I'm new here! My son David is 2.5 years old and is currently enrolled in early intervention. He was evaluated when he was 24 months to have a 9-12 month delay in a few different areas, with language being the biggest delay. He was not babbling or using any words. We had heard him speak previously, but it would be a single word, and never spoken again. He had poor eye contact, and seemed to be in his own little world, but he was still very affectionate, and showed no other signs of PDD or ASD.

He has been attending a weekly class with early intervention and has a teacher come to our house weekly since December. We weren't really seeing any changes in him, so we tried signing. He signed for "more" for about five days and then refused to do it again. We moved on to "please," and he uses this sign regularly, but will not use any other signs we've tried, like "drink," "eat," etc. He will still sign for "all done," but that's about all he would do.

At the suggestion of the SLP who is in his classroom weekly, we removed gluten and casein from his diet about three weeks ago. It seemed like only a matter of days, and he was a new child! He was babbling constantly, making eye contact with complete strangers, and all-together happier. He used about 5 new words in as many days. They are still not consistant, but they were intentional, and appropriate.

Two days ago my husband had him in the car and he was crying. Out of habit, my husband took a pretzel (with gluten in it) out of his bag and gave it to him. Yesterday and today, he is back to acting like "old David." His teacher came today and he wouldn't interact with her. He went over to the corner and played by himself. He's been humming and closing his eyes the way he was before we started the diet. In a way, I'm happy to have confirmation that the diet is working, and it's not just my imagination. But I'm also concerned because I'm starting to wonder how far I need to take this. Should I eliminate everything? PlayDough, things that come in contact with gluten, buy a seperate toaster, wear gloves? I've heard of other moms doing this. It sounds horrible, but i don't know if I can go that far. My husband and I work opposite shifts so we don't have to pay for daycare (not that we can afford it) for David or my four month-old who is just starting to get over terrible colic. We're going broke as it is to buy his groceries and have certain foods shipped to us that we can't find where we live.

I'm hoping some other parents have experience with GFCF diets, ASD, and other interventions I can work on at home, and maybe some insight into how this will pan out in the long-term (what about school? IEP for diet?).

Hi,

This topic taught me something totally new! I had no idea that gluten actually does affect speech. Though I have no advice for Nicki826, I must thank you for the eye opener! All the best as you try out the recipes given to you.

Nicki - Do not worry. Your son is also a typical 2 year old. One day they love something and the next day they won't touch it. Preschoolers are fussy eaters. Perfectly normal! They aren't growing as much as they were as a toddler/infant and just aren't so hungry. Don't worry he will eat again. I have had two of the fussiest eaters and my child who only ate white foods as a toddler/preschooler won't touch rice/potatoes now to save his life. He is now 8 and eats all sorts of things with color!

Amy's brand is great - pricey at times but excellent.

The thing I noticed is that you mentioned that you are making most of HIS meals from scratch. I don't know if that is how you just happened to write the sentence or if he is really eating different foods than you are. If at all possible (obviously the baby isn't part of this yet), I would make the GFCF diet a family change. Kids know when they are eating something "different" and they do so want to fit in with mom and dad. Just eating with him, as you can with your work schedule, and eating the same foods are important.

Good luck to you - it is a tough change - and it sounds like you are doing such a fantastic job already. Getting started is most likely the worst part. ;-)

My son has always been very underweight, but eats more than almost any adult (two cheeseburgers within 15 minutes, etc). He was tested for Cystic Fibrosis when he was around 18 months but it came out negative.

We went for a visit to my husbands family and his grandma (96 years old) came to me and said "you need to do something with Stryder. I'm afraid he might die." She didn't even know the testing and other issues we had, it was something we were going through silently. She then went on to tell me that her son almost died because he was allergic to milk and she didn't know it. She told us that we had to take him off milk. She watched Stryder eat 3 ears of corn and still have loose stools and still kept eating. That was the first we had heard that it could be milk. Immediately after, we went to my husbands aunts house and she saw our boy and said "he has a milk allergy, I can just tell." She told us about her son who had the same exact symptoms, eczema, and meals just going right through him and he was just tested for the milk allergy. These two people were not asked about their opinions, they just witnessed it within our son and thankfully told us. We took him off of milk and he immediately gained weight and even the doctor was astonished at how well he gained weight and said just to keep doing what we are doing because it's working.

Since that time, we have learned that he has Severe to Profound Apraxia and have been researching different things. I am not one to try new diets or anything but the evidence with GFCF diets (Gluten Free Casein Free) is showing that it works. I have read some research that also shows that children that show the best results all have the same mutate which makes it difficult or impossible to break down the proteins in milk and glucose. We are having genetic testing done just to prove it, but we already know he can't have milk. He also has club fingers and other symptoms which I am sure will tell us the same thing. I have researched quite a bit and know that this is something that we will do no matter the outcome of the tests, even if it's to better his absorbency with food. It's a big lifestyle change, but I know it will be the best thing for all of us at a family.

I am curious as to who has tried this diet and the results they have had.