New year, new strategies. We're ready for the next level, but where to start?

[popgoestheweezel]

Still waiting (waiting, waiting) for Camhs appt for ds (5.8). Paed has sent letter to gp saying he has features of pathological demand avoidance and we are sure it explains him perfectly.
So, we have worked on the vitamins side of things and he is taking behaviour balance, magnesium, zinc, EPA omega and multi vitamins. The supplements have had a hugely positive impact on him. He has a good diet already too but I am going to work at getting more protein into him.
He's also having a weekly bentonite clay bath and epsom salts sometimes too.
He is having extra help at school in a social communication group which is great but I feel that we perhaps need to delve a bit deeper into the causes of his social communication symptoms iykwim.
I have read up quite a bit about retained reflexes and sensory processing. I have done the inpp questionnaire and they have said they can help and outlined their fees. Id be happy to pay if it will help ds and they do seem to be well regarded. However we are about 2hrs from Chester so it is a bit of a trek. My other reservation is that, due to his PDA, it is very difficult to get ds to do anything and we will struggle to get him to do prescribed exercises.
As an alternative I have contacted a local occupational therapist who is qualified in sensory integration. She would be able to observe ds in school and we would be able to go to her for therapy on a weekly basis (so she would take more responsibility for getting compliance. Hopefully, as she is not worn down by the daily grind of manipulating the demand avoidant, she'd have more energy than us).
I also wonder about his auditory processing as he hardly ever responds to his name (although that could just be him avoiding the anticipated demands), and also takes ages to process a question even though school say he is bright and has very good understanding and a remarkable memory.

So, I guess the questions here are:
What to focus on; auditory processing, retained reflexes, sensory integration or something else I've not thought of?
Where to go to get the expert help (we are in the east midlands)?

Thanks POP

Re vitamin supplements, I found this today:

Contributing Factors To Autism

KPU is a condition which is being found in about 98% of Autistic children. The child loses through the urine very large amounts of Zinc, Vit C, Silica, B6, Biotin and Manganese.

I've also noticed that Behaviour Balance contains very large amounts of B6

Interesting article indigo, the bit about the disruption to the detoxification process fits in with some other ideas I've come across.

Ds is generally healthy and not prone to infections other than a persistent series of ear infections when he was a toddler. He was prescribed lots of anti biotics which were ineffectual and they eventually cleared by themselves. Strangely the only way we knew he was ill was the discharge from the ear, he never complained of pain- maybe hypo sensitive?
Going back to immune function though, I am rarely ill but I do have psoriasis which is an auto immune condition so by definition my immune system is not functioning correctly.

Recurrent ear infections - can't they cause all those inner ear problems (vestibular etc) that ASD kids tend to have?

Or maybe the opposite - you get recurrent ear infections because you have those inner ear problems?

I'm fairly sure both GAPs diet and Tinsley House think that recurrent ear infections are significant.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Ear infections are certainly extremely common in children with these types of issues.

I have made an appt at tinsley house for assessment next week so fingers crossed.

lenin My ds1 is also a carb monster! The chap at TH told me that he actually craves carbs because he cerebellum is struggling to develop properly. Makes sense to me!

Also, he has been the only person to EVER explain my ds1's tip toe gait and "prancing".

Good luck pop

Indigo I dont know that recurrent ear infections cause the vestibular issues but they often co-exist. The vestibular system gives information to the brain about where the head is in space (i.e. up/down, tilting, rotating). Auditory information also contains spatial information (e.g. is a bell rings behind you, it can be easily located)
So if you have ear infections, some parts of the spatial information that the brain needs to learn is not arriving consistently.
And its a lack of awareness of where 'I' am in relation to other people, things, gravity that cause a lot of problems for ASD kids.

But it could be a chicken/egg scenario.
Interestingly, there is some evidence that vestiular information is carried (via the Vagus N) to the gut.