For parents of kiddos with autism/asperger's...

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whatamess
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16 Aug 2011, 1:54 pm

I wrote this in the hopes I could help others with what I have done and what has worked for us. Obviously every child is different, but I hope that some find comfort in it and that somehow our kids all benefit. I know my kiddo has benefited greatly from our approach.

http://www.squidoo.com/autism-autismo



Pinco
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16 Aug 2011, 3:26 pm

Always beneficial to read a story like this.
However, of all the doctors we have been, none has told us about special diet etc. for our daughter.
Do I need to ask them for more information on this ?



whatamess
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16 Aug 2011, 5:34 pm

Sadly, most doctors won't tell you this. I will not say it causes autism, I don't believe that is the cause. I will say that it helped OUR child greatly.

What you can do is go get a FULL allergen test done. With that, you can read online about things that you can do if your child is allergic to certain foods. For us, I can honestly say that our son did not really try to initiate playing with us until we took gluten away. I know it sounds weird, but it's true for us. Even our friends noticed the immediate change in him. We also took casein (milk and the actual casein protein which is found in many items) away. This helped OUR child with tantrums alot, as well as his digestive system.

We gave him probiotics, we used fish oil and great vitamins. We did this strictly for about 2yrs...but within days of some and months of others, the change was huge for our son. It has been 5 yrs and within the last 3 yrs he has eaten whatever he wants, whenever he wants. We had him on the "diet" for about 2 years.

He used to get asthma a lot and also get sick a lot. This helped him greatly and he hardly ever, maybe once a year, gets asthma...and usually because we travel to the US in the winter and so the change in climate makes him a bit off.

I don't believe it works for all kids. I don't believe that it is the cause of autism. I believe that some issues that manifested themselves and made our life and his much more difficult were greatly helped by those two things we did.

PS - if your child likes pasta, try Quinoa pasta...it's awesome...tastes just like regular pasta...for milk? Even a pediatrician we once had told us no kid needs milk...or juice...water is good enough :-)



DW_a_mom
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16 Aug 2011, 10:37 pm

I enjoyed your article, whatamess.

Pinco, the whole area of food sensitivities seems to fall outside the realm of conventional medicine. I guess because the science is cloudy, you can't just test for it, etc. Regardless, people who find their food sensitivities and eliminate offending foods can and do see huge improvements in their lives. I am hearing and seeing this from adults, all perfectly capable of identifying and describing how they feel, and relating result B to action A. So, yes, it is real. But hard to pinpoint. Still, there is some simple logic here: Eating the wrong stuff, if your child has food sensitivities, will make your child feel bad, and when he feels bad he doesn't face the world with a full arsenal.

Doctors don't seem to have the time or the tools to help patients sort It out, but some are trying. Still, as with any evolving area of medicine that does not have clear and generally accepted standards and benchmarks, some of the doctors are good, and some are not, and those that are not can misguide you and cost you a lot of money. So, you step carefully.

I actually want to get into this deep for my NT daughter, but I don't do well with touchy feely medical decisions, and I've been feeling pretty lost about it all. But if you can get it right for your child, it really will make a difference. We found a sensitivity to soy in my son by accident, and just eliminating that really helped.

We have many parents here who have discovered food issues with diaries, observation, etc., and sometimes through an unusually instinctive doctor, and maybe one of their stories will resonate for you.


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Mom to an amazing young adult AS son, plus an also amazing non-AS daughter. Most likely part of the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (some traits).


whatamess
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17 Aug 2011, 10:05 am

Although I forgot to include in my article, here is a site I look at DAILY to find out more information about autism. I may not always agree, I may not always try everything...but it is a different perspective and it has helped us as well. I'll be adding to the page.

www.sciencedaily.com

Also, here is a study on the whole "gut" issue done related to autism.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 110315.htm