Before NAET
“John,” a 35-year-old with severe autism, came in for NAET treatments from Emily Yuen . John lives in a home with 24-hour supervision and is rated with the most severe form of autism. John suffered with panic attacks, self-hitting, head banging, very limited use of single words, extreme constipation, irregular sleep patterns, vocal tics, and 48- hour mood swing cycles. John wears protective gear to stop him from causing damage to himself: padded gloves, shin guards, helmet and a face guard. John feels most secure with the pressure from these items on his body and likes having his hands held close to each other with fabric. John was in the process of coming off two medications and was taking a third. Medications were used to help reduce some of the above mentioned symptoms. John is often drawn inward and usually showed little interest or curiosity about others or his environment.
After NAET
After doing only the first 15 NAET treatments he:
- Makes more choices about what he wants to do using verbal “Yes” and “No”
- Smiles when he chooses to do something
- Shows expressions of joy in response to his environment
- Chooses when he wants his protective gear on or off – often verbally asking for “helmet”
- Asks for protective equipment in place of hitting himself
- Often no longer uses his scarf that he likes to use to bind his hands close together
- Shows more consistent interest and awareness in his surroundings
- Is curious most of the time
- Has regular bowel movements with a decreased need for stool softener
- Sleeps more consistently each night – even without his sleep medication
- Shows previously unseen interest in 4 legged animals
- Has an increased number of good mood days. They sometimes outnumber the bad mood days
- Has calm evenings and the following day after each NAET treatment
- Uses words that have been dormant for years
- Demonstrates willingness and desire to do activities that he has not done for years such as skiing
From NAET Treatment 16 to 23 he:
- Self- initiates choices for fun and relaxation
- Is off all 3 major medications including trazadone and clonazepam. He is more stable with no medications than he has ever been with previous attempts. He continues to make positive progress un-medicated rather than just maintaining.
- Has longer sleep cycle cycles and a more regular weekly sleep pattern
- Is able to use less protective gear more often
- Experiences unique events which occur multiple times a week
- Has had a reduction in panic attacks even without his medication
- Answered the door for the first time. This was his idea and he wasn’t taught by staff
- Passed people in the bike lane appropriately without directions from staff
- Shows more endurance on a road bicycle and rides 3-4 times longer than before
- Now integrates the use of space and structure with his drawings
- Is requiring less of his father and his father now has some self-care time
24 to 32 NAET treatments he:
- Has a substantially higher margin of good mood hours than anxious hours
- Has been noted self-managing his anxiety
- Has substantially less self-aggressive behavior
- Used new words
- Combined two words together “trade helmet” which is a reemergence of an old skill that hadn’t been seen in years.
- Asked to help staff with the dishes. He has never asked to help others before.
33 to 44 NAET treatments he:
- Off all medications
- Said no, shook head no, and pointed to no all at the same time
- Reduced need for self-protective gear
- Continued reduction of self-aggressive behavior
- Reduced number and severity of panic attacks
- Used 3 words at a time – multiple times
- Continued development of new vocabulary
- Used “I am statements” not just “I want statements”
- Responded to the question “How are you doing?” for the first time
- Has more direct eye contact – even in the morning
- Has been self –initiating the start of routines – like dressing and undressing
- More adaptable to changes in routine and stress
- More constructive and creative use of personal time
- More desire and request to do things independently
- Has showed interest in others: picked flowers for staff, showed his drawings to staff
Staff are amazed at the changes
- One staff member said, “I have not seen anything like this progress in the 17 years I have been in this field.”
- Another staff member said, “When I started working 8 months ago providing direct care to John I rarely saw him smile. Now I see him smile most of the time.”
- John’s father couldn’t be happier with his son’s progress. “Thank you, Emily, for being a wonderful, caring, and sensitive NAET practitioner.” – John’s Dad
Other therapies utilized in conjunction with NAET and when each started:
“The combined effort of all therapies including a supportive environment is much more powerful than any one in isolation.” – John’s Dad
- Amy Yasko’s supplementation protocol from Autism: Pathways to Recovery with Dr. Sara Rodger’s guidance. Supplementation was on board 6 months before NAET started.
- 4 day rotation diet. With avoidance of gluten and casein and certain foods that were high on his IgG (delayed reaction) blood test. He has been on this diet for 1.5 years.
- Home exercises from Dr. Melillo’s Book Disconnected Kids, with a home treatment program from Brain Balance Center of Eagle. Exercises slowly started after 8 weeks into NAET treatment and increased every couple of weeks.
- Spiritual healing and qi gong with Rodney Blount started the same time as NAET treatments.
- Started at week 22 with Rich Richralston with subtle energy balancing and chakra balancing.
- Ongoing calm, consistent, well-trained staff in a supportive environment.
- Long-term on-going use of Applied Behavioral Management/ABA. The program is founded on John choosing as much as possible using “yes” or “no”, choice boards and pictures to empower him through choice.
- Mand training (a form of ABA) was used by staff to help John use words to ask for protective equipment rather than hitting himself to ask.
- Inclusion in family and community by going on walks and saying “hi” to neighbors.
- An amazing Dad who didn’t give up on his son!
For more studies on the use of NAET with people with autism read the Autism Study. There was a 68% reduction in the autistic behaviors of participants. 23 out of 26 patients were able to return to mainstream classrooms after 100 NAET treatments.