argusfest's video: Thriving with Severe Autism Sarah Carrasco

Sarah Carrasco’s son David was typically developing until the age of 13 months and then suddenly began exhibiting serious problems. His problems were so severe that doctors were reluctant to diagnose autism. Finally, at the age of four he was diagnosed with autism—the severest kind---with uncontrollable violence and extreme regression. The doctor who gave the diagnosis was a developmental pediatrician with 25 years’ experience in treating developmental disabilities. She said this was the worst case of autism she had ever seen. She advised Sarah that there was no hope and no cure, and that she should put David in a home and give herself a break. The stress of dealing with his condition including the financial strain eventually led to a divorce and Sarah was left to cope with David’s condition largely on her own. She refused to give up. She then began an immense struggle looking for various kinds of help and answers on-line, and eventually and gradually found successful means of financial assistance, and a number of means of improving her son’s health, behavior, and life, including a dramatic improvement when she followed advice she found on the Internet to put him on a gluten free and milk free diet. She also had tests done that showed David had high levels of heavy metals, which sets off inflammatory reactions in the gut and brain that are characteristic of autism, one of a number of facts in his case that eventually caused his pediatrician to finally conclude that his vaccines caused his autism. There’s much more to the story, so don’t miss it. Sarah is the author of The Autism Help Book (2018), which provides valuable information to help other parents of autistic children much more easily find and obtain the many kinds of knowledge and assistance that Sarah eventually was able to find and use. David is now high-functioning, behaves very well, is kind, and a joy to be with. Sarah describes the long path she has followed and forged towards the remarkable improvement of her son and the many ways that other parents can obtain help to improve and better manage their autistic children’s condition and lives. This talk was recorded in Denver, Colorado on January 26, 2020