GFCF Kids New Page 4

Permission has been given to print the following success stores. These stories have been written by many parents who wish to share their story about the gluten and casein free diet and how it has improved the life of their child. Our gratitude is extended to everyone involved with The GFCF Diet Support Group. They have taken the time and made the effort which has provided a dedicated and caring support system for every parent who wishes to use Dietary Intervention.

Please send:
1. Child's name/and your name
2. Child's age now
3. How long has your child been on the diet?
4. Write what the gfcf diet has done for your child.
Send to: Judy@gfcfdiet.com

Child's name: Izabel
Child's currant age: 3 years old
By mother

Hello my name is April Palmer and my daughter Izabel is 3 years old. Izabel is still in the process of getting a diagnosis, but I know she definitely has a PDD. She wouldn't talk to us , she had poor eye contact, walks in circles on her toes, lines up toys, etc.....

I read about the diet, and decided to try it. I felt so helpless, and at least this was something I could do. Izabel always spaced out when she ate, and all she would eat was dairy and wheat! Well in one week on the diet the eye contact improved, she seemed to understand us more, and TODAY she is talking!!!! I have spent so many hours trying to get her to say a simple word like mama, and she would look at me blankly, and eventually throw a fit if I kept pushing. Now she is saying every word I ask her to say!!! Mama, Dada, Tigger, book, EVERY WORD!!!! I am so excited! In one week she has changed so much it has to be the diet. I can't wait to see how she is in a few months!!

If any parent out there is hesitant to try this diet, I beg you to try, you have nothing to lose and and everything to gain. I am so thankful to all the parents that tried this diet and shared their stories, this site gave me the initiative to try it, Thank you so much for putting a great resource out there, I cannot find words to express my gratitude.!!!

Sincerely and thankfully,
April Palmer

Child's name: Patrick
Child's current age: 3 years 6 months
Been on diet: 3 months
By mom: Amy

I was frustrated early on after the diagnosis because so much that I read indicated that a diagnosis after age 3 meant the critical time for help/recovery had passed. Patrick's second opinion indicated apserger's, rather than the initial diagnosis of mild-high functioning autism. We started the diet 13 days after the first diagnosis and noticed casein withdrawal in 24 hours; increased eye-contact and onset of imaginary play within 4 days. Gluten withdrawal was full of grouchiness approximately a month later.

Three months ago, Patrick spoke primarily in 3 or less word combinations and had little to no pronoun use. I'm happy to report that he is more often than not resorting to words to completely improve his use of pragmatics, rather than tantrum or just get frustrated. He totally uses pronouns and his word combinations are typically 7 words or more, and we are seeing the beginnings of conversational speech. Previously he would just state single words. He tantrums much less often, and when he does, it seems shorter-lived. He reserves these for serious situations, not just any old thing like before. this is all diet alone, and lots of work from mom and dad, but mostly Patrick.

My best description of what has happened is that a fog has been lifted, the static or white noise that seemed to be interfering with his progress is very nearly gone , and he is much more capable of learning. We'll be sticking with this, as there is so much more to learn.

Child:    Paul
From:    Joan (mother)
Age:      5 yrs, 10 months
How long on diet? 2 years - 10 months

Paul was a happy, well developing little boy until about the age of 2 - when his speech delayed and he developed a lot of self-stimulation.  After hearing tests, and speech therapy analysis - he was entered into the public school system special education program for pre-schoolers at age 3. The teachers recommended that he be tested for autism. At the age of 3 1/2 years - Paul was diagnosed as PDD-NOS - and continued on with his special education pre-school and private speech therapy. His teachers recommended that Paul attend the year-round (summer school) program to make sure that his routines and schedules were not disrupted during the summer break.

In January, 2000 - I saw the article in Parents Magazine by Karyn Seroussi. My husband and I decided to try the diet, the day after Paul's 4th birthday (1/29)- one last "hurrah" with birthday cake and milk. At this time Paul was only trained for urinating but not for bowel movements. We went immediately onto the GFCF diet. We could see immediate results in the dry skin and itchy patches that disappeared from Paul's skin and his behavior improved as well! He reacted better in the classroom and in March (1 1/2 months after we started the diet) - his pre-school teachers told us that his improvement was so dramatic that they didn't feel he needed to go to the summer school session. His private speech therapist also noticed a dramatic improvement in his behavior as well as in his receptive speech.....and asked me more about the diet - so she could recommend it to other parents. His Sunday School teacher told us that "Paul is a different boy" in class.

Four months after starting the diet - Paul trained himself for bowel movements ! Hurray! He still didn't understand how to peddle a tricycle and liked his videos instead of playing with a lot of neighborhood friends.

We moved from Texas to California that summer. I found a doctor in CA who believed in this diet (our Texas pediatrician didn't support it or believe in further testing for fungus or yeast build-up in the intestines). This doctor immediately tested Paul for fungal build up and placed him on and anti-fungal treatment in October 2000. Again - we saw more DRAMATIC improvements. More socialization, greater speech development and less self-stimming. He continued on with his special education pre-school through the public school system in California - but at an annual IEP - the educators said that Paul no longer qualified under the Autism Spectrum - but rather for speech services only! The teachers and therapists who had never seen Paul at age 3 were in disbelief that he was identified as PDD-NOS!

The diet continues in our lives, and I can tell when contamination occurs......loose stools, itchy skin, and behavior problems. It is hard - but it has become a way of our lives, and it has made such a difference in Paul's life and his future!

Today - we had Paul's parent-teacher conference with his Kindergarten teacher. He is in a regular education classroom (with no aides) and is already reading at a high level for his class. Again, his teacher said she "could not fathom" Paul in a special education class. He is a "typical" little boy - learning, and playing in Kindergarten with other "typical" little kids. Now he would rather play with friends instead of watching videos, and he plays on a soccer team, takes gymnastics classes and last week he learned how to ride his bicycle without training wheels. We now see the normal milestones everyday that other parents take for granted with normal developing children. My husband and I ARE convinced that this diet has changed Paul's life. It has given Paul the opportunities to lead a normal life and has given our family a semblance of normalcy that wasn't there before. TRY THIS DIET OR KEEP STICKING WITH IT!

I thank God every day that I found that article......it has changed our lives and I have that magazine in a prominently stored place in our home.

Joan Jensen

How long on the diet: 8 months
What the diet has done for Lewis:

Lewis was diagnosed when he was 2.6. As a baby he was always happy and smiley. He developed normally till he was 18 months - then, after the MMR, lost all his language, his eye contact, his enthusiasm. He developed eczema and had constant diarrhea and his sleep got worse and worse. January 2001 was his all time low. He did not react at all to anybody and seemed depressed and unhappy in his closed of world. He didn't understand any language at all. I felt as if he had died.

I had heard about the diet, but it was not until I found this website that I decided to give it a try. We spend a few weeks slowly removing gluten and casein from the diet. After 2 days he had his first formed bowel movement in a year! He immediately woke up to environmental sounds - noticed a fly flying past, heard the door slam etc. He started smiling at us again and he slept through the night.

After a week some autistic symptoms got worse. He flapped his hands and walked on tiptoes but that disappeared again. We have been very lucky to find a doctor who is specialized in the diet. He helps us with any tests we need done and advices us to any supplement to give to Lewis. After we started Lewis on EnzymAid (Kirkman Labs) Lewis had terrible yeasty diarrhea but then got constantly better. He rarely has a bad day. The diet did not cure Lewis overnight but I feel it made him wake up and become ready to learn. We now run an intensive ABA program for Lewis and he is catching up in a lot of areas. His receptive language is coming along and he is slowly starting to speak - his eye contact is improving every day.

And he is so happy and cheerful and so alert and interested in the world around him. He loves us and he has started initiating games with us and is showing an interest in other people and children. I know that the therapy is vital but I could not imagine doing it without doing the diet. I can now see a future for my lovely little boy - he is coming back!

Darren
Age 3.6 yrs
by Stephanie (mother)

My name is Stephanie, and our son Darren age 3 and a half has been on the gfcf diet for 3 months, secondary to a diagnosis of autism. He is doing really well. He doesn't seem to miss the "old foods" but has adjusted to the "new foods". He has not really started broadening his overall choices yet and is still "picky", but we're hopeful.

He just started a home ABA program of 30hrs. per week. Between the diet and ABA, we've seen a huge difference in his behavior. He's much more easily contented, happier, and more verbal with greater articulation of words. We're definitely going to keep going on the diet for now.

I am amazed that there are so many others out there with identical experiences to my own. My son began showing signs of autism with repetitive head banging, temper tantrums and delayed speech. Kyle was just over one year old and I had gone back to school in the education program. He was up all night screaming and when we tried to comfort him he would arch his back and struggle to get away. My husband used to call him "psycho child". It was heart breaking because he was such a sweet baby when he was breast fed. The doctors had no idea what was causing his head banging at so young an age, they wanted to start testing him for autism. By chance I mentioned that he had diarrhea and my family doctor recommended that I stop giving him milk because some babies loose the ability to digest milk temporarily after a stomach flu. He immediately slept through the night after one day without milk. I thought he may be lactose intolerant and immediately cancelled all the tests they were going to put him through (head scans etc..). I requested an appointment with an allergy specialist because we were still having problems with behavior and I suspected dietary causes since the elimination of milk had made such a difference. Of course at age 1 1/2 years old the allergist could not say conclusively what foods were bothering him but he gave me an excellent elimination diet to follow. I discovered on my own that he could tolerate zero milk or soy products. By this time I was done my schooling and I decided to stay home full time to cook his meals and monitor his diet. His head banging had become a behavioral habit and was eventually eliminated by working with an excellent child psychologist.

Kyle is now four years old and I would say that he is a typical little boy. He has been on a strict diet since the age of two. After seeing one family doctor, a pediatrician, and an allergist not one of them mentioned this diet. If only someone could have helped me when I felt so alone with this problem. My stubborn insistence that it was diet related is the only thing that has saved my son from permanent damage. It took me a year of trial and error with many regressions as I tried to figure out which foods caused reactions in my son. Then I had to convince everyone around me that I was right and force them to follow my strict dietary rules. I now see that I am not alone in my experiences and I am sitting here crying with relief. If you are struggling with these types of issues with your child, give this diet a try. It is completely non-invasive (unlike doctors tests) and the results can be immediate. The earlier you try it the better off your child will be because they need time to catch up with the developmental tasks they have missed.

Owen
Age 4.0 yrs.
by Sharon (mother)

We recently passed the 6 month mark on the diet so I thought a progress report might help others just starting out. Similar posts certainly kept me going in the early days! So here goes
Owen went gf cf (both at the same time) at the beginning of March when he was 3 1/2. We were becoming concerned about Owen's behavior at playgroup - and in general - and his lack of understandable speech. Then I stumbled across a talk given by Mike Tettenborn about the benefits of the diet in ASD and I realized he could be describing my son. At this time someone told me about AiA so I spoke to Marilyn Le Breton, got hold of her newly published book, and joined this list (GFCFKidsUK).

Before starting the diet, we did a Sunderland urine test which showed a positive IAG peak but no peptides. The first 3 days on the diet were hell. Terrible tantrums. These were followed by an explosion of drawing. People with arms, legs and smiley faces burst forth. Owen had only ever produced one face before - when he was about 2 - but hadn't drawn anything else apart from scribbles since. The other almost immediate change we noticed was an improved sleep pattern. A child who was itchy (eczema), restless and waking every night in the small hours for 2-21/2 hrs, suddenly slept through the night. The next 2 or 3 weeks were tough - and are now a bit of a blur - as Owen went through withdrawal. But after a few weeks we were rewarded as his speech started to improve. He was back with us.

At around 3 months into the diet we had a set-back, which is apparently quite common. Owen had several weeks of diarrhea alternating with "peanut butter" BM's - pale, lumpy, soft and smelly - and progress slowed. Candida was my top suspect but as Owen had no other yeast related issues we decided to wait and see before acting. Next, he was suddenly covered in bad eczema. Once that went, the BM's improved and Owen started to sleep better again. He also toilet trained himself during this phase (rather messy, and best forgotten.....but now quite a relief!)

Improvements keep coming. We have seen, and are still seeing, improvements in awareness and eye contact (now not really issues), speech and language development, calmness, sociability (really wants to be with people), sleep patterns and toileting. He's now very open to learning in a way I could not have envisioned pre-diet. And his eczema has gone. He still has very dry skin from time to time, which we think is related to essential fatty acid deficiency. And there's the periodic return of the mushy BM's.....

In September Owen had his first gluten infringement. Red ear, red cheek immediately. Later on he became silly and hyperactive, and then spacey. We had about 10 days of markedly reduced eye contact, hyperactivity, eczema and totally disrupted sleep. Then he had a long, long, long calm sleep and woke seeming a bit better. It took 3-4 weeks to get over this infringement. We didn't plan this accident but it's turned out to be quite helpful - there's no room for any doubt that Owen needs to avoid gluten

That's where we've got to so far. I'm amazed with Owen's progress and feel optimistic we'll see even more improvement by implementing other interventions in the future, such as low sugar/nystatin, and the enzymes. But the gf cf diet is clearly the bedrock of our success.

Sharon (in the UK)

Just found this site for the first time, and wanted to offer some long-term encouragement for all of you who are just starting out or who have young children on the diet. My son is now 12 years old. We first started him on a gf-cf diet 8 years ago, after about a year of dietary trial-and-error. Back then, people were just starting to make the connection between diet and autism, and I didn't actually read anything supporting what we'd done until we'd been on the diet for about a year! So we were lucky to have stumbled upon it, to have found out for ourselves that it worked without knowing why. The diet is hard, no doubt about it. But we were scrupulous once we had it all figured out -- and for my son, it's more than just gluten and casein, so we were also controlling chemical, pollen, and dust exposures, as well as other food allergies. We altered our family lifestyle significantly to give him every chance we could. We ALL went on the diet together (well, at home, at least; can't say my husband stuck to it at work!), and I think we all probably saw benefits.

Here's the hopeful part: we saw dramatic improvement in the Asperger's symptoms right away, like many of you have reported, and then over the years we've seen more subtle improvements. As my son grew older, and, gained control over his emotions and his behavior, we found that he could tolerate the occasional detour around the diet. I firmly believe that the diet/chemical controls we instituted gave him a chance to develop his own behavioral controls, gave him a bit of space to learn and practice. I know that without the diet, his whole existence was centered on fighting fears and confusion. Those days, thankfully, are behind him.

We're still careful about chemical additives and preservatives (it's hard to give in to those once you've accepted that substances like food dyes are BAD for you, period), but I've found that he can tolerate small amounts of gluten and casein on a rotational basis. During peak allergy season we tend to veer closer to a gf-cf diet again, but have learned that after 8 years of diet and nutritional therapy, he seems to have healed, or adapted, or whatever. It's just not the big life-or-death struggle for him that it used to be.

I don't think he'll ever be able to completely ignore his diet. But NOBODY would label him autistic these days. He's a happy, well-adjusted, bright, loving, funny kid. He'd like to eat the junk food that he sees in commercials, but recognizes now that feeling bad isn't worth it -- most of the time. So I'm hopeful that the responsibility for his eating habits is starting to shift from my shoulders to his. Which should mean that as far as the autism is concerned, he has a very good chance to live happily ever after.

May you all be so blessed.
Dana

Kenny
Age 4.10 years
Sent by mother

Message to the Comment Board,
The Gluten Free/Casein Free Diet has been such a disciplinary journey for my family and my 4 years and 10month old son. My mother always believed that was as important to look at a child's diet first, when looking at behavior modifications, disorders, or things that may seem normal to us now, such as ADD or PDD or ADHD, or something as simply as the "lack of attentiveness". My son is on a pretty strict Gluten/Casein Free diet and as a Mother/Administrator in the educational world, we have found wonders!!!!! Yes, I must say that Mother knows best, because mine did in the case of my son's development and other children within the school.

He has been on the diet as clean as possible, and research can provide, for one year and about three months, to great success. He now interacts with his peers, engages attentively in eye contact and can follow predictable events as well as use language in a way the meets his needs beyond a 3 sentence request. Beyond that, my family has also fought for my sons educational services from our Public School District with a vengeance. It has all worked out and his skills have come leaps and bounds since the diet.

Every parent should try It. It Does Work, if YOU the parent are willing to work. My son is catching up in so many places socially, cognitively, verbally, interpersonally as far as awareness and far most validating with our relationship and how it has changed, to where he is able to now reciprocate and converse with me...his mother. Never mind the typeoooo's. You to will realize that it is such an exciting transformation to type about, that you to, will make these mistakes and it doesn't matter, because your child is progressing and it is worth sharing.

Austin
Age 5 yrs.
by Linda Woods (mother)

Hi All -

I should have written this a long time ago to give other parents hope. But better late than never. First let me say in no uncertain terms, THE DIET is the #1 intervention to have helped my son.

Austin developed perfectly until he was about 2 years old. He was barely speaking and was becoming obsessive even though he was very loving and affectionate. He was also consuming an alarming amount of milk - practically the only food he ate. (Some 10-14 bottles a day and yet he couldn't even say "milk" or "bottle"!)

I finally got a doctor to admit he was delayed and he was assessed at age 3 with ASD in May of 1999. (Autism Spectrum Disorder). I was not only shocked by the diagnosis, I was more shocked by the doctors remarks. "There's very little we know about it and very little we can do. Here's some resources you may want to look at, but he will never be OK." Well, there was just no way I was going to believe that or accept it.

I am very internet savvy and in in no time I had found this website, Lisa Lewis' book and a few other encouraging things about the diet. Since no doctors had any other good ideas, I thought I'd give it a try. In no time, his tantrums were better. Soon, he was speaking more words, and learning all sorts of tasks with amazing ease. All his teachers adored him, and with speech therapy and a good small individualized preschool he was making great progress.

In Sept of 2000, (he was 4.1 months) he was assessed by speech teacher using the 1 word receptive/cognitive test. He tested at age 3.11. Wow! So close to "normal" for his age! But get this people.....9 months later, this past June 2001, when he was 4.10 - he was tested again. He was tested again, same test. He tested at SIX YEARS OLD!! He gained 25 months in 9 months time!!

Anyway, the last thing I want to report is that Austin started Kindergarten 3 weeks ago. He is fully included in a regular Kindergarten where he has an aide. However, all reports from regular teacher, to special ed teacher, to aides, to speech therapists say that Austin is virtually undistinguishable from other 5 year olds!! He is talking, participating, playing, learning, singing, doing crafts and reading!!! It is a miracle.

So, he has been on the diet for 2 years now - and he is SO wonderful! I am not only hopeful, but certain, that in a few years, my son will not be recognized AT ALL for being ASD. I'm sure of it. :)

Now we're patients of the Pfeiffer Treatment Center, http://www.hriptc.org/ and about to embark on a new and stringent regime of supplements which should correct other biological deficiencies like lack of B6 & Zinc and other malabsorption problems. Their research is VERY promising. Check it out and I'll get back to you all.

If you haven't started the diet yet. DO IT NOW. Do not wait another day. Your child's life depends on it! What have you got to lose?

Andrew
Age 3 1/2 years (diagnosed August 2000 at 2 1/2 yrs.)
by Cheri (mother)

Andrew appeared to be developing wonderfully till about the age of 12-15 months, suddenly he lost the words he used to say and completely withdrew. Dealing with him became impossible, he tantrumed whenever we approached him, drooled constantly and seemed deaf. Family told us that he was probably having a hard time adjusting to our new house and his new sister, born when he was 15 months old.

Our Doctor referred Andrew to CDS, where he was diagnosed. At 2 and 1/2 years, we were told he was the developmental equivalent of a seven month old. As far as socialization goes, it would have been easier to tame a wild animal than to run errands in public with Andrew, or even have someone visit our house. Six months of speech, occupational and behavioral therapy followed, with no promising results. A parent in our support group mentioned the Diet, and I remembered reading Karyn's article. Still, it took another 4 months before I worked up the courage to try it, I regret not trying it sooner.

On the first day of the diet, Andrew put his shoes on for the first time, we could never get him to use his hands, other than to devour bread, cheese, milk (most of the things he no longer eats). On the second day, he looked me straight in the eyes and smiled, as if he had never seen my face before! At the end of the week, Andrew had his first solid bowel movement in almost 2 years.

Yesterday, he took a forbidden cracker from his sister, and had an explosive runny bowel movement today. An example of how well things are going, now that he has been GFCF for 10 weeks: we took him to a local church fair, where he rode on the pony; tonight he undressed himself at bath time, washed his hair, got out of the tub and did pee-pee in the potty, went to his sister's room and kissed her goodnight, jumped into his bed and told me about the episode of Sesame Street he watched today. No kidding.

Andrew still has some odd mannerisms (he paces the room and hums when distressed) and his speech is probably similar to that of an 18-month old, but he speaks well enough that our very chatty 2 two year old can understand him. It gets better everyday. And just think, it's only been 10 weeks!!! At this rate, I think this is going to be a wonderful year.

Nicky's 8 months of GFCF follows below
Nicky
Age 3.4 (diagnosed at 3.1)

On diet for 3 months (immediately after diagnosis) When I started the gfcf diet for my son, I linked up to the gfcf page and I must say that the success stories were very encouraging, especially at a time when I sometimes felt there was no HOPE for us and our son. Now it is my turn to give back a little of what was given to me and say the YES, THERE IS HOPE.

Nicky was first diagnosed with autism at 3.1 years. At that time he said single words but basically he was in his own world. I couldn't take him anywhere. The worst feeling I had was that I could not communicate with him. I had no idea about what he thought, felt, etc. The diagnosis simply confirmed my worst fears. After that I felt like I was walking around with a knife in my stomach all the time. It was the worst I ever felt in my life. Fortunately, this feeling did not stop me from acting. The very next day (after the diagnosis) I went to the bookstore to buy every book on autism but I ended up buying only two, Karen Seroussi's book and "Saving Ryan". I read Karen Seroussi's book that same evening (I did not sleep and got through the whole book in one night) and the very next day I took Nicky off of everything that contained gluten or casein! I know that the book suggests going slowly but I simply could not bring myself to giving my son any food if there was even the slightest chance that it was contributing to his condition. Around the same time I started him on speech therapy (4 hours per week) with an AMAZING therapist and lots of play therapy at home. The first few weeks were terrible (for him and us). He went through really bad regression (more screaming, fits, etc.) and he would not eat anything except home made french fries. Fortunately, my husband was extremely supportive (he has a background in biochemistry and he assured me that our son would not suffer from malnutrition even if he ate only french fries for a while). I supplemented with a good multivitamin (in his calcium fortified juice) and we made it through the first two weeks. He lost no weight but I on the other hand lost at least 10 pounds. I asked for help and got it. My husband asked his mother to come and stay with us for a while and she agreed and came immediately. She supported my decision entirely and together we started to work on Nicky's diet. She was very careful about everything she prepared and together we started to find foods that Nicky would agree to eat. It took time but slowly he started to accept gfcf alternatives (after many times of putting something in front of him). I have to say that he must have refused gfcf spaghetti at least twenty times before he finally ate it. The same for gfcf nuggets. Now he devours these and many other foods as well (gfcf sausages, muffins, pancakes, waffles, cereal, fruits, cookies, DariFree, etc.) We are very fortunate that he appears to have no allergies to corn, soy or fruits and now he is thriving on this diet (he really looks healthy and I know he is growing because he has outgrown some of his clothes). He is also on nutritional supplements, (SuperNuThera) and DMG plus extra calcium powder.

NOW FOR THE RESULTS:
Nicky is now 3.4 (on gfcf diet for three months) and he speaks in 3 and 4 word sentences. He yells "It's Mama!" and runs to me and hugs me when I come home from work (I work three days a week). He is very good at expressing his needs. He is responsive, playful, affectionate at home with us and his brother (5 years old). He makes great eye contact and pays attention during speech therapy (and with us too) and he works very hard at everything he does! He makes to most amazing drawings (detailed) and he can discuss what he is drawing. I can take him places. There are still the occasional fits but they are not nearly as often or severe as before. It is a slow and steady process (we don't expect miracles to happen overnight but they are happening over time). He still has trouble engaging in social interaction with other children but this is coming along slowly. He will be starting a preschool in April that will give him additional therapy and opportunity to interact in a group. His ATEC is now 24 (he started at 66). We still have a lot of work to do but we have so much HOPE. That "knife" in my stomach is gone! The other day we were looking at a video and he leaned his head on mine. Then he turned and looked at me (and I looked at him) and he kissed me gently on the cheek. He didn't have to say anything at that moment because I understood exactly what he was thinking. If you are considering this diet, try it, you have nothing to lose. Bear in mind that it is a lot of work and that the progress is slow and hopefully steady. I hope you find this story encouraging.

Nicky's 9 months on GFCF Diet Update
Nicky is doing absolutely great. He just turned 4 and he can engage in short conversations (2-3 exchanges). He speaks in complete sentences (5-6 words) and he was potty trained about 2 months ago (it only took a week). He plays with his older brother a lot (they fight a lot too!) We continue to have hope that our son will be able to go to a regular kindergarten in two years at the same school that his older brother is attending! He receives 2 1/2 hours of speech therapy per week and he attends a regular preschool 3 days per week. Nicky loves swim, draw trains and play with Power Rangers, dinosuars and Bionnicle, just like any regular 4-year old!

Olivia
age 25 months
GFCF 50 days
by Deborah Milton, Mother

When Olivia was about 22 months old, we learned that she had myoclonic seizures and was accessed as having global delays up to a year behind. All tests for metabolic and genetic disorders have come back negative. I chanced upon the gfcfdiet website by following a link from a developmental delay message board. Although Olivia has never been diagnosed as autistic, and probably wouldn't be, because she has incredible interpersonal skills, I felt that she had enough of the symptoms of food allergies/intolerances to give it a try.

She's been on the diet for 50 days now and what a difference we can see! Before the diet she was tantruming frequently, often whining and unhappy, somewhat aggressive, had diarrhea a lot (never a fully formed bm), almost always had a diaper rash, circles under the eyes, and only said about 5 words. She now says over 50 words, has fully formed bms when we keep all offending foods (and we've found many not listed with the gfcf diet) out of her system, and is calmer, and happier. We never did give Olivia much dairy (she got diarrhea from cow's milk), so that wasn't too difficult to do, but the gluten-free part has been a challenge, but very worth it.

She has had some days where her behavior has regressed terribly, so I've gone back to look at the list, only to discover that there was a trace amount of gluten in the brand of rice milk I was using, or a bit of butter in the cookie I'd given her that morning. So, I would encourage any of you parents on the fence about starting this diet to START TODAY! My child doesn't even have a diagnosis and she's responding. This diet could be good for all sorts of disorders.

Deborah Milton

Aaron
age 2.6 yrs.
GFCF 11 weeks
by Anne, mother

Aaron is 2 1/2 now and I have had him on the diet for 11 weeks now. Within the first week we noticed better eye contact and a calmer child. Aaron ceased to be severely constipated to the point of bleeding, rather he has a regular bm each day.