P A T I E N T  E X P E R I E N C E – A U T I S M

NAME:  Michell Pacis
                
COUNTRY:  Australia     

AGE:  6

DIAGNOSIS: Mild with Low Functioning Autism

REASON FOR COMING FOR TREATMENT:  Eight hours after being discharged from the hospital after being born, Mitchell’s mother noticed his difficulty in breathing, his runny nose and the bluish discoloration of his lips. The diagnosis was bronchiolitis, positive RSV virus and right ear infection. Treatment done was oxygen therapy in an incubator for one week and was discharged after a month.

START OF TREATMENT:  April 6, 2006

BEFORE THE TREATMENT:  Mitchell was hyperactive, had behavioral problems like self stimming and a lack of attention span. His motor and physical development was normal. His receptive language was good but very basic. He was able to follow commands like getting a cup or putting paper in the waste bin but he would wait twenty seconds and do other things before completing the task. His expressive language was poor with no speech except for 2 or 3 words like mom or dad. Mitchell was also unable to tell if he wanted to go to the toilet, tell if he was in pain or if he required something. He also only kept eye contact for a very short time. 

Various Therapies Done Previously:  Behavioral Therapies - including Applied Behaviour Analsysis (ABA) and Picture Exchange System (PECS) – vision exercises to improve eye contact, speech therapy, vitamin and chelation therapy, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

See Videos: Before1, History1, After1, After2, After3

AFTER THE TREATMENT (April 30, 2006): Mitchell would react to commands immediately instead of responding twenty seconds later. He held eye contact for a long time. He also would go to the bathroom where he was supposed to most of the time and had a better sense of knowing when he should not do something.

Email Update (June 4, 2006): We are all doing fine here. Mitchells awareness of his surroundings has come out better in terms of rebelling to us if he dislike something and saying more words like ‘go, fix, pooh’. These are words I’ve never heard him say before but no sentences yet that are distinguishable except for the ones that he used to know like ‘don’t want”. His playful ability has also increased in terms of playing with his toys like matchbox cars and trucks, which he hasn’t done for a while now, rather than self stimming actions like jumping around for hours on end. Mitchell is undergoing strict intensive one on one therapy at the moment and we are trying to gauge and monitor the speed of his awareness and concentration. We are using Facilitated Behaviour Therapy and I am trying to organize a video for him to send to you soon. His behavioural problems have improved considerably since after china. Eg. He doesn’t sleep on our bed anymore. (which is a big relief). He wouldn’t jump up and down on top of the sofa. He would sit still in his chair during eating time rather than jumping around. Occassionally, we would see him jump up and down when he sees something he likes on TV. Basically, he seems to have settled down a lot than before and less stimming actions are shown but we’re still a long way away from recovery.