The funding sounds infuriating. I'm sorry a few of you have been having hassles with it. Insurance here stops at 7 years old too. So bizarrely stupid. The diagnosis doesn't just stop?!

With regards to diet... the gluten and casein free diet is not about cutting them out due to an intolerance. You can test as not having celiacs disease and still benefit from cutting out gluten. It's related to gut health. Most autistic children have poor gut health (often displayed through loose stools or constipation). From having a sick gut, they don't digest food properly and some proteins such as gluten and casein are absorbed without being properly broken down. They then act like opiates in the blood stream- causing the hazy, veil behaviour. We have certainly found this to be the case with our son and that's why we've decided to do the GAPS diet as it aims to heal the gut and provide lifelong health and recovery.

We visited an excellent naturopath last week who specialises in autistic children. We were about to start doing all the intolerance and heavy metal testing but from what I can gather now the odds of him showing intolerances and having high levels of toxicity are very high, given his other symptoms of poor gut health. So we're going to assume he has them for now, try the diet, then start the tests in 6 months time or so, to further guide us if we need more support/healing.

The thing about autism is it's a heterogeneous disorder- if you've seen one child with autism then you've seen one child with autism. What works for us, might not work for you so I'm a big believer in us using our motherly instincts and following what speaks to us and resonates about our child. The more information we come across, the easier it is to find that thing.

I think an important distinction is between autism and regressive autism. I don't think they are cut from the same cloth. My son has regressive autism. He wasn't an autistic baby. Something happened. Given that he hasn't had an external injury cause brain damage then an internal cause is the route we're looking into.