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If you are reading this you are probably just like me, a parent looking for a piece of the puzzle, someone or something to help your child take another step forward. This is my testimonial of how by the grace of God mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy helped both of my autistic sons. I have three children Sarah who is 9 yrs. old, Will who is 7 yrs. old and Josh who is 21/2 yrs. old. Sarah is typical. She loves dogs and horses. She is in Brownie’s. Sarah is a very kind loving person. She has said to me before,” Why can’t Will play with me?” Sadly I really did not have a good answer for her. When Josh was born she asked me several times, “Will Josh be autistic too?” Again I didn’t have an answer for her. I’d like to give you a little history about my sons. Will was a typical baby, nursed well, crawled and walked all on time. Will was developing like any other 1 year old. Will had about 50+ words. Then at about 18 months lost speech, wouldn’t turn or stop when you called his name (I thought he had lost his hearing). He began having trouble sleeping. He started staring at the trees, the credits on TV, toe walking and hand flapping. He lost all speech and eye contact. He was very tactilely defensive. The baby I once had who loved to snuggle, sit on my lap and be read to wanted nothing to do with me. I was hurt and scared. With very little effort I found out through the internet my son was autistic. I was devastated, hoping I was wrong. We went for an evaluation with a developmental pediatrician and got our diagnosis Jan. 2000. I jumped in with both feet. We immediately found a DAN (defeat autism now) practitioner and started a multitude of treatments. Will was on the gluten and casein free diet, chelation therapy, mega-vitamin therapy and anti-yeast regimen. We started Occupational therapy for sensory integration and fine motor delay , Physical therapy for motor planning issues, ABA for compliance, behavior and basic academics( 40 + hours a week of applied behavior analysis), and Speech therapy(Will was completely non-verbal now). We continue all these therapies, except PT, now 5 years later. Josh was born May 2002. He was a perfect baby. Again developing perfectly. When his first birthday came and he was non-verbal my greatest fears for Josh were becoming a reality. I immediately began ABA with Josh. I contacted the Early Intervention program, Babies Can’t Wait. Josh had a team eval and they recommended that he get seen by a developmental pediatrician. I knew they suspected autism too. His eye contact was decreasing as temper tantrums were increasing. He still had no developing speech. We saw the Dr. for the evaluation and he too was put on the autism spectrum. I was so mad. How could this be happening? The Bible says “God will put no more on us than we can bear.” I really thought I could not handle it. I got down and prayed like I never have before. I asked God for help. I needed his guidance now more than ever. I truly believe I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Josh now was receiving OT from Will’s therapist, ABA , ST, and Special Instruction through Babies Can’t Wait. In the fall of 2004 we began Mild Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. First, I want to thank Kevin, Bill and Jerry for this blessed opportunity to help my sons! I got into the chamber with both boys. It was a little nerve wracking the first few minutes. Will played his Game boy and Josh just crawled all over me. In about 10 minutes we all settled down. I began to pray, “Lord let this be another piece to my boy’s complex puzzle.” The time went by fairly fast. We got out of the chamber and I reached into my pocket and pulled out my keys. Josh made a noise. I asked a lady in the office, “Did he just say KEYS?” She said I think so. I asked Josh what are these and he answered “KEYS”. Chills went all over my body. Josh just spoke his first real word after just one hour in the chamber. It has been a miracle how it has helped Josh. Now he is verbal with very little delay. He even says “Excuse me” when he burps. He makes perfect eye contact, plays appropriately with toys and other children, counts to 20, sings his alphabet, he just functions like any other 2 year old. We are even working on potty training. I thank God every day for his help and guidance. Will’s progress is not as evident but just as miraculous. Will started out the school year in regular Kindergarten with support. He was way too overwhelmed and had terrible behavior, hitting teachers, students, just being very disruptive in class. We decided to move him into a self contained class in the fall of 2004. The Lord is working on him through the chamber too. Since we began the chamber treatments Will has gotten all Green Cards (green=great behavior, yellow=ok, and red = a very bad day) at school. His attention span during ABA and school has improved. The most significant positive change has been with his socialization skills. He actually teases Sarah. He asked to play with her. She even invited him to sleep with her in her room for an inside campout. They ate popcorn and watched movies until they fell asleep. I cried when I opened the door and saw them sleeping so peacefully. For the first time ever Sarah had a typical experience with her little brother. Will uses his imagination more. Not just reciting Disney movies either. Will also has been asking to spend the night at his friend’s house. He sees Sarah spend the night with friends and now gets upset when he can’t stay too. Just 6 months ago all he worried about were Disney movies, jungle animals, and the computer. His friend is his OT’s son. We have known her family for over 4 years and they are like family. Will really enjoys playing with him and his older sister. They both have great patience with Will. Will did absolutely fantastic spending the night away from home. He had very little behavior. He did not want to leave when I came to pick him up. WOW!!!! God is so good!!!! If you are considering hyperbaric therapy as a treatment for your child with autism, speech delay or any type of disability I would urge you not to hesitate to try it. If you would like to talk to me further you can e-mail me at mjr7@bellouth.net. Through prayer and faith God continues to lead me to find pieces of the puzzle for my sons. Have faith he will do the same for you. God Bless you and your children.

Testimonial