The results from the third month of the second TMR study on the IonCleanse by AMD footbath are in. Wow! Look at this:

Don’t you just love that line going down, down, down? For those of you who are asking questions, here you go:

• These results are averaged over all study participants. Some of the children’s ATECs have wobbled all over the place, others have dropped significantly right from the start. Some (including my kids) have gone up somewhere in there.
• The children participating are all different ages (see the graph below). There is no age barrier to who will do well with the footbath, and as you can see by the graph, the older children (quite a few of whom have been on other protocols in the past) have done exceptionally well.
• Everyone is doing different cleansing schedules. Some children are doing every second day, others are doing three days in a row, still others are cleansing every day. They are also cleansing for different times – some are following the suggested guidelines in the instructions, some are doing less, others are doing more. Their mothers are basing that decision on the needs of their individual children, and usually in consultation with someone – quite often the lovely Tyler Dahm from Pathways Natural Wellness Centre.
• Nobody was asked to change what they normally do with regard to supplements or other treatment protocols. Some children are not doing anything else, or have not made any changes – particularly those who were ‘non-responders’ for a while beforehand. A lot have added in supplementation to support detox in the body and make the process a bit easier on the kids – nobody likes herx reactions! Still others have implemented new supplements or therapies while also on the footbath.
• While the study is only for children who met certain criteria (existing diagnosis and ATEC score), other family members are often doing the footbaths as well, and noticing benefits. Join in the IonCleanse by AMD for ASD facebook group and you’ll be able to find quite a few stories on there.

That’s the general stuff, so now I’m going to address it specifically – my family! We’ve had another round of gastro (thanks for sharing that with us Daddy), so have once again slacked off our cleansing schedule. And it shows! BuddyBoy has been a bit more ‘off’ – he’s pinching when things don’t go his way, and is back to absconding. Interestingly enough, he is more interested in food and has tried to steal other kids’ lunches at school – a first for him, as he’s usually so fussy that he won’t touch any food, let alone stuff he hasn’t seen before! The night before he got his gastro bout (impeccable timing), he ate a couple of bowls of minced beef – something he hasn’t touched in at least two years. Since then he’s also touched and nibbled at a sausage – this from a boy who will not touch meat or vegetables, so we’re pretty excited about that.
.

We’ve actually become almost complacent with his speech. We’re daily being asked for “help” (which would have floored me 3 months ago), we’ve got lots of requests for various songs and DVDs and food items, and even some back and forth conversation around tickle times. It’s still single words except for where he’s repeating a phrase that he uses as a word. He’s also been very cuddly – with us, with Omi, and with his teachers. He’ll often come up to spend some time with me, and we’ll play peek-a-boo or sing songs together. His comprehension is excellent, and he’s even started helping put the groceries away. He’s also taken an interest in what SuperBoy is doing, and is watching people play games on the computer.

SuperBoy has also settled down a lot. The temper outbursts have become far less frequent and less intense – thank goodness. I attribute that mainly to a new supplement we’ve started for him which seems to be doing the trick. I’ve noticed that his speech has become quite precocious – not bad for a kid who was labelled with an Expressive Speech Delay when he was little! Hubby and I were discussing how he seems to have matured over the last couple of weeks – he came and spoke to me about his anger outburst and was able to reason through it. Wish a lot of adults could do that! He also became remorseful for his behaviour toward one of his sisters, and went and apologised to her. I like this new and improved version of SuperBoy!

Miss 19 (yes, we had another birthday) seems more settled when she’s having regular footbaths. I can say that now, as she’s NOT been having regular footbaths for the last week or two, and it shows. Of course, she says she doesn’t notice any difference, and what would I know after all?? We’ve also been extremely proud of the progress that Miss 13 has made – she has come a long way and has mainly her ADHD issues to work on.

For us, the last three months look like this:

There you go – enough graphs to keep any scientist happy!

Our family is currently preparing for something amazing – a holiday! That’s not something that happens often in the Autism world, so this is truly a miracle. More on that later, along with an announcement – stay tuned!