This is the final part of my interview series with Dr. Julie Buckley, author of Healing Our Autistic Children. (Click to read Part 1 and Part 2 of the series.) I want to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Buckley for writing about and presenting on this topic in a way that has profoundly changed my perspective and approach to life. I hope that you will enjoy and take something powerful away from this interview series.
LAW: Part 2 of your book is dedicated to guiding parents through biomedical treatments with their child’s doctor; please share a little bit about the standard steps to biomedical recovery.
JB: The hard part about autism is that there is little that is “standard” about the approach we use. It is a highly individualized process – each child is unique in their genes, in their environmental exposures over the course of their short lives, and in the manifestations of the disease process. It takes a careful eye observing, and careful ears listening to a parent to find a starting point for working toward recovery.

As I mentioned in Part 1 of my interview with Dr. Julie Buckley last week, I met Dr. Julie Buckley at the National Autism Association annual conference in the fall of 2010, but I was already familiar with her work. Her book, Healing Our Autistic Children, is one of my favorite books for parents raising children with ASD. In the book, Dr. Buckley shares very personal experiences (as a mother and Pediatrician) about how and why autism is a treatable medical disease. Also, the two times I’ve heard Dr. Buckley speak at NAA, I was greatly impacted. See my post about Caring for the Caregiver HERE inspired by Dr. Buckley’s presentations at NAA the past two years.
LAW: Please share a little about “The Big 3”: Inflammation, Oxidative Stress and Toxicity.
JB: When I teach families about the big three – toxicity, oxidative stress, and the chronic inflammatory response, I use the Venn Diagram approach that Sid Baker, MD and Liz Mumper, MD taught me. We know that autism, classically defined, is at the center of the intersecting circles, where behavior abnormalities, communication problems and social skills challenges intersect. But we also know that physically, autism lies at the intersection of three big problems – gut disease, immune dysregulation and methylation chemistry disturbances. It is these physical problems that give rise to the behavior/communication/social skills problems Leo Kanner observed. And even more fundamentally, it is the “Big 3” – toxicity, oxidative stress, and the chronic inflammatory response – that allow the physical things (the gut disease, the immune dysregulation, the methylation chemistry disruption) to get started, and then those physical things give rise to the behavior/social skills communication problems…it starts to feel a little bit like that old childhood song “I know an old lady who swallowed a fly…”

Last fall I met Dr. Julie Buckley at the National Autism Association annual conference, but I was already familiar with her work. Her book, Healing Our Autistic Children: A Medical Plan for Restoring Your Child's Health, is one of my favorite books for parents who work tirelessly to navigate the challenging waters of raising children with ASD. In her book, Dr. Buckley shares very personal experiences (as a mother and Pediatrician) about how and why autism is a treatable medical disease. It is well-written, easy to read and filled with tremendous information which helped equip me to be a better mother and caregiver to Ethan. Also, the two times I’ve heard Dr. Buckley speak at NAA, I was greatly impacted. See my most recent post about Caring for the Caregiver HERE. I hope you’ll enjoy Part 1 of our interview series. Let us know what you think!
LAW: Dr. Buckley, Please tell us a little about yourself and your personal and professional “interests” in Autism Spectrum Disorders.
JB: My professional interest in Autism developed as a direct result of my personal interest in Autism. My personal interest in Autism developed involuntarily and very abruptly when my daughter regressed profoundly at the age of four.

Last time we ended by explaining that breastfed infants have less food allergies and sensitivities. Those that have done testing previously may remember the IgA marker on the urine test. IgA is the first line of defense in the GI mucosa and when reduced may have greater food allergies and eczema. IgA is a crucial antimicrobial component also found in breast milk and those that show less tend to have “leaky gut” which leads to food allergies in many cases.

Raising a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder often means that every gain, small or large, is hard-fought. As parents, we invest our time, our money, our patience, our love - our everything - into helping our children feel well, be well and make progress wherever their deficits may lie.
Ethan has made tremendous gains in the past 3 years; tremendous. I am so pleased with how far he has come, how much healthier his body is and how much more in-sync with his peers and his family he has become. But, it wasn’t easy…and the past month has been a roller coaster of emotion, stress and frustration for me.
Just before I left town for the Autism One Conference in Chicago last month, I realized Ethan had a huge cavity. He’s never had one. So, when I left for the event, I knew that I’d be eagerly attending any and all sessions I could regarding dentistry for children with ASD, anesthesia, Nitrous Oxide, Methylation, basically anything that could potentially relate to our current situation.

Last October I wrote about connections with other parents on this journey HERE after Jenny McCarthy spent some time in Dallas with a group of Warrior Parents during a book tour for her most recent book: Love, Lust & Faking It. This week, as I prepare to travel to Chicago to attend the 2011 Autism One Conference with Jenny McCarthy keynoting with Byron Katie, I can’t help but recall that evening and get excited about making new connections and deepening existing connections in Chicago.

I want to touch on interpretation and the role it plays in your child’s recovery. When I refer to “interpretation” I am speaking to the act of the physician looking over, ordering and recommending properly. This is VITAL in any care plan and for any child. I have had hundreds of patients say to me “Dr.

I just got back from the Defeat Autism Now! Conference and as usual it was great. They are starting to advocate more for alternative therapies, including craniosacral therapy. I was happy to see them mention this as I too have seen huge improvements in my 8 years of doing this therapy. I had some time to speak with some of the leading biomedical physicians and we all agree that caring for these children takes a certain expertise and knowledge. Many doctors from all over the world come to learn about biomedical care and with the help of DAN! It’s become the starting point for many doctors.

As this month kicked off, I wrote about Autism Awareness and ACTION and shared with our readers how excited I am about an event in Plano…that is taking place tonight! Three local organizations and several fantastic sponsors including AutismSpot have all teamed up to make this event possible. AutismSpot’s own Kent Potter will be shooting photos at the event tonight and he and I will spend some time with the speakers bright and early tomorrow morning to film them for upcoming AutismSpot videos!
If you haven’t already made plans for the evening and can make it, please join us at 7pm at the Angelika Film Center in Plano (7205 Bishop Road, Suite E6). There is a lot of buzz about this event, so please come a little early to grab a seat!