Let's start with two quick stories about autistic children.

A local pediatrician brought her 10 year old daughter to see me who is autistic. After a few visits in my office she said that her daughter began to walk up and down the stairs using alternating legs. She said that before this she would walk up and down and ‘match’ her legs together on one step before going up or down to the next one.

The second story:

A woman brought her 8 year old SON to see me with Autism. He had a lot of stemming and every time I touched him, no matter how softly, he said “Ow”. The mother asked if his son was really feeling discomfort. I said that is completely subjective and he could very well be feeling pain, somewhat like someone with fibromyalgia. After several treatments, his sensory responses calmed significantly and he no longer jumped, twitched or said, “Ow."

Thoughts on treating autism:

Did you know that every autistic child I examine all present with a right cortical deficit?  This means that the pathways in certain parts of the right brain are not as strong as those on the left.  This eventually results in processing issues on both sides of the brain.  Oftentimes, children with autism also will eventually have OCD or ADHD.  Which part of the right brain is affected?  It is different in each child.  It could be the frontal cortex, parietal cortex, the mid brain, the brain stem..............that's what the exam tells me.