Biomedical Recovery from Autism - the GFCF Diet: 4 MONTHS

My autistic son at the age of 3 years 2 months, after four months on the GFCF diet (began phasing in the diet in February, 100% compliant as of March 24, 2009.) Note again that he has never had any ABA therapy, nor is he on any behavioral medications. We have moved forward with some additional digestive treatment, including one round of an antibiotic (Flagyl) after lab tests showed a significant Clostridium infection, and one round of an antifungal (Fluconazole) after the antibiotic allowed a fungal infection to flourish. (Unlike many autistic children, he never had any ear infections and was never prescribed any antibiotics as a baby.) He is also on a standard multivitamin supplement.

In addition to making requests, he now responds to questions, and even asks questions of his own! Also note how long his attention span is now--he had already been playing this game for several minutes before I snuck the camera in the room.

In just the last two months he has already met almost half of his IEP goals (the ones he is in theory expected to meet by the end of next schoolyear, May 2010,) before ever having set foot inside the classroom.

Feel free to come say hello on my cooking site, www.thegfcflady.com.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• autism
• GFCF
• gluten
• casein
• diet
• gluten-free
• casein-free
• autistic
• toddler
• recovery
• biomedical

[privatepile762]

Science has not proven this diet is effective for autism treatment. The likelihood is that the preschool program that he attends is the primary reason he's improved. The danger of this video is that you (either directly or indirectly) discourage ABA treatment. By the way, you are using ABA teaching methods at the end of your video. Biomedical interventions have no scientific validation. Education is the best treatment. Great to see how well he's doing, however. Must have excellent teachers!

[clodfobble]

@privatepile762 - I can instantly transform my child back into a screaming, stimming, non-verbal nightmare within 10 minutes, just by giving him a single goldfish cracker. His teacher, whom you hold in such high regard, agrees that his diet and supplements are responsible for major improvements in him. She recommends all her students' parents try the diet, because she has seen the difference it makes firsthand. I am not against ABA therapy by any means. But like most parents, I can't afford it.

[clodfobble]

@privatepile762 - The best analogy is this: if you were in a terrible car accident, you would undoubtedly need physical therapy to get you back on your feet. But if you did not first have a doctor set the bones, and give you antibiotics to clear out the infection that had set in, all the physical therapy in the world wouldn't get you walking normally again. We treat medically for the medical problems, and with therapy to correct the delays that the medical problems caused.

[clodfobble]

@privatepile762 - I just realized which progress video you posted this comment under. At this age (4 months into the diet,) he had not yet entered his PPCD class at all. He had not received any therapy at this point except for 1 hour a week of sensory OT. The IEP goals that I mention in the video description had been decided upon PRIOR to the start of the school year, he was meeting them on his own before his first day in the door.

[howardnwhite]

Serious question here. My son has autism, four years old, still not speaking, despite some improvement in eye contact and attention this last year. This has been due to hard work on one-to-one. I am thinking about this GFCF diet as it seems to often lead to very positive results. The question is how hard and how expensive is it to get the right foods? Whilst I want to do the best I can for my son, we are on very limited incomes. Any tips welcome. We are in the UK. Thanks

[clodfobble]

@howardnwhite - It certainly can be expensive, if you choose to buy lots of processed, pre-made GFCF products. But it can also be extremely inexpensive, if you make the right choices. TalkAboutCuringAutism-dot-org has a fantastic GFCF sample monthly menu for a family of four on foodstamps (i.e., US$319 per month.) I'm not allowed to post a link in the comments, but choose the GFCF Diet link at the top of the TACA page, and you'll find the food stamps article on the left.

[tasiamh13]

Biomedical interventions and ABA treatments compliment one another. A comprehensive approach is best. I have been an ABA provider for 8 years and have seen amazing progress in some children who start the diet.

[nikasmomma]

Thanks for posting this! We do some biomedical interventions, plus the Son-Rise Program as a teaching modality...it's a relationship based modality...it's been amazing! Behavioral modification was awful for her...she needed a relational aproach.

[clodfobble]

It's something we hope for in the future, but he definitely isn't recovered yet. He still stims verbally with echolalia quite a bit, and his expressive language, while massively improved, is still nowhere near that of a neurotypical 3-1/2 year old. We expect it will be another year at least before he has a chance of being completely caught up with his peers. But every improvement just encourages us to work harder! :)

[Winter077]

I'm so impressed with what you've accomplished, and I think your before and after videos will be very healpful to many people. It kind of looks like he's been cured..is that OK to suggest?