Brief Overview of the Year 2008

I would like to give a brief overview of what we have done over the last 2.5 years.

Alan was diagnosed February 6, 2008 with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Moderate-Severe) at MUSC.  We were devastated to have our fears confirmed.  Alan didn't need parents who were in denial so we jumped on the bandwagon and ordered books, researched everything about autism, and started Alan's journey to recovery.  He was non-verbal, eating baby foods, drinking from a bottle, lots of sensory issues, no eye-contact, hand-flapping, stimming, hyper-active, non-compliant most times, and did not answer to his name or acknowledge his family.  We started the GFCF Diet early March 2008.  We also started ABA therapy April 1, 2008 with SCEAP (South Carolina Early Autism Project).  SCEAP came in and trained all the people that would be working with Alan.  We started with four college ladies with limited ABA experience and knowledge of Autism.  At this time Alan was receiving Speech and Occupational therapy as well.  After about 2 months Alan's ABA program was up and running with him doing 30-40 hours of ABA therapy a week (7 days a week).  In May 2008, we started Biomedical Treatment with Dr. Kalb in Nashville, TN.  He immediately tested Alan for yeast, bacteria, viruses and heavy metals.  He started Alan on MB12 shots and started a yeast protocol.  We did Nystatin for 3 months along with Antibiotics.  After the first week on the MB12 shots Alan realized he had a sister (8 months old).  He seemed to wake up from his little world and join us.  Eye contact was increasing and vocals were getting stronger.  He still babbled but he was making noises.  It wasn't till July 2008, his new OT (Occupational therapist) Melanie joined our team that Alan started to actually try cookies.  She started him on Brushing and AIT.  We saw lots of improvements with Alan in his body and environmental awareness. Melanie became one of the most important people on Alan's journey.  In August 2008, at age 3, Alan started school.  He attended Goose Creek Primary in Tara’s Autism class until 12pm.  Tara also became another important person during Alan's journey.  In October 2008, Alan was diagnosed with Developmental Apraxia of Speech.  We also started seeing a new Speech therapist at this time.  He received 2 hours of speech at school and 2 hours of private speech.  He continued to receive 1 hour of OT a week with Melanie. He was doing around 30 hours a week of ABA.