The Longevity Formula

Can Autism Be Treated? A Doctor’s Perspective on Healing & Progress

• Dr. Brandon Crawford • Season 2 • Episode 41

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In this episode, Dr. Crawford addresses critical questions regarding nonverbal autism and autism spectrum disorders to help parents understand the underlying causes and ways to encourage positive change. Featuring a detailed patient story, Dr. Crawford outlines a multifactorial and multimodal approach to treatment, the significance of neurodevelopmental evaluation, and the challenges and successes of assisting children in communication.

He explores the history of autism, discusses contributing factors such as light exposure, stress, and chemical influences, and introduces innovative therapies, including photobiomodulation and regenerative medicine. Tune in for a comprehensive guide to understanding and addressing autism spectrum disorders.

Resources Mentioned

  1. Transcranial Photobiomodulation (tPBM) in Autism Treatment
    Study: A double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled study evaluated the effects of transcranial photobiomodulation in children aged 2–6 years with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The findings indicated that tPBM therapy reduced ASD symptoms, suggesting its potential as a non-invasive treatment option.
    Citation: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  2. Circadian Rhythm Disruptions in Autism
    Study: Research has shown that sleep problems are prevalent in individuals with ASD, with circadian rhythm misalignment being a significant contributing factor. A study focusing on autistic children and adolescents found that misalignment of the biological clock can lead to sleep disturbances, which are common in this population.
    Citation: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  3. Photobiomodulation as a Potential Treatment for Autism
    Review: A comprehensive review explored the application of photobiomodulation (PBM) as a non-pharmacological and non-invasive treatment for autism. The review highlighted that PBM could improve key characteristics of autism, including neuronal connectivity, inflammation patterns, and microbiome composition.
    Citation: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  4. Impact of Light Exposure on Circadian Rhythms and Autism-like Behaviors
    Study: A study investigated the long-term neurodevelopmental consequences of circadian disruption caused by rhythm-disruptive light exposure. The findings suggested that early-life circadian desynchrony could lead to enduring autism-like behaviors, emphasizing the importance of maintaining regular light-dark cycles during critical developmental periods.
    Citation: nature.com
  5. Systematic Review of Sleep Disturbances and Circadian Rhythms in Autism
    Review: A systematic review examined sleep disturbances and circadian rhythm alterations in children with ASD. The review found that children with ASD often experience irregular and delayed sleep pha

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Voice Over: Welcome to the Longevity Formula with Dr. Brandon Crawford. Let's explore the new era of wellness. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Hey everyone, welcome to the Longevity Formula, the podcast where we explore a new era of wellness through the pillars of faith. Light, Movement, Mindset, Nutrition, and Science. I'm your host, Dr. Brandon Crawford, and today's episode is all about answering some of the most pressing questions parents have about nonverbal autism and autism spectrum disorders.

So if you're here because your child isn't speaking, won't make eye contact, or shows behaviors that leave you feeling unsure of what to do next. This episode's for you. We'll address the underlying causes of these challenges and, more importantly, what steps you can take to help your child reach their full potential.

Before we dive in, I just want to kind of outline a recent patient story that we had come in, and this is not an uncommon story that we have. We've seen hundreds if not thousands, of autistic kiddos to varying degrees and for varying causes. We're going to talk about. Those different causes and how this is a multifactorial situation and needs a multimodal approach.

I'm talking about a beautiful little girl named Blakeslee. She came in after pursuing various other things like most people do. They got some results here and there, but they felt plateaued. They felt like there was more. They just didn't know what to do next and they felt stuck and that's oftentimes what we hear from parents and family members is that we just feel stuck.

We feel like we've done everything. We feel like we've put every type of supplement and done all the things into our kid and we're just not moving the needle. This is the most common rhetoric that we See in the office. So when we saw her, we have a very stepwise approach to evaluation and then treatment.

I'm going to outline that, but basically our neuro solution, energy, sensory movement methodology, and then we have some key modalities that we focus on. But again, we take a multimodal approach, the 1st step that we have to do is we have to examine and evaluate this person, the patient, and we have to be able to say.

This is where they are in their developmental trajectory, right? Because if we know that, then we know where we need to get them to next and then next and then next, right? Because the brain has this beautiful blueprint for how to develop itself. It just does. It's built in. This is how we're designed. So the goal is to identify where are we now and where do we want to go?

And then we have the plan right there in front of us. And that's exactly what we did. And we also need to understand. That therapy, healing, this healing journey is going to be like a roller coaster. It's not a linear trajectory up. That's just not the most common scenario. In fact, when that happens, we're actually surprised.

But it is a roller coaster of ups and downs and twists and turns and all of these different directions. That's exactly how it went with Blakeslee, while she was here they saw a little bit of change and then a little bit of things kind of worsen. We said, it's okay. Here's why. And here's why that's okay.

And here's how we're going to navigate it. And then they went home and then this little kiddo. who had been nonverbal started speaking. She said things like, I see no snow, and then she told her parents that she loved them, which is amazing. I mean, there's nothing better than that, right? So that's just, again, one of many, many different cases that we've navigated, but we just had some recent exposure on it, so a lot of you may be, asking questions about it or even, have found us because of that.

But this is not an uncommon scenario, that we see. So let's answer some big questions. The big question here, why isn't my kid speaking? And what can I do about it? This is the most common question, the most common concern. Roughly 30 to 40 percent of autistic kiddos or even adults or young adults, 30 to 40 percent of them are nonverbal.

This is a big, big concern for families and this is typically one of the most common thing that people are bringing to our attention and wanting help with. And the interesting thing about speech is that this is almost a full brain experience. Speech involves the brainstem, the cerebellum, the right hemisphere, the left hemisphere, and involves this confluence of all of these networks having to fire together 

and come together in the right brain wave organization patterns to express the right type of muscle movement, intonation, thought coordination, and all of these things so that you can express communication in this beautiful form that we call speech. There is not a one size fits all approach to a nonverbal situation.

Sometimes we need to focus more on the brainstem. Sometimes we need to focus more on the cerebellum. Sometimes we need to focus more on the right hemisphere. Sometimes we need to focus more on the left hemisphere. Sometimes we need to hit all of those networks in a stepwise order. And that's actually the most common scenario.

Things like Broca's aphasia, those are typically easier. It's one network. It's one area that we can like literally just focus on. Those situations are easier. That's not the typical scenario with a nonverbal autistic kiddo. It's not a Broca's aphasia. So it is a daunting task. It's challenging and it takes a skilled and qualified healthcare professional to be able to identify where in the Neuraxis, when I say Neuraxis, I'm talking about the spinal cord, the brainstem and the brain.

So where in the Neuraxis, Do we need to focus what is the intensity and frequency and the duration of all of these different stimuli that need to be applied in what order do we need to apply them? So it's, it's a dance, it's a practice, it's an art form with a science. So that's the unfortunate thing is that there's no one size fits all approach.

There's not a box treatment plan. But what we can do is we can determine where are you in that developmental trajectory? What networks do we need to focus on? And then from there. give you our best prognosis for how long this is going to take and what this is going to look like. Which again, I don't have a magic crystal ball.

So sometimes we're right and sometimes we're wrong. Sometimes we can give you our best prognosis and sometimes we're off by a week or two. Sometimes we're off by a few months. All of that is highly variable based on so many different factors. with care. Let's dive in here. Let's, let's just talk about the history of autism.

I think that's important. I personally like to understand, the history and etiology of things. So let's kind of dive in there first. Autism as we understand it today is a relatively Modern diagnosis, but descriptions of autistic traits have existed for centuries. So this isn't something that just all of a sudden popped up out of nowhere.

If we take a journey through history to understand how our perceptions and knowledge have changed, we'll see that, right? So while autism was not officially recognized until the 20th century, historical records suggest that individuals with autistic traits have existed throughout history. You probably know some of these people, right?

Through like the 16th and 19th century, some historical figures that have been speculated to have autism include scientists like Isaac Newton and Nikola Tesla. I recently, watched a whole documentary on Nikola Tesla. It got really interested in his life and all of his accomplishments and all the different things, and it was rather obvious that this guy was on the spectrum.

Now, he was a genius. He created so many things that we still use today, and I believe that he was able to do that because of his brain, because he had that spectrum like brain. He had this unevenness of skills. And we'll explain that a little bit more. But, In the 1700s and 1800s children with severe developmental delays were often misdiagnosed with intellectual disability or even schizophrenia or some type of mental disability.

Many autistic individuals were institutionalized in asylums due to a lack of understanding of their neurological differences. And that's just, that's just sad to think of. In the early 20th century, the first scientific descriptions here, so we have the first clinical descriptions of autism .

There were two different guys who almost simultaneously kind of thought of or uncovered some of these things. In 1943, there was Dr. Leo Kanner. He was an Austrian American. Psychiatrist who studied a group of 11 kids with severe social withdrawal, communication difficulties, and repetitive behaviors.

He coined the term early infantile autism. And then in 1944, you had Dr. Hans Asperger. He was also an Austrian. He was a pediatrician who studied children with milder traits, but high intelligence, obsessive interests, and difficulty with social interactions. His research laid the foundation for what was later known as Asperger's syndrome which is now considered part of the autism spectrum.

And they've kind of gotten rid of the diagnosis or the term Asperger's syndrome. At the time, autism was believed to be a rare condition. Affecting only a small subset of children. There is this one theory, through the 50s and 60s called the refrigerator mother. Let's talk about it. So like I said, in the 1950s and 60s, autism was wrongly attributed.

Again, I'll say wrongly attributed. To a parenting style, particularly a cold, emotionally detached mother. And again, this was wrong. Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, a child psychologist, promoted the refrigerator mother theory, claiming autism was caused by maternal neglect and lack of affection. This harmful theory led to decades of guilt and blame placed on parents, especially mothers.

It wasn't until the 1970s that researchers debunked this myth, recognizing autism as a neurological condition, not a psychological one. It's, again, kind of crazy to think that that was the prevailing theory through that time. And then we go to the 1970s where researchers began to explore biological and genetic causes of autism, linking it to brain development and neurological function.

In 1980, autism was formally recognized in the DSM 3. The DSM is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as its own condition separate from schizophrenia. In 1994, the DSM IV introduced the concept of the autism spectrum, acknowledging that autism exists on a continuum with milder forms like Asperger's syndrome and PDD NOS, and that stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorder, not otherwise specified.

In the late 1990s, the rise of autism advocacy groups like Autism Speaks brought more awareness to the condition. Then, there was an explosion. Not literal, but like an explosion through the 2000s. In the early 2000s, autism diagnoses skyrocketed with rates increasing from 1 in 150 children in 2000 to 1 in 36.

In 2024. That's huge. Multiple factors contributed to the rise and we're going to go through some very, we're going to go through a lot of different things. I will first point to that yes, there is an expanded diagnostic criteria. Okay, so more children with milder symptoms were diagnosed. I accept that. I think that's fine and true and accurate.

There's an increased awareness and screening. That's true. Doctors and parents were better equipped to recognize autism. Environmental factors, right? There's growing evidence suggesting that external influences like chemical exposures, gut microbiome changes, and even our light environment may play a role, right?

And again, I'm referring to literature, this is not conjecture. And I will quote some of the research, we'll go through some of that. In 2013, the DSM 5 Autism as a treatable condition. That's different. No one's ever really thought about it in that way. So traditionally autism has been viewed as a lifelong untreatable disorder.

But today we recognize that the brain is highly. Highly plastic, so that means a brain can mold and change and can adapt with proper intervention. Or if you don't want to call it intervention, call it therapy or stimuli or whatever, right? That's a blanket term. Many modern experts believe that autism is not a fixed genetic disorder, but rather a neurodevelopmental condition that is influenced by environmental factors.

We're going to dive into that a little bit more. This is why we now focus on underlying causes. Things like circadian rhythm disruption. stress in the parents and in the kids toxins and chemicals, neuroinflammation, brain imbalances, neurological dysfunction, so on and so forth. We're going to cover all those topics, right?

Rather than just symptom management. Okay. Next, let's actually talk about Syndrome versus essential autism because there's a couple of things we need to understand here, okay? So it's critical to distinguish between two main categories when it comes to autism spectrum disorders We have syndromic and we have essential and these are two very different situations We need to understand the distinction between them both and as a provider I need to know how to navigate both scenarios.

And then as a parent or caregiver, you need to know how to navigate both scenarios. So syndromic autism refers to cases where autism symptoms are associated with a specific identifiable genetic syndrome or neurological disorder. Now, these conditions are typically rare. They are rare. They account for maybe 5% of individuals with autism.

Okay? So when we think through genetic causes, right? So many syndrome autism cases result from a single gene mutation or chromosomal abnormality. Some of the most well-known conditions, right, which include but not limited to. These things include RET syndrome, which is a severe neurological disorder primarily affecting girls caused by mutations in the MECP gene.

Then we have Fragile X Syndrome, it's a leading genetic cause of intellectual disability and autism linked to mutations in the FMR1 gene. And then we have Tuberous Sclerosis. This is a genetic condition causing benign tumors in the brain and other organs, often leading to autism and comorbidities like epilepsy.

Then we have Phelan McDermid Syndrome. This is a deletion in chromosome 22 that affects brain development and social communication. And there are others, like I said. Key characteristics of syndromic autism. The first thing to understand here is that When we're working with someone with essential autism, which we'll get to that in a little bit, it's very common to see what we call an unevenness of skills.

So that person may have a very high intelligence, but they lack social intelligence. They may not be able to have eye contact, but they're very good with their with lining things up or keeping things in order or they're obsessive about things, etc. Right. So you see this uneven skill set. You may even see that uneven part of their nervous system reflected in their motor system.

So you see an unevenness to this individual. When we have a genetic component, this is typically a global phenomenon, right? We won't see in the body as providers. We won't see a lot of the muscle imbalances where the right side is doing this and the left side is doing that. The right pupil is doing this and the left pupil is doing this.

Some of these unevenness of skills are not as apparent or not present. So there's ways. to discern even without doing genetic testing, whether we think this is more syndromic or more essential. Oftentimes, syndromic forms of autism are more severe. There are more severe intellectual disability or a global developmental delay.

It may include distinct physical features associated with genetic disorders. Frequently, you'll have the coexistence of things like epilepsy. motor impairments, metabolic disorders, et cetera, that come with the genetic alterations. So that's what you'll typically see there. And then symptoms tend to be more predictable and tied to underlying genetic conditions rather than environmental factors.

After doing this now for about 15 years and seeing thousands of different cases, I personally can typically rather quickly. detect, hey, I suspect syndromic, or hey, this is most likely essential. Again, this is an art form. This is a practice and a science. And so I've been fortunate enough to work with individuals from all over the world.

I have seen thousands of cases at this point in time, and I feel rather confident about that. I'm not saying don't pursue genetic testing. I think you should. I'm just saying a good provider that has experience has key things that they look. For that, help us navigate the case accordingly. Interventions for syndromic autism, traditional medical treatments focus on managing symptoms rather than reversing the condition.

There are certain things out there right now looking at genetic treatments and therapies and whatnot, and potentially stem cell treatments and things like this, but what I will say. is that we have had really good success with the syndromic population in various regards. We've even seen improvements in things like down syndrome.

I know that's a completely different topic, but we've had several different syndromic and genetic variants come to the office and we have seen functional improvements in these individuals. Specifically, Here recently, with us doing the laser activated V cell procedure, and then especially those people are combining that with our intensive care, we're seeing great, like just recently we had a kid start, like they went from no speech to like 20 words after doing the laser activated V cell procedure.

Another kiddo started rolling and crawling and all these, so they had a, a, a great motor and this was a very young child, I think maybe a year old or something. And so we saw great motor improvements literally the week after doing the procedure. So even in this population, they still respond to proper care, to very specific care and targeted care.

And things like photobiomodulation can go a long way in this population as well. Photobiomodulation has been shown to have an impact on early gene responses and various levels at the genetic level. Vagus nerve stimulation, targeted metabolic therapies, like all of these things can still help. So don't think that, my kiddo has a syndromic form of autism.

There's nothing we can do. Not true. There is, and I'll tell you from a clinical perspective, we've seen good improvements in that population. It does require a different form of navigation and a different therapy application, but we know how to do that. I mean, I will say that. And this is not a promotion of, of us at all, but I will say that that is not easy and that's not something that most providers know how to do.

This is our specialty, right? My fellowship is in childhood neurodevelopmental disorders. So this is something that, we, we do quite well in my opinion. So again, while syndromic autism is well understood from a genetic standpoint, it represents only a small fraction of total autism cases.

Let's talk about this, right? Now let's talk about essential autism. Essential autism is going to be a non genetic form. of autism. And again, this represents the vast majority. This person has an unevenness of skills. They like proper social engagement. They may be non verbal. They cannot look at you in the eyes or they struggle to look at you in the eyes.

Maybe they're not hitting milestones. They didn't crawl on time. They didn't walk on time didn't talk on time, etc. That then bleeds into fine motor dexterity. But you see this unevenness of skill. They'll have a high IQ, super intelligent. And one thing that's really sad is if a kid can't talk, sometimes they're not seen as very intelligent when in fact, they're more intelligent than that teacher in the room.

You just don't know how to communicate with them. So again, you see this unevenness of skills, they're not developing like you would like, they're missing milestones, et cetera. There's so many different things going on here. So let's talk about what's driving it, what's causing these issues. And when I do this again, I want to be very specific and transparent.

I'm going to talk about things that you can reference in the research. If I throw something out there that is conjecture, I'm going to tell you that, okay? I do want to start by talking about light exposure. We have to understand, have to understand, that life is intimately connected with light. This is a foundational truth.

This is a fact that you cannot get away from, okay? From a faith based perspective, God created light before he created life. If you don't subscribe to that, that's fine. We can talk about the Big Bang Theory. Light preceded life. In that scenario as well, okay? Life comes before light. Light alters life.

Light determines your trajectory in life. Light can alter your stress response. Light can alter how your brain develops or does not develop. Light can alter your metabolism. There's actually 12 studies I can reference off the top of my head that connects light exposure to diabetes and obesity. It's a fact.

This is a foundational truth. And in fact, when you look at the skyrocketing of diagnoses, you cannot talk about that without looking at the skyrocketing of light pollution in the world and screen usage. And we are being bombarded by this high frequency white and blue light. I think for a reason, but we're being, we're having this exponential rise in exposure to the wrong types of light and you see a direct correlation with the rise of diagnoses like autism spectrum disorders and there's other things too that this correlates with.

It's not just autism. But we cannot be blinded and say that light doesn't matter, just stay in your classrooms under your fluorescent lights and stare at your screen and it doesn't matter because that's a load of crap. And I will not subscribe to that and I think that we need to be pushing back on that.

We need to change the lights in schools, we need to change the lights in the workplace, we need to change our screens, we need to look at our screen time, we need to wear proper eyewear if we have to look at a screen, etc. There are things that we can be doing to protect ourselves. Okay, that was my rant.

Let me kind of get back on track here. Obviously, I'm a little passionate about light. Okay, so light exposure plays a crucial role in fetal development. We know that. Particularly in the migration of neural crest cells and the establishment of circadian rhythms. Disruptions in these processes have been implicated in the development of autism spectrum disorders.

So let's talk about neural crest cell migration and light exposure. So neural crest cells are a group of migratory stem cells that contribute to the formation of various tissues and organs during vertebrate. embryonic development. So when you're a baby developing in utero, including components of the peripheral nervous system, cranial facial structures, brain, spinal cord, melanocytes, all of these things.

Proper migration and differentiation of neural crest cells are essential for normal development. Research has shown that environmental factors can significantly impact neural crest cell function and migration and differentiation, okay? We know this to be true, and in fact, you will find a higher prevalence of autism spectrum diagnoses in individuals that, and I will say in mothers, that had a higher exposure to high frequency white and blue light while they were pregnant.

It's just what we have seen. So anything from operating room nurses, to professionals that are inside under fluorescent lights and in front of screens all day like engineers or some kind of researcher or something like this, right? So there is a correlation there. Okay. Again, we cannot ignore it.

We were designed to have sun exposure. That's it. And the sun provides every spectrum of light that we need, but it goes beyond that. It provides the proper spectrum of light that we need at the right time of day. There's a different spectrum of light in the morning that we need. There's a different spectrum of light in the afternoon that we need.

There's a different spectrum of light in the evening that we need. The sun provides it. We can't shield ourself from the sun, be under high frequency white light, and think that we're going to be okay. There's going to be consequences to that, and that's what we're seeing. This is a big deal. What's the lever to counteract the high frequency white and blue light?

It's red and infrared. That's your counteract, right? The more exposure to the high frequency white and blue light you have, the more red and infrared you need. Okay, but I will tell you if you're pregnant get outside get sun exposure and get it on your belly Right that that developing baby needs, sun exposure as well.

It's interesting because as a belly is growing And the skin is thinning light is actually able to penetrate easier So it's almost like it's your body's response to get more light into the baby. Very interesting. And then we can talk about things like ethanol exposure, right? Alcohol during embryonic development has been demonstrated to impair neural crest cell induction, migration, differentiation, and survival, leading to a range of structural and functional abnormalities.

This impairment is associated with disruptions and processes such as epithelial to mesenchymal transition and chemotactic mechanisms, which are crucial for neural crest cell migration. I'm going to point to a few different things here. Here's one study that shows chemical exposure, in this case is alcohol, leads to disruptions of neural crest cell migration leading to functional changes.

And then we can point to one study that shows even temperature changes in utero can actually alter neural crest cell migration and have functional changes in that person.

Right? So we know this is a thing. We know this happens. Right? And then we have the circadian rhythms and how that affects neural development. Right? So circadian rhythms, I did a whole two part podcast. Series over this. I implore you to go watch it. Me personally, I think it's, my favorite episodes, but go learn more about the circadian rhythms and circadian biology.

But circadian rhythms are the body's internal processes that follow roughly a 24 hour cycle, regulating sleep wake cycles, hormone release, and other vital functions. These rhythms are heavily influenced by light exposure disruptions and circadian rhythms. during critical periods of development can have lasting effects on neural development.

A study published in Communications Biology found that circadian desynchrony in early life leads to enduring autistic like behaviors in animal models. This suggests that maintaining proper circadian rhythms during development is crucial for typical neurodevelopmental outcomes. What does that mean?

That simply means if you get your light exposure wrong, you are more likely to develop autistic like behaviors. That's the verbiage out of the study, okay? I'm not saying it causes autism. What they say is, get your light wrong, be more likely to have autistic like behaviors. That's, that's what it says, okay?

This is very important. Furthermore, exposure to artificial light, especially blue light from screens, can suppress melatonin production, a hormone that regulates sleep In circadian rhythms, the suppression can lead to sleep disturbances, which are commonly observed in individuals with autism spectrum, disorders, but it goes well beyond that because then you're going to also see influences and effects on the dopamine systems, the serotonin systems.

All of your neurochemistry essentially, is going to be altered and be affected when you start to get your light environment wrong. So the interplay between light exposure, circadian rhythms, and neural development suggests that environmental light conditions during pregnancy and early life could influence the risk of developing autism spectrum disorders.

Ensuring appropriate light exposure to maintain circadian rhythm integrity may be a potential avenue for supporting healthy neuro development. Super, super important guys. I cannot stress this. Enough. Children today are just bombarded with artificial light exposure, disrupting their natural circadian rhythms, melatonin production, serotonin, dopamine, all the neurotransmitters.

I mean, this is. A real problem, then you have lack of proper sunlight limits, mitochondrial function and proper neurotransmitter expression leading to just a bad scenario, not just autism spectrum, but mental health across the board, physical health across the board, metabolic health across the board. Okay, I'll stop talking about light for a little bit, we might come back to it. Okay, so stress responses, let's talk about that because there is research to discuss here. So prenatal exposure to environmental stressors have been associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder. Studies suggest that maternal stress during pregnancy can disrupt fetal brain development.

Potentially leading to neurodevelopmental disorders. Again, that's a published study. It's very important to keep mama happy and not so stressed when she's pregnant. Very, very important. That looks different for everyone. It just does, right? So I'm not gonna say, everyone needs a, 10 month vacation and all this.

That's not what I'm saying. Although I think that'd probably be a great thing. But it is important that there's proper maternity leave. It is important that the mom is given the opportunity from the employer to bond with their child and to nourish themselves. Because the implications of that go well beyond just that mother child connection.

That is an essential Part of society, and if we don't recognize that and support that, we will continue to see our society break down. So it's very important. And, if you're even if you're just a small business and you're like, man, I can't give maternity leave, figure it out, find a way it's important.

 Then we have maternal immune dysregulation. So stress during pregnancy can also lead to the mom's immune system being dysregulated, which has been implicated in autism spectrum disorder risk. Altered immune responses in the mom may affect the developing fetal brain as well, contributing to autism related outcomes.

Research indicates that prenatal maternal stress can have lasting effects on the offspring's brain. Structure and function, potentially leading to behavioral and cognitive challenges associated with autism spectrum disorder. It's important. We have to acknowledge this. Now let's talk about chemical exposures.

Prenatal exposure to ambient pesticides have been linked to an increased risk of autism and offspring. Living within 2, 000 meters of pesticide application during pregnancy is associated with a higher autism risk, suggesting the importance of environmental factors. In autism spectrum disorder, etiology, again, I'm just going through the research.

That was not conjecture. This is out there. This is published. This is peer reviewed. Chemicals like BPA, commonly found in plastics, have been associated with a higher likelihood of autism in children. A study from the Florey Institute in Melbourne found that boys exposed to elevated BPA levels in utero were significantly more likely to develop autism related traits.

Go figure. Exposure to air pollutants, particularly from vehicle emissions, during pregnancy has been linked to an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder in children. Pollutants like nitric oxide can disrupt normal brain development, leading to autism related outcomes. So let's think through this. I could go on, but I just picked.

Various different articles discussing improving links between chemical exposure and the increased risk and prevalence of autism spectrum disorder or autistic like behavior or autistic traits. Okay, confirmed. It's there. But then you're going to turn around and tell me that the chemicals and adjuvants and vaccines are totally safe and have no impact.

I don't understand that. So we can see. In the research that are going to impact, how our brain develops, but it's okay to inject it directly into our blood supply. Hmm, okay. Interesting. So we have peer reviewed published literature that demonstrates exposure to various chemicals and pollutants do in fact affect the development of the brain and promote autistic like behaviors, but as soon as we start to shift the conversation into discussing vaccine safety, all of that goes out the window and the rhetoric becomes they're safe and effective.

Again, this just doesn't make sense to me and I'm not saying, I'm not saying that vaccines cause autism, that's not what I'm saying, but we have links in the peer reviewed published literature.

that connects chemical exposure to developing these traits and these things, right? And we're going to just write it off and say, no, no, no, that doesn't really, that's not really a thing when we're talking about vaccines. There's, I think there's something wrong there. I've made this statement before, I'll make it again.

I've had hundreds of parents at this point in time that have told me I had a normal child until they received X, Y, Z vaccine, right? It's not always the same one. I've heard this story in so many different ways. And then they witnessed their child change from that point on. We cannot ignore that. Okay. And again, I'm not saying that this is how it is for everyone.

Again, if you go back to my first statement, This is a multi factorial problem that requires a multi modal solution. But I don't like that we're not listening to this group collectively as a society. We're not using that as a data point to make things better, to make things safer. That's what we should be doing.

We can't ignore this. But on the other end, I will say this, we'll acknowledge, I've had fully autistic children, in my practice that were never vaccinated. So I've had that too. Again, this is multi factorial. Now I will say. There's very few of them, but I've seen them. So again, my stance is that this is a multifactorial situation.

It's difficult to find the smoking gun. Sometimes it may be obvious, but in the majority of cases, autism spectrum disorders, it's the confluence of so many things like parental stress, immune dysfunction, inflammation, chemical exposure, brain imbalances, circadian disruption, nutrient imbalances, detox pathway challenges, et cetera.

It's multifactorial. Some will have heavier issues in certain areas, right? Like maybe for this kid, the detox challenges are the main thing. For this one, it's the neurological imbalances. For this one, it's the nutritional imbalances. For this one, it's the chemical exposures, right? But that's where we as providers need to help you navigate that scenario, okay?

There's not a one size fits all. There's not a smoking gun, typically. And that's where this becomes a practice, an art, and a science. So let's shift gears a little bit. Let's talk about brain and neurological imbalances. And this is where it gets fun for me, right? Because this, this brings in the rehab part that, that we can have a huge impact on people with.

So research has identified atypical brain asymmetries in individuals with autism spectrum disorders, particularly in regions associated with language and social processing. For instance, alterations in the size and function of the corpus callosum. I know that's not language or social processing, there's a study talking about corpus callosum which connects the brain's hemispheres, have been observed in autism.

There's QEG coherent studies that show, a reduced functional connectivity, to various degrees. And in, developmental functional neurology, we have noted that a common brain asymmetry in autism is a weaker right side of the brain and stronger left side of the brain. I personally do not typically see a global right side or a global left side approach fits best.

This is my personal opinion, and my clinical observation, but rather we'll find functional weaknesses within specific lobes or networks within the brain. And then sometimes we may focus more on the right side. Or left side, whatever the situation is, but we'll still need to improve function in specific networks in the other hemisphere, right?

It really just depends on what is presenting and it's based on the evaluation. It's based on objective metrics. It's based on things like QEG studies and things like this, right? We have ways to identify where we need to navigate, through the brain. So it is rare that I'm taking just a strict right brain approach.

I don't, we don't typically do that in our office, that is not how we navigate the case. But we will see, sometimes we need more stimulus into the right hemisphere. And then we need to specifically stimulate this part of the left hemisphere. So it's not like a global approach. It's like a very specific targeted approach.

So that's what we've, typically seen. Just one comment on things like OCD and Tourette's. I personally had Tourette's, I had a kiddo with Tourette's. And I've had to navigate that personally. So this is something that I definitely look at through a different lens. And then I've seen because of my personal challenges I've seen a lot of triadic cases.

I've seen a lot of OCD cases and I repeatedly have seen a combination of a right of a weakness in the right prefrontal cortex, in the left temporal lobe. Now, again, don't go, Oh, Crawford said OCD is reduced right prefrontal and left temporal. Like, that's not what I'm saying, but that's just a common presentation that I have seen when it comes to OCD and Tourette's.

So just things like that. Some people in our functional neurology groups, they subscribe to the strict Right brain, left brain approach, and that's fine. Look, it gets results, and it doesn't hurt anything, and that's good, and that's a great foundation. But we definitely take it a step further, and we get as specific as we possibly can.

And I'm biased, but I think we get better results. Okay again, many kids with autism show that right brain weakness, left brain dominance, which affects social processing, emotional regulation, big picture thinking, gross motor skills, this kind of thing. The left hemisphere is often overactive, leading to rigid thinking, repetitive behaviors, hyper focused on details, while the right hemisphere controls more of the social emotional skills, sensory integration, non verbal communication, etc.

This combination, it can contribute to anything from speech delays to poor eye contact, difficulty with emotional regulation, et cetera. The term functional disconnection syndrome, this is a thing, this occurs when the brain hemispheres are not communicating effectively or efficiently, making it harder for children to process social and sensory information.

Ultimately, what we need to understand from our perspective, we need to understand that there is a neurodevelopmental blueprint. You heard me reference this earlier. So ultimately what we need to understand is that there is a neurodevelopmental blueprint. You heard me reference this earlier. This is important.

This is going to really make a huge impact on how successful therapy really is. We have a certain order that our brain likes to develop in. This is a blueprint. This is built within Each one of us, the big buckets that we have to navigate are sensory systems, primitive reflexes, postural reactions, core stability, vestibular balance, eye movements, and cognition.

And we like to take them somewhat in that order. Sometimes we'll take certain things in parallel. We oftentimes will have to work primitive reflexes in parallel with postural reactions. Depending on the scenario, we typically will work some type of core stability every step of the way. And with core, we need to understand that we need to identify how to convert muscle spindles.

Do we need to focus more on isometric tone, eccentric tone, et cetera? That all matters. I did do an entire podcast on this whole concept of the neurodevelopmental disorder. So I do implore you, I think it would be a good idea if this interests you to learn more about it, to go back and watch that podcast.

But that is important. You have to understand the blueprint. You have to understand. That through the diagnostic process, we need to know where are you in this blueprint and what bucket of care do we need to focus on. And then that helps us develop a plan and a prognosis. So you're here and then the next step is going to be getting you to here and that's going to take roughly this long.

It's not just, Hey, I want to, I want my kid to speak. Right? It's like, okay, well, maybe we need to first focus on muscle tone around the face. Maybe we need to focus on breath control, which then we start having to talk about the vagal system, et cetera.

Right? So brainstem, cerebellum, right hemisphere, left hemisphere, we need to know how to navigate this stuff. Next let's talk about the neuroimmune metabolic interactions. Emerging hypotheses suggest that interactions between the nervous system, immune system, and metabolic systems during development may contribute to autism spectrum disorders.

Prenatal stress and neuroinflammation can reprogram glial cells, those are the resident immune cells in The central nervous system affecting neurodevelopment and increasing autism risk. There's also really interesting information showing that the microglia, which are the glial cells I'm talking about, those are highly connected with neuroplasticity and development in general.

But there's really, really cool information and research that's been published there. So immune function can be directly tied to neuroplasticity and development. There's also a higher prevalence of neuro autoimmunity and autism spectrum disorders. Some suggest that the neuro autoimmunity in fact is the driver for the autism spectrum situation, right?

So I've seen this to be the case sometimes, and sometimes it's a small part. Sometimes it can be, again, one of those little factors and sometimes it can be a huge factor. It can be the elephant in the room. And if you address the autoimmunity and address the triggers, then you see all that autism, all the autism symptoms.

fading away. Again, you have to know how to navigate these cases. So I'm talking about things like pans, pandas, patans, these things. So just to kind of give a little overview of that, kind of the umbrella term would be autoimmune encephalitis. That just means your brain is inflamed because the immune system is attacking some part of it.

So if you have this upregulated immune response, driving inflammation in the brain that can lead to one of these diagnoses. Pans is a, a more general, generalized term pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric syndrome. And you have pandas, which is the same thing but associated with strep. And, and that's just specifically associated with strep.

And you have pathans, which is the same thing, but can be associated with any infectious trigger. And then you even have diagnostic criteria for emotional triggers. 'cause emotional triggers can also upregulate an immune response. Driving autoimmunity, mold mycotoxins can trigger this. Anything that influences the immune response can drive one of these autoimmune scenarios.

And there's ways to diagnosis. Don't just go out and get a strep test and be like, this isn't applicable to me. No, there's, there's good tests my favorite test is the neural zoomer plus. You don't just want a doctor that can just run it. You want a doctor that can run it and read it. And then not just read it, but then overlay it with your clinical picture.

Know if it's applicable, if the findings are applicable or not. Because all too often I get a neural zoomer run by someone else. And they're like, Oh, they said I don't have this. It's like, well, but actually you do. And here's this finding and this finding and this finding suggestive of this. And you will overlay your clinical picture.

And here's the actual diagnosis. Very, very common. This does require some advanced training and things. But that's, that's my favorite test to run here because it does test for several different autoimmune triggers and diagnoses. Emerging research suggests a potential link between exposure to mold and its byproducts known as mycotoxins, right?

We need to understand if there's an autoimmune component, we then need to find the trigger to the immune response. It can be food. Okay, so let's understand that if there is this autoimmune component. If you do testing, whether with us or someone else, and you find some type of autoimmune encephalitic.

situation or pans, patans, pandas, whatever, we have to understand that we may then want to go and investigate potential triggers. Triggers are going to be something that stimulate or cause this over activation of the immune response to then attack certain receptors or tissue in the brain. So we need to then go looking for anything from Food intolerances, to chemical intolerances, to mold and mycotoxin issues, to anything that we can, right, and we cannot test for everything, but we can test for certain things.

And sometimes we can see dramatic effects, right, through this testing and whether it's eliminating a food or detoxing a chemical or detoxing mold and mycotoxins, right. We can have dramatic results because now we're down regulating the autoimmune response, and then we're halting, or at least lowering, the autoimmune and inflammatory insult on the brain and the nervous system, and now we can actually see the brain start to develop.

Now, of course, I would argue you would still want to speed things up by doing proper neurological developmental rehab, things that we do, but you know, that's what I think. Now, there are connections specifically with mold and mycotoxins and autism spectrum disorders. There's emerging research that suggests a potential link between exposure to mold and its byproducts known as mycotoxins and the development of or exacerbation of autism spectrum disorder symptoms.

Mycotoxins are toxic compounds produced by certain types of mold that can contaminate indoor environments and food sources. Exposure to these toxins have been associated with neurological, gastrointestinal, and immune system disruptions. It's even connected with cancers, like there's all, there's various connections in how mold and mycotoxins can wreak havoc.

So a systematic review highlighted that mycotoxin exposure might adversely affect neurological and inflammatory pathways, potentially influencing autism spectrum development. Anecdotal reports from caregivers have noted improvements in various autistic symptoms following the identification and remediation of mold exposure in living environments.

I've seen it. clinically, right? And again, sometimes it's a huge factor for someone and sometimes it's a minor factor. And we don't know until we start navigating that case. I will say this, that is something that I as a clinician want to discuss with all my patients is that this is a journey. We won't know how much of an impact this has for you or your loved one until we really start wading through this and we start doing a detox, we start doing rehab and we start doing all these things, right?

There's no way to know until we start to navigate the case. Again, so practice and art and science, so understanding these factors highlights the complex interplay between. Genetics, environment, neurodevelopment, et cetera, and autism, addressing these elements through comprehensive interventions can support optimal brain development and function in individuals on the spectrum.

So very, very important, right? So let's shift this conversation to what can we do to support neuroplasticity and help these kids thrive? So here's what I tell everyone that is working with us. Our goal. No matter what we're working with, whether we're working with someone with autism, ADHD, brain injury, movement disorder, pain syndrome, whatever it is, here's my goal.

My goal is to promote positive neuroplasticity. That's the goal. Because if we can do that, we will see functional changes. We will see dramatic improvements. We will see lives change if that's our goal, that's our function, and everything is geared towards that. We've developed the Neurosolution Energy Sensory Movement Methodology.

It's a cutting edge approach that combines multiple interventions to drive brain balance. We follow that neurodevelopmental blueprint, but then we also leverage certain very, very, very powerful modalities and strategies to enhance neuroplasticity along the way. so again, this involves working through the neurodevelopmental blueprint, like I referenced earlier, this is key, right?

And we have a stepwise progression of how to develop and balance the nervous system. We have our own proprietary methods. We stimulate the vagus nerve in certain ways, the trigeminal system. We use various types of sensory integration. We even use neurofeedback at times. And we'll use novel types of movement therapy, really focusing on muscle spindle conversion.

Which I think is something that is not discussed a lot in which I did touch on in the neurodevelopmental blueprint podcast, right? But that is key because muscle tone is a direct reflection of brain tone. So if we're not focusing on converting those muscle spindles accordingly, then we're not going to see a full integration of perimeter reflexes.

We're not going to see postural reactions turn on. We're not going to see all of that lead to the confluence of cognition in this thing we call life. We're going to target so many things. We're going to target the nervous system. We're going to target the immune system. We're going to reduce inflammation, modulate inflammation.

We're going to improve connectivity between brain regions. We're going to do whatever is needed and whatever is indicated based on the evaluation that we do and here. Over the past few years, we've also leveraged regenerative medicine approaches to enhance neuroplasticity even more.

And so what did we see? We got even faster results. So we do things like the laser activated v cell procedure. V cells are very small embryonic like stem cells. We have a proprietary method where we can actually draw your blood, turn it into a certain type of plasma. Then we have a specific laser just used for this procedure where we can activate those V cells, turn them on and then put them back in the individual and then use that specific laser to hone those cells into the different brain regions or body regions that we want those cells to focus on.

Dr. Jerry Levine and myself. have done a podcast talking about that procedure specifically. So if you want to learn more, please, it's in the, the queue of all the different things all different podcasts that we have. So now we've actually also started to leverage things like extracellular vesicles.

This has been mind blowing. Extracellular vesicles are little micro vesicles that are produced from various types of cells. We only use EVs from a very specific source. We only use those derived from amniotic fluid from pluripotent stem cells within amniotic fluid.

So you can get EVs from platelets, from macrophages, from other sources, and they do good things. But if we want the regenerative capacity, we only get them from pluripotent stem cells, from amniotic fluid. We have a very specific source. We can use those by themselves doing an IV push.

We can combine them with our V cell procedure to enhance. It's almost like applying. fertilizer for those stem cells. So we enhance the procedure that way. There's so many different applications that we're actually developing, and seeing phenomenal success by leveraging these regenerative medicine procedures, to improve outcomes and to get where we want to get faster.

Very important. So how about this? Let's go back and talk about light a little more because I don't think I spoke about it enough. I know y'all are probably like, shut up about the light Crawford. But. We didn't really touch on the rehab side of light. We talked about light in general and the bad forms of light and all this kind of stuff.

And who knows what tangents I went on, I don't remember. But honestly, one of the most promising advancements in neurological rehab and neurodevelopmental support is the application of photo bio modulation. Photo bio modulation is a fancy term that simply means changing life with light. Particularly through the company 528 Innovations, which is.

The company that I do own part of, we have developed a new product line, a new line of therapy lasers, we have specifically calibrated the laser beam. And that's one thing that needs to be understood is that every laser is different and just because you're using the same. Power that was done in this study, but it's a different product.

You're not getting the same dose oftentimes. And there's so many different factors to consider. There's the laser beam physics, things like the duty cycle, the pulsing frequencies, the type, what is it collimated is not collimated. All of these different things. There were some rather ignorant statements just said recently that, Oh, that's not a collimated beam.

Therefore, it must be an led. No, actually we're using an optical system, a proprietary optical system that I had. Several different optical engineers designed for us because of the specific type of laser beam that I want to produce to be able to produce specific types of effects in the body. And guess what?

I don't want a collimated beam to do that because we get better results when we do it this way. So we actually have a very specific optical diffusers scattered throughout the laser to produce a certain type of laser beam. Yes, it's a laser. It's not an led. Anyway, I'll stop on my tangent there. But anyway.

What is photobiomodulation? I kind of touched on that already in what we're doing in 528 Innovations. We have created a whole different type of laser that has never been seen before in the world. But how can photobiomodulation work with autism and neurodevelopmental disorders? Well, photobiomodulation, just from a simple standpoint, works by using specific wavelengths of light.

to penetrate tissues and interact with mitochondria. That's the powerhouse of the cell that gives the cell its energy, its fuel. And the wavelength is typically red or infrared. That's the most common wavelengths used. I'm very excited about green and what I've been seeing from using green applications and what is very, very promising when you read through the limited research that's out there.

But there's some very, very good things with green that I'm not going to elaborate on now. Violet is very exciting as well, but the majority of the time you're going to see red and infrared deployed here. So the interaction enhances the production of ATP. So the interaction of a specific wavelength of light interacting with the cell and the mitochondria increases ATP.

That's the fuel source of the cell. And if you increase the fuel of the cell, whatever that cell needs to do is going to do it. better and more efficiently. So it needs to heal. It will heal faster if it needs to produce a neurotransmitter, it will do that more effectively. Whatever that cell needs to do, if you, if you give it proper photobiomodulation, it's going to do it better.

Some other things that we see with photobiomodulation is that we can regulate brainwave activity. Children with autism often show abnormal EEG and QEEG patterns, including things like excessive slow wave. Which is your delta data wave activity or reduced coherence between brain hemispheres, which are several studies that show that photobiomodulation has been shown to modulate brain activity and improving connectivity and function.

We did a pilot study in our office where we far exceeded what. is considered as safe dosing standards, but we did it under the auspice of coactivation, which is my intellectual property, discussing how we can change what's called the biphasic dose response curve by how we activate the cells we're trying to influence.

So just think of it like if you. Push down on the gas pedal on your car. Your car uses more gas. So if I cause a cell to fire faster or with more amplitude or whatever, it's using more fuel. Therefore it needs a higher dosage of photobiomodulation. That's the whole concept. So we proved it and we did do a pilot study.

I didn't publish it because I do have intellectual property within that, but we did prove that the dosing strategies and the methods that we use actually have a dramatic impact on brainwave production brainwave activity in the brain, balance, HRV, vagus nerve activation, and cognitive scores. So very, very exciting things there.

Photobiomodulation will reduce neuroinflammation. We know that chronic inflammation, often triggered by immune dysregulation or environmental toxins or gut brain axis issues, is a common factor in autism. Photobiomodulation reduces inflammatory markers such as cytokines and oxidative stress, creating a more favorable environment for neuronal communication.

Just touching on gut, because we haven't touched a lot on gut, I feel like that's You know, beat up quite a bit in this space, although it is a factor. One thing that I can tell you with confidence is that when you use the right wavelengths of light with the right modulated laser beam, you will see very beneficial changes in the gut microbiome.

You will see the gut barrier heal. You will see increases in good bacteria, reductions in bad bacteria, et cetera. So the application of photobiomodulation can have very, very far reaching benefit. Anything from all the things that we've talked about so far to changes in microbiome to regeneration of tissue, very, very exciting stuff.

We can enhance neuronal firing and connectivity. Many children with autism exhibit right brain weaknesses like we talked about, left brain dominance, leading to challenges that we've already discussed about, right? But when you start to use photobiomodulation, we're going to stimulate synaptic activity.

So we're going to make these nerves start to fire better. We're going to stimulate neurogenesis, which is new neuronal growth. And we're going to improve myelination, which improves signal speed and efficiency throughout the brain and the nervous system. All of this means we're promoting. Neuroplasticity.

Remember, the goal is to improve positive neuroplasticity. So if we do that, we're going to enhance communication between the brain regions. We're going to improve functional connectivity and ultimately lead to faster outcomes and better function in general. So you can live life to your fullest potential.

Very, very important. So is there evidence that supports using lasers and light therapy in people with autism and neurodevelopmental issues? Absolutely. There's a growing body of research that supports the use of these fancy lights for cognitive enhancements, speech development, and motor function and more.

I mean, seriously, there's studies that show transcranial photobiomodulation can significantly improve executive function. working memory, attention span. And these, the study was done in kids with developmental delays. Many children with autism experience delayed or absent speech like we've talked about, often due to poor connectivity in the brain.

Again, photobiomodulation has been shown to enhance activation in speech related regions, improving language acquisition and verbal communication. And then we have motor function and coordination changes too. There's studies that show when you use photobiomodulation, you'll see an improvement in fine and gross motor skills, balance, and coordination.

Research suggests that photobiomodulation enhances motor cortex excitability as the part of the brain that moves the body, improving coordination, muscle control, movement patterns, et cetera. Very, very exciting stuff. I mean, seriously. So like I said, I think every person right now should be using.

Some type of photobiomodulation from a clinical perspective if you're a clinician or a doctor or a therapist of some type and you're not using Photobiomodulation and therapy I think you should it's safe and it's effective There is literally no reason not to the only reason not to is you don't know what product to get you don't know how To use it etc.

I understand that and there's a lot of different products on the market And, and there's a lot of good products on the market. So I would say do your research and, find what works best for you and for your practice, because your patients need this. Now, one thing, again, I am an owner in 528 Innovations.

I am one of the developers of this technology. But one thing that we did do is we developed a system that helps you navigate use, right? So we actually have programs that will walk you as a home user through how to use the laser for certain scenarios. And we've had to work with an FDA consultant on this to make sure that we stay within proper guidelines, because trust me, I would like to give you as much as I possibly can, but we have to navigate, through the legalities of what we can deliver.

So it's really important, that's a factor with use, right? Because this is a safe modality. This is a effective modality. We just have to teach you how to use it. And so we built an app that will help you navigate that. That's so important. And then from a clinical side, there's support and there's things in the app.

And there's ways that we've structured it as well to also help with the learning curve and to help you get the best outcomes in that regard as well. Again, going back to the research, there's recent studies. That have provided evidence supporting the use of photobiomodulation as a promising intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

For instance, a study published in Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reported that transcranial photobiomodulation, that means using photobiomodulation through the skull through onto the brain, led to a significant reduction in childhood autism. rating scale from the second edition, indicating a decrease in autism spectrum severity.

The intervention also resulted in notable changes in EEG readings such as decreased delta power and increased gamma and beta power. which are associated with improved neuronal function. Importantly, no moderate or severe side effects were reported, underscoring the safety of transcranial photobiomodulation in this context.

Now, that study was not done with my 528 lasers. About to begin doing our own research there. This is good research. It was great It doesn't mean that you only get these results with that product or with that power or with this protocol or whatever, right? So we don't want to put ourselves in a box and say nope.

This is what it said This is how we have to navigate it. This is the only way you get those results because that's not true. So another study Highlighted, again in Frontiers Neurology, explored the impact of transcranial photobiomodulation on young children with ASD. The findings suggested that transcranial photobiomodulation could modulate brain activity and reduce ASD symptoms, further supporting its potential as a therapeutic tool.

Additionally, a pilot study focusing on adults with high functioning ASD found that transcranial photobiomodulation was associated with significant improvements in social responsiveness and overall functioning. Participants reported enhanced social engagement and reduced repetitive behaviors indicating that transcranial photobiomodulation may positively influence core ASD symptoms, right?

So again, collectively these studies suggest that photobiomodulation specifically on the brain for things like autism spectrum disorders is a good thing. We cannot argue anything against that. It is, out there. Studies have been done. More need to be done. We will do more, but it is an elephant in the room that you see good benefit.

We see good benefit when we use the right wavelength of light with the right dosage, all of the things come together. We see very good results, right? Very important and I don't have three hours to go into everything But I mean look there's so many other things that we can talk about.

We've kind of touched on the circadian rhythm discussion I want you to go back and listen to the podcast on that We didn't touch a whole lot on detox and how to properly navigate that I felt like that can be a whole podcast in and of itself but here's one thing I will tell you if you're trying to detox and you're having challenges detoxing It may very well be that you need to integrate parts of the nervous system that are controlling those detox systems.

So we may need to work on some primitive reflexes or some vagal tone or trigeminal tone or whatever it may be so that you can actually have the neurological integrity to detox. Maybe it's not just you need a different supplement, maybe it's that we need to integrate the brain so that this can happen, right?

And we see this for anything. Chemicals, heavy metals, mold, mycotoxins, you name it. We didn't talk about nutritional optimization. This is another big one, right? There are key nutrients to focus on for sure. I'm a huge fan of DHA, docosahexaenoic acid, DHA is a part of fish oil. It can also be found from things like algae oil.

High doses of this are very, very important. You need DHA for brain development. In fact, when baby's developing in the womb, if the mom's not eating enough DHA, the baby will steal it from the mom's brain. This is. Pregnancy brain. It's a real thing. So you can actually lose brain volume as a mom if you're not consuming enough DHA because your baby has to have DHA to build a brain and nervous system.

I do love the product called Fatty 15. This is a very, very, very important nutrient C15. It's fatty acid. Very important. But there's a whole host of nutritional products and supplements and vitamins and all these things that, that are very beneficial. Also think that this is a space again, that deserves its own.

Podcast its own discussion. Maybe we'll get a guest expert or something like that. Because yeah, once you really start looking into this, you can get analysis paralysis. And you're like, Oh my gosh, I need to be taking 200 different things a day and all this kind of stuff. So it can be a little hairy to navigate.

But that was a big one that I just wasn't able to touch on this time. I do want to iterate the autonomic nervous system modulation is important. We need to make sure the vagus nerve is functioning properly, that your vagal tone is appropriate, that you're developing your dorsal vagal sympathetic nervous system, ventral vagal responses appropriately and you have proper.

Inhibition when needed, et cetera, right? So that's a whole nother, that's a polyvagal discussion. I did do a podcast talking through the polyvagal theory, et cetera. So that's something that, you can go back and listen to. Okay. So let's wrap this up. I feel like I've been talking for a long time now and I don't want to beat a dead horse.

So some things to think through. Autism is typically multi. Factorial and therefore needs a multimodal approach to help the individual live to their fullest potential. As a provider, I have to be able to navigate care accordingly based on the individual needs of that patient. Anything else is just unacceptable.

There does not need to be any blanket statements made or boxed treatment plans given. That's not the right approach. Everyone with autism doesn't need to go through the same program. Everyone with autism doesn't need the same supplement. Everyone with autism doesn't need the same detox. I hope if you've gleaned anything, you've gleaned that this is a journey and navigating that journey looks different for everyone.

Autism is not a static condition. The brain is capable of change. When we remove stressors and optimize the environment, I've seen it firsthand, guys. Kids who are once nonverbal start speaking. They start improving social skills and becoming more engaged in the world around them. They start telling their parents that they love them.

They start hugging them. If you're a parent, practitioner, or someone looking for real solutions, I encourage you just to explore our NeuroSolution ESM methodology. I'm a little biased, but I developed it, and our proprietary laser solutions, like I talked about, you can visit NeurosolutionATX. com, but there's other good doctors out there, right?

There's all kinds of good people in this world trying to do good things and just help people. Now, unfortunately, there's also the opposite of that, and I don't want to talk about them that much, but there are people just prying on the different demographics and people that are really just trying to help.

Help their loved ones and that's sad. So the most important thing is find someone that cares about you, cares about your kid and they don't have to have all the answers. I don't have all the answers. I'm not going to claim to have all the answers, but if you find someone that cares and you find someone that is willing to help you navigate and willing to go through this thing called practice, right?

When we practice something that's ever changing. And understand that this is an art with a science, right? That's the individual, that's the practitioner that you want helping you every step of the way. Thanks for tuning in to the Longevity Formula. If this has been helpful, please like, share, subscribe, all those things.

If there's someone that you think could benefit from this podcast, please send it to them. As always, I appreciate you and I look forward to next time. Thank you so much for tuning in.

Voice Over: We hope today's episode has inspired you to take that next step toward your best self. Remember, the path to longevity is paved with small, daily decisions. Your journey is unique. And every step, every choice, brings you closer to your ultimate vision of a healthier, happier life. For more insights, tips, and resources, visit drbrandoncrawford.com.

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