The first question is WHY did a genetic disorder? And follow that what the body needs to correct it, because there are also processes the body uses to correct errant genetic expressions.

Most brain development disorders, according to many researchers, occur during fetal development and are commensurate with 1) the number of mercury (called dental amalgams) dental fillings the mother has. Mercury from the dental fillings outgasses from the teeth and crosses the placental barrier as well as the blood/brain barrier. Mercury can alter both the genetics and if the SNP (Single nucleotide polymorhphism) involves the white matter development, then there are problems. Also, if the mercury alters the epigenome, then the epigenome expresses chromosomes that cause malfunction.

There are other causes besides mercury in dental fillings. Mercury is used in very high levels in many vaccines along with many other very dangerous chemicals such as formaldehyde, latex, etc.

And there are other chemicals that do the same kind of damage to genetics, but mercury is a common one. So one must first consider if the mom was exposed to chemicals, pesticides, etc. during gestation.

SNPs can occur due to non-ionizing radiations, so that should be considered — if radiation sources such as cell phone antennas, electrical transformers, etc. are a factor.

The first law of cellular healing is “Remove The Source”. The body has methods to do this and they involve ATP as well as methyl groups (CH3.)

Now, it’s likely that a person does not know what “The Source” of the errant genetic expression might be. But we know that methyl groups are the on/off switches of the genes. And the body needs to turn off the genetic expression of the malfunction. To accomplish this, the body puts a methyl molecule on the gene and silences it so that the body can regulate itself without that errant expression. Thus there is nutritional supplementation that supports methylation.

Now, a little about the mitochondria. They need to make ATP energy and to do that, they need antioxidants such as glutathione, catalase, and superoxide dismutase. The mitochondria participate in shutting down errant cells (apoptosis) and they can increase their numbers in the cell through several metabolic mechanisms that cause mitochondria biogenesis. So there is a system in place to increase ATP provided the mitochondria receive the signal to do that.
We should also consider the cell membranes, including the mitochondrial membranes. If the membranes become damaged from free radicals and inflammatory processes, then the mitochondrial membrane does not respire properly. So to correct mitochondrial dysfunction, the body must correct mitochondrial membrane damage. This can also be accomplished nutritionally with things such as fatty acids, cardiolipin, and phospholipids.

So let’s review a model for mitochondrial healing, because the body has an innate blueprint that is programmed to express the most optimal health possible as a simple survival mechanism.

1) Remove the source, 2) Repair the membrane, 3) Protect from reactive oxygen species (free radicals), 4) Protect from inner mitochondrial inflammatory cascades of localized free radical perpetuation (called the no/onoo cycle of nitric oxide turning into peroxynitrite) 5) Reestablish methylation, 6) Increase ATP so the cells have the energy to work with, and one could even look at other genetic metabolic pathway such as ADMA in the nucleus.

The body has methods to repair genes and conserve telomeres. One nutrient that helps with gene-repair is the tocotrienols fractions of vitamin e — the gamma and delta tocotrienols. Tocotrienols are not included in most vitamin e supplements which only feature one to four tocopherols.

So there’s some ideas to pass along to the mom. My heart goes out to her and baby, but much of the medical research is slanted toward making drugs that do not address the fundamental processes and innate healing mechanisms of the cell and because the cell’s innate processes are nutritional molecules that do not fit the pharmaceutical business model of being able to patent a drug that does not cause cure and thus loss of future revenue. So hopefully I’ve shared some new avenues for her to research.

Boosting glutathione, helping the body remove chemicals, and nourishing the innate cellular processes is an avenue that no-one’s considered for that baby, and now the mom can research that and decide if that’s something to do.
Back to your insight about building ATP with polysaccharides/polypeptides, yes certainly, but also look at supporting the citric acid cycle (how the mitochondrial makes much of its ATP) as well as the mitochondrial beta oxidation processes (how the mitochondrial funds more Acetyl Co-A to the citric acid cycle.) And certainly support methyl donors so there are very molecules available that the body can use to shut off errant gene expressions.
And for yet another avenue, consulting with a medical homeopath could be of great value. From the quantum physics area, we know that mitochondria communicate with each other through the same genetic structures, and they communicate with the nuclear DNA of same sequences. Thus there is a basis for the micro-dose (remedy) to impact the cells. So if the remedy were to stimulate the body’s innate vitality to correct this, all the cells would know about it and start to perform differently. I first encountered this marvelous healing phenomenon when a medical homeopath gave a neighbor’s Down’s Syndrome child a remedy and within 6 months, the child’s IQ had skyrocketed from 78 to 105 and the child grew, and gained a superior level of motor functions and abilities. While medicine is threatened by a remedy that does not follow the laws of physical mass action (e.g. no active molecules) and costs less than 1 penny to change lives, there is no harm from the remedies and they have been proven by studies featured in The Lancet to impact cellular behaviors.

So there’s some alternative health perspectives, and we can only send love and all good wishes that the mom has the wisdom to investigate outside one constrictive model and seek competent help. By the way, the best results occurring for Autism are coming from the alternative sciences of “detoxification” and nutritional cell-membrane repair, so there is an established model of obvious results that involve nutrition and homeopathy, even though it does not fit in the current “life view of medicine.”

Best wishes and thanks for writing. Much of what I’ve written above also applies to other diseases and syndromes. You are right to consider the improvement in ATP delivery because damaged cell membranes cannot properly accept glucose and oxygen to make a full compliment of ATP, as well as the nutrients that protect the mitochondria from their ATP energy production processes that involve Redox processes (reactive oxygen species and free-radical quenching).