We have decided to have Christian participate in a study involving the effectiveness of vitamin D given to children with ASD who are vitamin D deficient. It is a closely monitored study, so we figured that it wouldn’t hurt Christian and would actually benefit him health-wise, especially considering that he doesn’t consume dairy products or get enough sunshine.

We have completed our end of the paperwork and Christian has had his labwork done (he was quite low on the d scale), so now we are waiting to hear back from the council so that we can get started. I’m pretty excited about this upcoming opportunity for Christian.

Here’s the initial email that got us started…

Vitamin D Council announces free clinic to treat vitamin D deficiency in children with autism

The Vitamin D Council is finally kicking its vitamin D clinic for children with autism into full swing this week. If you know of a child with autism, and the parents are willing to give adequate doses of vitamin D, the Vitamin D Council will help the parents with our new free vitamin D clinic for children with autism.

Studies show that many children with autism have low vitamin D levels and some parents have reported that some children appeared to show a treatment effect when vitamin D blood levels achieve high normal ranges. However, we do not promise any such treatment effect, only that an adequate dose of vitamin D will treat vitamin D deficiency. The entire goal of the clinic is to bring vitamin D levels up to the high normal range.

The clinic consists of free autism rating scales for parents and teachers, free vitamin D blood tests (up to $65.00 per test), free visits or phone calls with Dr. John Cannell, and, if needed, free vitamin D supplements.

I am curious to see where this takes us. 🙂