The Investigators

NORTH TEXAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― It was a diagnosis that a Burleson mother just wouldn't accept. Doctors said her five-year-old son was so severely Autistic, that she should send him to an institution. Today that son is 12-years-old and, according to his doctors, shows no signs of the disorder.

Kristi Chrysler is a single mother who has had her share of challenges raising a family. Her son, Richie, began to regress in his abilities at 12 months. It took nearly four years for doctors to diagnose Richie with Autism. By then, the signs were unmistakable. "He was very aggressive, he had major breakdowns, 10 times a day," explained Chrysler. "Each one could last from 10 minutes to 60 minutes where I would have to hold him to prevent him from banging his head, hurting himself or running after and hurting someone else."

Doctors told Chrysler there was no hope for Richie. "Every night, I'd put him to bed and sit there and he'd have to rub my arm to fall asleep and I'd sit there with tears streaming down my face just thinking, 'Who in an institution is going to do this for him?'"

The North Texas mother began researching and talking to any doctor who would give her hope. "I just really prayed about what could I do to help my child be able to stay home that was my goal and my objective," she said.

Chrysler took a biomedical approach to treating Richie. She had him tested for food allergies and he came back positive for a dairy allergy. Once she removed dairy and dairy proteins from his diet Chrysler says, "He wasn't quite so aggressive, not quite as many breakdowns. And then I removed gluten which is the wheat protein."

With the changes, Chrysler noticed more improvement. Then she added an anti-oxidant to his diet. The steps proved positive for Richie. "Each individual intervention would often produce some kind of positive results."

Richie continued traditional treatments which included speech and physical therapy. Chrysler charted the progress to understand which therapies were impacting Richie the most. "Its lots of different pieces and figuring out what's broken in a child and fixing it and as you do it, the symptoms eradicate themselves," she said of her son's progress.

  Click here for a list of Autism resources in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Dr. Carolyn Garver of the Autism Treatment Center of Dallas applauds Chrysler's efforts. "Some of the things she has done are very valid. I don't know that it's in the general mainstream."

According to Dr. Garver, anytime a child with Autism shows improvement, it is a success. But she warns, "I just don't want people to get false hopes that it's going to work for their child, it may not."

Dr. Garver also cautioned that many alternative approaches, such as biomedical, have not been scientifically studied. And it's not always clear which therapy is causing the improvement. "What is working? Is it the educational intervention or is the biomedical or both? And some people don't care because it's working."

Kristi Chrysler says the biomedical approach is working for Richie and she is now home schooling her son. "Now he's talking about being a mechanic, taking cars apart and putting them back together."

Chrysler also says Richie's recovery has impacted the entire family. "He's got a life. All my children have a life. I have a life. It's given life to everybody."

Chrysler has written a book entitled "Autism Recovery Against All Odds. Below is a list of several upcoming book signings:

Event Date: Saturday, September 26th
Event Time: 4:00 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
University Park Village
1612 S. University Dr. #401
Fort Worth, TX 76107
Store Phone Number: 817-335-2791

Event Date: Saturday, October 10th
Event Time: 2:00 p.m.
Borders
4000 Arlington Highlands Blvd.
Arlington, TX 76018
Store Phone Number: 817-557-4831

Event Date: Saturday, October 17th
Event Time: 2:00 p.m. 
Barnes & Noble
Hulen Shopping Center
4801 Overton Ridge Blvd., Suite 100
Fort Worth, TX 76132
Store Phone Number: 817-346-2368

Event Date: Saturday, October 24
Event Time: 3:00 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
Sundance Square
401 Commerce Street
Fort Worth, TX 76102
Store Phone: 817-332-7178

To learn more about Autism and treatments available, visit the Autism Treatment Center of Dallas website.

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