List price: $14.99 (that's 30% off!)
I have found this a must read, and am recommending it to anyone with an autistic child so they can see positive results from someone who has kept looking for answers and uncovering lots of options that are available to anyone to try with their child - so many of the biomedical ideas we will now persue - I was totally unaware of how to even where to begin in this area - or I have attempted to begin a few times before only to be confused and have retreated again. The style of writing is a great combination of getting to know Ryan, so that one may compare to ones own child, as we all do and then three quarters of the book is practical information, including a what to do now list, which saves so much precious time - this is my number one book - it is a book that I will be giving to our childs teacher aide, teacher and anyone else in his life as it gives anyone a great overall picture of how multifaceted this disorder is and what can be done about it to give a child the best possible quality of life. Thanks for such a great contribution to my life!
Autism is such a multifactorial and multifaceted disorder that most children seem to need several modes of intervention to help them achieve to their fullest potential. I wasted many months trying to gather information from different sources. However, in this one book, Lynn Hamilton succeeds in combining an inspiring and very personal story with the nitty gritty practical details of all the interventions which have helped her son. She describes behavioural therapy, diet, food and vitamin supplementation, secretin, and sensory and auditory integration. She provides both a personal and scientific background to each of these along with numerous references, and details of suppliers.
There is a chapter written by Lynn's husband in which he shares how to survive as a family and maintain loving relationships. Also included is a short yet moving section provided by the mother of a boy who did not make dramatic progress despite many therapies.
The whole book is written in an easily readable style, and packed with down to earth advice as well as information.
I know from personal experience that, as a parent, the day that autism enters your life is a very black one indeed. This book will help to give you direction as to what you can do now, and it will help to give you hope for the future.
Lynn Hamilton, the mother of an autistic child herself, deals first of all with the difficult time parents experience as they come to terms with their child's condition. But she then goes on to do what many so-called experts in the field do not do - she tells us what we CAN do, rather than leaving it there. This book covers the essential topics of diet, supplementation and biomedical treatments such as anti-fungal therapy and secretin, which made a big difference to her son's condition.
There are comprehensive lists of helpful websites. She gives details of various resources for Occupational and other therapies.
She also gives an overview of the main educational approaches, in particular describing more fully how a home-based ABA programme has greatly helped her son, who is now in mainstream school. While she, herself, is based in the USA, this information, and contact addresses for training courses and support groups, is given for other countries too.
However, although this is indeed an 'essential guide' and handbook containing all the information you need as you start to investigate how to help your autistic child, it is also much more. In a very down-to-earth, honest and readable manner, Lynn Hamilton shares her own experiences...........her hopes, fears, pain and ultimately her joy in her son's triumph over many of his former difficulties.
I read this book about 15 months after my own son's diagnosis, by which time I had accumulated a great deal of knowledge, and collected piles of printouts from the Internet! However, in this one volume, there was still much for me to learn, as well as a welcome encouragement to continue to have a great deal of hope for my child.
Lynn's faith shines out from this book, and it has certainly helped to lighten my own path through this maze that is Autism.
List price: $12.95 (that's 20% off!)
I recommend this book to everyone and not only people with yeast problems. Since I've turned my friends on to the recipes in this book, they also purchased their own copy.
The sections focusing on Georgie's successful treatment with AIT also gave me some hope for the future with my own child, as her symptoms are eerily similar to Georgie's.
A "must read" for parents and caregivers!
Georgie's mother had many overwhelming issues -- Georgie's unusual aversion for any type of sound, music included and the Dotsy's being diagnosed with leukemia when she was 4.
Annabelle naturally has Georgie tested and sent to early intervention programs. The only place where Georgie appeared to thrive was at Bellevue Hospital because, as Georgie herself said many years later, "it was quiet there." Dotsy's health deteriorates and she dies at the age of 8 in 1971. Georgie, then 6, is sent to a residential facility identified only as "Childville."
"Childville" sounds like a genuine Chamber of Horrors. Georgie complains about the noise and staff dismiss her complaints. She is overmedicated and complains that the medicines make her feel funny. She becomes hostile and acts out because she cannot stand any type of sound. A rather incompetent social worker identified as "Judith" seems determined to block and undermine any and all progress on Georgie's part. When the girl shows an unusual balancing ability and begs for a skateboard, Judith refuses, telling Georgie's mother that Georgie is "overcompensating a fear." Fortunately, Georgie gets her skateboard and is quite proficient on it.
Georgie is fortunate enough to have summers free of that institutional wasteland. Luckily for all, Annabelle marries Peter and that union produces a natural brother and later a sister for Georgie. Peter has some grown daughters from a previous marriage and it is in this loving, extended family that Georgie blossoms.
Annabelle decides that Childville is not the answer and withdraws Georgie when the girl was 11. Peter had accepted a job in Switzerland, and naturally Georgie wanted to join her family. Judith tries to keep Annabelle and Peter from withdrawing Georgie, invoking the name of and cliches from Freud. Fortunately, Annabelle withdraws Georgie, discontinues the medications and for the next several years, Georgie flourishes in Switzerland. She learns to ski, is mainstreamed and explains her aversion to sound. Luckily, she has been treated by several very humane doctors specially trained in AIT (Auditory Integration Therapy) and this treatment is continued during her years abroad. One can't help but cheer when Georgie dances in the rain, explaining that the rain "doesn't sound like a machine gun anymore."
An interesting expression that Annabelle coined is "hig," meaning "hostile inadvertent gesture." One can't help wondering why it isn't "hostile INTENTIONAL gesture" because Georgie would sometimes deliberately inflict physical pain on people who had crossed her. Annabelle devised the acronym "hig" to subtly call Georgie on her behavior in these instances.
After several years abroad, the family returns to the U.S. Georgie's records "mysteriously disappear" because the cruise ship she was on met with a disaster and several cartons had to be discarded.
Free of previous baggage, Georgie attends a public school in Connecticut. She graduates as class valedictorian in 1984 and, at last count, is happily married.
Georgie appeared on "Sally Jesse Raphael" in recent years and drew a map of Africa, all countries included from memory. Bright and now quite verbal, Georgie is a strong advocate of AIT. She said it literally saved her life.