Ryan Baldridge Jr. was a bright, talkative toddler — breezing through flash cards, building an “astonishing” vocabulary and hitting developmental milestone with ease.
Then, at 18 months, something shifted.
“It was like he was erased and reset,” his father, Ryan Baldridge Sr., told The Post. “Everything changed.”
Suddenly, the young boy, known to his family as Junior, lost the ability to speak in full sentences and began repeating only fragments of what others said, trapped in a speech disorder called echolalia.
“The words that he knew from the flash cards, all that vocab, was gone,” his mother, Kimberly, said. “He wasn’t speaking for himself.”
Now, at almost 9, Junior has found his voice again — thanks to leucovorin, a decades-old, low-cost drug that’s giving some children with autism a chance to finally be heard.
Losing words and gaining questions
After his speech faded, Junior began showing other traits associated with autism, including avoiding eye contact, walking on his tiptoes and struggling to interact with his peers.
Worried, the Baldridge’s took him to the pediatrician — but their concerns were brushed off.
“This was our first child, so we didn’t have anything to compare it to,” said Ryan, 43, who is from St. Louis. “Yet there was something burning inside of us saying something is not right.”
At age 4, Junior was officially diagnosed with autism. The Baldridges enrolled him in five-day-a-week applied behavior analysis therapy, with a one-on-one specialist helping him develop basic life skills.
But late at night, his parents scoured the internet, searching for other avenues.
The $100 drug that changed everything
Their research led them to Dr. Richard Frye, a pediatric neurologist studying a potential link between autism and cerebral folate deficiency, or a shortage of vitamin B9 in the brain.
The condition is commonly caused by folate receptor alpha (FR⍺) autoantibodies, which block folate from reaching the brain.
One study found that more than 75% of children with autism carry these antibodies, compared to just 10 to 15% of children without the disorder.
Intrigued, Frye began testing whether leucovorin, a generic form of vitamin B9 traditionally used to counter the toxic effects of cancer drugs, could bypass the blockage and successfully deliver folate to the brain.
In a 2012 clinical trial, he found that one-third of children with autism who took the drug twice daily showed significant improvements in speech and language. None reported serious adverse events, and side effects like hyperactivity resolved quickly.
Notably, leucovorin costs just $100 per month without insurance, and even less with coverage, according to GoodRx.
The Baldridges were desperate to get Junior tested for the FR⍺ antibody, but five doctors refused to sign off on a required form.
“They just kept saying, ‘No, that’s a scam,’ or that they didn’t know what it was,” Kimberly, 42, said. “We didn’t need them to interpret the results. We just needed a doctor’s signature so that we could have the information as parents.”
“The kickback and the gaslighting was the most frustrating part,” she added.
Finally, a functional medicine doctor agreed. Eight weeks later, the results came back: Junior had tested positive for high levels of the FR⍺ antibody.
A miraculous turn
Armed with the test results, the Baldridges met with Frye, who prescribed leucovorin and recommended cutting dairy from Junior’s diet, which can interfere with the drug’s effectiveness.
Within two weeks, he was speaking full sentences.
The moment that stopped Junior’s dad in his tracks came during a routine drop-off at his therapy program.
“I got out of the car with him and I said, ‘Alright, bye Ry,’ and he said, ‘Bye, dad, I love you,’” Ryan recalled.
“It was the first time with no echolalia that he said he loved me,” he added. “I got in the car and cried for about five minutes before I drove off.”
“It gives me hope and comfort thinking he’ll grow up to be a self-sufficient man who contributes to society and runs his own life.”
Ryan Baldridge Sr.
Today, Junior keeps improving. He no longer tiptoes and now attends mainstream school with his younger brother.
“Junior was able to skip kindergarten and went straight into first grade,” Ryan said proudly. “He initiates play and he’s a social butterfly.”
Cautious hope
Recently, President Trump called leucovorin an “amazing” drug and touted it as a potential “answer to autism.” But even Frye cautions it’s not a miracle cure.
“If you’re going to the doctor looking for an autism pill, it doesn’t exist,” he told The Post in March. “But leucovorin has helped a lot of children.”
Frye emphasized that many of his patients also continue other interventions while taking the medication, including ABA and speech therapy.
“You have to treat a lot of things to make the body well,” he said. “What [leucovorin] does, we think, is accelerate the effectiveness of all these therapies.”
The Autism Science Foundation has yet to endorse leucovorin as a treatment, calling the current evidence “very early and inconclusive.” The nonprofit argues that larger, more rigorous trials are needed, noting that the positive findings so far come from only a handful of small studies.
But the FDA isn’t waiting. Earlier this week, the agency announced that it’s in the process of approving a tablet version of the drug for patients with cerebral folate deficiency.
“Children are suffering and deserve access to potential treatments that have shown promise,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said in a press release.
In the two years since starting leucovorin, Junior has made big gains, though his parents say he still shows some autism traits, including occasional struggles with eye contact and emotional dysregulation.
But for the first time, he’s talking, dreaming, playing and pretending — even setting his sights on becoming a pilot one day.
“It gives me hope and comfort thinking he’ll grow up to be a self-sufficient man who contributes to society and runs his own life,” Ryan said. “I don’t know if that’s going to be the case, but every day seems more and more likely that it could really be a possibility for him.”
Looking ahead, Kimberly wants every child with signs of autism or speech delays to have the chance to be tested for the FR⍺ autoantibody.
“My advice to parents is to keep fighting, never settle and always question your doctor,” she said. “You’ll be able to know if the medication might help based on that result. It’s step one.”
