What to Do if You Feel Like You’ve Tried Everything for Your Child

There are so many strategies and therapies that can help our kids on the autism spectrum. After many years of recovery methods and strategies, we can get tired and feel like we have uncovered every possible method.

Do you ever feel like you've been doing biomedical treatments, detox, therapies and been to several doctors for years? You’ve seen some incremental gains, but not the huge leaps you seek? Are you left wondering, now what do I do?

Well, you're not alone!

Below, I share my thoughts on what comes next and offer some additional support from our amazing doctors featured in the Autism Recovery Summit 3 Doctor's Panel.

My question would be: “Have you really tried everything?”

I speak with parents all the time who haven’t done things because they don’t know about them. In my Autism Recovery Telesummits, I try to cover a lots of helpful modalities that get to the root of the autism symptoms. That being said, I would start with a food journal. Note what your child eats when and how they feel after. It may be surprising to see that the awesome diet you were following got off track slowly over time. Or that the supplements your child is supposed to be taking are being missed – or worse, not what they should be taking any longer. I would work with a professional who has a very holistic view, who can consider the food, body biochemistry, detoxification, gut healing, immune system remodeling, neurological repair, the emotional/trauma components that may keep the body locked into a certain way of behaving. Or have a team of people who can look at these. I would look for the hole in your child’s care.

It could be as simple as a shift from chronic constipation, lack of directed focus on a specific type of detoxification or simply a missing mineral that makes all the difference.

— Luminara Serdar, BS, MBA, NMT

The expert doctors below are amazing, each having their perspectives and tips. Doctors are required to see their patients in person. If you cannot get to one of the doctors below due to physical distance or a long waiting list, feel free to reach out. I'll do my best to help guide you to shift your child's behaviors!

While I am not a medical doctor, I do look holistically at why the behaviors are there and help shift behaviors with nutrition, opening up the body's systems so built up stressors, like toxicity, flows out.

“… What I've been working on this year is really trying to identify and describe the different medical parts of autism because autism is a medical condition… As a family you may be confused because you feel like you did it all but maybe you didn't… I feel are the seven different medical parts of autism, which include: autoimmunity, brain chemistry, detoxification, genetics, your gut, digestion, diet, hormones and mitochondria.

These are seven different medical areas. The first thing is to make sure you've had all of them tested and/or all of them treated; A lot of people haven't had all of them tested fully. Obviously you'll need a doctor who's had a lot of experience. A doctor who communicates with you well and you feel comfortable with their treatment plan and protocol; that it's been designed just for your child not just a bunch of boxes that they've checked. I think when I have a parent where we're really struggling we have to isolate what we are struggling with.”

— Dr. Jared Skowron, Wallingford, Connecticut, USA

“This is my average patient, so most people who have come to me have probably been to five if not 20 or 25 doctors and they're tired. You know it's a long haul and not every child is the same and I think that's the frustrating piece. So where do you start? You go back to basics… maybe you go off all this stuff (past recommended supplements) and you start over again and you ask: is my child pooping or do they have diarrhea or gas or bloating? How's their appetite? Are they actually eating regularly? Are we doing all these carbohydrates, you know what's going on there.

Usually it starts by going back to good health and looking at mitochondrial support and methylation support. Does your child have enough energy actually to support all these things you're trying to do? Can your child eliminate, are there urinary issues, are there digestive issues? Maybe we do a little bit of detox and drainage support whether that's homeopathy or a little bit of herbal support. Then, really look at that gut health… start working on those good bacteria; I think that's the thing that gets so damaged. My most complicated kids have the most simple treatment in regards to treating the gut.”

— Dr. Amy Derksen, Seattle, Washington, USA

Next Steps:

Purchase your full length copy of the Autism Recovery Summit Doctor’s Panel video. We understand how much valuable education lies within our Autism Recovery Doctor's Panel and want to ensure you can have access to all of it, whenever you need it.

Full Access for $19.97

Questions answered by this panel:

• I just received an ASD (or SPD, developmental delay or other neurodevelopmental) diagnosis. What should I do? What can I do on my own, before the doctor visit, to help? 
• I’ve been doing biomedical treatments, detox, therapies and been to several doctors for years. I’ve seen some incremental gains, but no real huge leaps. Now what do I do? 
• Is there some treatment – intervention, test, supplement – that you use in your practice that consistently helps the most kids – a game changer (and what do you do with someone when that doesn’t work)?  
• Can you give some insight into what is underlying some of the following behaviors and what to do? Tantrums/aggression, crying for apparently no reason, fears and anxiety for no apparent reason, stimming/hand flapping/rocking?  
• Can you give some insights or what to do about when a child is stuck in a rigid behavior, has echolalia, not using expressive language, running away. 
• What’s your number one go-to for constipation? Tantrums? picky eating?

Full Access for $19.97

Read the 3rd blog post in this series: Autism Game Changers – what works well for many kids