Vitamin Therapy for Children with Autism
Many parents desperate for some kind of quick intervention to help their children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may jump into the wagon of vitamin therapy. The question here is: does it help? Professionals are still divided in their views on the efficacy of vitamin therapy as a form of treatment for children with ASD. In this post, I shall cover some of the more popular vitamin supplements used in the treatment of ASD.
- Vitamin B6 and Magnesium (Mg): Literature reporting on the benefits of Vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine, has so far shown evidence of improvement in treating children with ASD. However, this is often administered with Mg. To date, there is no report of harm resulting from such treatment. According to Dr Bernard Rimland (1993, 1996), benefits include improvement in the following areas: language, eye contact, behaviors, neural activity in the brain, conditionability, and immune system function. Mg is included in the treatment because high dosage of Vitamin B6 may result in Mg deficiency as well as deficiency in other B vitamins in our body. When taking Vitamin B6 and Mg together, side effects such as irritability, bedwetting and aural sensitivity will be minimized.
- Dimethylglycine: DMG for short is actually a food substance and not a vitamin or drug as the name sounds to be. Rimland (1996) reported that benefits from taking DMG include positive behavioral changes, a decrease in epileptic fits and obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and an improvement in spoken language. Rimland (1996) recommended that preschoolers take half a tablet while older children can take a whole tablet and gradually increase the dose until they take 1 to 4 tablets a day. However, parents must be advised that there have been reports that some children become hyperactive as a result of taking DMG. Rimland (1998) advised that should hyperactivity occur, add 1600mcg of Folic Acid for each DMG pill in the child’s supplements.
- Vitamin A: Dr Mary N. Megson (1999) introduced Vitamin A therapy with some of her autistic patients and reported positive results at the DAN! Conference. According to Megson (1999), her patients began speaking more frequently and clearly than ever before, and gained better eye contact. Megson (1999), cited in Hamilton (2000), told the participants at the conference that “A, along with G proteins, may affect retinoid receptors in the hippocampus portion of the brain. These receptors, which act like ’switches for learning and memory,’ may become disconnected after a DPT or MMR vaccination” (p.167).
- Vitamin C: It has been reported in Ackerman (1997) that Vitamin C is an effective treatment for those with confusion and depression. It is also mentioned that Vitamin C helps to improve cognition and support the immune system by aiding in detoxification and fighting viruses and bacteria. Vitamin C is nontoxic, even in very high doses. However, when taken too much, the body will simply react with diarrhea.
The above are just three of the many vitamins reported to be used in treating children with ASD. Parents should be informed of the effectiveness of such treatment. There are instances when I do receive feedback from parents who have told me that they did see improvement in their children with ASD; others have also given me negative feedback. One important lesson we all can learn here is that there are simply many subtypes of ASD and vitamin therapy may not work for all children with ASD, unless we know exactly which subtype of ASD they have been diagnosed.
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