Our son was “difficult” right from the beginning. He had a huge startle response and deep fears of loud noises (vacuum cleaner, loud vehicles, etc). He had to wear “worker man” earmuffs to go to noisy places like church, a school gym, the fair, etc. He had extreme difficulty with transitions – from inside the house to outside the house, into the car and out of the car, leaving a place that he was happy with. He didn’t sleep well. He started wheezing- took him to a naturopath at age one and have been going ever since – he had a huge list of foods he needed to avoid (gluten, casein, chemicals, colors, etc.) and now he can tolerate most foods other than MSG. When he started talking, all his words/phrases were copied from CD stories or videos or other people (this is called echolalia).
He had gigantic tantrums – biting us, biting himself, kicking, screaming. In his tantrums he was blind and deaf, we could not communicate with him. Under stress he used to bite the sleeve of his right arm. His fine motor control was very poor. He was extremely anxious about future events. Our life was very limited and stressful.
He did NeuroDevelopmental Movement® (NDM®) for over 3 years and “graduated” and many issues have been resolved. Gradually he began to speak his own “original” language, not just copy phrases. He began to gain the ability to access language when he was tantruming (he would still tantrum, but the difference was we could communicate with him). He began to have an easier time with transitions. We used to withhold information from him, such as plans to go on a trip, because he would get so stressed out. He can now often tolerate spontaneous plans.
He still doesn’t like it if he’s got something on his agenda and that doesn’t work out. His food issues seemed to resolve as he did NDM®. He suddenly stopped chewing his shirt sleeves, after 2.5 years of NDM®. His fine motor control is improving, but slowly. He is 9 years old and he is still learning how to form all the lowercase letters. (But a year ago he hated using a pencil and he hated how his hand would rub on the paper when he wrote.) Now he basically seems like a “typical” 9 year old boy – he has normal language (expressive and receptive), he can take turns, he can plan for future events, he is beginning to be able to take others’ perspectives, he can go with the flow a lot better than we ever imagined he would. He usually doesn’t need his earmuffs anymore.
I don’t think he would get the same diagnosis now (High Functioning Autism), but he is still quirky in the way he talks and responds to things. When he is happy he is absolutely delightful. He is a very hard worker on the things that interest him. He is physically strong and healthy. He is self-aware and can take others’ perspectives. He still needs a little extra guidance to make wise choices socially. I know for sure we would not have such a healthy kid (mentally, physically, socially) without having done NDM®. I shudder to think of the alternative (not having done NDM®). Now we’re still working on his emotional health (and our parenting skills).