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Approach To Autism Works For Family

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 5, 2008

Updated: 03/03/2008 07:56 pm

VALRICO - Ten years ago, when Aaron VanCleve was a little guy, he rarely spoke. Trips to Disney World or fairs were out of the question. He had no social skills and little awareness of the world around him.

Today, a 17-year-old with great grades and a love for animals, the high school sophomore's life has changed immensely, said his mother, Linda VanCleve.

She credits his doctor, who views and treats his autism as a disease rather than a developmental disorder, and his involvement with FFA and 4-H.

Aaron VanCleve chatted recently about the care and work that went in to preparing his 270-pound pig, Rizzo, for the Florida Strawberry Festival, which opened Thursday in Plant City.

"I've been showing for a couple of years now at Zephyrhills shows," he explained, using equine shampoo to bathe his large pink-and-black pig. "She does bite me sometimes."

Working with 4-H and FFA at Durant High School, VanCleve's social skills and sense of responsibility have skyrocketed, his mom said.

"These programs have been wonderful for him," Linda VanCleve said. "He's learned social skills, responsibility and routine, and the kids in FFA have really taken to him."

Aaron VanCleve's rooster, ducks and brown eggs won numerous awards at the Florida State Fair last month. But it all started with goats that have played a role in his physical and mental progress over the years.

Renowned pediatrician Michael J. Goldberg of Tarzana, Calif., performed 25 blood tests on Aaron VanCleve, then took him off bovine milk products.

Within 24 hours, he began to speak without prompting - a first.

"I was a believer from that point on," his mother said, standing a few feet away from her husband, Jim and Aaron VanCleve's twin, James, as they helped prepare Rizzo for her bath last week.

The VanCleves put Aaron on goat's milk and limited his diet in other ways as Goldberg recommended - no whole wheat or gluten, almost no red or yellow dyes.

Today, the family has four milk goats and regularly makes goat cheese and goat-milk ice cream.

Goldberg also has tweaked the medicines the teen takes, shooting for optimum progress.

Goldberg said he believes most children diagnosed as autistic suffer only some of the symptoms of autism but instead have an immune deficiency that childhood immunizations and the mercury in them can trigger.

According to his paper, "The Myth of Autism," he also believes that children treated for what he calls neuro immune dysfunction can, with proper treatment, make steady progress and become functioning members of society.

"He deals with one problem at a time," Linda VanCleve said of Goldberg. She said that's not the route most pediatricians take in treating autism.

"If you try to treat for too many things at once, you don't know what's really working. Dr. Goldberg uses simple medicine, and it works. I want to spread the word."

"The Myth of Autism" can be found on Goldberg's Web site, http://nids.net/.

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 657-4532 or at yhammett@tampatrib.com.

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