Its been tough for me to blog about this as I get somewhat emotional when I think back to Raymond’s injury. However, I do want to post some resources for parents who are new to autism, because without the online community my wife and I would not have been as successful at dealing with our issues and moving forward to help our son. I also encourage new parents to join a support group. You are not alone. Although your situation is unique, you are not the only one who has experienced the denial and sense of loss that a diagnosis of autism brings. Just hearing other people talk about it can be cathartic.
Anyway, here are some websites, web groups and books that we found to be of aid.
www.autism.org - this is a nice catch all site, and has links for some of the others in here.
www.generationrescue.org - a great resource for every parent. Sign up for a rescue angel, who are volunteers that have been through some of this before and will help guide you. Alternately, just peruse their links and libraries. They have wonderful information.
I do want to pause here and make a quick note. Not everyone believes that mercury is the sole cause of autism. We believe that our son had a weakened immune system when he was vaccinated, and the 12 month vaccines totally destroyed his immune function. Then his 15 month vaccines infected him with live virus and his consequent issues are the result of that insult. However, mercury is a big problem. It is not out of all vaccines, and even vaccines that are supposed to be preservative free often have trace amounts of mercury from the manufacturing process. I am not anti vaccine, but I am against the current vaccine schedule.
www.tacanow.com - Talk About Curing Autism NOW is a wonderful organization as well. Their most famous member is Jenny McCarthy, but they were around well before her entry into the community. Once again, they have a ton of great links including information on special education law, dietary issues, gluten free casein free diet info, speech and hearing and a host of other subjects.
www.autism.com - this is the Autism Research Institute’s site. They really paved the way for a great deal of progress. Under the leadership of Bernard Rimland they made great strides into understanding and treating autism. He was the origin of the Defeat Autism Now! protocol which has helped thousands of children with autism recover.
I’m going to digress again for a second. Most of the autism community does not use the word cure, preferring instead to say recover. The reason is simple. A cure is the recovery or relief from a disease. Many parents do not believe autism to be a result of illness, but instead the end result of an environmental attack. To quote Jenny McCarthy from last weeks Larry King Show “It’s like getting hit by a bus. You don’t become cured, but you can recover.” The transcript for that show is available at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0709/26/lkl.01.html just in case you missed it. Its a really good show.
Okay, one more link then I have to go play the Wii with my son as he has been begging me for the past 10 minutes.
www.DAN!.com - the home page of the Defeat Autism Now protocol. This is one of the best methods for helping these kids. Its not a one size fits all program, but it will at least give you some of the tools you need to get started. I do recommend finding a DAN! doctor, a good pediatrician or a skilled naturopath to help you through this. I have learned more in the past 2 years about this stuff than I ever cared to know, but I wouldn’t trade any because now my son can talk.
I’ll post more links soon and then we’ll get back to Raymond’s story.
