7/11/08 - Recovery Stories

Mother writes of son's autism
Posted by Lisa Carolin The Livingston Community News July 11, 2008 00:00AM
Categories: Features
BY LISA CAROLINThe Livingston Community News
A life-changing experience and an opportunity to write a book about it now have Kristi Chrysler touring the country talking about her son's autism.Chrysler, who is originally from Brighton Township and now lives in Howell, has five children: Chloe, 16, Heather, 14, Richie, 11, John, 9, and Kyle, 8, all of whom she home schools. Her book focuses on Richie, and it's called "Autism: Recovery Against All Odds."
"It's the chronicle of my son's journey through autism, from severe and being told to institutionalize him to a full recovery five years later," says Chrysler. "It was not a miracle but was five intensive years of prayers and diligent work by many, which brought him to recovery."
"Autism - Recovery Against All Odds" details the struggles of one local family faced with this childhood disorder.

Chrysler says Richie was developing normally until what she calls outside triggers compromised his immune system and he developed autism. The family used a biomedical approach plus therapy to help him.
Richie was diagnosed with autism at the age of 5 and began seeing psychologists, a psychiatrist and pediatric neurologists. The family used treatment that included eliminating such food ingredients as gluten and the dairy protein casein along with numerous other foods that Richie was allergic to. He also took a variety of supplements.
Richie's physician is Dr. Sidney Baker. He is a co-founder of Defeat Autism Now, a project of the Autism Research Institute of San Diego to foster a dialogue among parents, practitioners and researchers concerning the treatment of children diagnosed with autism. Baker, whose practice is based in New York, also co-authored "Autism: Effective Biomedical Treatments."
"Someone can recover from autism when the right combination of factors come together," says Baker. "The fundamental issues in autism are problems in detoxification chemistry, problems in oxidative stress and problems characterized by inflammation, of the gut and brain, for example."
Baker says the treatments used for those problems include avoiding toxins, allergenic foods and correcting imbalances in the population of germs in the digestive tract where antibiotics disturb the balance, using certain nutritional supplements, medicines and other measures to remove toxins from the body.
While the removal of gluten and casein is a popular dietary treatment for symptoms of autism, it is based on the hypothesis, not yet scientifically validated, that those proteins are absorbed differently in children with autism spectrum disorders and act like false opiate-like chemicals in the brain.
Chrysler says her son also received speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, sensory integration therapy, auditory integration therapy and a form of applied behavior analysis therapy.
"The story is one to encourage people to persevere as they run the race set before them in life by overcoming obstacles along the way," says Chrysler. "I share how my faith in Christ was a huge reason I did not give up the hope to keep my son out of an institution while I pursued avenues of treatment for him that led to his recovery."
Chrysler says she lists ideas at the end of each chapter in the book to help people with such challenges.
"The feedback I've received from readers is that the word 'autism' in the title could be replaced by any other word: Cancer, gifted child, life and more," says Chrysler.
She says she never planned to write this kind of a book. A year and a half ago she was at a writer's conference in Tennessee with her oldest daughter and was asked to share something she'd written with a publisher from New York, who took interest in the subject and encouraged her to write the book.
Chrysler says all of her children played valuable roles in Richie's recovery, and the family has started a nonprofit foundation called Kristi & Kids Inc. to share their story, encourage and educate others.
"Some of the activities Richie has now been able to participate in include all kinds of sports, Young Marines, choir, riding bikes and motorcycles and helping to baby-sit," says Chrysler. "The child who was once so violent we could never leave him alone with anyone is now the most gentle, kindhearted young man, who loves to help other children. Getting the word out that autism is treatable and often recoverable is truly our goal."
Local author
What: A new book called "Autism: Recovery Against All Odds."
Who: Author Kristi Chrysler.
Subject: Chrysler's son's recovery from autism.










There Are Days
Journal entry dated 25 April, 2007. It had been nearly a year since our daughter was diagnosed, and she had been on the DAN! Protocol for about 3½ months.“While my life is not nearly as wacky and difficult as depicted in some stories about autism, there are days. There are days when it seems like no one "gets it". Like, trying to convince her Pediatrician that she really does have a problem and I am not an overly neurotic mother creating problems where there are none. That her screaming and panic at the sound of a vacuum is NOT an attempt to get my attention and that her self-limited diet is not because I haven’t offered her a dozen other foods a bazillion times.Or, like trying to convince the County that she really does have processing issues. That she doesn't get it if I say, "Get dressed." but she understands when I say "Put your clothes on." That if you get her going on her own topic, she’s fine, but try to teach her something, and sometimes you just get a blank stare, drifting or screeching. And if you listen carefully, the tenses, pronouns and words are just plain wrong and out of order. And, feeling like I have to always explain her behavior to well-meaning friends and neighbors. That she can’t just come over and play because I still have to ‘trail along on the sidelines.’ That her manic running around is just that. Manic. This is not an excited child running around playing WITH other children, she’s totally out of control and if I don’t keep a lid on it, she’ll give you quite a show when it’s time to leave."[But, it wasn’t just about others not getting it…it was also about me, and the never-ending questioning, second-guessing and guilt that was my constant companion.]"Not really knowing whether having friends is something she wants, likes, needs, misses or doesn’t care about. Further isolating myself by bucking the overwhelming pressure to enroll my child in extra-curricular activities.That having autism spectrum disorder: Pervasive Developmental Disorder/Aspergers, Anxiety, ADHD, Receptive/Expressive Language Disorder and Sensory Integration Disorder, doesn’t mean she isn’t cute, adorable, pretty or smart.That even though I’m grateful my child is high functioning, I am still disappointed.That no matter how much I confront the sadness and discomfort, and feel like I’m handling it and dealing with it, I am sidelined by an innocent event, observation or comment and feel like I have to grieve it all over again.The guilt over knowing that if I’d done something sooner, we’d be that much further ahead.Now that she is diagnosed gluten and casein intolerant, the needs of a special diet have added to the strain. It isn’t just as simple as going out when I’m tired and don’t want to cook. I still have to prep her meal.”By this date, she had been 4 months into biomedical. It was frought with ups and downs and I was trying so hard to understand our ‘new’ child. So much information was coming at me all at once and I had no idea how I was going to keep track of it all and worse, I was very afraid I was going to make a mistake. I remember staying up until the early morning hours researching, trying to make sense of it all. I got over that hump, like I’ve gotten over many ‘humps’ after that. Biomedical has given us our daughter back, but it has come at a price. A price certainly in monetary terms, as well as costly both physically and emotionally for me. As I like to say: “The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.” Meaning, like many parents of these children, I too suffer from body imbalance. And like many of the caretakers of these children, my health has taken a hit for the burden is great and I, too, have benefited from a variant of the DAN! protocol.But health isn’t the only thing that takes a hit. Relationships do too. Whether married or partnered, the relationship is a dance. Adding a child, and special-needs one at that, takes things to a whole different dimension. If the relationship is on unsettled ground to begin with, there is little foundation to see it through when the demands of a special needs child comes barreling in. Add to that the differences of opinion when it comes to treatment, and it becomes a lighted fuse. Divorce rates are high in families with special-needs children and I’m not surprised. It requires both parents to be adults and shoulder responsibility. There is no place for blame, ignorance, childish behavior, selfishness, denial or rationalization. My husband and I have had our moments, but we each bring something to the table in her recovery and I think we’d both agree that we’re grateful we have the other person to do this with.And, I was angry. Angry that I let the pediatrician talk me out of my concerns; that I let him make me feel like a fool; that I didn’t do something sooner. Angry that it was so hard to raise her, and I resented it being so hard, and I was angry and guilty for feeling that way and that I couldn’t just ‘get over it.’ Angry that I’d heard whisperings about the immunizations but never bothered to educate myself. …That the only way out was forward.But here we are; and here I am, now, 18 months later: No more night wakings nightmares or night terrors. She’s potty trained, eats a balanced and varied diet, is conversant, writing, reading above grade level, loving, interacting, learning about feelings and empathy, curious and asking questions, and she’s being mainstreamed. Bit by bit I can see the real person emerge. Wow. What a remarkable and hard-won journey.