Autism: More Treatable Than Thought?

Expert: It Is, Along With ADHD, Asthma, Allergies

(CBS)  The number of children diagnosed with autism, ADHD, asthma or allergies has been skyrocketing in recent years, and they may all be connected, according to Dr. Kenneth Bock.

He and writer Cameron Stauth contend that environmental factors and nutritional deficiencies trigger the conditions in kids who are genetically predisposed to them, and intervention can be effective in treating those youngsters, intervention involving "detoxifying" them and changing their diets, among other things.

They've penned a book called "Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders," in which they describe Bock's approach, and the results he's been getting at a facility he heads, results some consider quite impressive.

Bock is co-founder and co-director of the Rhinebeck Health Center and the Center for Progressive Medicine, and a clinical instructor in family medicine at the Albany Medical College.

Bock notes that he may be the first doctor to put the four conditions together.

On The Early Show Monday, Bock and co-anchor Harry Smith focused on Bock's work with autistic kids.

To see the segment, click here.

To read an excerpt of "Healing the New Childhood Epidemics,"click here.

There's a 36-minute documentary on Bock's work with autistic children, and it is available by clicking here. The documentary was done by an independent party.

For much more on autism, go to the Web site of the Autism Society of America, by clicking here.

[butchgerry]

Excellent story regarding new and effective treatments to cure autism. My grandson is 3 1/2 and has mild autism. Recently my wife and I visited my grandson's school to observe him in class via a one way mirror and although I am appreciative of the training they provide I was shocked to hear the priciple lecture us that the new treatments do not work and are a waste of time. My research via the internet has been very revealing from Baby Bumble Bee videos that increased my grandson,s vocabulary from five words to several hundred in just a few months. In June we will start him in AIT training and then in August working with another Doctor whose practice mirrors Dr Bock,s. I found a lot of Doctor's and technicians who took advantage of people who are frantic for any hope at any price but I've found people who provide excellent services at reasonable prices. I found them by emailing and contacting various parent's whose children where healed or vastly improved. I also contacted these doctors and technicians and ask about the services provided and the cost of these treatments, some of these people are a little scary. I am convinced my grandson can be healed but if I,m wrong I'll know I did everything possible to help him. The old school has let these children down and doomed many to a life of barely functioning abilities. They need to open thier minds to new ideas and concepts and stop protecting a system that doesn't work very well.

[mpoy-2009]

Thank you CBS and Dr. Bock!! I am a parent of a 7-year old with PDD-NOS that has received treatment from an MD for years with wonderful success. These children are sick and suffering and need medical attention. The doctors, like Dr. Bock, are not being risky, they are giving us the help these children desperately need. These are not behaviors, they are symptoms. My son is in a regular-ed first grade (with support) and he was completely non-verbal at age three with no academic skills whatsoever. The medical care he's been given, along with various therapies have made all the difference in his life. Please keep airing more information like this. This epidemic must be stopped.

[momof3b]

Thank you CBS for showing the segment with Dr Bock. I have been treated by Dr. Bock for 6 months now and he has really helped me. I have three boys on the Autism Spectrum with numerous allergies and asthma and we are using Dr. Bock's protocol with great success.
Thank You,
Momof3b

Thank you, CBS! It is time to get the word out that there is hope for curing autism through biomedical means. My grandson has healed so very much by adhering to the GF/CF diet with detox supplements and digestive support. Success is the best proof. I cannot understand AMA docs who refuse to open their eyes. I am thankful for these pioneers in medicine who are more concerned about healing these children than the politics of medicine and pharmaceutical companies. Great healers these docs are! And thank you, CBS for having the courage to air a different side to the treatment of autism. Most programs have been all the same traditional information that simply does not work.

[apple_m]

We started off just treating gut problems with no expectation of cure or recovery. just by removing milk from out sons diet there were dramatic behavioral changes.
The GF/CF diet is the cornerstone of BIOMED treatment. if your autistic child has persistent gut problems it will help.. just type autism diet into google and you will see the extent of just this one treatment.
you don't need a DAN doctor the information and support is out there you just need to look for it.
well done to all the parents.

[tassie_at]

I agree with Dr. Bock, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. I have a son with ADD, allergies, and temporal lobe epilepsy. They are all related (4 As) and are caused by environment (diet, trauma, emotional, etc) and structual. My son has both, a pesticide exposure at 2 yrs and a head injury at 10 yrs. He controls it with a high fat, high protien, low carb diet, ammino acids, minerals and vitamins. he has to maintain a regemented schedule, and cranial sacral therapy.

What is scary is that these problems have doubled every year for the last 50 yrs, since we added pesticides and hormones to our food and started vaccinations with ingredients that were banned for animals and eyedrops.

We need to protect our children from this abuse and provide them with a safe envirnment.

A concerned mother

[fat_gator]

I'm sorry but I find this report somewhat disturbing. There is entirely too much controversy over treatment methods for autism. Some parents are desperate to find answers and will try anything.

I am the mother of 3 sons that fall within the spectrum of autism disorders. I just want to urge parents to use caution when deciding on a plan for treatment. Children are precious no matter what issues they may be living with. Some compassion, patience and acceptence of differences can go a long way.

Peace be with you.

[zoppid]

Thank you for having Dr. Bock on CBS. I was told my Son had minor developmental delays when he first entered Elementary School and just needed some extra help. After a School assessment; He was diagnosed with PDD/ADHD/Autistic Spectrum Disorder shortly after that. Then, four years later he received an additional diagnosis of mild/moderate mental retardation after being given a four hour I.Q tests and other tests which I questioned the validity of. We were told before a formal diagnosis was even made that our Son would probably never go to college and to "grieve" and that we should be thankful for all the "extra services" he would qualify for with the additional diagnosis. I told my Sons' Doctor, we do not intend to "grieve"; we intend to "fight" whatever afflictions my son may have and home-school him if necessary. Thank you CBS and thank you Dr. Bock for giving us real HOPE for our Son and for his future. God bless.

[gaye5]

TheOrigProbe, some children died of whooping cough and polio which was terrible but now we have children dying of cancers at a terrible rate..asthma is killing kids like never before..
All through out history we have had epidemics they come and they go, people die, and some dont..
Try looking at "The pharmaceutical drug racket", or drs against immunisation, and many others..

TheOrigProbe, I cant for the life of me see what the anti immunisation groups have to gain from trying to warn the world as to the poisons that are pumped into our children, they do NOT get any money from anywhere... on the other hand the drug companies get trillions when they immunise, and then more trillions from the drugs in trying to undo the damage that some of the toxins do to the babies either just after immunisations or at later stages... when I was nursing, we did not have the hundreds of children dying from cancers, asthma, etc...
I knew all the positives that we are taught from the pharmaceutical companies, and I also pushed Immunisation, but I took a real interest in the ingredients in immunisations after my granddaughter stopped breathing in my arms some hrs after her immunisation, and again a few times over the next couple of weeks, luckily as a nurse I knew what to do... If she had of been in her bed when she stopped breathing she would just have been counted as yet another cot death..

[twinsmom02]

Dr. Bock has helped my twins make incredible gains. If all parents of children on the spectrum would just acknowledge that our children are treatable and it takes more than just therapy I think we could win this fight. The changes in my baby boys with each and every intervention from Dr. Bock were such gifts, this man should be respected and treated as the healer he is. Thank you to CBS for having him on, you are doing a service to our children. Thank you Dr. Bock, and your book is absolutely incredible!!

[gaye5]

Diamonddavej, I agree with you in some areas, but if they are now diagnosing other areas as autism then it would stand to reason that the other areas would be known eh,, but after 42 years of teaching and principal my husband said that the problems are far greater than before and more of them... Granted in the past some poor people were put into mental institutes but one has to realise that there were not great numbers in these institutes, so the numbers have definitely grown, and grown in very scary numbers...
I am thrilled that you have been able to obtain your status, congratulations,, you can be very proud of yourself.. you must be an incredible man... My husband specialised in bright children and many of them are just not understood, so he used to teach them and their parents to understand their children... and I do feel that some children are diagnosed with different problems which are not problems at all,,, it is just kids being normal kids...

[rhellewell1]

Great job reporting on autism being treatable. We parents who are doing it feel like we are running an undergroup recovery network for our kids because it seemed no one wanted to know there was hope and treatments. Keep the biomedical info and autism treatment coming-you have a large audience of parents of these kids who are starved for it. Great job Dr. Bock.

[rhellewell1]

Way to go CBS!!! It is about time one of the amazing doctors that are helping heal our kids gets some tv time. As the parent of an autistic child who has had major improvements thanks to biomedical intervention I want to say thank you so much for putting this info out there.
I am tired of the so called experts denying an autism, adhd epidemic--the epidemic is here!!Lets talk more about treatment. Good job, we want more!

[wendtworth68]

Way to go CBS. Thank you so much for having the intelligence to put a DAN doctor on your network. Notice NBC (Autism Speaks network) hasn't done this yet even though the Wrights treat their grandson biomedically with the DAN protocol. Shameful of them not to share this with the public. All I can say is my children are making remarkable progress with the DAN protocol. Insurance should be forced to cover these remarkable treatments.

foxhairdo

[sgbateman]

My children are getting better, because of Dr. Bock and the treatments that he has implemented for them. We ASD parents all share similiar, hauntingly familiar stories. Know one can understand until they walk in our shoes. Thank you CBS, Dr. Bock, all of the DAN practitioners, scientists, and researchers that are dedicated to helping our children where mainstream medicine has failed. May God bless you!

[oufan2471]

Thank you for having Dr. Bock on CBS!!! So many children could benefit from showing the world how biomedical treatments are benefitting children with autism,... My child is one. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

[grammaknows]

With the information Dr Bock presents, it would be reasonable for adults with asthma, ADHD and allergies to have the toxins, metals and food sensitivity testing. For a few sticks with a needle, you have nothing to lose but your illness. An autistic grandson was OUR doorway to losing gut problems, and symptoms of diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and inhalent allergies. I had the testing done 2 1/2 yrs ago. It cost $2000 total for what I needed. So far, that breaks down to $2 per day since my symptoms disappeared...less than a cup of Starbucks. Worth it? You betcha!

[grammaknows]

For those who say elimination diets and nutritional supplements need "well-controlled studies" before they should be used...time to get back to basics. Trial and error elimination along with lab tests ARE the gold standard for allergy and food sensitivity diagnostics.
Lab tests looking individual components ARE the gold standard for finding deficiencies in the immune system that averages mask. Even the USDA food pyramid comes with a notation that EVERYONE should take a general vitamin supplement. It is reasonable, professional and responsible to supplement when a diet (using the gold standard of trial and error elimination) is restricted to non-allergenic foods.
Miners, welders and occupationally exposed individuals, not on the autism spectrum, routinely undergo chelation therapy when hair, blood and urine tests come up with the same readings as kids on the spectrum. Standard treatment for one segment of the population, does not require to be studied...it only needs to be determined the reason for application of the therapy exists. I have witnessed the medical healing Dr Bock's methods can bring to an autistic child (my grandson). Advised to be institutionalized at the age of 18 months, he is now 4 1/2, and talking, reading, playing, makes eye contact, attends school. %u201CProfessionals" who claimed he would never this are incredulous.
Hooray for Dr Bock and those who spend hours with our children rather than write them off.His credentials:http://www.4ahealing.com/aboutkb.html

[shevat57]

I've never heard of alergies having a hard link to either Autism or ADHD. There will always be a rare case wherein a subtle link between one condition & another are linked together.

Doctors tend to forget that we only have one body, not seperate parts linked together.

As to ADHD, I have a question...

What about Adult ADHD?
I belong to the Manhattan Adult ADD Support Group. We've been meeting regularly since 1992.
We have meetings every month, and enough people attend the meetings to sustain the group.

In case Doctors forget.. children to grow into adults:)

[shevat57]

I've never heard of alergies having a hard link to either Autism or ADHD. There will always be a rare case wherein a subtle link between one condition & another are linked together.

Doctors tend to forget that we only have one body, not seperate parts linked together.

As to ADHD, I have a question...

What about Adult ADHD?
I belong to the Manhattan Adult ADD Support Group. We've been meeting regularly since 1992.
We have meetings every month, and enough people attend the meetings to sustain the group.

In case Doctors forget.. children to grow into adults:)