Re: Just one little goldfish

October 8, 2001

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BOY have I been there! For us we have a pattern to infractions.

We get a little boy who just " disappears " and becomes " autism boy " he

looses eye contact and language and basically is in his own world.

This is when we start searching for what he could have possibly

eaten. We always find something. My husband is the best at picking up

even the most subtle regression.

Anyway - we then observe old behaviors and eventually get some

withdrawal symptoms (like maybe one or two instances of night waking)

Usually he will be up at around 3 or 4am reciting video dialog. Then

he seems to get cranky then we know he is coming out of it when he

gets a cold or mild fever.

So depending on the amount of food and also if we managed to get some

enzymes into him asap - it takes us from about 1 - 4 weeks to see him

back to where he was. The 4 week regression was from a square of

quesadia (sp?) so that was cheese and wheat.

Anyway - it isn't fun, but at least you know definitely that the diet

is working. It made us all the more dilligent. The problem is day

care. The diet is one of the main reasons we got a one-on-one aide

for our son. The aide is also good for therapy and facilitated play.

But we train our aides to make sure our son doesn't get any forbidden

foods. We started the diet when he was just under 3 and keeping him

from grabbing other food was hard. Now that he is 4.5 I wouldn't

trust him alone in a room full of gluten, but he doesn't seem to be

grabbing at stuff on the floor or in other kids lunches.

It takes time, but I talked to a mom this weekend at the DAN!

conference whose 8 year old totally gets the diet thing and likes the

way he feels if he keeps to the diet. So... there is hope.

This is the hard time, but if you can keep him clean you can help him

learn.

Get some enzymes if you don't already have them, they are helpful for

infractions.

Kirkmans sells them and so does Klaire Labs and so does Houston

Nutritionals.

Hope that helps.

Hang in there.

Moira

mom to Vico (4.5 ASD) and Culzean (17 months)

> My 2 year old autistic son has been on the diet for 3 weeks. On

> Friday I took him for the first time to child care during my older

> kids homeschool academy. I gave them a special snack and

instructed

> them that if they do not have the ability to watch him so he does

not

> get another kids snack, to call me to stay with him at that time.

> They did not call. When I picked him up they said he ate his snack

> only. As I turned to leave I smelled his diaper. I recognize that

> horrid smell. I went back and asked if there was any possibility

> that he got a goldfish when she wasn't looking. She said " Oh yeah,

I

> was going to tell you that he did manage to get one " . I told her I

> already knew according to his diaper. During the drive home he

> started to cry (he is usually quite happy). For about the next 2

> hours he cried and cried with rage.

> Now for my question. I have heard it said that it takes about 6

> months to get the gluten out of the system. When there is an

> infraction such as this is it like going back to step one or just a

> little step backwards. Are the benefits of the first 3 weeks

> cancelled? Will I ever be able to have my son with a group of kids

> unless he is strapped to a chair? Is his determination to get

other

> kids snack due to his addiction which will lessen with time? Why

> won't people tell the truth the first time?

>

October 8, 2001