President Sabeeha Rehman and with me; Soma presenting)