From The Desk of Dr. Donald A. MacKenzie:

     The Defeat Autism Now! Philosophy We view autism(s) as a spectrum of disorders with multiple provoking stressors and many possible susceptibilities. Defeat Autism Now! ™does not endorse a set protocol for treating autism; our approach is based on careful attention to the symptoms, history, examinations, and data of each child. We offer a decision stream of options for biomedical intervention.     

     

       Autism and the related problems express dysfunction of the neural, metabolic, immune, and/or digestive systems. Many people with autism are genetically predisposed to such problems as sub-optimal nutrition, food intolerances, microbial overgrowth, metabolic abnormalities, immune dysregulation, and inability to eliminate toxins. People with autism spectrum disorders having difficulty processing sensory, perceptual, cognitive, biochemical, and immunological messages, and have faulty mechanisms for regulating, organizing, expressing, processing and detoxifying various inputs.          

 

      We think that a combination of environmental factors interact with genetic predispositions that are due to variations in the human genotype. Certain insults occur at vulnerable times in human development when the brain’s neuronal-network connectivity is being established.          

    

     Appropriate treatment involves identifying and alleviating the problems causing symptoms in the individual, rather than attempting to suppress symptoms through the use of psychoactive drugs. Our focus is on biomedical balance, emphasizing two questions: Does he or she have a special unmet need that would advance healing if it were met? Does he or she have a special need to avoid (or get rid of) toxins, allergens, or metabolic by-products?          

    

     The answers come by a sequential process in which the patient is recognized as the expert who, by his or her history, physical examination, lab results, and responses to therapy, help is chose the best options for each diagnostic and therapeutic step. With our patients and their parents, we conduct collaborative conversations with repect for the intelligence and intuition of parents and their children.  We involve families as full participants in the search for answers, and we recognize that the child is often listening, even when he or she appears inattentive.          

 

     We reject one-size-fits-all strategies, rather considering the broad range of diagnostic and treatment modalities that are appropriate to each patient. We look for ways to support Nature’s strong impulse toward healing.          

    

      We also value relational therapies, many of which become efficacious once underlying conditions are addressed; while our focus is on medical treatment, we look for opportunities to collaborate with our educational and behavorial colleagues and therapists.          

    

     We draw information and inspiration from the fact that autistic children are treatable and recoverable by systemic means that address the need to restore dysregulated biochemical and immunological process to the virtuous pathways from which they descend.          

    

     We emulate Dr. Bernard Rimland in trying to disregard our egos, and remembering that when treating a patient with autism, most of the important elements in our understanding have come from listening to parents.