A child with attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity or mild forms of autism like Asperger syndrome is generally not able to control his or her actions, unless of course there are systems in place to monitor and control their activities. Conventional medicine is often prescribed to suppress the nervous system which manages the child’s energy level, thus allowing teachers to control the learning environment in class.
Sometimes, a teaching assistant is assigned to work one on one with a child with either of these conditions to ensure proper behavior and to refocus the child on his studies when he becomes distracted. No matter what external support system is in place, the child is not able to control his behavior without practical and/or medical intervention.
The vital force is that “thing” inside every being and every substance in creation that gives it life and character. When the vital force is strong and healthy, the organism is healthy; but when it’s sick or there is discomfort in the vital force, the body is sick. In the case of children with ADHD, Asperger syndrome or other mental illness, the vital force is expressing its discomfort or dysfunction on the mental level.
To illustrate, an autistic person has psychological symptoms like blindness to social cues, communication problems, minimal eye contact, apparent lack of empathy, hyper-focused interests, need for structure and routine, trouble fitting in, literal to a fault, bizarre behaviors, difficulty with sports or athletics, precocious reading abilities, physical hypersensitivity, fear of failure and low self esteem. The mission of Classical Homeopathy is to find within these typical symptoms those characteristics which are strange, rare and peculiar; that is, to find out what makes him or her different from most other autistic people.
In the case of young boy in nursery school who came for treatment of allergies and chronic cough, his speech and muscle development were delayed as an infant, and he didn’t have the instinctive social skills to participate in classroom activities with the teacher or the students. He complained that he can’t focus on the classwork, and the teacher commented that he can not process a series of instructions when given at one time.
On the physical level, he wass allergic to animals with fur, trees, grass, and dust; he reacted with intense itching all over his body, especially in his eyes. He had a chronic cough that often developed into bronchitis, and had chronic ear infections as a baby.
The interview with the little boy was entirely different than a typical homeopathic consultation. Since his social skills were limited, I asked him to draw pictures and to tell me the story in each picture. The first picture was a boy with an orange face jumping into a pool; the second was a rainbow; and the third were abstract items that he described as fire, electric, metal, confusion, spike, punch, grass, water. The common theme in all three pictures was water. Throughout the interview he repeatedly described fire, sun, air and he had a peculiar affinity to the colors blue, red and orange. He told me that the pool is a place for only children and babies – no adults. I observed that he did not look at me unless I asked him to do so. He never mentioned his parents, nor his teachers nor siblings.
Water was the key to the remedy because this was the one thing that stood out in the interview. His favorite color was blue and he told me that water and air are blue so the appropriate remedy had to have these characteristics. A search of these sensations along with the physical symptoms lead me to select the remedy Neon.
Neon is obtained by liquefaction of air and is classified as an inert element. An inert element is one which doesn’t combine with other elements because it’s Atomic Number is 10 making it’s outer orbit complete. Interesting, this element is colorless in nature but reddish, orange when pressurized in tubes and blue when a little mercury is added.
When selecting remedies that are similar to that described by the client, a homeopath must understand how the original source actually functions in nature. Based on all the information accumulated in this session, this remedy was the most homeopathic (i.e. similar) to the non-human specific characteristics that this little boy described.
As of this writing, this child continues to progress well with his social skills consistently and gradually improving.
Neon is only one remedy amongst many that has successfully treated mild forms of autism in clinical practice. Other remedies include Helium – an inert element, DPT – derived from the vaccine of the same name, Oryza sativa – aka Rice, Carcinosin and Tuberculinum – two nosode or miasmatic remedies derived from diseased substances, and various other common mineral, plant and animal source remedies.
It is strongly advised to work with a trained classical homeopath when using homeopathy to treat chronic mental illness. Though homeopathic remedies are considered safe and are sold over-the-counter in health foods stores, self-prescribing may not have the same results as that which is available by a homeopath practitioner.
For more information on Classical Homeopathy treatment of ADHD, Asperger syndrome and other mental disorders, I strongly suggest the following reading material:
“A Drug Free Approach to Asperger Syndrome and Autism” by Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Robert Ullman
“Ritalin Free Kids”, also by Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Robert Ullman
“The Impossible Cure” – The Promise of Homeopathy by Amy L. Lansky, Phd