My child was NOT born with Autism

I know that is not a popular belief but I saw Nathan regress after age 2. I also saw that some of the best interventions have actually helped reverse some of the regression.

Nathan was born with a brain injury affecting his ability to control both his legs (cerebral palsy). However, despite severe delays in motor skills, Nathan did start to speak before the age of 2. He even managed to identify 2 sets of flashcards…more than 50 words. My toddler even sang beautiful nursery rhymes. At one point doctors even told us that we should not worry about “learning difficulty” since speech is a good sign of cognition.

However, we started to feel a slow regression after he was 2-years-old. The reason is debatable and will not be discussed here. But what I will discuss is how some of the regression has been reversed. Again, proof that Nathan was not born with autism.

Just to highlight how bad the regression was, we opted for intensive therapy during those early years. We enrolled Nathan and his twin, Amor, to all the therapies we could find: ABA, PT, OT, Speech Therapy, Listening Therapy, Sensory Therapy, Music Therapy, Aqua Therapy, etc…as long as it had the word “Therapy”, we grabbed it for the twins! But despite intensive therapy, Nathan’s regression continued.

By the time Nathan turned 4-years-old, he lost his eye contact, he lost all his words, he lost his ability to sing nursery rhymes.

The regression was slow. He sang fewer and fewer songs…and had more and more mumbled syllables in between songs. It was as if his brain fog was starting to build up. After a year…all his words were gone and all that was left of his beautiful nursery rhymes were rhythmless wordless chants.

Nathan continued to love music evident by how his eyes would glow and his body would groove to his favourite songs. But he could not sing again, not even his favourite songs. In the decade that followed, Nathan never sang.

Nathan also regressed physically and cognitively. As a toddler, he was able to grab crayons and fill paper with beautiful colourful scribbles. My cute toddler would grab his toy guitar, strum and sing Barney’s “I love you” song and many more nursery rhymes. As Nathan regressed, he lost interest in holding things. Instead, anything that ended up in his hands went straight to his mouth, like what babies do. It was as if he regressed from toddler age to baby age mouthing all objects. Even the guitar that he once loved to strum, went straight to his mouth. After losing interest in his favourite toy guitar, Nathan never played with toys appropriately.

Here we are, a decade after, still doing therapies but also adding more health and biomedical interventions. We are screening interventions based on:

  • We do the intervention because that’s what everyone else does,
  • It does not seem to have any benefit,
  • Interventions that make things worse
  • Interventions that are helpful, and
  • Interventions that make a huge difference and is life-changing!

This is where I follow Pareto’s Principle, find and focus on the 20% of interventions that produce 80% of results. True enough, only a handful of what we do (or have done in the past) have significantly helped. In fact, I dare say some of the best interventions have even reversed some of the #autismregresion we experienced in the early years. I will write about my top list of interventions and health options in my next post.

As I was saying…a decade after Nathan stopped singing, he started to sing again! Today Nathan sings whole songs especially when Papa accompanies on guitar! It is music to my ears! It is amazing when he sings songs that he never sang during those “regression years”. My tears fall when he does this because I can envision brain nerve cells reconnecting to lost portions of memory cells. It gives me much hope that as we help Nathan improve his health, more amazing things will come!

On the physical and cognitive side, Nathan has also been improving radically, see my previous posts.

God is good. He restores what the enemy has tried to steal from us.

The Secret

I don’t really like sharing this because as a mom, I feel I have failed. But perhaps it is the right time to share…it might even help someone???

We have been mightily blessed with Nathan…complete with one too many challenges, from not being able to reach physical milestones due to the brain injury at birth which limits his ability to move his legs (cerebral palsy) to his autism, short attention span, not being able to follow simple instructions, etc.

“Mightily blessed” because I believe whatever the enemy tries to take away from us, God will restore. And when He restores, He gives back so much more!

From the long list of what to help Nathan with, I picked my battles. That is, to help Nathan speak and simply connect with us. And to keep my sanity intact, I threw a lot from my “help Nathan with…list” out the window…

The last thing I wanted was to be stressed about the fact that Nathan could not cognitively, physically, and independently use the toilet. I am thankful that our loving Yaya has been around to handle this task so that we could focus on other priorities. I remember talking to Yaya about this last year. She said she was doing everything she could to help Nathan use the toilet independently because it did not feel right to be assisting a teenage boy with this task, more so as he grows to be a young man. But despite all her efforts, she couldn’t imagine Nathan choosing to go to the toilet independently.

Waking up with wet diapers and bedsheets was just another part of “living with autism and cerebral palsy” and so was mopping up after accidents and cleaning up poop smears from floors and walls if we were just a minute late from catching Nathan.

Now you know why this is so difficult to write about this. Hopefully, Nathan will look back at this post and not only forgive me but laugh about all the things that happened during his teen years!

Fast forward to this year…still with no changes in toilet training efforts…Nathan now goes to the toilet on his own! He manages to balance and stand while pulling down his pants and shoots his pee or poop in the toilet!!!

He has this handicap toilet seat in his room. We bought it a few years ago but used it as a display because no amount of teaching could encourage him to use it. However, for the past 3 nights he has been shooting his pee and poop into the toilet seat ! Our wiping-up efforts have been confined to the poop smear path from his toilet seat 🚽  💩 to 💩 his 💩 bed 🛌 . Life is not perfect, but I’ll take it! In fact, I’ll celebrate it! I just know that this is just the beginning and more good things are to come!!!

What did we do differently? Nothing. A child learns to pee and poop into the toilet almost naturally. I guess the brain fog of autism just inhibits natural learning and Nathan’s physical handicap was double jeopardy. Since Nathan’s brain fog has been lifting and his muscle coordination has been improving (thanks to redox molecules) learning is coming naturally!

The secret is out, at age 15, we were still experiencing cleaning-up poop smears but by God’s grace that is about to change!

Fighting the good fight of Faith

We have been listening to Randy Clark’s audiobook, “Power To Heal: Keys To Activating God’s Healing Power In Your Life.”

A couple of weeks ago, Amor told me she had a vision. She said that Jesus told her that He has healed her seizures.

I believe her!

This month, her period came and went, unaccompanied by a usual hormone-related seizure.

We have been doing everything we can to try to understand what is triggering her seizures and what can be done to control her seizures. The intensity and frequency of her seizures have been downgrading in general, but not yet eliminated.

Now is the time to surrender to God! I am so blessed that Amor enjoys listening to God’s words and understands His desires for her so that she knows how to fight the good fight of faith!

In the photo: Amor captured my reaction as she shared her vision with me! I call her healed girl to keep reminding myself of God’s mighty plan for her. 

What are Miracles?

I was almost dreading that Nathan was approaching teenage years. This time amplifies his special needs and the thought that we will have to live with all his challenges for the rest of our lives. Like, his dependence on a wheelchair even for short trips, that he wouldn’t speak up, that he couldn’t follow complex commands, that he couldn’t eat meals independently without making a mess or he could not do so many things independently.

Depression took over for some time. Thankfully God keeps opening doors.

Finally, a fellow special needs mom asked me to look into and try ASEA.

No, ASEA is not the miracle…

When Nathan started taking ASEA, he started to detox…some would call it peetox. As his body got rid of wastes, evidently through super stinky pee, his brain fog started to lift. In time he became better at following instructions. His speech became clearer. He started to sing songs again…

Nathan regressed into autism after age 2 and lost all his words, ability to sing nursery rhymes, eye contact, etc. He was unable to sing for the decade that followed. But today, at age 14, Nathan surprises us by singing complete songs. It is like his tongue got untied!

Nathan also became stronger and better in controlling his limbs. He no longer needs a wheelchair for outings. When he eats, he has better control of his utensils and we have less trouble cleaning up after.

How can something so simply cause so much speech, cognitive and physical gains?

It can’t.

God has created our bodies magnificently. I believe our bodies have an amazing affinity to healing. All we have to do it support it. ASEA is only a tool which helps our magnificent body do it’s job more efficiently!

When I was sure about ASEA, I started to share this gift to other families with special needs.

And of course I get so excited asking them for updates.

What parents usually notice first is that their special needs child has more energy or generally better mood. Someone told me her child has better eye-contact, like her eyes glow! Teachers reported that child was better focusing in school. A child with cerebral palsy (like Nathan’s case – a brain injury affecting ability to move legs) started to kick his legs during physical therapy!

As these parents share initial gains of their children, I get excited knowing that in time they will experience so much more…just as how I still continue to see big gains for Nathan!

So what are miracles?

Perhaps it’s the moment right before science catches up and provides a “better” explanation.

I would say that it’s what happens when we align ourselves with God’s desires for us!
Mathew 15:30 “He healed them all.”

I like to use this photo to depict Nathan’s autism as a veil… to be removed as his personality, motivations and desires start to speak up and shine through.

NUTRITION TIPS

Why do we have to encourage our children to eat bitter vegetables? We don’t LOL. At least I never found the reason to … until today.

Children naturally have strong digestive systems and can handle almost everything!

Unless we are talking about special needs children, like my kids, who have digestive issues.

DOMINO BENEFITS OF BITTERS

Apparently, bitter foods stimulate the vagus nerve. That’s the long highway of nerves from the brain to the digestive system.

The bitter taste in the mouth sends signals to the stomach to produce more stomach acid, which improves the digestion of food, especially meat. Increase stomach acid, in turn, stimulates the secretion of bile and pancreatic juices, which are needed for efficient digestion in the small intestines. All of these processes are important for the proper digestion and absorption of nutrients from food. Furthermore, bile secretion stimulates the muscular movements of the digestive tract, making sure that wastes move along and are eliminated efficiently.

WHAT ARE BITTERS?

Bitter gourd (ampalaya) is an obvious example. Other mild bitter are salad leaves. Stronger bitter leaves examples are kale and arugula. Sprouted greens are also great bitter foods.

Bitters have so much more benefits than those listed above. Keep posted for more information.

HOW DO I KNOW IT WORKS

Whenever I implement dietary changes or try natural treatments, I always want to know if what I am doing is working and if it’s worth continuing. I mean why ask a child to eat bitters if there are no benefits whatsoever?

The best way to check how well our digestive health is doing (other than getting lab tests) is by checking what comes out from the other end. Poop should have a nice texture and should be dark in color. Pale 💩 means the liver is not producing enough bile. That not only means that the above domino benefits have not occurred and digestion is inefficient, it also means that the liver is not efficiently releasing bile, which also contains wastes and should be eliminated.

My child had pale 💩. After researching and implementing various changes to improve bile production, poop color finally improved when we added the last bit of the puzzle: bitter sprouted broccoli with all meals!

I am so thankful that life-changing health improvements are simple and yet so effective.

God is good! Everything we need, we already have!

#nutritionstudent
#learnandteach

LEARNING NUTRITION

Since I’ve spent so much time researching what to do to help my twins with special needs, I decided that I might as well get a degree in nutrition. I’ve been using what I’m learning to keep enhancing their health and overall gains. This is what Amor thinks about it…

Praise the Lord indeed! Amor had sensory issues as a child, a lot of which she has overcome.

Today, she has lingering irritability and digestive issues. But I am so thankful that she has been learning to “listen to her body” to know what helps her! She’s my best nutrition client so far 😉!

#nutritionstudent #ourASEAjourney

Restoration

By age 4 Nathan regressed deep into autism and lost all his words and ability to sing nursery rhymes. Today, at age 14, God is restoring Nathan’s voice!

We knew that Nathan had special needs soon after his premature birth. But #autismregression continued especially between the age of 2 and 4, when skills were emerging…to eventually be lost.

By the time Nathan turned 4-years-old he lost his ability to sing beautiful nursery rhymes. Instead, he did rhythmless chants while staring into space. He lost his ability to grip a pen and doodle. Instead, he would put everything into his mouth, even the toy guitar, which he was once able to strum and sing with.

Nathan regressed deep into autism. I felt like I “lost” my son.

By age 5, I though Nathan would never be able to call me “Mama” or to look at me for longer than a minute.

Each full year the Neurodevelopmental Paediatrician would assess him to have gained only 2 months of cognitive skills. If Nathan continued at that rate, by the time he reached 20-years-old, he would be behaving like a 4-year-old…severely autistic.

GOD’S PLAN (Nathan at 4-years-old)

I remember crying everyday after the doctor told us that Nathan had autism. Nathan was already 4-years-old and so much therapy and early intervention, did not seem to be making the future brighter any for us.

I cried and prayed and cried some more. One night, in my usual crying and praying moments, this song sang in my mind:

“in His time. God makes all things beautiful in His time.”

God was telling me to trust Him, even if I could not see anything at the moment.

GOD’S PLAN MANIFEST (Nathan at 5-years-old)

One year after that moment of peace, Nathan was 5 1/2-years-old, I found The Son-Rise Program®! Son-Rise taught me that I, the parent, could be the best therapist for my child. And that exciting games, rather than rigorous repetition, were the best ways to help my child with autism engage.

Nathan began to look at me, smile and laugh with me! Nathan began to speak and request things from me!

Nathan connected with me again! I got my son back!

MEETING GOD (Nathan at 9-years-old)

Son-Rise was the best and the easiest way to help Nathan make big gains despite his autism. But that does not mean life was easy for us. Life was hard and we gave up a lot of family outings simply because it was more stressful than relaxing. We even stopped going to church for the same reason.

But God must have wanted me to know that He has been calling me all this time.

Thankfully we were invited to New Creation Church (NCC), which has a special needs ministry while parents worship. It was at NCC were I learned about God’s mighty love for me.

In fact, before God speaks, He shows. He gave me Son-Rise first so that I could see that the power of a parent’s love can conquer anything! Imagine knowing what God’s love for us can conquer!

It was at NCC where I learned to rest in God and that He will restore what the enemy took away.

HEALING IN THE NATURAL (Nathan at 13-years-old)

“Pick-up your mat and walk.” That’s what Jesus said to the lame man.

What a fight of faith.

Those were the years when I would bring Nathan out for walks and no matter how tiring it was for both of us. Sometimes, I thought, not trying had the same results – zero muscle development.

Walking is challenging for Nathan because of his brain injury at birth (cerebral palsy) affecting his ability to control his legs. All his life we have been dependent on his wheelchair.

Like many special needs moms, when doctors had nothing more to offer, I turned to nutrition and alternatives to look for anything else that could help my son. Besides, is something caused his #autismregression, there should be a way to undo it.

We made strides with diet and nutrition, removing excess sugar to help Nathan to balance his energy and hyperactivity. Removing gluten and casein, to help leaky gut and lessen staring-into-space moments.

Then we found ASEA. Not only did injuries stop, but Nathan began to gain. Nathan muscle coordination and strength began to improve. He started to walk longer and longer distances without any tantrums! His speech became so much more clearer! Nathan started singing nursery rhymes agains! There are even songs which I know he loved to listen to during his regression years but could not sing…Today, all of a sudden I am hearing Nathan sing songs that he has never sang before!

Here he is singing his favorite worship song. One that he could only dance to in the past. But today he’s singing the whole song! God is so good!

Synergistic Healing

I am amazed by how Nathan is gaining control of his legs, despite cerebral palsy (inability to fully control his legs due to a brain injury at birth).

BACK TO BASICS

Did you know that creeping and crawling is an important stage which helps baby’s brain to develop?

It is so helpful that going back to creeping and crawling can even help special needs kids. The Brainhighways program helped me understand this. Apparently, creeping helps integrate the “baby brain” allowing the baby/child to move from “fight or flight” mode to relax and ready for social interaction mode. Crawling helps develop the mid-brain, helping the child better filter sensory inputs, thus, respond better when dealing with people.

RESULTS OF CREEPING AND CRAWLING, SO FAR

A few years back, we started Brainhighways for our twins with special needs, Nathan and Amor. We saw initial gains and reason to keep going. For how long? Based on Brainhighways testimonies, it will take 100 to 300 hours of creeping and crawling to see results.

THE CHALLENGE

Unfortunately, we have not been as consistent as I initially desired. We haven’t even reached our 100th hour of creeping and crawling yet. Already, I know it will take so much more than 300 hours, especially for Nathan to actually learn to creep properly and thus see the gains that other kids experience.

Nathan’s legs used to “dangle” behind him as he attempted to creep. Creeping is supposed to look like military creeping with one arm working in tandem with the opposite leg to propel the body forward. Because of his cerebral palsy, Nathan didn’t seem capable of creeping and crawling properly regardless of how many hundred hours we were to try.

It is so easy to give up on interventions especially when I recall what doctors or experts have told me about cerebral palsy “nothing can be done about it” or even that “Nathan may never walk”.

HOPE ARISES

Fast forward a couple of years…we try a new intervention… Redox singling molecules (brand name ASEA). I love the simplicity, yet profound impact, of this new category-making intervention. It is not a drug, it is not a supplement. Its starting ingredients are simply purified water and salt. These are electronically processed and stabilised to hold reduction and oxidation molecules. These molecules allow us to have the plus (+) and minus (-) energy that our cells need to communicate with each other. Thus our cells get to work more effectively. Younger children inherently have redox signaling molecules at higher levels than their adult counterparts. This manifests in their fast ability to heal. As we age, our bodies produce less, thus our ability to heal is slower. People with chronic illness or who are immunocompromised also have lower levels of redox signaling molecules. So ASEA can benefit these folks. We have started taking ASEA redox singling molecules, seeing that it has benefited other kids with autism and similar issues.

I noticed that Nathan gained better control and coordination of his legs. I was excited to revisit Brainhighways and start creeping and crawling again. Despite a long period of not creeping, Nathan…I dare say “instantly”…gained control of his legs. Watch the video.

Furthermore, when doing a “lizard pattern” exercise, Nathan used to need 100% assistance. After ASEA, it’s amazing today that he can independently to lizards on his own! It’s exciting! I feel that we have advanced so much and have gotten a “cheat” push to the middle of the marathon instead of always being at the beginning. A cheat push that every person with a disability certainly deserves! There’s newfound excitement to keep creeping, crawling and keep developing brain and muscle. I’m thankful that the Lord keeps opening doors for us. When all the experts have told us that nothing can be done about cerebral palsy, He keeps telling me to TRUST IN HIM!

Miracle in the making

I created this video in March 2020, when I felt it was impossible for Nathan to ride a bike.

It wasn’t long after creating this video that I tested and found that Nathan could actually pedal a bike!

March 2020 Video:

Doctors said that there was nothing I could do to help fix the “hole” in my son’s brain. My twins Nathan and Amor were born prematurely. Nathan needed a respiratory during the first 3 days of his life. He was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy affecting his ability to control his legs. Doctors projected that he may never walk.

I knew that physical therapy was going to be a big part of my life. But there is nothing easy about physical therapy. When Nathan was younger and smaller, you could say it was “easier” only because I could bear most of his weight. But his autism (later diagnosed at age 4) was not doing any help. It was as if he could take his mind out of his body, resulting to me do all the physical therapy for him. There was no muscle learning during these periods.

I thought perhaps the Doctors were right, nothing could help my child’s cerebral palsy….so why keep trying? But trying we did. No matter how little the results, we kept trying. But many times I would question if all that we were doing was worth it. It was easier to not do anything…and the results were the same…almost nil. To add to the challenges, Nathan is now in his puberty. He is much bigger, heavier and difficult to assist. Plus, his muscles have been pulling in all the wrong directions.

But can I just say…I know God’s hand is on our journey! #JesusHeals Three years before seeing any miracles related to Nathan’s walking, God let me know that he was going to do something for Nathan: https://www.facebook.com/977393535661…

Recently, Nathan has become more willing to walk longer and longer distances. Church was one first places he consistently went to without needing a wheelchair. Then the fast food/mall, then the movie, then dental appointments…now he does not ask his wheelchair when we go out.

In this healing journey, I have learned to tune in and listen to healing changes so I know we’re heading in the right direction. For example, I used to need to carry most of Nathan’s leg weight light when we did these bicycle play exercises. You can see that I have to fully grip his feet to move them around as if he was riding a bicycle. Without my support, his legs would just wobble and drop. He was unable to push his legs and I have refrained from dreaming that it would be possible for him to have enough force to pedal a bike…

Watch me test Nathan’s strength and coordination, by not offering much support and simply putting my flat palms for his feet to push! And he did! To demonstrate further, I used my thumb and he did almost all the work. If I was to put numbers on it. He used to need 90% of my help to get our bicycle game going. Now, he only needs 10% of my help. Who knows what Nathan will be capable of doing? Maybe one day he will be able to independently ride a bike 😉 Tomorrow is bright for us!