Tula was now in preschool four days a week with a therapist by her side, and also attending speech/language therapy at her ABA center on the fifth morning. Her language was coming along at such a fast pace that she was catching up quickly with her peers. The behaviors found in her initial diagnosis were vanishing! Observing the therapist’s videos of her in the classroom, it became clear that Tula had a tougher time sitting still and focusing than the other children did. But seeing her start to interact with them mesmerized me.
Sitting in the lobby of the ABA center, I would watch severely autistic kids crying on the floor and banging their heads, and it reminded me of how Tula used to be. The parents would try bribing them with candy to stop their behavior. Knowing full well that I used to do this, this parental behavior just made my heart ache.
I will never forget the day the therapist overheard Tula asking another little girl to a playdate—something I thought might never happen. Something else miraculous happened just a few months later. Her therapist told me he no longer needed to be by Tula’s side in the classroom. He said she was doing so well in preschool, she could finally handle everything on her own now!
Mike and I decided to retest with the Organic Acid Test (OAT) and stool analysis again, after being on the Body Ecology Diet for nine months. This time on the OAT, Tula was only out of range on thirteen compounds and markers, compared with twenty-four the first time. Yeast and fungal overgrowth were still there, but significantly reduced. On the stool analysis, the beneficial flora had been boosted significantly. Overall the results indicated Tula’s health was much more balanced than her first testing—and this advancement showed up in her daily life.
I addressed Dr. Compain about Tula's focusing issue and he responded that she was improving, with her ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) now on the low end of the autism spectrum. "Keep doing what you’re doing!" he encouraged. I was given supplements to help her with focusing, but they did not work. Then I reasoned that if her other behaviors improved as well as her autistic behaviors had, how wonderful would that be? If not, this was such a huge improvement in contrast to where she was before. She was leaps and bounds happier and could function just fine in a classroom setting.
We resolved to stay the course and see what happened. At the end-of-the-year school conference, her pre-K teacher sat across from me as her eyes welled up and said that at the beginning of the year she wasn't sure if Tula would be ready for kindergarten, but she had made so much progress she was well-prepared for advancement. Tula had not had a therapist by her side for a few months and was still doing great. The teacher said she herself had learned so much from us and had no idea before she met Tula that recovery from autism was possible.
© Copyright A Journey Off the Spectrum 2022
It was an amazing transformation.