How to Get Your Mainstream Physician to See Beyond Autism by Sonja Hintz, RN and Sym Rankin, CRNA, APN

Mainstream medical practitioners see autism as a behavioral disorder and often overlook how sick our children really are. They need your help to understand that a child's autistic symptoms result from physical conditions that need medical treatment. This session will focus on becoming an informed advocate for your child's health care. Learn to help your mainstream physician understand the metabolic problems in your child so s/he can become an effective member of your team. This session will review current resources and lab tests, and we'll discuss how to match them with specific behavioral observations. The discussion will include the delivery of anesthesia and the unique risks your child may face. If you can speak the same language as your pediatrician, gastroenterologist, anesthesiologist or other medical professional, you can guide them to an understanding of biomedical treatments.

Sonja Hintz, RN has worked with children with disabilities since the age of twelve. Sonja witnessed her mother's efforts in developing independent living for adults with developmental disabilities, seeing adults move from institutions to new homes in the community, called group homes. At 16 she was hired to work in these group homes as a counselor which included living there part-time, teaching activities of daily living, and advocating in situations involving discrimination. Following, this Sonja worked as a public health nurse, a psychiatric nurse, and a neonatal intensive care nurse. Currently she is working at True Health Medical Center with Dr. Anju Usman. With the birth of her second child, Sonja was compelled to reevaluate her traditional based medical paradigms to meet the needs of her son, who was on the autism spectrum by the age of three. Through the use of a therapeutic diet, homeopathy, herbs, vitamins, essential oils, and chelation in addition to many other therapies, he has made a recovery. For the last 10 years she has applied what she has learned to help other children improve their quality of life.

Sym Rankin, CRNA, APN is a graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana and the Charity Hospital School of Nurse Anesthesia (New Orleans). As a practicing anesthetist for over 25 years, she has witnessed an alarming increase in chronic and autoimmune diseases. Those observations became less academic and more personal after her son was diagnosed with autism. Her son's journey of recovery led to Sym's realization that mainstream medicine is far more interested in merely treating symptoms than in asking the difficult questions of why those symptoms exist. She recently joined the practice at True Health Medical Center in Naperville, hoping that she can help other families on the same journey.