Stories From The Heart

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Barry’s Interview with Maureen (Her Experience)

Barry:  I’m Barry Segal.  This is someone I met. Her personal story with Autism is very compelling and consistent with what I’ve read.  I’d like you to share some of your experiences so that others can both learn and benefit from your thoughts.

Maureen:  Always wanted to have children, got married later in life, 32. So as soon as we got married, we started to try to have children.  In the meantime, I had worked for Merrill Lynch, approximately ten years, got pregnant, then basically stayed home after I had my son.  And then he was diagnosed at 26 months old and once we received the diagnosis, then at that point, I decided I wouldn’t be able to go back to work right away.

Barry:  Let me ask you, at what point did you notice problems with your son?  What did you observe?

Maureen:  Well, we had enrolled him in Gymboree classes and I had noticed that the other children were in the center playing with all the equipment at the gym, where as our son was standing on the perimeter.  Where as all of the other children were playing together where Jeffrey wasn’t.  And then also, he would say one word and then we would never hear it again.  So at our 24 month old check-up, the pediatrician asked if Jeffrey was putting two words together, which clearly he was not.

Barry:  Did you notice any other symptoms early on that gave you a clue that you were heading towards problems?

Maureen:  My son had such extreme behaviors after he would ingest certain foods that I started to keep a food diary on him and what I noticed was that when he consumed too much sugar, where it be fruit sugar or bad sugar, through candies or lollipops, or whatever, that he would wake-up in the middle of the night.  Always at the same time between one and three o’clock in the morning, vomit about three or four times, and just be very agitated, screaming and crying on the top of his lungs, then he would fall asleep.  First few times, I didn’t put two and two together, thinking that it was just a virus.  I would take him to the pediatrician where they just assured me it was just a virus.  Where it turned out every three months or so, this process would continue for year and years and years, for three or four years, this would continue.

Barry:  In you mind, what do you think is the primary cause of Autism and your son’s problems?

Maureen:  Well, I believe genetically there is a component. When Jeffrey was born on a Wednesday, Friday when we were gonna leave the hospital, the doctor gave me a live vaccine, an MMR vaccine, because I had tested low for antibodies.  His concern was if I should become pregnant and catch the MMR disease that it would really adversely affect my unborn child, possibly causing brain damage.  I questioned whether or not I could continue breastfeeding because my son had been breastfeeding in the hospital with no problems at all.  And he said, “It’s fine, it’s absolutely fine.’ 

              So what happened is when we brought the baby home, we noticed that he had stopped breastfeeding and I also experienced very adverse reactions to the MMR shot  I started scratching on my arms, my legs, my torso.  Then I started to run a low grade fever,  When I called the doctor up that delivered my son, he said it was just nerves because I was a first time mom, and older mom, and he prescribed an anti-anxiety medication for me.

Barry:  Did you have any success with diet or chelation?

Maureen:  Actually we did try the diet, the gluten casein-free diet.  We took all casein out of his diet, which is the dairy protein, because Jeffrey never slept through the night.  And a doctor recommended that we try eliminating casein first.  Within three days, he started sleeping through the night.

Barry:  In the early stages, were the doctors helpful to you?  Or was it something new to them?

Maureen:  My feeling is, it was something new to them.  They didn’t know enough about it. 

In fact, when I did raise my concern about Jeffrey not speaking at two years old they said, “Oh he’s probably just going to be a late talker, a late bloomer, boys develop later than girls, really not much to worry about.”  At 26 months old, we saw a neurologist which gave him a test basically asking him what a car or banana was or a boat, and he had to point to the appropriate picture, which of course he did not.  And at that point, the neurologist did say that he had Pervasive Developmental Disorder, which is basically Autism.

Barry:  We know you’re doing everything possible for your son and you’re doing good.  Thank you.

Maureen:  Thank you too.

There have been many cases of children with autism that have touched our hearts here at La recherche sur l'autisme.  For many of the families we have spoken with, the stories seem to be very similar. There have also been stories in the media that have received our attention. 

Click Here To See A Comparison of Cases We Have Composed During Our Research On Autism

Below are some of the individual stories of children who have been diagnosed with Autism that have gained our interest and support.  Where stories have been published elsewhere, the names are correct.  If we have received personal stories, we have given ficticious first names to the parties involved.

Vance Walker

Hannah Poling

Patrick

Wesley Sykes

Michael

Michelle Cedillo

Andy

Bob

William Kessick

Thomas

Christian (grandson of Chairman Dan Burton)

Jeff Ackerman

Jason, Steven and The Triplets

Rodger

Christian

Elias Tembenis

Kaylee and The Kern Twins

R.J. (son of Rodney Peete)

Scott

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