Autism Recovery, Coming out on the other side

"Her readings now are basically showing more like a typical kid with allergies" -MC

That was the moment t I lost it. We have been fighting now for almost five years , sacrificing everything literally, in order to help my daughter recover and heal. The past 3 years we have seen Mary Coyle of The Real Child Center utilizing homotoxicology as part of her protocol of non-invasive detoxification in conjunction with biomedical/dietary treatments. My daughter's Health has done a 360! We have been fighting for 3 years to regulate her thyroid which at the very beginning was very extremely sluggish. Yesterday, being told by Mary that she's never seen a thyroid reading so good and have such a remarkable comeback and then telling me that her readings are looking more like a typical kid with allergies..... I CANNOT even express my thought process at that very moment. I just started crying happy tears. Thinking about how far she had come, about a recent conversation I had with my husband about  "whats next" or IF there is "anything else we can do or is that it?" then becoming so sad because of the reality that we simply might not have any more options left. Going from feeling helpless to OMG WTF did she just say?!Biologically she is just about HEALED?! So many thoughts ran through my head and I was just overjoyed to hear that at least her body and her health just might make a full comeback. She will always have autoimmune/mitochondrial disorders and food/ environmental allergies but in the best health that she can reach for her personal conditions. She was SO SICK for SO LONG because NO treatments were ever tried nor done due to the FAILURE of our pediatricians and so called specialists. Just about 9 years she suffered, but I KNEW something was wrong and had to push forward despite what they said (Autism was a social/brain disorder) and found a whole new world of doctors and practitioners whom COULD help me heal my child because they UNDERSTAND that Autism is MEDICAL and these people who help do exist. MAPS ( Medical Academy Pediatrics Special Needs) , Holistic, homeopathic practitioners ,chiropractors and wellness centers are who you see and where you go to find the people who can help. GET TO THEM , they can help guide you! 

Although Bella's health has recovered tremendously, she will always have to follow a certain diet, take her supplements and do other daily treatments to KEEP her health. Its Still going to remain a challenge but its so GOOD to hear that all that we sacrificed and all that we have done WORKED and EFFECTIVELY. KNOWING she will now be OK and STABLE IS Recovery in my eyes. Its HER Recovery. Sabrina still has very prevalent brain damage. She has prevalent learning disabilities, although she understands everything thats going on around her, and conversations she hears and is very "present" now, she is still vulnerable and could easily be taken advantage of. She can be easily manipulated, she has NO common sense but she has shown remarkable improvement to being more aware of her surroundings. She will not elope anymore, she may start to walk ahead or wander alillte but nothing like the scary situations we had gone through when she was little, blocked and lost. She can read 3rd grade level and academically 2-3rd grade which has been steady past 4 years. We work on retention of the skills shes already learned as well as strive and try to acquire new ones. Homeschooling has definitely helped in that area as to what can work on, whatever, whenever, on HER time, at her pace, in the style that best fits her learning abilities (Which is HANDS ON). She understands basic concepts and pick them up quick but more complicated thinking you can find her frustrated. WH questions, Who ,what ,when ,where and why have always been challenging especially "why" but she has even shown great improvement with them. In the recent months, she has been recently starting to ASK questions!!! That is AMAZING in itself and then she asked 3 WHY questions! The most complicated "thinking" of them all. Sabrina has even answered a few other Wh questions as well! Something that just didn't happen BEFORE the journey began. I still SEE the difficulty and right now, although so many tremendous improvements throughout her recovery journey, the reality is her brain damage is prevalent where I sadly do not see the possibility for a FULL recovery for her. (FULL recovery = Loss of autism diagnosis) Although extremely independent, she will always need some type of support and protection. Perhaps IF she received the medical help at age 2 when she received her diagnosis, things could of been different. The SOONER you implement treatment the BETTER chance for a full recovery. We had a late start and even so, I am BEYOND thankful for the leaps and bounds she has improved! I do keep HOPE that things will continue to improve as she is NOT fully detoxed just yet. That is going to be a slow on going process which will take time. I am keeping the faith and I do have hope left for more improvement overall cognitively , expressive / receptive language, and auditory processing. Once her health was back on track then I wanted to turn all my energy and focus on her "outside" therapy. Anything to help build her brain connections like what we have been doing the past year utilizing Neurofeedback which has been a huge help in developing those skills. Also get her more involved with the community. Put her social skills more to work, continue on building her self esteem and self confidence so when she is presented in a social setting with typical peers she feels good and comfortable to where she will not "bug out" but instead interact and be her funny, silly self. She has made a friend in which she calls her "my best friend Casadee" and has continued to develop her relationship with her typical 10 year old peer. Developmentally she continue to slowly mature and seams most comfortable and interacts best with the "tweens". She will also be returning to ballet class next week which is SUPER exciting for her. She misses the classes and cannot wait to get back in class with other typical peers (tweens). She has evolved so much its been amazing to watch her continue to grow. She is a HAPPIER, HEALTHIER kid and because of that we are FINALLY able to SEE WHO Sabrina is. She has Finally BROKE through that barrier. Autism cannot have my child anymore! She is a FIGHTER and she is WINNING! 

 I am definitely optimistic about her future but I'm also a realist. I am taking everything day by day. I keep reminding myself that we haven't crossed the "finish line" just yet. We still have our last mountain to get over (detox) but we are half way there and will make it through fighting, kicking and screaming if need be! I am just so grateful to God for guidance and thankful to our angels here on earth that have helped to make some of these therapies possible for her to participate in. (Thank you for your donations!)       

My girl definitely has a troop of Guardian Angels watching over her! 

Don't let anyone fool you, AUTISM RECOVERY IS REAL! ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

 So I'm Sitting in my kitchen at the kitchen table scrolling through my Facebook like I do every morning so I could reply to anyone who has sent me messages or ask questions or responded on my pages.... Sabrina comes walking in....

"Mom what are you doing?"

"I am on Facebook checking out my pages and responding to people. What are you doing?"

"Oh I see, that's okay Mom. I hope you have a good morning"

"If you give me a big hug I know my morning will be better."

So I stand up and open up my robe and get a big snuggle hug from my girl.

"Come with me Mom, to mom's bathroom"

"Okay, why are we going to Mom's bathroom?"
We walk over to my bathroom she opens the door puts me in there and closes the door.

"Go ahead mom now you can go pee!"

"Oh gee thanks, LOL, but I don't have to pee what am I to do now?"

She ran away laughing....
No clue what all that was about I thought it was cute and had to share. Lol‪ #‎FUA‬

Braincore Neurofeedback therapy and Autism

So, what exactly IS Neurofeedback therapy and what can it do for my child with Autism? 

Brain Core Neurofeedback Therapy 
Brain Core Therapy provides a unique drugless approach to addressing Neurological Dysregulation Syndrome (NDS), a condition resulting from tension on the nervous system caused by a subluxated spine, poor nutrition, stress, drugs or trauma. NDS may be associated with the symptoms of many neurologically-based conditions including: ADD/ ADHD /Autism /ASD /Headaches /Migraines /Learning Disorders and Memory Loss Associated with Aging /Overeating, Binge Eating / Fibromyalgia Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ Panic /Anxiety Disorders and Insomnia to name a few.The BrainCore technology and science is based on a training procedure that effectively regulates the nervous system, providing proven relief of a wide range of conditions 
associated with NDS. 

BRAIN CORE THERAPY / NEURO FEEDBACK
 To Re-balance the imbalances and make new connections within her brain... to Optimize the brain waves.. that is what this therapy is providing. Like What we do BIOMEDICALY with there little bodies, remember its finding the imbalances within, treating those imbalances to make new connections. Best way to describe Brain Core is doing just that.. recognizing the mis-connections utilizing the Q and then develpoing a protocol from that Q , individualized , in hopes of helping the brain to find and make new connections or create them. Its like going to the gym. You go to work out your muscles to get stronger, well thats the neurofeedback therapy.. a work out for your brain to become stronger. 

HOW IT WORKS: 
Visual , auditory , or tactile feedback is used to reward your brain when it is producing a regulated brain wave pattern. Over the course of time, your brain learns to do that on its own- therefore alleviating various symptoms and improving overall performance.  
Neurofeedback training is a training modality used to reorganize your brain wave patterns for optional functioning. It is extremely helpful in alleviating various symptoms, but it is also crucial for peak performance in everyday life. You eat healthy and go to the gym to make sure your body is in tip top shape, but what about your brain? The brain is one of the most complex and still developing organs in the human body. It needs constant stimulation and input in order to maintain plasticity and adapt to the world around us. Neurofeedback is often used as an alternative option to medication because it is completely drug free with absolutely no side effects. Many individuals also use Neurofeedback as a preventative option for anti aging , self-awareness, and mind/body regulation. It is a cognitive and executive functioning , fine and gross motor abilities , emotional balance , and social skills in all ages from all walks of life.  

WE did step one, which Identified the imbalances QEEG creating a "Brain map" which will show her unique protocol. Then step 2 is the therapies which to start, we will be going to 2 times a week about 30/40 sessions. There IS "homework" we will be receiving a pair of glasses ,ear phones and a mini  "brain Wave" machine to take home. Home therapies are to help sustain the Feed back therapies done in the office. It also can work as a tool ion helping at home with other symptoms such as calming for sleep, concentration before homework etc. Our "homework" is about 20 min twice a week in-between therapies. Like anything else..the more u do..the faster you can see results. So we will hope for the best! Like I always say..sometimes you have to go through that Storm to get to that Rainbow! We are ready to fight our way through! We have thus far! And I WILL continue to keep everyone posted as we go! There was just so much MORE to explain and info but My own brain waves are going NUTS lol so to learn MORE about brain core what it is and how it works go to there MAIN website. 

Here are some pictures taken from the beginning of her Neurofeedback Journey. It was alittle tough for her to sit still back then, but she always managed to get through it. She also seamed to like going and always love to bring her weighted blanket along with a few of her plush special "friends" for comfort. 

 

                                                                                                                                           


UPDATE: Since Bella has completed and done the 45 sessions of Neurofeedback (2012) 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      This was our ending result. I did see a few improvements. Her receptive language got better. Verbal communication improved alittle. Her reading at school went up one level, her reading comprehension did improve as well. I can't say it was OMG I saw results right away over night and in your face. No, for her it little by little and some gains weren't starting to show until towards the end. I Had decided to stop not because we weren't seeing anything at all, but because at that time I felt we needed to focus more on her insides. Her obvious but unfounded medical/heath issues. I knew she had them and I had finally found a MAPS doc to bring her to see and perhaps get some answers. My focus went to figuring out her heath period. So thats what we did and I am SO glad we did because we did indeed find out ALOT more we needed to know in-order to help my girl. So thats what we have been focusing on. Balancing the insides.. Medical is the "cake" of autism ( immune , metabolic, gut , neurological ) and outside therapies are the "icing" Speech ABA neurofeedback etc. because until the insides are addressed nothing else will be-able to work to its FULL potential. 
I feel that once her body is in the right direction, detoxed and stronger clearer it will be way more receptive to this therapy. That is MY own personal belief from what I have learned and experienced. So when she is in a better place, and I feel it might be more beneficial, then I do plan on re-visiting Braincore . 

Biomedical Update 
More about her Medical journey 
Until then I hope this has helped.


UPDATE : September 2015 we have started back with Neurofeedback therapy. 

Bella has been doing well biologically/medically, that I decided she was ready to go back and revisit this option. I had asked her about it, and she was excited to start back. Like I have stated previously, I believe that this a "icing" therapy, so now that we had "the go" about her medical stability I felt that this was going to be a good time to try again to see if this is going to really help her even more so this time around. Since Bella had come such along way since last time, she was able to communicate and have a conversation (simplicity but conversing ) about Braincore and possibly going back. She had responded that "Oh yes, I love Braincore! Lets go mom!" and I would ask her if she thinks it is helpful and she would respond "It makes my brain feel good" so with that said we started her back up. WE had to revisit the Q map and I was extremely curious as to what the results would be compared to the last time she had one done. Our doc was pleasantly surprised with her readings, he said he saw a an overall improvement in her brain, he says it has changed and all for the better. That just solidified to me that all that hard work we did to treat her medical issues indeed made a huge difference and impact on not only her health, but her brain as well! I mean I can 'see" how well she has been doing and how she progresses but sometimes its nice to get a test back that SHOWS it in Black and white. That made me feel great and even more so optimistic that this time around maybe a game changer, and that perhaps now that her brain has had sometime to heal that perhaps it will be more receptive to these brain games will build and strengthen her brain even more. Building more connections to help her in the areas she needed help with most. It was cool to see alot of red was now green and yellow. The goal is green and coming from a sheet of primarily red to a sheet of primarily green always feels good. The new protocols seem to be concentrating and based around the areas of emotional and self awareness, Cognitive areas and language as well. After the first 10 sessions I had asked her again 
" How to you like Braincore? Do you think its helping your brain?"
Her answer 
" Oh yes mom! I LOVE braincore, it helps me think and makes my brain feel good. Can we go again?"

So I will listen to her and follow her lead. She is much more calm now, and is able to sit through all the testing and therapy so much easier then the first go. Its amazing how much of a difference. When we started back they couldn't believe how much she had grown and how much more she was able to talk and communicate in general and especially with them. So its interesting to watch how this maybe helping her. I know I definitely have seen a HUGE increase in self awareness. She has been displaying self control even in a meltdown, she has seemingly learned to self sooth and calm herself. I've noticed depth in conversation and meaningfulness. She had recently begun to ask questions! I was like who are you ?! LOL A child who was completely lost at one point in her life was coming up to me and saying " Hey mom. can i ask you a question?" 
"Sure honey , what is the question?"
"Can I go to the store and Tmobile for my new iphone?" 
" I told you we have to wait for Daddy Mike to get home"
"Ohhhh OK. I just can't wait, I am so excited cause I'm a teenage now and I can text message my Chuck e Cheese friends and me!"  
"Yes yes.. don't worry will set it all up soon enough." "Ohhhhh YEAHIE!"

Yes my daughter is going to be 15 this year and loves Chuck E Cheese. The characters and the band, NOT the food lol Thats autism for you, these kids are developmentally delayed. Great thing with have noticed with her though is that shes maturing. How much will she? I'm not sure where it will stop but shes showing signs of age appropriateness but mostly she relates best with ages 9-12. So thats why she mentioned Chuck E Cheese. Anyways, So far I have been seeing all kinds of progression with that kind of stuff. Communication, articulation , cognitive/ receptive language, self awareness , more confidence in social environments, emotional balance just to name a few things...  I'll take it. We will continue on and will see what happens from here. I am optimistic that this is helping her, after all she tells me it is. I cant deny what I have seen progress and improve and  I can't deny what she says and how she feels. All I can do is have faith , hope and follow her lead. 

My final thoughts...
I do think this therapy would be a beneficial option for many people with related issues to check out. However, I believe that for this therapy to really work to its full potential, the person in question should be medically on the right track so that the brain will be more receptive to this therapy. ESPECIALLY when its a child/adult with Autism, ADD , ADHD, Asperger's as they are all medical issues and very treatable bio-medically. Your going to put time, money and energy into something you mind as well do it when you will get the most out of it. Unless your rich, I guess then it wouldn't matter lol but thats my take and opinion about this therapy. Warrior approved!
 More info Neurofeedback