Dr. Peter DeShane
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Autism and Consciousness

6/10/2012

3 Comments

 
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It's been nearly six months since my last post and to say a lot has transpired is an understatement!  A new child, a new clinic and a lot of growth have happened over the last 6 months!
  
We have continued our use of the LENS neurofeedback with Barron and have also incorporated another neurofeedback technology known as infra-low frequency training (ILF for short).  Barron continues to grow and mature into a delightful young man (most of the time - just like every other 4 year old ;-)).  As we see changes in his brain map profile, we see corresponding changes in his behaviour and personality.
  
One of the more amazing changes we have seen in Barron is his increasing sense of self and understanding of what others want.  He has brought his little brother milk when he was crying, regularly covers mom and dad with a blanket on the couch and has come to understand that people like to watch shows other than Sponge Bob Squarepants on the big TV.  This has corresponded with an area of his brain known as the "parietal lobe" recovering from a serious injury (likely the result of birth trauma) through the use of the LENS neurofeedback system.
 
What I thought was very interesting about this is that the parietal lobes are one of the main areas of the brain that give us a sense of "self" or as Freud would have said "the seat of our ego".  People with poor parietal function typically have a poor sense of self, boundary issues and ruminate.  Taken to the extreme, this could explain certain aspects of the autistic experience;  Obsessiveness, over-activity (with the parietals shut down the only other way to experience self is through movement), sensory issues (visual, auditory and kinesthetic input all converge on the parietal cortex), lack of empathy (if I don't know where I stop and you start, I will assume you want the same as I do), poor communication (if I can't differentiate self and non-self, why would I bother to communicate?).
  
Equally interesting is that many issues of autism have to do with poor membrane/barrier integrity - excessive gut permeability and diminished blood-brain barrier integrity are often issues with these children.  Chronic yeast infections, other viral/bacterial infections and environmental toxins also seem to get into the mix as well.  This reminds me of a person with poor boundaries allowing toxic individuals to take advantage of them - an interesting metaphor to say the least.  Could it be that our parietal lobes play a role in maintaining not only our psychological boundaries but also our physiological boundaries as well?
  
On a more esoteric note, this may also explain why many of these kids seem to be very aware to the emotion, energy or "vibe" of the people and space around them - talk to parents of an autistic child and they will likely agree that their child is very sensitive to these things.  Again, if your sense of self vs. non-self is next to non-existent, you will pick up on a lot of subtle things that you would miss otherwise.  Ironically enough, many meditators attempt to reach these mind states in order to dissolve their ego and achieve unity with everything which they often describe as quite blissful.  I would add that it is blissful when you are able to return to a sense to self when meditation time is over.  To stay in this state with no choice would have to be overwhelming for all but the most advanced yogi which may be why many of these children retreat into a world of their own.
   As Barron grows and evolves, so do we and for every question answered another bundle crop up.  It's been a pleasure to share these insights with all of you and we look forward to keeping you all in the loop on this interesting journey of ours.

Cheers,

Peter


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Our New Addition and Happy Holidays!

12/19/2011

1 Comment

 
It boggles my mind that it's been four months since my last entry!  So much has happened in our lives with this busy season upon us, that it's hard to say where to begin.

With our second son on our way very soon (Dec. 28), Jen and I find ourselves wondering how Barron is going to respond to the new addition.  He doesn't seem to understand what this is all about although he does give Jen some pretty curious looks.  What has been quite interesting is the baby's reaction to Barron - whenever Barron sits next to Jen, the baby shifts over to get close to Barron!

We have started using a neurofeedback system with Barron called LENS (Low energy neurofeedback system).  This is a passive neurofeedback that allows us to map out Barron's brainwave profile and then modify it using gentle electromagnetic pulses from the equipment.  These pulses are mirrors of Barron's brainwave patterns which has the effect of helping the brain re-regulate it's output.

So far, we've been very pleased with his progress which has further increased his focus, spontaneous play, make eye contact and interest in social interaction.  He does protest getting "hooked up" but he doesn't fight it and often in the middle of the treatment he calms right down.  His sense of humor has also bumped right up as well which has been a real hoot to experience.

Others have noticed the difference as well, which is always a good sign.  We decided to not tell his therapists to see if they noticed a difference.  After 15 minutes with him they looked at Jen and said "OK, what are you doing now!".  We have only touched the tip of the iceberg with this modality so we're excited to see what kind of a difference it will make with Barron and the others we are working on with it.

People ask if Barron is looking forward to Christmas presents.  Interestingly enough, he's more interested in the family, food and music than those boxes under the tree - maybe he's got the right idea...

Wishing all of you the best the season has to offer!
1 Comment

Who do I rescue - my son or his therapist...

8/21/2011

2 Comments

 
It's been a fun and eventful few weeks since I last posted!

About 3 weeks ago, Barron took part in a getting ready for school program for children with special needs put on by Thames Valley Childrens Centre.  It was a great experience both for the kids and the parents involved.  While the children were learning about what a class was like, the parents had a chance to get together and learn about how to support their kids and navifate "the system".

Barron did very well, in his (as usual) own unique way.  One of the things that the parents got a chance to do was to watch the children through a one way mirror.  It was very enlightening getting a chance to see what Barron was up to when he was in a new environment.  There were a few tears (when I wanted to rescue Barron), lots of laughs and some rambunciousness (when I wanted to rescue the therapist!).  My hats go off to everybody involved in the program - we came away with many insigths and some real optimism for Barron.

Barron continues to get new words and become more independant every day - one of our challenges as parents is to evolve with his capabilities.  It's so easy to fall into habitual patterns that would keep all of us locked into the same patterns.  He's turned out to be a water monkey so there's been lots of time at the pool and family cottage (I've never seen a 3 year old wear out 3 grown adults before!).  I'm convinced God created caffeine to help adults keep up with their young children...

Clinically, we've been doing a homeopathic detox with both myself and Barron (which, while I will spare you the graphic details, would appear to be working quite well).  The detox is currently focused on the removal of heavy metals from our systems.  Having tried chemical chelation with Barron and finding that even after 2 days, he was looking washed out, we are very happy with this approach.

We are also using some brain relfex stimulation techniques born out of a technique called cranio-biotic technique that seems to be having a very positive effect as well - better focus, more words and paying better attention to directions!  We are learning the fine art of making therapy fun and play with barron - an absolute must or he's just not interested.  Perhaps if I was to put on a giant Sponge Bob costume - Hmmmmm....

Finally, many thanks to the kind words and comments from the lasts posts - everyone's support and encouragement means so much to us as we move along in tis journey!
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Letting Go of Expectations

7/5/2011

5 Comments

 
Having a child who experiences the world outside of what we would consider typical can be a powerfully transformative experience if we let it be.  It has forced me to release my expectations about how things should be, what is right and why things need to be a certain way. I discovered that if I insisted on holding on to the "shoulds", they quickly became cages of despair and sadness that trapped my thinking and more importantly, my ability to truly appreciate my son for all his greatness.
    For example, many of you would know that I am an avid reader, as is Jen so my expectation was that Barron would naturally gravitate towards books.  To this date, Barron has no interest in them - he doesn't like to be read to, play with the books or pretend to read.  While it is my sincere hope that he develops a love of reading because of the avenues it will open up for him, if I get hung up on this issue and focus on what he won't do, I might miss the fact that he's really quite happy and joyous on his own.
    I've become aware of how much of what we do is in an effort to be happy and my son's already there!  By releasing my expectations of what should be and instead enjoying what is, I get to join my son in his happiness.
   
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The Barron Blog - an Intro

6/28/2011

12 Comments

 
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Hey There everyone!

For those of you that know me, you know that I've got a son named Barron.  What you may not know about Barron is that in addition to being a total cutie, he is also severely autistic.

He was diagnosed at the age of 2.  He is now three and a half and as you might suspect, the past year and a half has been quite a journey.  What you might not have suspected though is that the journey has been one filled with tremendous growth, love and compassion (and before I sound like to much of a saint, no small amount of worry, angst and frustration as well).

I've decided to start this blog as a way of keeping track of Barron's progress, giving him something to read about when he gets older and as a way of giving people some insight into the experience of being a parent of a child with autism.  Autism is an issue that is on the rise (I hesitate to call it a disease any more as I think there's a bigger picture to all of this), having moved from an incidence of 1 in 10,000 in the mid '70's to an incidence of 1 in 150 (and in some of the most recent research, 1 in 68!). 

While there's a great deal of controversy about the causes of autism, the increasing rates should be a clarion call to us all that there's a real problem facing us all and that these kids (and adults) with ASD are the proverbial canaries in the coalmine.  I'll blog more about that later, for now, I'd like to give you a quick run down of the last year and a half...

When Barron was diagnosed with autism, we weren't surprised.  He had missed some developmental milestones (pointing, orienting to noise and late walking) and often seemed to be lost in his own world.  Not that it seemed to be a bad world - he was very happy and giggly and was a genuinely happy kid.

When we received the diagnosis, we booked a flight to the next DAN (Defeat Autism Now!) conference to look at what the latest research had to say about autism.  If you were to look at the conventional approach to autism, you would be shocked to discover that it's, well, lacking.  Beyond some behavioural interventions and medicating some symptoms, there was very little being offered by the traditional medical establishment.  DAN however, was a completely different experience...

Here was a group of parents, clinicians and researchers working together to help find answers for their children - that's right, almost all of the clinicians and researchers at the conference had children on the spectrum.  I've never experienced that kind of cohesion in a group before and must say I was blown away!  Just as importantly, I also started to get a different view of autism...

When Barron was first diagnosed with autism, I thought "My son is broken, I must fix him!" - typical clinician behaviour in retrospect.  Since DAN, my viewpoint has evolved and changed significantly.  I no longer feel the need to "fix" my son because in my eyes, he's not broken.  He's a cool little dude in all respects, just the way he is and I have no more desire for him to be "normal" (whatever that is) than I desire to be normal myself.

What I do want to give Barron is as many choices as possible in his life and based on where he was at 2, he had a very limited set of choices.  To help balance his system, so that he could become the most that he's meant to be, we embarked on a number of therapies to help him out.

To Date, we've done the following therapies with Barron:

Vitamins: (multi, designed for ASD by Prothera).  These have been great!  They're powdered and taste vaguely of berries.
Fish-Oil:  Seems to help with Barron's focus.  We use the Nutra-Sea apple flavour.
Pro-Biotics: Barron's Organic acid testing (from Great Plains Labs) indicated a candida issue, so we chose a pro-biotic that is helpful with yeast overgrowth.
Nystatin:  To help with the yeast.  It's been great, increasing our solid poop occurrence substantially (seriously, unless you're a parent of a child with ASD, you have no idea how awesome a solid turd is!).  Nystatin also doesn't cross the blood gut barrier so it can be used with no dangers of toxicity,
GABA: Many kids with ASD have overactive glutamate action in their systems which winds them up.  GABA helps balance that tendency and calms them.  This has been great for Barron and is part of what helps keep him in the "happy" zone and not the "anxious" zone.
MitoThera: A combo supplement from Prothera which boosts mitochondrial function.  Barron's organic acid testing showed a deficiency on mitochondrial functioning which is key for the energy hungry central nervous system.
L-Glutamine:  One of my favorite basic supplements which helps rebuild the intestinal lining and feed the brain.  It also enhances GABA production.
Ambrotose:  This is a product which contains multiple plant polysacharides which the body uses for intercellular communication.  This has had a dramatic effect on Barron's speech, which has been one of his major stumbling blocks.  I would recommend Ambrotose Advanced as the classic has some oat product in it which may contain gluten.
GFCF Diet:  This stands for "Gluten Free, Casein Free" diet.  Gluten is a protein found in many grains (wheat being the most notable offender in our culture) and Casein is a protein found in milk products.  This was HUGE - when we got Barron off of these foods, he rejoined us in this world, his insane pain tolerance became normal and he paid attention to us.  We have since reintroduced some dairy and he's doing well with that.  Gluten, not so much (can you say "Rangy demon child?").
Tomatis type Music Therapy:  He did well with one listening module that was supposed to help him with balance and coordination which definitely improved.  He has put up a lot of resistance to the next module so we have yet to complete that one.
Hyperbaric Therapy:  Jen and I purchased a high pressure, enriched air (1.3 ATA, 31% oxygen) system to treat Barron at home this January.  We've been very happy with the results to date, seeing a rapid rise in Barron's cognition, paying attention, verbal comprehension and to a lesser degree, verbal production.  He loves it, and I've come to appreciate it's effects as I go diving with him as well.

Well that's it for now!  There's more to say, but it will have to wait for another day!

Cheers,

Peter




12 Comments

    Dr. Peter DeShane

    Is Barron's Dad and Jen's partner.  He's a chiropractor, coach, hypnotherapist and international speaker.  To read his bio, click here

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