How much can homeopathy help autism?  A hard question with a simple answer: always a little, sometimes a lot. This extraordinary case shows what has been achieved in the short space of seven months and illustrates the scope of homeopathy. Ms K. is a ten-year-old girl on the autism spectrum with severe problems. She has received no special schooling nor any therapies other than her recent homeopathic medicine.

Before we think of young Ms K, let’s consider what are the symptoms of Autism?

• Firstly there are behavioural issues such as hyperactivity, meltdowns, poor attention span, decreased concentration and poor focusing.
• Secondly there are speech, language and communication issues that are a major concern for parents.
• Thirdly there are social skills impairment such as poor eye contact and poor interaction with peers.
• There are different types of autism and different levels of autism.

The parents of Ms K. brought her along because of the following:

• Not responding to her name, cannot speak complete sentences
• Repeated monotonous behavior
• Clapping of hands
• Kisses everyone

These are her various complaints:

1. Speech – speaks nonsense, irrelevant talk, not comprehensible, the only clear words are papa and mama. Mutters to herself occasionally, keeps on repeating the same words again and again. If asked any question, she would repeat the same question (Echolalia). She expresses her needs by pointing and by dragging the person or at times throwing tantrums especially if hungry.
2. Poor attention span, decreased concentration. She cannot focus on studies
3. She is able to go on outings but does not attend school and spends most of her time at home with her mother and grandparents. They manage her by themselves.
4. Does not interact with adults or children. Does not play with other children. Will not talk to strangers and will not pay heed to them. She has a very poor eye contact. She will keep on playing by herself or with inanimate objects. She imitates her father and grand father.
5. She is unable to follow commands and responds to her name very rarely. She recognizes only family members and one or two family friends. She understands very few words.
6. She does a repetitive whirling movement in a circle. Occasionally she keeps on hitting things together to make a banging noise, with a spoon etc. She makes various facial expressions and eye expressions repeatedly. Laughs immoderately without apparent reason.
7. Teasing others and enjoys it. Displays irritating behaviour, specifically targeted at her mother. Possessive about her toys. She seems happy generally but can be aggressive, have meltdowns, outbursts of anger, teeth grinding and hits her own head when angry. Hits herself and others in anger.
8. Likes dancing to music.
9. Fear of dark, animals. Nightmares were common. Takes sleep medicine melatonin.
10. She is very restless and will not sit in one place. Her attention span is very poor.
11. She has recurrent colds and coughs and has been given antibiotic treatment very often, each time which would cause her to further and worsen her condition.
12. Desires chocolates, ice creams. There is no special diet being followed.

 Psychology Assessment

The patient lives in Turkey and access to any psychological testing facilities is limited hence she had not been tested even though she was ten years old. Dr Samir Chaukkar did all these tests and got them evaluated in India.

Testing Done: VSMS, CARS (Childhood Autism Rating Scale)
Conclusion: VSMS IQ is found to be 68 which falls in the range of (50- 70) indicating mild retardation in social functioning.
A CARS score of 34 indicates mild degree of autism in the child.

The government of Turkey funds 2 hours of the educational program for ASD per week. The rehabilitation centers that provide this limited educational service usually do not have sufficient well-trained professionals who are familiar with ABA or other effective behavioral treatments. Sadly, the services for children with autism in Turkey are inadequate. The number of children with autism who are receiving public education is limited. Also the percentage of children in Turkey who have an autism diagnosis is unknown.

Homeopathic remedies given

Tarentula Hispanica 200c one dose. This prescription was based on her restlessness, desire for music and dance, and destructiveness. The first remedy in the repertorisation table was neglected, and the most common medicine Tarentula for autism was selected.

Follow up after one month:

• Concentration no change cannot concentrate or focus
• Aggressiveness better but still there
• Fears are still there
• Trying to speak in sentences
• Sleep disturbed gets up frightened
• Echolalia still there

After a careful review of the case by Dr Samir Chaukkar, more details about the mother’s history during pregnancy were requested. She said she was very angry as well as sad and scared during her pregnancy since her husband was away on work and she was by herself in her house. She felt alone, lonely and scared, and used to have nightmares every night. When frightened she used to go under the blanket and tremble. At night she had a strong feeling that someone was watching her, following her or trying to communicate with her and she would cry.

The mother said that the birth was not problematic.

Remedy given: Stramonium 200c two doses.

Follow up after 2 months:

• Concentration better 75%
  
• Aggressiveness better 80% she is much more calm and shares her toys with others
• Fears still there
• Sleep peaceful, no dreams
• Showing interest in studying, sitting in one place
• Echolalia still there

Follow up after three months:

• Concentration decreased again after a fever and for that the parents gave her antibiotics
• Aggressiveness aggravated again
• Fears increased along with anger
• Sleep disturbed, restless, nightmares again
• Echolalia increased
• Irritability increased

Treatment Stramonium 1M one dose. Follow up after 4 months:

• Concentration better now though not as good as at the last follow up but steadily improving
• Can focus on studies again now
• Aggressiveness better, less violent, less anger now
• Fears better
• Sleep peaceful
• Echolalia improved

After seven months of treatment*:
CARS – 35 came down to 32 (Childhood Autism Rating Scale))
ATEC – 109 to 80 (Autism testing evaluation criteria)
HS – 36 to 16 (Hyperactivity score)

*She is still under my treatment…

Learning from this autism case

1) So in this case we see recovery in both evidence based as well as clinical symptoms based areas.
2) Also we see the importance of mother’s history during pregnancy and how it is sometimes vital in determining the remedy of the child
3) Being unprejudiced is so important since I selected Tarentula as a regular medicine for autism and ADHD and neglected Stramonium which ultimately turned out to be both her mother’s as well as her remedy.

Thank you to Dr Samir Chaukkar MD(Hom) for contributing this case of homeopathic treatment of autism.

Dr Samir Chaukkar is Dean of  Dr Batras Academy, Mumbai, India. He has been teaching and practicing Homeopathy for the last 25 years in India and abroad. He has been an active participant in various talks and conferences including Turkey, Malaysia, UK, USA, NZ, Australia and Brasil to name a few. He specialises in the treatment of children suffering from ADHD, autism, allergies, asthma, and addictions and this interest led him to complete a Post-Graduate Diploma in Addictions Medicine in Canada.

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