GFCF Autism diet

Hi,
Has anyone had experience with the gluten free, casein (dairy) free diet for children with Autism?

I have been looking into it for my daughter after I was told about some of the benifits. I am keen but nervous at the same time about starting it with her. I have been told it should reduce her anxieties, improve behaviour, decrease frequency of infections, reduced tactile defensiveness and potentially increase communication due to reduced anxiety and increased focus levels.
But, it is a huge change in her diet (It may also exclude Soy, Chocolate, egg, yeast, peanut and citrus fruit) and the assessment to get started is very expensive. I know I am always the first to say cost isn't important if it will help her but Its a huge commitment if it isn't going to work.

So I am trying to get as much feedback good and bad from as many people as I can before I commit to it.

Any comments appreciated. Thank you

Sjl

HI

YES it works. A friend of mine with an Autistic son tried this diet and he has improved so much that he is no longer considered "autistic". My kids don't have autism but they have behavioural problems and allergies. I tried this diet and it made a huge difference.
You will also need to remove all artificial colours, flavours and preservatives for the full effect.

What program are you planning on using that is going to cost alot? We do bio-medical intervention. You can google mindd foundation or bio balance to find out more about this protocol.The Dr. that helps us with this bulk bills and we only have to pay for supplements and pathology tests, which we claim on our tax at the end of the year.

Hope it works well for you
L.B.

Hi.
Thanks for the feedback. Sounds promising. Hopefully my daughter can loose the autism aspect to her diagnosis (Cerabral palsy, intellectual disability and autistic tendencies).

Where is are you based? The clinic I am looking at going through (I can't remember the name but it is in eastern suburbs of melbourne) doesn't bulk bill. If I can get it bulk billed that would be great. I might keep looking into other clinics.

Sjl

We went dairy free and saw a HUGE change. Matilda didn't connect with people before the change and now she does. She had allergy testing done and it showed a huge response to dairy so we took her off it then. We are in the process of slowly moving our lives over to being gluten free as well, slowly.

I was online at an australian autism website and there are heaps there who swear by it. One of the girls who has Asperger's says that having milk reduces her IQ by 30 points, she notices it.

Hi sjl
The Dr. we see is in Sydney. I think we just struck it lucky with him. He is very knowledgeable and really cares about helping these kids (hence the bulk billing!)I am sure he could be making alot more money if he wanted to.
If you go to the mindd foundation website they have a drop down box for practitioners. There are several in Victoria.
Are you having pathology and blood tests done, as this is the best way to find out exactly what is going on inside your childs body and what the best treatments will be.Things they should test for are Serum and Plasma zinc, copper, toxic metals and food allergies and intollerances. Most kids with autism have a big zinc, B6 and B12 deficiency and excess copper load. They also usually have a high level of toxic metals in their system.These kids also have a huge problem with digestion which is why removing gluten & caesin are vital for recovery. These products are extremely difficult to digest for these kids and release opiates into the brain due to incomplete digestion. That's probably why most of them don't speak and just bang their heads against the wall.
Anyway enough of my rambling, have a look at the website for lots more info.
Hope to hear some good news from you soon.
Kind Regards
L.B.

Thanks LB
I checked out the MINDD website and that refered me to the clinic we are going to.
I called them again to discuss the fees and they said to discuss it when we go for our appointment (tomorrow) and they will see what they can do.

We have been reducing my daughters dairy and gluten intake but have not cut it out completely yet. She isn't too keen on rice based meals so will be getting some arborio rice as soon as I can as it is supposed to be softer. She is starting to accept rice milk instead of normal milk.