DAN doctors – There will be a new format for selecting DAN doctors and
putting their name on the Autism
Research Institute (ARI) list. Before, a person with no experience in ASD
therapy could simply attend one DAN conference and they were on the list. This
gave the following result on the system (I heard the following descriptions,
select the one you like best):
a. inadequate
b. needs to be reevaluated
c. didn't work out
d. dismal failure
e. I would have been better off using the Yellow Pages
The DAN people say they will try to use a different criteria so the DAN list
will be far more useful. This will include adding things such as the doctors'
specialties, interests, geographic region, and if they are taking new patients
in person, by phone consultation, or not at all. Hopefully, this will be more
meaningful to both the parents and the doctors. If anyone has any other
suggestions that would help the DAN folks make the list more useful for
everyone, now would be a great time to submit those ideas to the ARI site.
They are really trying to make it a quality, effective resource. It would be
great to let them know what you like see and what they are doing already that
is working well. They are quite short-handed with doctors getting into this
area.
SO:
1. If you haven't found a DAN doctor yet, don't worry that you are substantially missing something. There are only a very few who are very knowledgeable, and most of them are not taking new patients anyway.
2. If you met with a DAN doctor and had a not-so-great experience, you may want to give it another look in a few months with the new selection system. Dr. Amy Holmes was taking names of the "new" DAN doctors and whether they were even taking patients or not (some on the previous list were only into research). She said to give her a day or two to get it finished and it will be on the ARI site and/or her site. I just looked and it is not up now.
Check either of the following links in the following days: ARI home page or ARI DAN doctor. list
They also said they are quite short on knowledgeable people, and if you can
not get in to see someone good, find a local agreeable doctor of some kind
(pediatrician, neurologist, development specialist, anyone) who will work with
you. They can order the protocol (make sure you ask for and get the NEW one),
and you and the doctor can do it together. They said they will make an effort
to assist local doctors under these conditions and this was a good
alternative. They realize the entire thing is in flux, treatments are still as
little chaotic, and really are trying to meet the great need. Amy Holmes
outlined her chelation protocol and that is another post.
