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Recovery
Patterns
In
Autistic
Individuals
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| (1) | Symptom level prior to intervention with the SF Comprehensive Intervention Program. |
| * | Beginning the SF Comprehensive Intervention Program. Total elimination of food and environmental exposures achieved. |
| (2) | Period of heightened symptoms. Generally lasts 2-7 days |
| (3) | Precipitous drop in symptoms. Change can be very dramatic. |
| (4) | Gradual symptom reduction associated with low muscle tone and severe seizures. These require time for a healing process to occur. |
| * | THE ZERO POINT: Signals change in immune system function, and elimination of hyper reactive state. |
| (5) | Quiescent period: Child is very quiet, mellow, and peaceful. May focus inward while adjusting to monumental internal changes. |
| (6) | Learning period: Period of accelerated learning, now possible since mechanisms impairing function have been eliminated. |
| (7) | New baseline established. |
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The SF Comprehensive Intervention Program is a highly effective intervention program for autistic children. It is based on 20 years of careful investigation and research with over 1000 persons suffering from all manner of chronic conditions, in which food and environmental avoidance strategies alone were employed in a selective process of sequential removal, so that the associated disappearing symptoms could be identified. This research has proven that complete avoidance is possible, surprisingly easy to accomplish, and substantial improvements can occur rapidly. Symptoms associated with diet are eliminated, and symptoms associated with environmental exposures are eliminated. When this happens and is maintained, essentially no symptoms or complaints remain. As increasing numbers of autistic children and young adults follow the SF Comprehensive Intervention Program, we find that symptom reduction follows a predictable pattern. In many cases there is a short period of a few days in which symptoms are heightened as the child proceeds through a 'withdrawal' period. This is followed by a period of adjustment to the diet and environmental changes. Following this, assuming the environment exposures have been fully eliminated from the beginning and this has been maintained, a dramatic, abrupt disappearance of essentially all symptoms occurs. The abruptly disappearing symptoms are generally related to the disappearance of pain, disappearance of hypersensitivity to external stimuli, disappearance of agitation and the like such as screaming, head banging, rages, and obsessive compulsive behaviors. Also abruptly disappearing are symptoms such as: digestive symptoms and complaints, eczema, asthma, and mild seizures. A long-term healing process requiring several months is necessary for full elimination of low muscle tone and severe seizures. In place of these symptoms is a new state of peacefulness and calm, both day and night, and frequently includes the child being able to consistently sleep through the night for the first time. The only deficits remaining are those that the child must learn and has simply not learned yet. For severe autistic individuals there follows a quiet period which seems to involve savoring the new state of being and overcoming fear that the old symptoms will return. After adjusting to this wonderful, but monumental change, there is then a rapidly increased awareness of and joyous interaction with friends, family, toys - everything, often as if seeing and being aware for the first time, and an enthusiastic, accelerated learning period, during which time the child catches up in all respects. The graph of the preceding page traces the changes in symptoms exhibited by autistic children and young adults beginning with the time the program is begun.
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