Diet

I found it hard to believe how much of an impact diet had on our children. Tim was in kindergarten when I placed the kids on a gluten free cassein free diet. Two weeks after implementing the diet my son's teacher said "What are you doing differently with Tim? What ever you are doing keep it up. He is like a different kid. He seems to be less reactive to situations in the classroom and is better able to sit still.

Cach had ongoing problems with stomach pains prior to placing him on the diet. Within a week the pains disappeared and he made more of an effort to connect with people.

For Ash the diet is essential. Prior to placing her on the diet she would have meltdowns sometimes lasting for up to two hours. She seemed in pain and unable to express herself. She would hit and kick us for no apparent reason. After putting her on the diet she became calmer and more relaxed for several months.

We began to eat more rice and rice products while on the gluten free diet. Within a year of starting the diet the old Ash came back and this time her meltdowns turned into daily occurrences. The meltdowns were exhausting to everyone in the family. I just wanted my calm child back. Some how I needed to find her. I took her for allergy testing and discovered that she was allergic to rice. We eliminated rice from her diet and she became a different child.

Prior to this elimination she was pretty much nonverbal at the age of 3. Suddenly her language came in a flood of words and a vocabulary closer to a five year old. We could not believe the difference.

Recently we had a toddler over at our house and when the toddler didn't talk Ash started to cry and scream. I didn't know what was troubling her. When I calmed her down she said, "Mom I remember when I couldn't speak and it scares me that she can't speak because it reminds me of that time and I don't want to go back there again." How many kids with Autism feel trapped in a world where they can't speak? For some of these kids diet would make no difference. For others maybe it would open up a whole new world of possibilities.

Over the past few months Ash started having meltdowns again. This time they weren't as frequent and we were able to determine the cause before things became out of control again. We noticed anytime Ash ate grains of any sort including corn and starches she would cry and complain of a stomach ache. If it was a food she had eaten a lot of the meltdowns would come.

I read a book called "Breaking the Vicious Cycle Intestinal Health Through Diet" by Elaine Gottschall and learned that for some kids on the spectrum some diets might work for a while and then they loose their effect and the behaviours come back. She recommended a Specific Carbohydrate Diet and claims that this diet has the ability to heal the intestines of children with autism within two years and for many kids they can eat anything with no ill effects if they strictly maintain the diet.

We have been trying this diet with Ash and recently she told us that she use to have pains in her stomach every day but now they are gone. She said that if she has even the slightest bit of something she shouldn't have the pain comes back again. Our boys have reported similar results.

I read an article in an Autism magazine and it said that kids with Autism have leaky guts. It said that for kids on the spectrum when the gluten leaks through the gut and enters the blood stream it has the same effect as opium. It claims this is why so many children on the spectrum are addicted to those foods you know they should not have. Reading this article made me be very cautious over what I feed my children. I don't want to feed them anything that would have a drug like effect.

Most kids on the spectrum love their carbohydrates. For kids who are fussy eaters who crave something sweet try placing 2 cups of any frozen fruit in a blender with 1 banana and blend it. Put it in a bowl and call it ice cream. I serve my kids this "ice cream" for breakfast sometimes. What kids doesn't like ice cream any time of the day.