Monday, May 21, 2012
Letter I wrote for a friend about our experiences with biomedical treatment of autism
May 21, 2012
To Whom It May Concern:
Although most of my daughter’s first two years of life are somewhat of a blur, in retrospect, a few moments stand out vividly: that first car ride home from the hospital, walking the floor at night trying to soothe her infant cries, that pit that formed in my stomach when my best friend gently told me that “most of the 18-month-old girls that I know are very social,” the day the “A-bomb” was dropped for the first time by a therapist, the day that I filled out the questionnaire at the pediatrician’s office, feeling like each little check mark was condemning my precious baby, the day the referral was made for an autism evaluation and my mom and I cried together over the cell phone. These are my early memories of my only baby girl.
By the time Abby was officially diagnosed on October 11, 2011, I had grieved (mostly) and was ready to fight this with all the strength, intelligence and tenacity I had. I was all in. As a licensed speech-language pathologist, I knew the prognosis for children on the autism spectrum: years of therapy, adjusted expectations for life, modest gains. This was not acceptable for my Abby. As I began to come out of my denial and grief, I became inspired. There were parents out there who were claiming to have “recovered” their children from autism; taken them out of the grasp of this devastating disorder. I began to delve more and more into how they were doing it. Essentially, they were not simply accepting conventional medical wisdom for the treatment of autism. They were instead evaluating the true biological causes of autism in their children and were treating them “biomedically”. The results were undeniable and in some cases truly miraculous. I began Abby on a gluten free and casein free diet on my own but I needed someone to help me down this biomedical road that I knew little about but needed to learn quickly for the sake of my daughter and her future.
That someone was Dr. Daniel Kalb, a medical doctor from Franklin, Tennessee. I walked into his office with a two-and-a-half-year-old who did not look at me, did not talk to me, had chronic diarrhea, and didn’t sleep through the night. Abby could say “bu,” “du,” “cu,” and “mu.” That was it. At our first appointment, I gave Dr. Kalb a detailed history of Abby’s medical symptoms: diarrhea, sensory processing disorder, sleeplessness, even the dark spots on her teeth. He recommended a battery of tests to evaluate Abby’s intestinal functioning and started her on a course of vitamins and dietary supplements based on the history he obtained about Abby. What happened next was life-changing for Abby and our family and friends and I am hoping will be for others. Within days she was making two-syllable words, then final consonants on words, then combining two words, then making sentences. She started coming out of her world and joining ours. She began smiling and singing and making eye contact and playing with toys and sleeping through the night. She began running to me for hugs and kisses. She began calling me Mommy. She began to show us how truly brilliant her mind is when it is given the change to develop.
We have made countless changes as a family but it is beyond worth the sacrifice. We are getting to know our daughter a little more each day. We continue to follow Dr. Kalb’s guidelines to the letter and we have not been disappointed in doing so. I am nearly giddy for each appointment with him to find out what piece of the puzzle we will solve next.
This journey we are on has given me what I once thought I might never have: hope. I now have great expectations for my Abigail. And my job is to give her every opportunity to realize the dreams she will dream for herself.
Sincerely,
Rebecca L. Haake
To Whom It May Concern:
Although most of my daughter’s first two years of life are somewhat of a blur, in retrospect, a few moments stand out vividly: that first car ride home from the hospital, walking the floor at night trying to soothe her infant cries, that pit that formed in my stomach when my best friend gently told me that “most of the 18-month-old girls that I know are very social,” the day the “A-bomb” was dropped for the first time by a therapist, the day that I filled out the questionnaire at the pediatrician’s office, feeling like each little check mark was condemning my precious baby, the day the referral was made for an autism evaluation and my mom and I cried together over the cell phone. These are my early memories of my only baby girl.
By the time Abby was officially diagnosed on October 11, 2011, I had grieved (mostly) and was ready to fight this with all the strength, intelligence and tenacity I had. I was all in. As a licensed speech-language pathologist, I knew the prognosis for children on the autism spectrum: years of therapy, adjusted expectations for life, modest gains. This was not acceptable for my Abby. As I began to come out of my denial and grief, I became inspired. There were parents out there who were claiming to have “recovered” their children from autism; taken them out of the grasp of this devastating disorder. I began to delve more and more into how they were doing it. Essentially, they were not simply accepting conventional medical wisdom for the treatment of autism. They were instead evaluating the true biological causes of autism in their children and were treating them “biomedically”. The results were undeniable and in some cases truly miraculous. I began Abby on a gluten free and casein free diet on my own but I needed someone to help me down this biomedical road that I knew little about but needed to learn quickly for the sake of my daughter and her future.
That someone was Dr. Daniel Kalb, a medical doctor from Franklin, Tennessee. I walked into his office with a two-and-a-half-year-old who did not look at me, did not talk to me, had chronic diarrhea, and didn’t sleep through the night. Abby could say “bu,” “du,” “cu,” and “mu.” That was it. At our first appointment, I gave Dr. Kalb a detailed history of Abby’s medical symptoms: diarrhea, sensory processing disorder, sleeplessness, even the dark spots on her teeth. He recommended a battery of tests to evaluate Abby’s intestinal functioning and started her on a course of vitamins and dietary supplements based on the history he obtained about Abby. What happened next was life-changing for Abby and our family and friends and I am hoping will be for others. Within days she was making two-syllable words, then final consonants on words, then combining two words, then making sentences. She started coming out of her world and joining ours. She began smiling and singing and making eye contact and playing with toys and sleeping through the night. She began running to me for hugs and kisses. She began calling me Mommy. She began to show us how truly brilliant her mind is when it is given the change to develop.
We have made countless changes as a family but it is beyond worth the sacrifice. We are getting to know our daughter a little more each day. We continue to follow Dr. Kalb’s guidelines to the letter and we have not been disappointed in doing so. I am nearly giddy for each appointment with him to find out what piece of the puzzle we will solve next.
This journey we are on has given me what I once thought I might never have: hope. I now have great expectations for my Abigail. And my job is to give her every opportunity to realize the dreams she will dream for herself.
Sincerely,
Rebecca L. Haake
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Haiti Mission Team Doing Well
Mike's team at NWHCM has arrived and all are doing well. Today the team visited the mission's high school and a local prison. Tomorrow the team will go to the town of Ansefoluer where they will see a voodoo temple.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Ruuska Village
I had to post this video. I find it amazing. I think it may be the best journalistic piece I've seen covering the earthquake. The quality is film-like. I was somewhat shocked by the source. But if you think about it, they are not worried about skewing left so the story is presented with refreshing honesty (no UN lovefest here). It's a bit long but totally worth it.
This is the lady who facilitated our adoption. We stayed in her village for a time as well. She is an amazing woman and a miracle worker in our eyes.
This is the lady who facilitated our adoption. We stayed in her village for a time as well. She is an amazing woman and a miracle worker in our eyes.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
True insight is woth a 1,000 journalists
in-sight: The capacity to discern the true nature of a situation
Here is a quote from Tara Livesay, an adoptive mother and missionary in Haiti.
"I have been reading the news articles about a few of the real and/or perceived cases of children being taken illegally. There is a reason we've avoided the media as a general rule --- much of it is exaggerated, inflated, sensationalized and untrue. (And of course I wish that no one would do something illegal but I bet you we don't have the whole story.) They need stories for ratings so they can sell advertising at a higher price. That does not exactly set them up to report with integrity and total honesty.
Haiti is an incredibly difficult place. It was before the earthquake. Now it is difficult times ten. UNICEF would like you to believe that there are lots of "safe spaces" (whatever the heck that is) where they can put children. They want you to think that there is a great risk GREAT RISK of children being used for sex slaves and domestic servitude in the USA and other countries ... they want you to believe that Haiti is the safest place for them to be protected.
We have only been here four years plus a year of going back and forth a ton. BUT in these years I can tell you that we have seen horrific abuse of children. Neglect, sexual abuse, restaveks ---- it is rampant. Sexual crime is NOT a crime in Haiti.
For example A 30 year old man can have sex with a 8 year old girl here and there is no legal process for pressing charges. It is culturally acceptable. Working with women I can tell you that they do not control their own bodies. The men call the shots. In my neighborhood there are restaveks working at 5am sweeping the fricking street for the people they live with. There is no way in hell Unicef or any other yahoo that has not lived in this culture and seen it with their own eyes will EVER EVER EVER convince me that Haiti is a safer place for an orphan. Never. Also, sitting somewhere else and reading news stories that the media produces is not a good way to decide that UNICEF is good and on the up and up. The media has something to gain from making stories more dramatic. Unicef has something to gain by keeping orphans as orphans. No Orphans equals no Unicef afterall."
(Reposted from http://thehowertons.blogspot.com/)
Here is a quote from Tara Livesay, an adoptive mother and missionary in Haiti.
"I have been reading the news articles about a few of the real and/or perceived cases of children being taken illegally. There is a reason we've avoided the media as a general rule --- much of it is exaggerated, inflated, sensationalized and untrue. (And of course I wish that no one would do something illegal but I bet you we don't have the whole story.) They need stories for ratings so they can sell advertising at a higher price. That does not exactly set them up to report with integrity and total honesty.
Haiti is an incredibly difficult place. It was before the earthquake. Now it is difficult times ten. UNICEF would like you to believe that there are lots of "safe spaces" (whatever the heck that is) where they can put children. They want you to think that there is a great risk GREAT RISK of children being used for sex slaves and domestic servitude in the USA and other countries ... they want you to believe that Haiti is the safest place for them to be protected.
We have only been here four years plus a year of going back and forth a ton. BUT in these years I can tell you that we have seen horrific abuse of children. Neglect, sexual abuse, restaveks ---- it is rampant. Sexual crime is NOT a crime in Haiti.
For example A 30 year old man can have sex with a 8 year old girl here and there is no legal process for pressing charges. It is culturally acceptable. Working with women I can tell you that they do not control their own bodies. The men call the shots. In my neighborhood there are restaveks working at 5am sweeping the fricking street for the people they live with. There is no way in hell Unicef or any other yahoo that has not lived in this culture and seen it with their own eyes will EVER EVER EVER convince me that Haiti is a safer place for an orphan. Never. Also, sitting somewhere else and reading news stories that the media produces is not a good way to decide that UNICEF is good and on the up and up. The media has something to gain from making stories more dramatic. Unicef has something to gain by keeping orphans as orphans. No Orphans equals no Unicef afterall."
(Reposted from http://thehowertons.blogspot.com/)
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Ronel's Story
Read the story of this poor child named Ronel who was been orphaned and rejected by his government and about the blessed people who love him and are trying DESPERATELY to bring him home. And what is stopping the them, the US govt.'s willingness to kowtow to ridiculous and unnecessary paperwork required by the defunct Haitian govt. under the thumb of UNICEF.
http://thehowertons.blogspot.com/
http://thehowertons.blogspot.com/
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