Improvement in Autism Spectrum Disorder - A Case Study
From the September 1, 2011 issue
of the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health comes
a case study documenting the improvement of a young boy
suffering with Pervasive Developmental Disorder and Sensory
Processing Disorder.
The authors explain that Autism
Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a group of developmental brain
disorders characterized by impaired social interaction, lack
of communication skills, and limited range of activities and
interests. Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) and
Sensory Processing Disorder fall under the category of ASD
problems. They further note that "Pervasive Developmental
Disorders (PDD) refers to a group or range of disorders
characterized by a variety of delays in the development of
socialization and communication skills. Symptoms may be seen
as early as infancy and will typically show up before 3
years of age."
In
this case a young boy, just 3 months short of his third
birthday, was brought to the chiropractor with the medical
diagnoses of Pervasive Developmental Disorder and Sensory
Processing Disorder. The history noted that the boy was born
with a forceps delivery and was kept in the neonatal
intensive care unit for 4 days with a fever. At the time the
boy was brought to the chiropractor he was already behind in
many developmental processes including communication skills,
cognitive skills, fine motor skills, as well as social and
emotional skills. He preferred to crawl rather than walk and
was having difficulty crawling in a coordinated manner.
After an examination,
chiropractic care was initiated for correction of
vertebral subluxations that were detected. Specific
chiropractic adjustments were given at the rate of 2 visits
per week. The spine and nervous system were monitored
regularly for subluxation.
The study reports that after 2.5
months of chiropractic care the first reevaluation was
performed which showed improvements in the boy's skills. The
authors commented that, "The patient’s mother reported that
her son’s communication skills had improved dramatically, he
was walking and even starting to run."
Additionally, the occupational and physical therapists that were working with
the boy both noticed significant improvement and stated that
they had never had a case improve this dramatically in such
a short period of time. After ten months of care the boy had
improved dramatically in many areas. He improved greatly in
the areas of verbal skills, and his sensory processing
problems had diminished. Probably one of the most dramatic
improvements was reported by the boy's mother who observed
that her son had begun to read at a level above his age.
The authors of the study
explained the chiropractic approach by stating in their
conclusion, "There is a growing body of evidence in the
literature relating chiropractic adjustments to the
resolution of a variety of health problems. Chiropractic
care when used to correct disturbances in the nervous system
(subluxations) is not a treatment for any disease, illness
or injury. However by reducing subluxations, a person’s body
will be better able to repair, heal, function and develop.
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