Has any one tried this diet? It is intially used on Autistic children, but I gave to my girls and have seen a real improvement without meds.

Elizabeth

Can you tell us some of the improvements you have noticed? My wife and I have discussed this option for our son. Your input would be appreciated.

Regards

Elizabeth- I'd definitely be interested in hearing about it as well. I have been looking at some of these studies but personal experience is always better

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=gluten+free+diet+autism&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart

My 4 year old son has Aspergers (on the Autism Spectrum) and ADHD. (Found on in November 2010). He has been kicked out of several daycares ("behavior" issues) and so we were worried that he was on the same path at his current daycare. Gluten free seemed like a very last resort and we started it the week before Thanksgiving. Before that, he was getting behavior reports several times a week and it went to about once a month - then twice in January and then none for 2 months! The teachers said to keep him on it and so we have.

It is easier than I anticipated. We did not go Casein free (which is generally recommended with gluten free) because that would be REALLY hard for our family. We thought we would see how he woudl react being gluten free.

We are very lucky because there is so much more awareness out there about gluten-free (Celiac disease) so there are a lot of websites and products that we can buy - as well as cookbooks with awesome recipes (check out amazon and read customer comments). Also - for times where I have been confused - I can google a lot of different subjects and there is usually a blog out there that answers my questions.

We have found it to be helpful.

Problem:
My 8 year old son started to show a rapid decline in academics the first half this school year.

Behavior/Symptoms:
He is an active boy, but he started to become even more distracted recently as he was becoming even more jittery in class. He recently demonstrated abnormal amount of saliva build up to the point of needing to dispose of it hourly. And showed signs of hay-fever.

Diagonisis/Treatment:
After seeing an allergist who gave him the 60 point prick test and hypodermic dog and cat test, he was negative for all. Did some research on my own and decided to go gluten and dairy free. The dairy free diet had a dramatic effect, his jittery-ness declined, concentration increased substantially and saliva build up is gone.

Outcome:
He is back to his old self the second half of the year and is doing well. Lactose free, no cheese, no chocolates(milk). After being off dairy for two months, he had ice cream at a party and got really sick (mucho saliva, stomach ache etc). He is now convinced too and is quite self disciplined about his choices and asks if not sure.

I also removed other things from my son's diet. He is no longer taking anything that has artificial dyes, canola oil, aspartame, artificial flavors, additives, high corn syrup, etc. It may sound like a lot, but I've been able to keep him away from all this most of the time. It has helped with his ADD symptoms and autism a ton. I started out by reading all the ingredients (on labels) and now shop at Fruitful Yield, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods if I can't get ingredients from the other two places.