Small and LARGE Steps

We have seen some pretty significant changes recently, and I wanted to share them with you.

We had Jonah's interim IEP meeting yesterday, and it went really well. We met in order to update Jonah's goals and change his placement. We needed to update his goals because he had mastered almost every goal since November when we wrote his original IEP. For those of you who are not familiar with IEPs, they are written with goals that are attainable over a one year period and then re-assessed at the end of that year, so the fact that he had completely mastered so many goals blew his teachers out of the water!!!! Many of the new goals that we added for next year are Kindergarten level goals. We also changed his placement so that he will be in a Governer's Pre-K (lottery Pre-K) this fall. When I mentioned to a neighbor the program that he got into, she was floored. She asked if I had camped out all night to get him into that school. It is obviously very high demand. It is where all of the Gwinnett County teachers send their four year old children. That is always a fabulous recommendation. Praise the Lord that Jonah got a spot in their classroom.

Also, on his speech and language screening, Jonah scored within normal limits on both expressive and receptive language skills. This was absolutely thrilling considering the fact that speech has always been his primary deficit!!!!! Praise the Lord.

Also Daniel had a fabulous day with Ms. Susan yesterday. He said "elephant," and was identifying individual capital letters by sight. He has been pointing out letters and numbers out of sequence in books and labeling them for about a week. Ms. Susan was amazed. She said that he did so many new things in therapy yesterday that she couldn't even write it all down.

Two smaller, but no less important accomplishments occurred this week as well. We went out to eat for lunch after church, and we actually both got to enjoy our meal. No one had to leave the table with a child before everyone was finished. There were no tantrums, and both boys cleaned their plates. This is one of those small things that many parents take for granted, but we were so thrilled to enjoy eating out again for the first time in a long time. :)

After lunch, we took the boys for haircuts. Although it took three lollipops to get through it, we had the smoothest haircut ever. There was no screaming involved and no restraining necessary.

It is the little things that we almost forget to notice because they happen so gradually, but as a parent who has suffered through many uneaten meals and botched haircut fiascoes, I am a happy camper!!!!!!!!!

Immunizations, Limbic System and Overall Health

Here is a picture of Papa helping Daniel do his favorite thing: EAT!!! :)

We have been working on Daniel passing the limbic system, which is part of the brain that deals with emotions, motivation, and memory. We have spent more time on this treatment than any other. We started it on Friday, April 20, and as of this past Monday we were still going. Each time that we have to treat, we have to re-treat 5 times before he passes and then begin the 25 hour elimination period. The thing that I have learned to be excited about though is that when it takes a lot of time and effort to pass a treatment, we usually see dramatic results. So, I am looking forward to passing the limbic system. Yesterday in Daniel's speech therapy session, he saw a picture of a cake in a book and started singing "Happy Birthday to You" spontaneously. His therapist and I were thrilled!!!

Jonah has been working on immunizations to catch up with Daniel. He is having a difficult time passing the HIB vaccine, and has been a bit volatile during this time. We have treated it twice now, but I feel like he has evened out a bit this week, so hopefully he has passed.

One other side note...

One amazing thing through our NAET winter is that neither of the boys have been sick. For two children who constantly had a runny nose and ear infections throughout their lives to this point, that is phenomenal. They have not had the first cold, allergy symptom, or any sort of flu. The crazy thing is that they are exposed to much more now because of all of their therapy and preschool. NAET has helped their overall health to improve.

Where are we now?

On April 7, we treated Daniel for neurotransmitters, and we had to treat him five times before he passed. He did well with the treatments, and he had a great day in therapy.

On April 9, Daniel had some eye stimming (nothing like he had back when he hadn't passed DPT vaccination), but we were unable to treat him because his body was overcharged and neede a break.

On April 20, we treated for limbic tissue which is a part of the brain. On April 23, Daniel had his best therapy session ever according to Ms. Susan. Even with such a great report, we had to re- treat for limbic tissue on April 21, 23, and 25. We are still trying to pass limbic tissue, and that brings our NAET story up to date with Daniel.

For Jonah, we are now treating vaccinations. On April 21, we treated Jonah for neurotransmitters, and amazingly, he passed on the first round. On the 23rd, we treated for DPT vaccination, and again we were amazed when he passed on the first try. On the 25th, we treated for HIB vaccination. Jonah did not show an allergy to any of the hepatitis vaccinations, so we were able to pass all of those.

Since November, Jonah has passed all but one of his speech goals (which was his biggest area of deficit), and most of his academic goals. His teachers want to move him to a collaborative classroom in the fall with his typically developing peers. We will also meet with them next week to write new goals because they have very little to work on currently because of his rapid and unexpected (on their end of course) progress.

We meet with Daniel's therapists next week as well to evaluate his progress and write new goals, and he transitions into Gwinnett county schools this summer when he turns three. I am looking forward to comparing his test results from last fall to his current performance. I will keep you posted...

Enzymes

Next on the list, we treated enzymes. There are 78 different enzymes, but from this point on, we only have to treat if they are individually allergic, meaning that we allergy test (using muscle testing), and treat only when they show an allergy. Enzymes are crucial for metabolizing all sorts of substances, and enzyme deficiency has proven to have a strong connection to autism.

Jonah needed to be treated for many more enzymes that Daniel. As a side note, the younger the patient, the fewer allergies that have been built up in their bodies. We treated Jonah for enzyme # 5 (Acetyl CoEnzA) on March 5, enzyme #12 (A-1 Antitrypsin) on March 12, enzyme #15 (Amino Peptidase) on March 14, enzyme #62 (Nicotinic Acetylcholin) on March 26, and enzyme #18 (Antiangiogenic Factor) on March 30. In April, we continued on with enzymes and treated Jonah for enzyme #31 (Fructose 6 Phosphate) on April 5. That finally completed Jonah's enzyme treatments. Jonah was very volatile during this time frame. Even as he passed each enzyme it seemed as if his body needed to get through the entire group of enzymes to function properly. Once we finished though, he was back to normal.

We treated Daniel for Enzyme #44 (Jexpsa omdase) on March 5 and Enzyme #69 (Pyruvate Caboxylase) on March 12. Those were the only enzymes treated, and Daniel did great throughout. Since Jonah was still stuck in enzyme world, we started treating Daniel for vaccinations. We treated hime for DPT on March 14, and then we got sidetracked...

Without going into too much detail, I will just say that you can also treat for fears, and we spent some time really focusing on Jonah for a couple of weeks. During that time, since Daniel was already ahead of Jonah, we kind of stopped treating Daniel for a couple of weeks. Looking back on this time, I noticed that Daniel had started some visual stimming (such as looking at objects close up and moving them close to and far from his face or putting them behind his head and moving them into his line of vision). This became very pronounced at Jonah's space themed birthday party. Doctor Sue and I thought it must be all of the food coloring, and the only dietary difference that I could think of over the last two weeks was frosted pop tarts instead of plain. Those also had food coloring.

On March 25, we were ready to treat for the food dye in pop tarts wehn we realized that Daniel had not passed his DPT treatment that we had done almost two weeks prior. So, we re-treated for his DPT vaccination. On March 28, Daniel had his BEST DAY EVER!!! Both his special instructor, Ms. Susan, and his speech teacher, Ms. Deborah noticed a major change in him. He was more focused, playing with his firends and the eye stim was gone. At Mother's Morning Out, his teacher reported that they could not believe the change and that they couldn't even think that he was the same child. :) These are teachers who know nothing about spectrum disorders or the fact Daniel is undergoing NAET!!!!!

On March 30, we finally moved on to food dyes, and we had to re-treat them on April 6.

I'm sorry that this one is such a long post, but this was one of our most exciting times, not only with NAET but in the lives of our boys!!!

Finishing basic Fifteen

These next five treatments were really pivotal for us which makes sense considering that this completes "basic 15."

Here they are:

• It took from January 31 to February 5 for the boys to pass grain mix. That makes total sense because they both responded so well to the gluten free diet, and gluten is part of that grain mixture. Jonah required 5 extra treatments on buckwheat. he also needed additional gluten and sprouted wheat treatments. Daniel only needed additional buckwheat, but we also gave him a gluten booster. This all means that you treat for the original mixture and then you have to test each individual component to see if they have passed.


• February 5, both boys passed corn mixture.


• On February 6, after both boys had passed all of the grain mixture, they both got great reports at school. Jonah made multiple spontaneous requests, which is normal behavior at home, but not necessarily at school, and Daniel participated and followed directions very well without prompts from the teacher.


• February 7- The next treatment on the list is artificail sweeteners. We opted to skip this treatment since the boys don't consume artificail sweeteners. We might come back to it later just to be on the safe side. We moved on to the yeast treatment. Not surprisingly, we had to treat each boy multiple times to get them to pass. We also had to treat candida individually on both of them, and Jonah requred a booster on tortula yeast. I knew this would be a difficult treatment because I firmly believe that the overgrowth of yeast in their bodies has a lot to do with their brains moving slowly. There is a book called The Second Brain that links problems in the gut to problems in the brain including focus, lethargy, and even developmental delays.


• February 14- We met with Jonah's teacher today, and got an excellent report. He has passed so many of his goals that she requested a meeting to re-write additional goals so that they have things to work on with him. Keep in mind that Jonah just started this class in late November, so we are only talking about a 2 1/2 month time frame. IEP goals are suppossed to take one year or more to complete. His teacher also reported taht Jonah is a leader and an example for the other students. At this point though, she thought that Jonah would need to return to the class next year and would benefit from the continuity of coming every day.


• February 21- we treated both boys for stomach acids. There were no real issues with this one.


• February 22- Daniel's therapists (speech, Occupational therapy, and special instructers) are all reporting that he seems more focused and is initiating more and making more eye contact without prompts. Daniel is also imitating Jonah more (some words but also behaviors) and he is initiating and engaging play and interactions with Jonah. For example, at bedtime, Daniel likes to turn the air filter in their bedroom off and then runs away looking at Jonah for his reaction and laughs when Jonah gets mad and turns it back on. Daniel also likes to hug his friends at Mother's Morning Out now. It is precious!

Ta Da!

That is basic fifteen. Since this time, both my parents, my younger sister, my husband, and numerous other family friends have begun treatments with amazing results.

The next Five

Wow! I am getting really creative with these titles here, huh?

• On 12/31, we treated the boys for sugar mixture. The next day Jonah craved sugar during the elimination period. Asking for foods that we never even had in the house. We knew this was going to happen eventually and is an indication of allery (note: this is true of all of us... we often crave what our bodies are allergic to). Jonah was also very hyper during this time


• 1/3/07- Jonah needed a booster for sugar, and we treated both boys for iron mixture.


• 1/8/07- We treated both boys for vitamin A mixture, and they both passed with no issues. Daniel was socializing much better and was making roaring noises when playing with a dinosaur. He had never done this before.
  
• 1/27/07- Both boys were treated for mineral mixture. This one is tough because during the elimination period (25 hours following the treatment), they were not suppossed to come into contact with metals. Think about that in your life and how difficult that would be. Doctor Sue came over to our house after the boys went to bed, and treated them in their sleep so that hopefully they would pass the treatment during the night. Both boys required additional magnesium treatments, which is part of that mixture.


• 1/29/07-We treated both boys for salt mixture. Both boys passed with no issues, and Daniel said six new words in therapy.

By now we were really starting to notice differences in Jonah. He was much more conversational- instead of one sided speech- and his speech was maturing daily. I was on the phone with my best friend Nikki, who does not get to see Jonah on a weekly basis, and she could hear him talking in the background. She could not believe that is was Jonah because he sounded so mature. :) Speech was not the only difference though, he was getting phenomenal reports from school in areas of social and cognitive. He was following multi step directions better as well as understanding his environment better!!!

FYI- chris chose the photo for this post, so I have no explaination. :)

Getting Started- The first five

We started NAET treatments with Doc Sue on November 20, 2006. There are a basic fifteen treatments that must be completed in a specific order before moving on. On November 20, we treated both boys for BBF, which is "Brain Body Balance Formula." They both did fine.At the beginning of the protocol, I only logged specific information for Daniel because I expected to see the most dramatic results with him simply because he had further to go. It was not long before we started noticing the most dramatic differences in Jonah's speech, cognition, and socialization.
On 11/25, we treated both boys for Egg Mix. Two days later, Daniel was approximating the words "one, two, three" when playing with Chris (prior to this day, he only said the number "two"). He also made his first two word approximation, saying "milk please" instead of just one or the other individually. Prior to NAET, Daniel only had about 15-20 words in his vocabulary all of which had begun after the gluten free/casien free diet. The next day, Choo Choo Soul came on the Disney channel, and he started singing along, "Chugga Chugga shhhhh."
November 29, we treated both boys for Calcium mix. November 30 was not a good day in the Stadler household. Daniel was whiny, clingy, and acting sleepy. He did okay in therapy, but not great. At this point in the process I did not know how to recognize the signs of a "blown treatment." When we went back to Doc Sue, he had not passed calcium, and we had to re-treat five times before he passed. As we treated, he became progressively more calm with each treatment. On December 1, Daniel woke up much happier, and when I asked if he wanted to go downstairs like I do every morning, he clearly made a two syllable approximation for downstairs- this was his first two syllable word. Later that day, he was putting a sticker on and off of the wall saying "on" and "off." December 4- Daniel had an excellent day at school ("his best"), and he said both octagon and snowman
December 6th, we treated for Vitamin C Mix. At that time, we re-tested for all compontents of calcium and egg mix, and he had passed them all. :) Yippee!!! On December 7, Daniel said "yellow" in therapy and he began identifying body parts (eye, nose) by pointing to them and saying them!!!!!!!!!
December 20th, we treated for Vitamin B Mix.