RE: Kids w/ Classic Autism, PDD-NOS & Speech Delays

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I tried it, it was too difficult and expensive to stick to especially considering my son is a picky eater. We successfully switched to fortified rice milk though and I don't miss cow's milk at all (I switched to rice milk too). Rice milk (and other similar products) have some unexpected advantages over cow's milk aside from it being easier for my son and I to digest ... it has a long shelf life and doesn't need to be refrigerated until it's opened, I can leave it in a sippy cup all day without it going sour, I can add fruit/vegetable juice to it without it curdling and tasting nasty (it's the only way I can get vegetables into my son) and his poop doesn't smell as bad....

My son is allergic to eggs and the conjunctiva of his eyes turned yellow and started to swell over his iris's after using a hot pink Play-Doh (his eyes reacted the same after a nibble of soft boiled egg but that was borderline anaphylaxis and included a runny nose and rash - oddly he can digest egg but skin contact is another matter).

I personally would not put my kid on a special diet unless it was under a doctor's supervision.

DW, why is there such a disconnect between health professionals and parents on this issue of GFCF diet and autism? I have yet to find any health professional who openly supports the idea that switching to GFCF will improve behavioural/symptom issues in ASD kids.

On the other hand I have read countless testimonies from parents of how non-verbal ASD children with speech delays suddenly began to open up and talk after switching to GFCF!

Food sensitivity (to casein and gluten) and autism appear to be two separate issues. One impacts on the digestive system and the other relates to brain function.

IMHO it's the "parentaly placebo" effect in many cases - the parents put so much effort into the diet that they see changes when there really aren't any.

As for the kids who suddenly start talking while on the diet, personally I think this is due to normal development. Imagine it like this--let's say your 4-year-old has been on the diet for a year. He was non-verbal at the beginning but after a year has passed he has begun to speak. This, in my opinion, would be due to normal development, not the diet. I think a lot of people tend to operate under the fallacy that autism=frozen development.

And yes, I have read online a few anecdotes online claiming that a totally non-verbal kid became 100% fluently verbal after a week or so on the diet. All I can say about that is I'd like to see that documented...there is a lot of crazy stuff online.

A couple of years ago our former head of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) Professor Kerryn Phelps appeared on national TV with the mother of a 5 yr old autistic boy claiming that GFCF cured the ladies son of autism. This lead to an avalanche of phone calls and emails to the TV station (Channel 7 Good morning show).
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/factshee ... /1/oldest/

I was curious at such a high profile medical doctor getting behind GFCF until I realised she is the connected to an alternative therapies association
http://www.aima.net.au/

Because of this conflict of interest I tend to not trust her advice.

Yeah this is the kind of thing I am talking about. The article says that the kid had issues with constipation and diarhea--basically digestive issues unrelated to autism.

And yeah so the kid said one new word right after starting the diet. Definitely reading too much into it. I think this kid would have progressed just as well (not counting the digestive issues) without any special diets.

My boy is basically as healthy as any young Autie I've heard of. Eats like a horse, eats his broccoli, fruit etc. Drinks only water. Sleeps 11-12hrs a night like a log. Median weight, slightly above Median height..

So with no obvious health issues, what could be wrong in that arena? Could there be nutrients that he is not absorbing that somehow relate only to the brain? Again I suspect bollocks. Still my uncles, some of them are genuinely Gluten and Lactose intolerant. But it never affected their brain..

Well, if you listen to the cranks, then yeah, gluten makes autistic kids high or something like that.

You guys are funny! Seriously though if you have Celiac disease it can affect your brain and your growth so it sounds like Nostromo's son is just fine. Also, Nostromo, did you see the article about the little talking box with the PECS pictures that I posted for you?

I definitely agree with cyberdad and these people who claim that the diet made their kids talk. Im sure they also have therapy going on but they dont want to credit the therapy or just the natural learning of an autistic child....they just want to credit the stupid diet. Like I said, I can not and will not deny that Celiac disease can be very nasty and can cause brain damage and has even killed younger children and babies that they at one time labeled as "failure to thrive". So then some moron....probably people who make all that expensive gluten free crap, decided that taking gluten out of your diet can CURE anything and everything. Yes it is very effective and important for someone to go on a gluten free diet if they have Celiac disease but thats it! You can argue with these people forever but they insist that just because someone does not test positive for Celiac they could still have an allergy.
I actually think its good not to drink cows milk things like yogurt and cheese are good for you but cows milk is not really that great and can actually deplete your calcium levels instead of raise them. The fermented milk is good because it has the calcium and the healthy bacteria and kids tend not to consume as much as they would cows milk. We managed to get my son on goat milk because he was so addicted to cow milk. Still we have tried to limit it and get him to drink more water and he has found he likes orange juice now as well. Also I dont like to drink cows milk because of the way milking cows are treated and the fact that their babies are taken from them after birth and have a tube stuck down their throat and are forced to drink formula until they are fat enough to be veal. Im a vegetarian though so I have different reasons. We have goat cheese and goat milk for the kids, my husband still has cow milk cheese but I dont allow veal in my house and I refuse to cook meat.....if he wants it he cooks it. I make my own nut milk, nut cheese and yogurt but i still have some goat cheese and eggs.
Which reminds me some guy sent me something on another site about how eggs cured Autism, he was doing a study and wanted to know if I wanted to participate. He said if my kids ate eggs twice a day for three months I would see major improvements . My Aspie wont go near an egg unless its in cake or pastry .

Yes I did, thank you. In fact he is using a itouch at the moment as part of a university trial on communication and learning preferences in Autistic children. He seems to have got it for the limited range of things - theres only three e.g. it says "I would like a cookie" when he pushses the Cookie picture, (except the stupid thing keeps not responding properly to pushes, hopefully will get that sorted..). The other method is signing so they are teaching him that

I followed lilolmes links and found this cool one
http://inhealth.cnn.com/speech-generati ... dbcc_box2b

Lets compare some things

Slade (boy in vid)
- DX of Autism at age 2
- Lost previous ability of speech
- Subsequently DX with Apraxia

My son James
- DX of Autism at age 3 (obvious from 2)
- Lost previous ability of speech
- His older sister has a DX of Dyspraxia

Now I'm intrigued. We have always been told James loss of speech is simply due to 'Autism'. The big catch all bogeyman that requires no further explanation or investigation.

I have never liked milk. (See the picky eaters thread.) My mom and son are the same. We hate it.

However lately my son has become obsessed with yogurt. It's his favote food now. And hey, it's getting him to talk more. We hear lots of "I want yogurt" around here. He never used to talk in sentences like that before. Must be the casien! LOL

I don't like milk either, a lot of milk products just don't agree with me, but yogurt along with some cheeses are exceptions! I don't know why though. I know you're kidding about the casien - acidophilous does some good things though. My son started talking shortly after I started giving him fish oil (DHA), could've been a coincidence and certainly not a miracle cure but I figure it's one of those "can't hurt, might help, it's good for him regardless" things....

I am ok with cheese and ice cream (of course!) but yogurt is on my "yucky" list.

They other day we ordered pizza and my son just ate all the cheese off it.

He is pretty picky but sometimes he suprises me and eats something that you don't think would appeal to little kids...like really hot curry.

My kid will only eat Ellio's pizza. That's the only cheese he'll eat too. I try giving him little blocks of different kinds but he doesn't want any part of it. He's been eating pre-cut cubes of seedless watermelon for a long time now but I'd never bought a full melon and given him a slice before ... I was pretty surprised when I bought a yellow seedless watermelon and gave him a full slice last week that he bit right into it ... considering the fruit part was bright yellow and not red like he's used to (I've offered him squares of similar looking yellow fruits that he wouldn't eat before). Not anywhere near as surprising as eating curry though!