Jeffry's Story

Jeffry's story begins some time ago when they started ABA treatment on their 5-year-3-month-old son. Their son's diagnosis of mild autism confirmed his parent's long-held suspicions that something was wrong with their child.

They started Jeffry (not his real name!) on 9-10 hours per week of ABA therapy through Project P.A.C.E. They did not see much real progress after four months of this, so they increased to 24 hours of ABA (again through Project P.A.C.E), 10 hours of peer interactions, and 20-40 hours of informal programing. They continued this program for an additional nine months.

In addition to ABA therapy, they used vitamin B6 and magnesium, an anti-yeast diet, DMG, removal of allergens from Jeffry's diet and environment, and anti-depressant medication (Paxil and vitamin E).

Over the course of the 13-month treatment, Jeffry's IQ rose from 55 to 99 (which is in the normal range!). In first grade, Jeffry was reading at second-grade level and had developed into quite a people person.

The day came when Jeffry's aid was sick and they had to find a substitute. The substitute aid was told "The little blond-haired boy has autism -- help him." Twenty-five minutes later, the aid came back and said "Which little blond-haired boy_" She was unable to tell which of the three little blond-haired boys had autism!

What advice do Jeffry's parents have for the rest of us_

1. Press for an earlier diagnosis and start treatment earlier. We suspected something was wrong for three years before the diagnosis.

2. Get a second opinion.

3. Use vitamins and biological treatments in addition to ABA therapy.

4. Don't follow published dosages too slavishly. Jeffry did best on 15-45 milligrams of vitamin B6, compared to the several hundred milligrams usually recommended for children with autism. In fact, these higher doses caused Jeffry to regress. Experiment to find what works best for your child.

Jeffry's treatments cost roughly $23,000. Jeffry is very fortunate that his parents were able to invest this kind of money in proper treatments for his autism. Given the multi-million dollar costs of the lifetime care required by most adults with autism, Oregon taxpayers are very fortunate as well. In fact, Jeffry's treatment,if viewed as a strictly financial investment, yields a tax-free, inflation-proof lifetime APR of more than 20%!

In future columns, I will put this cost in sharper perspective and also tell other childrens' stories, including the story of some extremely creative parents who helped their child on a much tighter budget. Not every story has as happy an ending as does Jeffry's, but each does show that autism is treatable.