[Note: Since posting this in 2008 I have written a guide for parents. You can find it here: EFT for ASD]

Anyone who has the opportunity to get to know a family with a child who has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) knows how baffling and mysterious ASD can be.

One of my regular clients has a son, “Nathan”, who was diagnosed with ASD. About two years ago I approached Nathan’s father, “Jason”, and share with him that EFT can be very effective for clearing up substance sensitivities. In a number of cases symptoms of children with ASD have radically improved when substance sensitivities had been cleared up.

[“Defeat Autism Now! (DAN)” (a collection of medical doctors, research scientists, and parents) is leading the charge in showing how substance sensitivities can be related to the symptoms of ASD. Their protocol is very thorough, dealing with but not limited to allergies, diet, digestive enzymes, vitamins and minerals, and the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. These areas are taken one at a time. Each child responds differently to each step, but it gives parents and doctors a methodical approach to deal with symptoms.]
With some skepticism Jason agreed to try surrogate tapping for Nathan’s sensitivities. Using surrogate muscle testing I created a protocol of substances to tap for and time frames to tap for each substance (e.g., times a day and number of days). To help reduce Jason’s skepticism I told him, “Even if nothing comes of the tapping, you will be thinking loving thoughts about your son a few times a day.”

Just as a coincidence the day Jason started tapping for Nathan, Nathan was taken to a language lab and tested out having the verbal skills of a 20 month old. He was six at the time. Two weeks later, when the language lab started for the school year, Nathan was asked to leave because his verbal skills tested equal to those of a 5 1/2 year old.

Seemingly overnight Nathan started speaking in complete sentence and using three syllable words. The only change in those two weeks was the surrogate tapping of the parents.

Within three months Nathan’s general practitioner had taken him off all of his behavior medications. Jason reported the GP saying, “I have no idea what you’re doing, but don’t stop.”

Over the last few years Nathan’s parents have been slowly working through the DAN protocol. As part of the process a number of months ago Nathan was tested for and diagnosed with “leaky gut,” a very common condition for children with ASD. In very simple terms, leaky gut involves microscopic holes in the lining of the GI tract. Particles of food slip through these holes, moving directly into the blood stream without being properly processed.

Because of some other medical treatments Nathan was going through, they were not going to start the leaky gut treatment for three months after the diagnosis. I asked Jason if he was willing to do another surrogate tapping experiment. Having seen the obvious successes from clearing up the substance sensitivities, he was excited to try.

I drew Jason a very crude drawing of what the cells in the lining of the GI tract look like and what happens when leaky gut occurs. Each night for a few minutes Jason would tune into Nathan and see the cells moving back together, closing the holes, while tapping.

Three months later when it was time to start the leaky gut treatment Nathan was retested for a base line. In the three months that Jason had been tapping Nathan’s leaky gut had improved dramatically. The doctors were quite surprised.

We are now looking at each of the steps of the DAN protocol to find ways that each of those steps can be surrogately tapped for.