Let me tell you a little bit about exercise and Autism. There has been some recent information that’s come out about exercise and depression. What they are finding is that individuals who are on an exercise program, at least 30 minutes a day, 3 to 5 times per week, have a significant reduction, up to 45%, in their depressive issues. That is quite significant when you think of depression in this country being treated primarily with anti-depressive medication. So this simple aerobic exercise of 30 minutes a day, 3 to 5 times per week can have a significant effect on depression.

One of the things I have seen over the years too is with kids on the spectrum functioning more appropriately, whether it is behavior, attention, focusing, anxiety, etc. when they actually get exercise. It could be going to the park and letting the child run around on the play gym, working out things that way. The child can ride a bike certainly, just being physically active. Swimming for example is a great activity. So I really encourage parents particularly now as the summer months are coming along, the days are getting longer, to get their kids outside in the fresh air and the natural sunlight, and let them run, let them play, let them explore if your child is inclined to do that.

So many kids now are trapped inside, they are either inside stuck to the computer, or stuck to video games, or movies. I know kids certainly a lot of kids are in therapy sessions all day long and they get out of those therapy sessions and they tend to be agitated, or hyper, they are anxious, they have difficulty sleeping. So simple lifestyle changes like that can make a world of difference. Maybe it is going on a walk after dinner at night because it is not all about medication, it is not all about a diet, it is not all about supplementation. Sometimes just pure good physical exertion, physical activity can really set the tone for a better attitude and a better mental state with your child on the spectrum.

One of the things I have seen help a lot of kids who have mood issues, behavioral problems, temper tantrums, very irritable most of the time is something called nutritional lithium,. It is interesting because lithium has been around a long time as a medication, specifically something called lithium carbonate. Lithium carbonate has been generally used in people with bi-polar, depression, manic issues and in some cases can be quite helpful for that.

A lot people don’t realize though that lithium is actually a nutritional element that we get through our diet, not in really high amounts but it is important to help stabilize brain chemistry. There have been studies where they have looked at various communities and one thing they have recognized is that as the lower the rate of lithium in the water supply in particular communities, the higher the rate of crime, sometimes violent crime. So in this study, it has been repeated in various communities around the United States as well as around the world.

One thing lithium helps to do is stabilize a particular receptor in the brain called NMDA. NMDA is very much associated with the electrical or excitatory activity within the brain and certain substances like glutamate, glutamate is amino acid and helps to stimulate NMDA receptors, and lithium helps to stabilize that receptor. Which basically means lithium helps make that receptor site not so sensitive, not so easy to activate. That is very important because in a lot of neurological disorders, Alzheimer’s for example or other types of neurological conditions, and for Autism as well, NMDA receptor activity or over excitability of the NMDA receptor can lead to premature cellular damage and can lead to many neurological problems.

So lithium as a particular nutritional supplement, in low doses, we are talking sometimes 500 mcg to 1000 mcg maybe upwards of 5000 mcg in some individuals, can be very helpful for brain support and I have seen lithium be very helpful to stabilize their mood, decrease some of the irritability and agitation that kids can have. We also know this can be helpful in adults as well. So think about nutritional lithium as a potential supplement for your child if they deal with mood disorders, irritability, agitation, even aggression as well. New Beginnings Nutritionals, www.nbnus.com, carries a very good form of nutritional lithium.

We know that bowel problems are a big, big issue in Autism. It is almost universal from my experience that small child, slightly older child, teenager, etc. is going to have some sort of bowel issue and there can be a lot of reasons for that. A child can have a hard time having a bowel movement because just they lack the sensation of feeling the need to go to the bathroom. You can have kids who have inflammatory bowel problems which you know can be a problem. On the other end of that they can be severely constipated and there can be a lot of behavioral things tied up in that.

One thing I want to point out real quickly to you is the issue of your child posturing themselves over the furniture. By posturing I mean leaning over the edge of the chair or leaning over the edge of the couch, trying to leverage themselves in some respect and trying to bring some relief essentially to their abdominal area. This isn’t just a playful thing where they do it for a couple of seconds and then go away. I have some kids where they literally lean over the edge of the coffee table for example and be there for 2, 3, 4 minutes it just looks like what they are trying to do is find a comfortable position. That maybe in some cases where it is a clear sign of an underlying bowel problem.

It could be constipation where they have so much stool building up in their abdomen and they are not going everyday and it is causing cramping and discomfort and they are trying to find a relief point for that. Typically in small kids, they don’t have enough strength in their arms and their hands in order to push on their abdomen to relieve the pain. It can also be an indication of underlying inflammation. So we know that small bowel inflammation can be very, very painful and kids will actually try to leverage themselves over the furniture to try and relieve that pain. So if you see that type of behavior, recognize it as potentially an underlying medical problem and seek medical attention.

A very simple thing to do with your pediatrician or your family doctor is to get an abdominal x-ray to see how much stool they have built up in their bowel. It may be that your child has a bowel movement everyday but if you are looking at a bowel movement that is several inches long, which is actually pretty big for a small child, they may have a whole lot left in their belly that needs to come out. So unless you take a look you won’t know.

So again, this posturing behavior over furniture, over a couch, over a chair, over a coffee table, even a child who is laying on the ground on their tummy and trying to roll their tummy back and forth can be an indication of an underlying bowel problem. Make sure you check it out with your doctor. There are a number of things you can do to help relieve that. If they have constipation then doing some things to help relieve that with magnesium or some other types of laxatives. If they have diarrhea and they are doing that type of thing then you are probably looking at some underlying type of inflammatory problem, or maybe an infection. Doing a stool test or what not can be important. You are always looking for clues for these types of things and posturing is a real important one with respects to underlying bowel problems.

Testing is a very important part of what we do from a biomedical approach. And there are a lot of different lab tests. Now I have talked about this before with respects to a particular test called an organic acid test (OAT), particularly an organic acid test from Great Plains Laboratory which I use quite a bit. What I wanted to discuss regarding testing is when you are considering testing for your child you have to break things down into non-blood testing and blood testing. In my practice I always ask parents whether their child has had blood testing before.

If they have, one of the things I want to know is how they did with the testing. Some kids do fine with blood testing where it is not a big struggle, not a big problem. With other kids testing is a very, very traumatic situation. I have had some situations where certain kids have had to be held down with 3 or 4 adults because it is so stressful. But we realize that a blood test is an essential part in what we do and that we need to do blood testing at times with your child to get specific data. However, when you are starting off with a biomedical approach, blood testing up front is not always necessary. I am not saying it is not necessary in some cases but in many cases you can actually implement various treatments like dietary interventions or treatment for yeast and bacterial problems based on non-blood tests.

One of the first tests I run is an organic acid test in my practice. It is a urine test so it is generally fairly easy to get, non-traumatic and it does give a lot of good information with respects to yeast and bacterial toxins as well as other metabolic issues that can be supported supplementally. Stool testing as well is one of the first things I do. You are looking at bacteria, yeast, parasitic infections, markers of inflammation off of some of the comprehensive digestive stool analysis that are offered through the biomedical community.

Those are two things that can be done up front that don’t require any blood testing and you can implement a lot of treatment from those. So when you are looking at testing, blood testing does become important down the road whether it is looking at cholesterol levels or liver function or kidney function or mineral assessments. There is a wide variety of blood tests but it doesn’t have to be done right up front initially with your child because you can get some very, very good information off some of the non-blood tests, specifically the organic acid test and comprehensive stool analysis in order to start initial treatment from a biomedical approach.