Case by Jan Scholten.
Boy, 3, autism.He does not listen to his parents and is uncooperative.
His father writes as followsTodays behaviours.
- Non verbal (vocalizing).
- Still in diapers; he doesn’t care that he’s dirty.
- Very very hyperactive, running back and forth without reason.
- Biting himself in hands if he’s not happy or he feels that nobody understand him.
- Can bite us without any reason or hit with his head.
- Bad sleeper, but still better then that it was a year ago.
- Always problem with go to sleep; Becoming very hyperactive when he has to go to sleep
- Since a year he doesn’t have any nap time during the day (we made him to stay awake to sleep better during night as he had several wake-ups).
- He sleeps with my wife currently. Each evening she spent at least an hours to make him sleep. Doors closed, total dark, and then fighting with him to keep him in bed. After an hour or even more he is cuddling and go to sleep. Sometimes we have an incidents that he’s start to crying during night and cannot calm him down for hours. He seems to be scared and not responding to our voices.
- He sleeps very nervous and moving around a bed a lot during night.
- Barely understand instructions (sometimes I think he didn’t understand at all, sometimes that more that we think but simply doesn’t care to follow orders).
- If you interact with him during any of his activity he will give up; same if you approach him to play, he will leave you.
- Limited eye contact.
- Cannot dress or undress.
- Cannot use spoon or fork.
- Eats 2 things (corn crisps); zero vegetables etc. Super food selectivity.
- It changes with time – when he was 1year old then eat almost like normal.
- Then it was more limited but still didn’t concern much.
- Then we have tried diet (no sugar, milk, glutted) and after a month he stopped to eat totally.
- Now we are fighting for any bite of “anything”. He can something one day and next day totally not (even the same thing that he liked day before).
- Now we thing he’s ever crying because of stomach pain (how long you can eat corn crisps and sponge cake).
- He drinks only a single shop beverage (water + natural juice); nothing else. Year ago he drinks water only but after his incident with kidneys (described below) we switch to “hide” taste of very bitter medicine. It stays like this since then.
- He looks around without a reason bending his head; it looks like he is in the new place for the 1st time but in fact it’s he’s room.
- Flapping hands a lot.
- Pressing pillows against his belly and jumping.
- Doesn’t care about children or animals; cannot play with them.
- Does not copy any behaviours, from kids or adults.
- Cannot play with toys at all; sometimes he’s carrying something for day or two but not to play but just to look at it without any particular reason.
- Do not interested in books or illustration.
- Cannot point with finger; rather take us and point with whole hand if he wants something.
- Bad sleeper; sometimes sleeps fine, sometimes he can cry 2 to 3 times during night without reason.
- Always wake up very angry; lack of good mood.
- Not interested in environment; more like passive spectator.
- You can take him by hand even as a stranger; he will not resist.
- Spinning around together with jumping.
- Sometimes laughing without particular reason.
- Can cuddle and in half of sec turn aggressive and bite or pinch us.
- Climbing on sofa or bookcases a lot.
Behaviours that are gone or very limited.- Head banging – very limited and only during very high stress.
- Using books front pages to play in front of his eyes (probably sunburst reflections were shining and it makes his interested); he can do this for hours.
- Before sleep he was made his hand straight and observe his fingers in front of him flipping hand from side to side.
- He was twisting his head a lot and press to his shoulder, one side more often the the others.
- He was closing his eyes very hard and smile without a reason.
- In 1st year he was carrying always something from the kitchen to kindergarden (big wood spoons, ladles etc).
- He was like to draw on paper with pencils (lines, without sense of course) but it’s gone already.
- He was able to say few words but not totally gone; sometimes “mama” but without clear indication to my wife.
History:Pregnancy period fine without any issues from baby point of view. Natural birth 2 wks ahead. 8 points in Apgar scale: not breathing in first minutes (-1point) due to choke of foetal waters, skin color (purple) (-1 point). All fine in next minutes. Released after a week due to high bilirubin.
Very tearful since first days in hospital, did not fed naturally since beginning even after several attempts. Bad sleeper since beginning (even till now).
Fully vaccinated since beginning, no issues after each vaccination (at least we didn’t spot; no hight temperature etc).
Basically 1st year was ok and we didn’t spot any problems (as this is our only child). Basically now if we think back it was not so bright (didn’t interested in toys, spent too much in front of tv, not that happy as normal kid but still nothing to worry).
First problems started when we went to a kindergarden when he was 13 months. Very bad adaptation – lot of crying after weeks. He didn’t eat or drink for 10 hrs. He didn’t follow the nurses and do not play with other kids. “lived he’s own life” simply saying He started to hit himself (head banging) when something was not like he wants. Nurses were reporting that he bites kids and totally not follow any instructions. Example: kids are sitting around in circle and listen.Tymon was running back and forth without reason and totally not listen what was said to him. Very hard months and we decided to to psychologist. They spot very poor eye contact, he didn’t follow any instructions (cannot spot mom or dad), he cannot play with toys and was super nervous. Also he has a lower muscle tension. After months in June 2021 he was diagnosed as autistic even we knew already since sometime.
Vaccination calendar /bottom of this file/Stressful situation during pregnancy (based on my observation).
- We were finishing our 1st apartment that time, was quite stresfull with organizing everything so “pressure” can be felt.
- My wife was “hiding” that she is pregnant in front of the employer quite long time (as she was new one in her job) and work till seventh month at least.
- There was also very not good environment as she had to be in very cold magazine at minus temp for some time.
- Basically she felt very stressed because of work that time.
- My wife’s grandfather passed away somewhere when she was 7 months; she was with him when he was passing away.
- My wife’s sister was confirmed with multiple sclerosis that time.
Mom own description of pregnancy period:“ I felt quite long in bad shape; felt sick till almost mid of 4month; all the time tired and sleepy. I’ve changed my job 2months before I got pregnant it felt very stressful join new workplace. The workplace environment was also not so supportive. People with more experience were always trying to put me as incompetent in front of management. As new employee I was always sent to work on the warehouse where the temperature was below 0 C for few hours plus the shift start very early 6 am (lack of sleep each day). During pregnancy period I had several intimate infections which caused additional stress, and antibiotics prescribed by doctor didn’t help for long. I felt stressful as this was my first pregnancy that I do not know anything about this condition or how to take care of a newborn. Didn’t know how to prepare myself and didn’t have anyone to ask how to prepare. Birth was not that stressful as I had labor pains shown at 3 am. As we already had one “false alarm” we have last in apartment till 9 pm. From this point all was very quick and Tymon born at 11:40 pm. There was already too soon for anaesthesia and this felt stressful due to fear of pain. During birth it was also needed to do perineal cut which also brings a lot of fear. The only anaesthetic drug (like ibuprofen) that I got was to put stitches after birth.
What Tymon likes- Swinging on a swing.
- Riding in a car.
- Visiting new places, shopping malls.
- Taking a bath and water in general.
- Playgrounds.
- Climbing on various objects.
What Tymon doesn’t like- Group of other kids.
- To follow any instructions; he’s becoming angry when he feel someone is forcing him to do anything like learning something.
- Loud noises of vacuum cleaner, shouting.
- If you are not paying attention to him (he’s becoming angry then).
- Eating and forcing him to eat.
Mother/Father approach to Tymon:- Mom is full of love even when it’s hard; always very supportive and really trustful that all will end up well. Spend lot of time with Tymon on shopping, visiting family and basically treat him as normal kid. Sometimes upset especially when Tymon has his bad behaviour. Very supportive.
- Father (myself). He is totally opposite. I still cannot get trough this and had good and bad times with Tymon. Recently was not good as I started to be very aggressive and already feel that I’ve lost connection with Tymon (lot of shouting at him, and using bad words on him and my wife). Of course I’m supportive and do what can best to help him organizing doctors, therapy etc but almost zero connections and time father/son. It ended up that I visited psychiatrist and was given antidepressants as I’ve started to avoid people and even family. I personally know that such behaviours didn’t help and basically makes things worse but it felt much stronger that me. Hope that medicine help me a bit that I can still be more supportive and find the connection. Hards topic as of course it destroy my relation with my wife. I know that any progress in his behaviour will change me but it cannot be a treated as “must” to help ourselves. Trying to work it out as know that he will not progress with such approach.
His mother ads more information about the pregnancy. In his pregnancy, his mother had a lot of stress at work which led to a lot of stomach pain and nausea. She had a new job where her older colleagues were unfriendly to her. They made her do the dirty and dangerous jobs. She was bullied, pent-up anger and felt used, and treated unfairly. She was excluded, felt like an outsider who was not invited to gatherings.
His mother had a difficult childhood. She was pushed by her mother, who put all the family problems on her.
AnalysisPteridophyta: autism; retardation.
Carbon series: incontinence; speech lacking; biting himself, head banging; sleeps with mother; cannot dress or undress.
Stage 7: bullied and excluded; fighting; aggressive, biting parents, his own hands, hitting with his head.
Stage 12: not listening; fighting.
Follow upAfter six weeks and three doses of Pteridium aquiulinum MK, things are much better. He is more in the here and now and more aware of his surroundings. He is much less aggressive and no longer bites himself. He understands more and listens better. He says no less often. He eats better and likes more types of food. He is more potty-trained, pees on the toilet and does not have stools everywhere. He talks better and uses more words. He understands much more and does what his mother asks him to do. He can just laugh and smile instead of laughing madly. He is more independent and cheerful. At school he is doing better, learning better and concentrating better. His teachers are very pleased with his progress. His quality of life has gone from 35 to 60.