Newsgroups: bit.listserv.autism
Date:         Tue, 5 Jan 1993 10:36:56 EST
              <AUTISM@SJUVM.BITNET>
From:         Lisa S Lewis <LISAS@PUCC.BITNET>
Subject:      RE: DMG, Vitamin B6 & Magnesium Treatment
              5 Jan 1993 09:21:30 -0600 from <HUGGINS@MERLIN.NLU.EDU>

On Tue, 5 Jan 1993 09:21:30 -0600 Lynda W. Huggins said:
>
>I have kept a log of changes in Jon's behaviors since receiving AIT
>in October of 1991.  I did this with complete understanding that
>such changes may have occurred with or without AIT.  However, so
>many changes have been noted that I am convienced that many are a
>direct result of AIT.  I am now in the process of arranging for an
>AIT practitioner to come here and provide auditory training to several
>people in this area.
>
Lynda, was the Oregon study the same one that was reported on the June
12 20/20 episode?

Could you describe exactly what changes you have observed in Jon since he
took part in the training?

Please refresh me (and the list) as to Jon's age, level of functioning, school
etc. Did he have a lot of trouble with sound sensitivities?

What does his school think of this treatment?  Do they also document changes?
Is his school a data-based program, that would be able to come up with
quantifiable improvements in cognitive or other areas?

Could you tell us about the differences in the BCG device?  All the places
in the east (that I know of) doing AIT are using the Berard device.

Our 4.5 year old is scheduled for AIT on a Berard type device in June. While
he does have a lot of sound sensitivities and thus we feel it would be worth-
while, we have some reservations.  For example, everyone (including Annabel
Stehli) acknowledges a "temporary" increase in aggressive behavior. But how
temporary?

I read the Stehli book months ago, but my husband read it only recently and
he urged me to reread it (which I did.)  His point was that IF there was a
"miracle" it was performed at Bellevue.  Really, the book was a ringing
endorsement for intensive, data-based, one-on-one behavior modification therapy
techniques.

Georgie entered the Bellevue program as a non-verbal, completely unattached
four year old.  Within a month (I think) she spoke her first words.  And she
continued to improve dramatically.

I absolutely believe that sound sensitivity was a huge problem for her, and
that AIT helped her tremendously.  And if you see her, it's amazing how well
she is doing! But to say, as Peter Stehli is quoted by Rimland, that "100%
of her recovery is due to AIT" is truly preposterous..

She left Bellevue for the second place (Childville), and by the time her mother
pulled her from it she had a great deal of language and was progressing very
well.

I think that it is this misrepresentation that AIT was "miraculous" that has
led to so much disappointment for so many parents.  As I said, I do think it
can help people with hearing sensitivities, but what parent signs up for it
and forks over their $1300 without believing somewhere in their heart that
maybe "this is the cure"?  That maybe THEIR child will be the second one in
the history of AIT to actually "come out of it."

I don't think that the Stehli's are being dishonest about this. And I don't
believe they're doing this for money.  But it is just so odd---if you read the
book again, you'll see what I mean (actually, as I said, it was Serge who
pointed all this out to me.)  At the very least, there were two huge jumps
in Georgie's life, the first at Bellevue and the second at Annency.  While it
could be argued that AIT alone would have done that for her, and we'll never
know, I find it hard to believe that it would have. I think the progress she
had already made, enabled her to make the leaps that followed AIT.

I'm sure lots of you have read this book. What do you think?

Lisa
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