Autism, Sensory Integration Dysfunction and Speech and Language
Delay: Berard Auditory Integration Training
Success Story!
by the Parent of a 5 year
old boy, Minneapolis, MN. Reprinted by permission. October 2007.
 In
the past 8 months he has made enormous gains in social interaction, fine motor
skills, speech utterance length, and speech clarity. His gains in ABA have
been phenomenal. I attribute this success to the balancing of his sensory
processing via AIT.
At the age of two, I suspected my
son had Autism, primarily due to noticeable
issues in his language and speech development as well as issues socially. He also
went through fluctuating periods of extremely activity and extreme fatigue.
He was diagnosed with severe
sensory integration dysfunction and a speech
and language delay. After starting OT and Speech therapy, as well as
brushing therapy, we put him on the GFCF diet with great success. He
started speaking in two word phrases within 48 hours of being on the diet.
After two months on the GFCF diet, his main issue was ADHD. He had an
attention span of 3-4 seconds. We put him on the Feingold diet in addition to
being GFCF. Within two weeks his attention span grew to 9+ minutes and the therapists were
astounded. His main issue then was overcoming his sensory issues (sensor seeker and sensor
avoider).
At this time he was 2 years 9 months and was formally diagnosed
with Autism. For a year we tried everything to satiate this need for stimulation... a trampoline, a bean
bin, a ball pit, swings, rings, ladders, weighted blankets, vests,
inflatable jumper, music "listening" therapy, etc. I was spending 3+ hours
a day trying to help him "feel" deep input so that he could learn an interact socially.
During
this time we began intensive
biomedical treatments (vitamin supplementation,
methyl B12 injections, heavy metal chelation therapy, hyper barric chamber
therapy) all with great cognitive and social success. Sensory issues
continued to be of great concern.
At age 3 years 10 months we did
AIT. The
two weeks of listening were very interesting. My son who never seemed
"satiated" was suddenly falling asleep for 3-5 hours after just 30 minutes
of listening in the morning. I would wake him to go to our afternoon
session. In addition he was sleeping his usual 12 hour night. The two to
four weeks following AIT were almost unbearable. Our son experienced
regression in toileting, moodiness like we have never seen, and complete
insatiability of deep pressure... then like a switch, over a period of 3
days, he sorted himself out and was calm... satiated.
In the past 8 months
he has made enormous gains in social interaction, fine motor skills, speech
utterance length, and speech clarity. His gains in ABA have been
phenomenal. I attribute this success to the balancing of his sensory
processing via Berard AIT. I am happy to share that we now just do sensory
activities (playground equipment, swimming, playing in the snow, etc) that
are typical for his age for a duration of time comparable to his typical
developing peers. I believe that
AIT worked so well for my son because we
removed so many barriers to his basic functioning prior to doing
AIT.
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