Here are the interventions we've already tried.

I really am in a quandary as to which interventions to pursue next. The other part of my quandary is that we don’t have the money to pursue any of them (but that’s never stopped me before). At this juncture, though, I’m wrestling with the following:

Neurofeedback. We have the basic equipment to restart this therapy in our home. However, it a significantly outdated model and to upgrade is $600. But neurofeedback is probably the top intervention on my list right now.

HBOT. Our biomedical doctor wants us to do another 40 dives. And we have a clinic here in Georgia that offers the therapy at a fabulous rate to children on the autistic spectrum. Problem is it’s an hour commute one-way. The thought of 40 2-hour trips (and the cost of gas there) is a bit daunting.

Trauma Therapy. We chose in April to begin bi-weekly trauma therapy at LuLu’s attachment therapists. This has been working. How do I know? In many ways she’s more volatile than before. She was doing really well initially, and we definitely needed to address her trauma now that puberty hit. But the last 2-3 weeks things have been dredged up to the point that she’s extremely obsessed with her past trauma. So, looks like we’ve got to keep going with that one.

Fast ForWord. She made gains and the speech therapist recommends the next level. I agree that it would help, especially with reading fluency. We can do the therapy at home, so it’s only the cost factor holding us back.

Neurodevelopmental Therapies/Sensory Integration Therapies. This is an area we really haven’t explored sufficiently. When she was 6 we did a few weeks in the summer of SI therapy (brushing & compression, swinging). We saw little result and went back to focusing on neurofeedback. However, every evaluation shows a significant difference in most areas of sensory processing, and again I know parents who have made significant impact in their children with these interventions. LuLu will be receiving neurodevelopmental exercises at her summer camp, so maybe that will give me some more input as to whether we should pursue further.

Vision Therapy. For a child whose visual processing is only in the second percentile (98% of children her age process visual information better), vision therapy should be a no-brainer choice for us. We have had LuLu evaluated by a very good developmental optometrist, who is just waiting for us to call and start the therapy. Again, money and time are factors. And this therapy takes significant time and dedication. I’m also a bit worried about LuLu’s frustration level.

Meanwhile, we’re holding the status quo on all supplements and medications. If I were independently wealthy, I re-run all her biomedical testing to see how much things have improved (or not) and would probably do another QEEG.

Is your head spinning yet? Mine sure is. I truly believe that each one of these interventions has the potential to lessen what’s in LuLu’s bucket and make her life easier. But I’m not sure where to turn next.