SV: seeing the light?

[Guest guest]

It's weird, the way this (most often) happens so gradually that nobody in their

senses can really be sure about what they see. But suddenly, a ray of light

penetrates the fog obscuring our eyes, and there's no way of denying what we

see. Only, it's still difficult to convince other people about the validity of

our observations. Maybe the poetic way of doing it is better than the

scientific ?

Several times, we've " seen the light " in this way. I'd like to share two

instances with you.

* The first time was after the first big diet infringement. We were struck by

the power of all the unpleasant details that had faded so gradually from our

lives, that we hadn't been conscious about their going. Suddenly, they were

back, with a vengeance. We'd been so keenly aware that our hopes could bias our

observations, that we hadn't trusted our own eyes until then. We even wondered

whether we could trust ourselves to observe what was happening right there and

then. But we had another pair of eyes working for us. Our youngest daughter

(then 18 months) wasn't biased. She was so sad, because she couldn't play with

her favourite brother any more....

* One of the best - and worst - moments was when we visited a group of

autistic youngsters with the intention of re-introducing our son into that

group. His Waldorf school had problems finding a new teacher, and we were,

reluctantly, exploring the possibility of sending him back to the public school

system where he'd been until he was eight. Seven years before, we'd met those

youngsters almost daily. Back then, they had been more or less like our son.

They had all functioned better than him, in one individual area or another. In

particular, I remember one boy who always waved when his parents left, and who

cried when they were gone. We envied his parents because they had this kind of

contact with their son.

Meeting this group of youngsters again after seven years was a shock,

almost like getting kicked in my solar plexus. I left with an intensified

thankfulness towards Dr. Reichelt, and a wistful sadness for those poor

families. Some of them had even heard about the diet, and had given it a try

before giving it up. We don't know how hard they tried, or how long.... Our

Waldorf school realised that they hadn't done so badly, after all, and found a

new teacher.

Maybe we could have done something more to help those families, back then. But,

frankly, we were so unsure ourselves, that we couldn't have done anything

constructive for the first three or four years. Our son's improvement was not

dramatic or spectacular. It was a very slow process, perhaps because we kept

giving him small quantities of gluten through his " gluten free " flour. And the

resistance of those people who had pinned their hopes on the diet, and seen " it "

fail, was so great. (It still is, I think).

Yours

n Klaveness

www.advimoss.no/GFCF_results

www.advimoss.no/GFCF_survey

-----Opprinnelig melding-----

Fra: Marty Landman

Til: GFCFKids <GFCFKids >

Dato: 5. juli 2001 16:02

Emne: seeing the light?

>Happy Fourth (if you're in the US) -

>

>A few days ago I posted about how we noticed our son being 'off', almost

>like he was intoxicated. We were concerned it might be some unknown

>infringement, but his behavior wasn't reminiscent of previous episodes. A

>few people wrote back that sometimes a big leap forwards can be preceded by

>a seeming regression, talking about how this can happen at six months or

>other periods. We're approaching the seven month mark now for the diet.

>

>Yesterday evening my son and I spent some time alone together because my

>wife and daughters were out. And I kept thinking how much better he was

>doing; how he was thinking and acting so... normally. In fact earlier in

>the afternoon the five of us were in the car and he finished a soda and

>threw the plastic bottle to the front and said " empty " ... the kind of thing

>his sisters would do.

>

>His sisters laughed at this, and he did too. For an instant I looked in the

>rear view mirror and saw my three kids all laughing together and they

>looked like they were just where they should be.

>

>Now I wonder if while some months ago we could see the 'fog lifting' as

>others have written, now is seeing the light. I mean suddenly he not

>only talks, he is initiating conversations! His speech problems are looking

>to me more like impediments than delays. And a year ago fireworks on the

>block freaked him out totally. He'd scream and cover his ears and act

>scared to death. Now he's impassive. He doesn't want to watch them because

>he doesn't like the noise, but it's a preference. He didn't scream or get

>agitated at all even when a neighbor set them off right in plain sight and

>earshot of him.

>

>Marty