Autism is a developmental disorder that is defined by symptoms that appear before the age of three. These symptoms reflect delayed or abnormal development in language, social skills and behavior.
Impaired social interaction including; inappropriate eye contact, facial expression, body posture and gestures.
Difficultly making and maintaining friendships that are appropriate to their developmental level.
Inability to reciprocate emotions.
Delayed or absent development of spoken language. In children who can speak, there are inadequate attempts to begin or sustain a conversation.
Repetitive speech or phrases
Preoccupation with interests such as; spinning, counting, lining up
Rigidly sticks to routines or rituals that do not have a purpose
There are many testing options that help identify nutrient deficiencies, bacterial and yeast imbalances, food sensitivities, inborn errors of metabolism, and heavy metal burden.
Organic Acid Testing: The organic acid test evaluates inborn errors of metabolism; such as PKU, maple-syrup urine disease, and many others. In addition, the organic acid test will check for many other abnormalities such as vitamin deficiencies and abnormal metabolism of catecholamines, dopamine, and serotonin. This test will also detect overgrowth of intestinal yeast or bacteria.
Heavy Metal Testing: Urine toxic and essential elements analysis is an invaluable tool for the assessment of retention of toxic metals in the body and the status of essential nutrient elements. Toxic metals do not have any function in the body; in fact they adversely affect almost every organ system and disrupt the balance of nutrients in the body. Analysis of the levels of toxic metals in urine after the administration of a metal detoxification agent is an objective way to evaluate the accumulation of toxic metals. Chronic, low-level exposure to toxic metals can result in retention of those metals in the body. They can be associated with many adverse health effects. Toxicity occurs when the net retention exceeds the body’s ability to process and remove these metals. To evaluate net retention, one compares the levels of metals in urine before and after the administration of a pharmaceutical metal detoxification agent such as EDTA, DMSA or DMPS. Different compounds have different affinities for specific metals, but all function by pulling out “hidden” metals from deep tissue stores and mobilizing the metals to the kidneys for excretion in the urine.
A complete blood count (CBC) gives important information about the kinds and numbers of cells in the blood, especially red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. A CBC will also help diagnose conditions, such as anemia, infection, and many other disorders.
A comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP) is used as a broad screening tool to evaluate organ function and check for conditions such as diabetes, liver disease, and kidney disease. The CMP may also be ordered to monitor known conditions, such as hypertension, and to monitor patients taking specific medications for any kidney or liver-related side effects.
Food Sensitivity Testing: This is a simple blood test that tests your child’s blood with over 93 different foods. It will identify the specific foods your child has a sensitivity to. Food sensitivities can contribute to behavioral issues, attentiveness, anxiety, depression, headaches, GI disturbances.
All of the treatment suggestions will be based off of the results from the initial testing. Treatment will directly address your child’s areas of imbalance.
