Calming behavior in children with autism and ADD: a free, EMR-reduction protocol

Photo credit: freepik

I began posting earlier versions of this paper in 2017.

In 2006, a two-year-old with delayed speech, high-pitched screaming and anxious behavior visited California pediatrician Dr. Toril Jelter’s office with his parents. The boy hid under her exam table and would not make eye contact. Eventually, he was diagnosed with autism. An indirect test suggested that mercury was an issue—perhaps because his mother had eaten lots of mercury-laden fish during her pregnancy. (She’d hoped that the fish oil would make her baby smarter.)

To address the child’s behavior, a biochemist proposed chelating (eliminating) the mercury. The parents asked Dr. Jelter to monitor their son during this treatment. She declined: she’d never heard of such a treatment. Current standard of care recommends speech therapy and a reinforcing good behavior.

The family left Dr. Jelter’s practice and found another pediatrician.

Three years later, the family visited Dr. Jelter again. To her astonishment, the boy—then five years old—made good eye contact with her and spoke normally. He had friends and performed above average in his classroom without an aide.

“If one child can recover from autism,” Dr. Jelter thought, “so can many more.”

Autism, metal toxicity and EMR exposure

Starting with a call to Andrew Hall Cutler, the boy’s biochemist, Dr. Jelter began researching environmental and integrative medicine. She learned that exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from wireless technologies can impair a person’s ability to expel toxic metals. In environments with less EMR, children with autism excrete greater amounts of mercury. 

Dr. Jelter also reviewed hundreds of scientific studies and found over 50 overlaps between signs and symptoms of heavy metal toxicity and signs and symptoms of EMR exposure—including genetic alterations, retina optic damage, increased inflammatory reactions, immune shifts, genotoxicity, increased oxidative stress, altered fetal development and increased auto-immune risks. Scientists get curious with an overlap of one biological dysfunction. She saw Clearly, more research is warranted.

The numbers rise

In the mid-1960s, one in 10,000 U.S. children was diagnosed with autism. In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that one in 88 children had the disease. Two years later, in 2014, the CDC found a nearly 30% increase, with one in 68 U.S. children having autism.

Data collected in 2020 shows that one of every 36 eight-year-old U.S. children has autism. In California, one in 26 (3.9%) has autism. Boys are four times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with the disease.¹

Dr. Toril Jelter’s Two-week Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) Reduction Protocol

As a first-line therapy for a child with autism or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Dr. Jelter developed an EMR-reduction protocol and began offering it to families in her practice.

Before beginning the trial, evaluate your child’s sleep quality, behavior, mood and speech. Find a checklist at the Autism Research Institute’s website, https://www.autism.org/autism-treatment-evaluation-checklist/

For a simpler evaluation, name three of your child’s biggest problems, and rate them from zero to ten. (Zero means no problem; ten means the worst imaginable.)

Put your evaluation in a drawer—then try Dr. Jelter’s protocol: 

1.     Turn off the Wi-Fi router at night for at least 12 hours. For Internet access, use a CAT 5 or 6 Ethernet cable.

2.     Eliminate all cordless (DECT) phones. Keep all mobile devices at least six feet from children. Keep all mobile phones off in the car. (If both parents agree, do not expose children to any wireless technologies for two weeks.)

3.     Turn off the electricity to your child’s bedroom at night at the breaker box if you can do so safely. Beside your child’s bed, keep a flashlight that they know how to use. (If your home has a “smart” digital, transmitting utility meter, avoid being near it for prolonged periods. If your state’s regulations allow, request a mechanical-analog meter—not a transmitting one.)

After the two-week trial, evaluate your child’s symptoms again. Then, compare the two lists. If your child’s behavior has not improved, return to your original electronics usage for one to two weeks; again, rate the severity of your child’s three main problems from zero to ten. If you observe no change in this second trial, then EMR might not be contributing to your child’s illness. Or, your home’s EMR levels may be so high that behavior may calm only by moving to an area with less EMR. Consider hiring a certified EMF consultant or building biologist to assess EMR exposure at your home, school and in your car.

Of course, diet also plays a key part in children’s health. The supplement to the 2010 Journal of Pediatrics reports that 40-80% of children with autism have difficult-to-diagnose gastro-intestinal problems. A poor diet (with large amounts of processed foods and/or sugar, for examples) can increase a child’s vulnerability to environmental exposures. Optimal nutrition can increase a child’s resistance.

Case studies

One family that tried Dr. Jelter’s protocol had a four-year-old boy with autism who had slept poorly for two years. At night, he climbed into his parents’ bed wanting to talk, play and eat. So, his parents had not slept well for two years, either. Within the first week of their EMR reduction trial, the boy slept through the night in his own bed. (Because wireless radiation can lower the sleep hormone melatonin, it can also disrupt sleep.)

After two weeks, Dr. Jelter prescribed a multi-vitamin and pharmaceutical-grade, molecularly-distilled fish oil. The boy’s appetite then improved, and his bowel movements became regular. Since it usually takes more than two weeks for significant change from supplements, Dr. Jelter thought that his improvements most likely resulted from lowering EMR exposure. Or, the combination of reduced EMR-exposure and supplements may have improved his health.

Later, the boy’s poor sleep returned, and he climbed into his parents’ bed again. His mother thought he’d eaten too much sugar for Halloween. Then she learned that her older child had re-activated their Wi-Fi router. Once the router was turned back off, the four-year-old’s sleep improved again, and his behavior calmed. Within two months of supplements and reduced EMR-exposure, the boy’s cognitive abilities improved two grade levels.

Another family had an aggressive, non-verbal ten-year-old boy with autism. Every night, he ran around the house, screaming from 10 pm until 3 am. His mother suffered from a seizure disorder. Because this family lived on a military base with high levels of background EMR, Dr. Jelter doubted that the protocol would help. But the parents decided to unplug their cordless phones and eliminate their Wi-Fi router at night.

Within three days, the boy’s aggressive behaviors decreased; and for the first time, he spoke a complete sentence.

Motivated, the family eliminated all of their wireless technologies 24/7. Dr. Jelter also prescribed pharmaceutical-grade, molecularly-distilled fish oil for this boy. After three weeks, his nightly screaming stopped. His speech, digestion and sleep continued to improve. His anxiety—and his mother’s seizure disorder—both decreased.

Andrew Goldsworthy, PhD, retired lecturer in biology, Imperial College, UK explains EMR exposure’s impacts on children’s brain development: Some genetic forms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) can be accounted for by known mutations in genetic coding for ion channels that result in an increased concentration of calcium in neurons. This can lead to neuronal hyperactivity and the formation of sometimes inappropriate synapses, which in turn may lead to autistic behaviors.²

Just after birth, a child’s brain goes through an intense period of becoming aware of new sensory input, like recognizing his or her mother’s face, her expressions, and eventually other people and their relationships.³ During this process, the neurons in the brain make countless new connections, and the brain stores what the child learns. Connections that are rarely used are pruned. The patterns that remain could become fixed into the child’s brain. This pruning process is completed before sexual maturation.⁴

If the child is exposed to radiofrequency (RF) fields during this pruning process, the production of too many and often spurious signals will generate frequent random connections. These will not be pruned, even though they may not make sense. These children may lack the mindset for normal patterns of social interaction, which may then contribute to various autistic behaviors.

Mobile phone and Wi-Fi signals can also cause cell membranes to leak and calcium ions to flow into the cells excessively.⁵ Hyper-excitable cells and children may result in children’s brains losing the ability to concentrate in the classroom.

Further, like night-time electric lighting, EMR (from Wi-Fi, cell phones and antennas) decreases melatonin production.⁶ Melatonin is a sleep hormone and a powerful antioxidant. It can reverse oxidative stress that results from radiation exposure.⁷ 

While scientists continue to explore how EMR exposure reduces melatonin production and whether EMR-induced oxidative stress contributes to autism, we ought first to do no harm to our children. Consider Wi-Fi an impediment to learning, rather than an aid. Also, Wi-Fi may be particularly hazardous to pregnant teachers, since exposing a fetus or a very young child to EMR may prevent normal brain development.⁸

Because of genetic and environmental variability, not everyone will suffer the same symptoms. Some may not suffer at all. For the sake of those who do suffer, Wi-Fi is not a good idea in schools—or anywhere else for that matter. For better health, keep Wi-Fi off while you sleep, and choose wired Internet access.

We can all be researchers

A father of children with autism once noted, “If one percent of smartphones didn’t work properly, the production line would be studied systematically, and the problem would be eliminated in a month. We need to respond to autism in the same way: find the source of its dramatic increase and eliminate it—and give our children a better chance.”

Dr. Jelter says, “As researchers explore possible environmental contributors to autism, they would be remiss not to include EMR exposure. As telecom providers add 5G and utilities add smart meters, our children’s agitated behavior signals that we need to use technology more safely. Meanwhile, there’s no harm in a two-week EMR-reduction trial.”

Resources and work that complements Dr. Jelter’s protocol

“Autism and EMF? Plausibility of a pathophysiological link—Parts 1 and 2” by Dr. Martha Herbert (pediatric neurologist at Harvard Medical School) and Cindy Sage (co-editor of BioInitiative Reports) in Pathophysiology 2013.

While young children’s use of mobile devices has increased from five minutes a day in 2020 to 55 minutes in 2022, and by age four, most children have their own devices, JAMA Pediatrics reports a connection between todlers’ tablet use and emotional outbursts. A one-hour increase in daily tablet use at age 3.5 links to a 22% rise in anger and frustration by the following year.  Another JAMA Pediatrics study linked TV screen time and development of sensory-seeking behaviors such as obsessively watching a spinning object, becoming slower to respond to stimuli like hearing one's name called, and avoiding certain sensory experiences, such as new foods and noisy environments.

Www.BabySafeProject.org has a brief video with Yale Medical School ob/gyn Dr. Hugh Taylor about the effects of in-utero cell phone exposure on children’s behavior.

Buie, T., “Evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of GI disorders in individuals with ASDs: A Consensus Report,” Pediatrics, 2009-1878c. Doi:10.1542/peds.

Cayne, Sarah M. et al., “The growth of problematic media use over early childhood: Associations with long-term social and emotional outcomes,” Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 159, October 2024. Study of media use in children between 2.5 and 5.5 years of age. Initial levels of problematic media use related to social and emotional problems four years later.

Dunckley, Victoria, MD, Reset Your Child’s Brain: A Four-Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades and Boost Social Skills by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen-Time, New World Library, 2015. Today, “Nearly one in five teenagers displays symptoms of smartphone addiction.”

Environmental Health Trust posts Simple Steps Can Help Reduce Every Day Wireless Exposures.

Graber, Diana, Raising Humans in a Digital World: Helping Kids Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology, HarperCollins, 2019. Can your children unplug? manage their online reputations? keep themselves safe from cyber-bullying, predators, sexting, revenge porn? Do they know what to do if they encounter unhealthy relationships online? how to protect personal information? how to think critically about the information they find online? If you answer “no” to any question, then your children are not ready for the massive responsibility of owning a connected device. The stakes are too high. However, with time and patience, you can teach kids these life skills. Ask them to write down their online activities, and the number of hours they spend online every day. Ask what benefits each screen-time activity gives. If you had no device, what would you do? Would you take one-day-a-week to do these things? Would you create tech-free zones in your household and at school?  

Children, Radiation and Health, excellent talk from British pediatrician Erica Mallery-Blythe, MD.

Screen-free toys and activities from Katherine Johnson Martinko.

Dr. Joel Moskowitz, UC/Berkeley public health analyst, posts studies and policy developments regarding EMR exposure.

Nagata, Jason M., et al., “Bedtime Screen Use Behaviors and Sleep Outcomes in Early Adolescents,” J. of Adolesc. Health, 2024. Leaving notifications on, even in silent mode, leads to less sleep compared to turning the phone off or keeping it outside the bedroom.

Delaney Ruston, MD developed the ScreenAgers documentaries and offers tools to Keep Phones “Away for the Day” at School. Many schools and school districts have banned cell phones. After John Wallis Church of England Academy required students to keep phones in a sealed pouch, detentions dropped 40% and truancy reduced 25%.

Simonson, Stewart D., “Evidence for increased autism due to electromagnetic pollution from high power microwave antennas.”  

Singer, Katie, An Electronic Silent Spring, Steiner Books, 2014, reports on the laws about EMR exposure and its biological effects on public health and wildlife. For reports on electronic technologies’ energy use, extractions, water use, toxic waste and worker hazards, visit

A Spanish version of “Calming Behavior in Children with Autism.”

At www.zonein.ca, Canadian occupational therapist Cris Rowan offers resources for children to balance tech time with movement and time in nature.

References

1.     https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p1202-autism.html https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html 

2.     Hawley, T. and M. Gunner, “How early experiences affect brain development,” (2000), https://www.theounce.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/StartingSmart.pdf

3.     Huttenlocher, P.R. and A. S. Dabholkar, “Regional differences in synaprogenesis in human cerebral cortex,” J. of Comparative Neurology, vol. 387, no. 2 (1997): 167-178.

4.     Egglias, J. et al, “Dynamics of Pruning in Simulated Large-Scale Spiking Neural Networks, BioSystems, Vol. 79 (9); 2005.

5.     Pall, Martin, “Electromagnetic fields act via activation of voltage-gated calcium channels to produce beneficial or adverse effects,” Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, 6-26-2013.

6.     Recep Akkaya, et al., “Wi-Fi decreases melatonin protective effect and increases hippocampal neuronal damage in penylenetetrazole induced model seizures in rats,” Pathophysiology, Vol. 26, Issues 3-4, September-December 2019.

7.     Lerchi, A. et. al (1991), “Pineal gland ‘magneto-sensitivity’ to static magnetic fields is a consequence of induced electric currents (eddy currents),” J. of Pineal Research, 10: 1009-116. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-079X.1991.tboo8261.x.

8.     Krey, J. F., “Molecular mechanisms of autism: A possible role for Ca2+ signaling,” Current Opinion in Neurobiology, vol. 17, no. 1 (2007); 112-119.