What is available for detecting an autoimmune reaction?
I have an 8 year old autistic son, David. In the summer of 94, he
learned all of his subtraction facts and had a healthy start on his
multiplication facts. Even though David is autistic, he is a very
bright kid. He was able to do both carry and borrow, add and subtract
three digit numbers. In the fall, all of that was wiped slick. It
disappeared.
At first, we thought it was because when he went into the second grade,
nobody was doing any of that. He simply forgot it. But for simple
forgetting, the expectation is that he will relearn it with the same
facility that he learned it before. Not so in David's case. He has
regressed to the point where he has to count on his fingers if he wants
to do addition of two numbers that are greater than 10. It is
heartbreaking. We know something has happened. But we do not know
what.
It turns out that this is not the first time that this has happened.
When David was four years old, he had a wonderful memory for spelling.
I recorded over 100 difficult words that he could spell, including ones
like refridgerator. This also disappeared. Now that he is in third
grade, we know that he has difficulty with words that are much simpler
than that.
Naturally, we took him to a pediatric neurologist to see what he could
learn. All that he could find was in a MRI. One of the structures in
the cerebellum was "statistically small" This seems typical in autistic
adults. They usually either have one that is small or in rare instances
they have a structure that is badly swollen. In those cases, the
subjects were profoundly autistic. (Fortunately those cases are rare.)
At this time, researchers are saying that autoimmune disease may cause
some autistic cases. This seems to fit the data I have seen on autistic
children and if it fits as a cause of autism it probably fits my son's
case as well. My problem is that the neurologist and my son's
pediatrician do not know how to show one way or another if my son
suffers from autoimmune disorder and if he does, what to do about it.
There is nothing in his desk reference about how to prove it one way or
the other.
How do I prove it one way or the other? And if it turns out to be
autoimmune disorder, what can I do about it. And what can I do to help
prevent it?
Ed Reilly
reilly at pogo.den.mmc.com
Thank you in advance.
