The Four Root Patterns of Autism in Oriental Medicine — Part 1 of 4 There is a child I see often in my practice, not one specific child, but a type that parents describe in strikingly similar terms. He is bright, almost luminously so. He notices everything. He can tell you exactly which birds are in the backyard by their calls, or recite the specifications of every train model he has ever seen. But put him in a grocery store under fluorescent lights with a dozen conversations

An expansion of the original post from November 2019, updated with current AAP guidelines It’s 11:30 pm, and your child comes into your bedroom complaining about not feeling well. At first, through your tired eyes, it seems like nothing out of the ordinary, but then you get the feeling that something is different this time. Your child has a fever, but this is nothing new. How do you know when to treat them at home, when to take them to the doctor or clinic, and when to take t

The Four Root Patterns of Autism in Oriental Medicine — Part 4 of 4 Parents of children with this pattern often say some version of the same thing: “He’s never really been well.” Not acutely sick most of the time, but not fully well either. There is a persistent quality of fogginess, a low-grade congestion that never quite resolves, a susceptibility to illness that seems to exceed what other children experience. And when he does get sick, it is always the same illness. The sa

The Four Root Patterns of Autism in Oriental Medicine — Part 3 of 4 There is a pattern I see in children with ASD that parents sometimes describe as “it’s like the signal isn’t getting through.” The child seems to understand more than he can express. Language is present but inconsistent, emerging clearly in some contexts and disappearing under stress. Repetitive behaviors, rocking, spinning, lining up objects, are persistent and difficult to interrupt. The GI system is stoppe

One of the most common things I hear from parents of children with ASD is some version of this: “He’s not anxious, he’s just overwhelmed.” Or the reverse: “I think it’s anxiety, but I’m not sure if it’s the sensory stuff or something else.” Parents are right to notice the distinction matters, because anxiety and sensory dysregulation, while they often occur together, are not the same thing, and addressing them well requires understanding what is driving what. This post is the

The Four Root Patterns of Autism in Oriental Medicine — Part 2 of 4 Not every child with autism presents as hyperactive or sensory-overwhelmed. There is another presentation that parents describe just as frequently, and it looks almost like the opposite. This is the child who is difficult to get out of bed in the morning, who has eaten the same four foods since age two and resists anything new, who drifts through school in a fog and needs to be redirected constantly. He is no