Logan

Logan Before Autism

Logan After Autism

Logan During Recovery

We really started worrying about Logan, our only child, when he turned 2 years old and he still didn’t say a word and had an extremely limited diet. I took him to his well child visit and the Doctor told me that it was my fault that he wasn’t talking because I didn’t work with him enough and I needed to read to him more. I sat in my car and cried for 30 minutes before I could leave. I have a friend whose is personal friends with the Director of Hearts for Hearing in Oklahoma City. I was able to get Logan an appointment to get his hearing checked, but I knew for a fact that he wasn’t having hearing problems. His hearing was fine and Hearts for Hearing referred us to Soonerstart for an evaluation. When he was evaluated, Logan was 26 months old and I was told that he was on the mental level of a 6 month old. We were Devastated! So we began therapy with Soonerstart and they were such a big help. Our therapist was actually the first person to mention autism to us and revealed that Logan has Sensory Integration Disorder. That would explain the limited diet. He only prefers to eat hard and crunchy foods. When Logan was 33 months old we got an appointment with OU Health and Science Center and Logan was diagnosed with severe autism.

I got involved in some local autism support groups and was introduced to the gluten/caesin free diet and was given several names of DAN doctors. I had also read Jenny McCarthy’s book and was very inspired. We began to take Logan to a DAN doctor in Dallas. After several tests, it was revealed that Logan had high levels of lead and mercury in his system. He was also having issues with his gut and yeast in his stomach. Logan was put on 13 supplements and we began chelation therapy. After Logan turned 3 years old and was no longer eligible for Soonerstart services, we began to transition to the Moore Public Schools. Logan began DD3, Developmentally Delayed Preschool for 3 years olds. His teacher was Special Ed teacher for the whole State of Oklahoma 2 years ago.

Right now, Logan is in DD4 and sees an Occupational Therapist once a week. He also has a Speech therapist that he sees twice a week in school. He has made tremendous progress. I cannot attribute it to one specific thing though. I think early intervention is the key to success. Logan can say the alphabet and understands many requests and will answer many questions. We also do sign language that we learned from signing times videos. We are currently seeing a DAN doctor in Tulsa because it is closer. Logan is still doing chelation treatment and on his supplements. Do to his limited diet, it is extremely difficult to keep him gluten free, however he is casein free. One thing that Logan truly enjoys is video games. He has a Leapster 2 that he can take with him when we go to lunch for example and it keeps him occupied. Going to lunch or dinner has always been a big issue for Logan because he could not keep still for 5 minutes. He also loves to get on the computer and go to Nick Jr. website. There are lots of games that he can play and are very educational also.