Parents As Detectives

By Brian Flagg

Helpful approach for parents of children on the Autistic Spectrum. Parents As Detectives provides signposts for a journey through research, observation and action, helping to guide a parent through the maze of physical, biochemical and psychological challenges associated with children on the spectrum.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian Flagg
• Release date: Jul 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301111671

Brian Flagg

Brian and Deborah are parents of a 24 year old on the autism spectrum. Their son, Devin, has just obtained his Associates degree in Accounting from Dakota County Technical Association in Minnesota. Brian and Deborah have worked tirelessly for over twenty years to bring Devin to his full potential.

Book preview

Parents as detectives

Help for those with Autism Spectrum Disorder

By Brian J. Flagg

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2010 Brian J. Flagg and Deborah Gee-Tritschler

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Overview

Research

Testing

Create a Journal

Allergies and allergic reactions

Intolerances

A Path Forward

Physical challenges

Biochemical challenges

Psychological challenges

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

This book was developed by the parents of an autistic boy, but do not put down the book simply because the label 'autistic' has not been applied to your child. Autism is a vast spectrum or range, from the severely disabled child unable to speak and exhibiting seemingly foreign behaviors, to a child with minor social and behavioral anomalies. The entire range of symptoms and behaviors is called Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD. So, whereas you may not have heard the word 'autistic', or had that particular label attached to the symptoms and behaviors of your child, ASD is very inclusive and may well apply. ASD itself may have a number of labels, some of which you may have already heard of. The label most often attached by those in an educational setting dealing with a small child, is PDD-NOS. This stands for Pervasive Developmental Delay – Not Otherwise Specified. If this seems a bit obtuse and not very helpful as a descriptive diagnosis, you're right. It is a label, not a diagnosis. Our son had this label for several years, and it seemed to us akin to sorry, we don't know what other label to apply. We were certainly disheartened.

Not too long ago, autism was a fairly specific disorder, with symptoms and behaviors that fit rather neatly into a standard profile. This standard profile is entitled the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Better known as the DSM, the manual is published by the American Psychiatric Association and covers all mental health disorders, and also lists known causes of the disorders, prognosis and current research concerning optimal treatment approaches. The manual is considered the bible for the diagnosis of mental disorders, including autism. However, autism as a disorder did not appear in the DSM until 1980, and even then the manual included only infantile autism. It wasn't until the Fourth Edition or DSM-IV, was published in 1994 that autism and related disorders were finally included. In DSM-IV, in addition to autistic disorder, a diagnosis could be made under the categories of Asperger’s Disorder, Rett’s Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Ah-ha! Now we know where PDD-NOS came from.

Well, I am reasonably certain that most people don't have the DSM-IV on their coffee table. Much of what the general public knows about autism is obtained through television and movies. The movie Rain Man is a well-known example of what most people associate with individuals carrying the autistic label. The main character’s behaviors fell very neatly into a set of behaviors typically associated with autistics. Dustin Hoffman played an autistic adult, lacking in