Dear BYU Psycology Department

Dear Dr. Mikle South,

Hello, my name is Celeste. I am BYU alumni and a Giant Steps parent. I attended the presentation that you and your students put on for the parents of the Giant Steps Preschool several months back. I was impressed with the work your students presented. You mentioned that as part of your research you meet with many parents and note their concerns. I have felt since that time a need and a desire to express to you some things about my journey with autism.

I have lived with autism in my family since 1993, when my brother with autism was born. Now I am the parent of a Giant Steps student. For most of those 17 years when my brother was growing up, I believed that autism is a neurological disorder only and that education is really the only thing that could help a person with autism. After my little son was diagnosed I studied a book called Changing the Course of Autism by Dr. Bryan Jepson. Dr. South, this book was revelation to my mind. I explained the behaviors and phases of my brother over all those years, and also the ones that were emerging in my son. Now I believe that autism is a disease of the body greatly affects the brain. Meaning, persons with a genetic tendency slip into autism when their bodies cannot cope with all of the toxins that enter it.

Since the summer of 2008 my son has been seeing Dr. David Voss at the Freedom Medical Center who treats his condition medically. My son eats gluten free, casein free, and usually sugar free. He is on a variety of dietary supplements that are closely monitored by his doctor. The results over time have been eye contact, communication, and awareness. Giant Steps has of course accelerated his progress even more. This biochemical intervention program is difficult to do, but it is much easier than having a child who is more severely autistic. When I am in a group of Giant Steps parents and they talk about their children’s different troubling behaviors, (such as screaming, running away, and making family life difficult in other ways,) I usually find myself thinking, “I grew up with that, and my son used to be just like that, but not nearly so much now.”

Unfortunately the compilation of research that Dr. Bryan Jepson presents in his book is a bit sparse. There are many gaps and many topics that need more looking at. There is no research whatsoever touching this program from psychology professionals as far as I am aware.

And so Dr. South, it is my plea that If you have any students that are at all interested in pursuing this area in their graduate studies, please encourage them. More substantial research in this area from a department such as yours would do a world of good, not only for children with autism in Utah , but for people with autism everywhere.

Thank you very much for your work in support of Giant Steps. I am very appreciative of what you and your students do.

Celeste Jean

This is the email I sent to Dr. South today. I know it is a bit presumptuous. However, here in Utah we have one of the highest rates of autism in the entire country, and I feel that this professor and his team of graduates have a great deal of influence. Already they do research that justifies to the minds of lawmakers the funding of the Giant Steps Preschool.

Yes, I am hopeful enough to think my small efforts could make a difference in his student's studies. At the least I know I will receive a short, kind reply. I have met Dr. South. He is a nice, fun loving guy. (This is the man who held a free drawing for candy bars at the above-mentioned presentation meeting. LOL!)

The Toxin Tip and Canaries

When you are looking for the answer to a troubling question, and then you find it, you feel like it fits and you have a clarity of mind that tells you that you have found what you are looking for.

When I was in high school I did a research project on autism because I wanted to learn more about what made my brother the way that he was. At that time the sources I ran into said that the occurrence of autism was 1 in every 800. Just last month I was informed by an Autism Speaks representative that the Center for Disease Control has come out with a statement declaring the occurrence to be every 1 in 97. What an astounding difference! Even if the sources I read in high school were a decade old, and even if you account for better awareness and diagnostic methods in the medical community, there is still a ginormous increase that demands the question of "why?" Why is there a greater occurrence of autism today?

Dr. Bryan Jepson explains in his book, Changing the Course of Autism, that persons who become autistic have a lower toxin tip genetically. The increasing toxicity of our world, (plus medical interventions such as heavy metal containing vaccines,) causes toxin overload on their bodies. Because of their lower toxin resistance their body cannot deplete these toxins, causing autism.

Jenny McCarthy, while not a medical professional, had an interesting analogy in her book, Mother Warriors, that medical professionals specializing in autism use. Miners used to take caged canaries with them in the mines, she says, because the canaries were more sensitive to the lethal gases that could lurk in the mines. When a canary started having problems with the air, the miners would leave the mine quickly. In the sense that they are more sensitive to our toxins, and in the sense that they react first, the precious persons in our lives with autism are functioning as our canaries.

So why does cleaning up our earth matter? I think I just answered that question. In addition to the joy and wonderful abilities they bring to this world, our children are trying to show us what to do. Despite their communication challenges, this message could not be clearer. Let's listen, please.

Parent Training

My son's autism preschoool has parent training nights and I think it is so wonderful because parent education makes all the difference. Tonight after coming home from one, however, I have to admit I am alittle frustrated. Some parents were discussing "the diet" and basically putting down biochemical intervention. It was obvious that they had not tried to educate themselves on it. I told them I have been doing biochemical intervention for a year, I told them about the monumental difference (his social smile, understanding discipline, etc.) I said there is a book they can read, (Changing the Course of Autism, by Dr. Bryan Jepson,) and that I am willing to talk to anyone about it. After that I tried to keep my mouth closed. It was hard because I feel like even if they choose not to do it, they should not discredit it. To me that is wrong. One parent approached me afterward, and she understood exactly how I felt! "Some people are so ignorant about food," she said. I can't explain how relieved I am that there is another parent like me in the group and I look forward to talking to her again on the subject.

One of the handouts we got tonight was a little story. I read it once in Jenny McCarthy's Mother Warriors book, and I have to tell you it never looses significance for me. I think the author got it head on.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.