(WHA11) - For the first time, MRI machines are being used to diagnose autism. It means how patients are treated is changing and getting more specific.
Meet 11-year-old Geoffrey Pym who is autistic. He was diagnosed by an MRI machine which not only showed his diagnosis but showed his doctor exactly which parts of his brain weren’t connecting.
“We’re all looking for the cure and no, we can’t cure it,” explains Dr. Harry Schneider who treats Geoffrey. “What we’re doing is what parents are asking us to do – ‘can you get my kid to talk?’ and we can do that.”
Doctor Schneider and his team work with autistic children to help them develop language. For a long time, doctors believed autism had something to do with a hearing impairment. The MRI scans show it isn’t hearing that’s impaired, but instead the part of the brain that connects hearing to comprehension.
“It will light up or it won’t light up, so to speak,” explains Dr. Schneider. “Kids without autism, you’d see it as a 100 watt bulb, for lack of a better word. The other kids may be 1-50 watts. But you’ll see it and notice a difference.”
Geoffrey’s mom noticed a difference in him just months after Dr. Schneider first used Trans-Direct Current Stimulation, or TDCS. It’s an electric current that helps stimulate the part of the brain that shows to be lacking.
“There weren’t any spoken words, but just a connection between their eyes and there was an awareness there that had not been there before," says Melody Pym.
In patients who have used this type of stimulation treatment, grammar scores went from 20 percent before the treatment to 100 percent after. Doctor Schneider has found music to be one of his best tools to help patients develop language.
“The speech area just doesn't respond to mommy's voice or daddy's voice but it loves music, so that same light bulb concept doesn't light up for speech, but when music comes on - wow - we're up to 100 watts," says Dr. Schneider.
There are other tools that can stimulate the social parts of the brain that can be lacking. Rocky is one of the many pet therapy dogs that are being used to help children with autism. Kristan Tullis is the parent of two boys with autism. She says Rocky has made big changes in her boys’ lives.
“With our boys, there's this special animal human bond that you can't get with anything else,” says Tullis. “It improves eye contact. It improves social interaction. Rocky actually helps him interact with other people better."
It’s out-of-the-box thinking that is helping connect parts of the brain and connecting autistic children with a better life.
Doctor Schneider travels to Indiana from New York several times a year to conduct his therapies with autistic children. To find out more about Doctor Harry Schneider, visit http://www.harrydschneidermd.com/index.html.
The Autism Family International Foundation is holding a fundraiser golf scramble September 10th to benefit his research efforts. Find out more about the tournament and the foundation, visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Autism-Family-International-Foundation/140407452654458
Rocky is part of K9 Care Montana, which regularly brings pets to Louisville. To find out more about their organization and others like it, visit http://www.k9caremontana.org.
