Natural Supplements Helped My Son

Every child with ASD are obviously different and respond to different treatments. I would like to share what has helped my son who was once considered "severe" and now is "high functioning".

1) I never allow him to use autism as an excuse and expect him to behave the same as his siblings. I tell him autism is not an excuse to do less, but a reason he has to try harder.

2) I let him know I BELIEVE in him and his abilities and will NEVER loose faith in him.

3) I discovered through research that many neurological disorders including ADD and ADHD do not get enough quality sleep. We started my son at an early age on half a tablet of Melatonin at bedtime. This is a natural chemical the brain produces in REM sleep. He is now on a full tablet at the age of 11 and I'm sure we will need to increase it again when he gets into puberty.

4) We have found B Vitamins very helpful. The ones I think work best also contain folic acid - another thing that helps with concentration. We give him one a day with food.

5) L-Tyrosine is a natural amino acid that helps with concentration that we have found helpful.

6) Any natural treatment should be added one at a time and allow at least a month before adding or subtracting something else so that you can judge how effective it has or has not been.

We tried glueten and cassin (sp?) free diet and didn't notice any improvement after six months. Exercise first thing in the morning (50 jumping jacks) also seems to keep our son on track.

As I said in the beginning of this post. I don't know if any of this may be helpful to someone else and certainly wouldn't direct any treatment plan for someone else, but if these tips can help anyone I feel obligated to share.

1.)What your doing is fantastic, you know pushing your son to be the very best and not letting him use Autism as an excuse is noble.
2.)We all lose faith in our abilities and I think that autistic people have trouble with this, and they really need help, so again good work.
3.)I have slept since I was 1 ^_^ if you don't get enough sleep you will be irritable and someone with autism it is must. Sleep not only helps with mood it also allows the brain to do repairs, strengthen neural connections and allows the brain to just rest. I remember I would stay up for days at time (mind you not by choice) when I was in the middle of puberty and I was just really irritable because I didn't get enough sleep. I think sleep is just not looked at that much as a cause for making autistic symptoms much more intense.
4.)You know I wish every parent was doing what your doing, because it is not just autistic people who need supplements its everyone. If your body lacks what it needs to work at 100% then it will not function properly its like trying to have fifty good works do the job of two hundred good works and have them produce the same results in the same amount of time. The western diet is the worst diet in the world we just don't get what we need, its horrible because so many diseases could be prevented and/or treated with a diet change. Also when we don't get what we need in terms of nutrients we are irritable etc.
5.)Exercise is not just good for losing weight or looking sexy for the prom. It is also good for stress, its good for mood, its good for preventing many diseases, its good for the brain in general.

Hi DKRox. Welcome to IAN!

I just wanted to let you know that families participating in IAN can report, when filling out treatment questionnaires, on all of these interventions, including melatonin and vitamin B6.

There are many studies that support the use of melatonin for sleep issues in children with ASDs. See, for example:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18182647?dopt=abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18078449?dopt=abstract

It is interesting to note that one group of researchers found that abnormal melatonin synthesis is actually associated with ASD, which would explain why melatonin helps. See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17505466?dopt=abstract

There have been some studies on vitamin B6, but so far no overall consensus on its efficacy. To read about some of the studies, see our section on Vitamins and Other Nutritional Supplements: http://www.iancommunity.org/cs/what_do_we_know/vitamins_and_supplements

I TOTALLY agree with number 1 and 2. I was born Deaf and i don't use it as an excuse, but a reason to work harder.

Thanks