Hello. I am the mom of 2 boys, one of whom has autism. He was only diagnosed with a "speech and language disorder", but I have no doubt at all that he is on the autism spectrum. After months of crying, grieving and researching like a mad woman, I experimented with the gluten free/casein free diet twice before going full time in Jan/2008. The results have been miraculous. He is also on a host of supplements and we are also chelating him right now. His symptoms before biomedical intervention were:
Multiple tantrums per day
Vomitting for no reason
Extremely picky eater
High anxiety
Made noises all day longWiggling fingers/hands in air running
Speech delay
Social delays
No play skills
Lots of sensory issues
Holding onto toys
Lack of toilet training
Didn't enjoy normal things
Overly attached to me
Etc.
Since treating him, he potty trained himself with no assistance, 2 days after starting "the diet." His noises he made have been reduced by over 75%, his tantrums are GONE, increase in play skills, social skills, speech and comprehension, etc. Other therapies we are doing include:
3 hrs. per week of in-home ABA
1 hr. per week of Speech Therapy
1 hr. every other week of Occupational Therapy
Enrolled in full day Pre-K Program
To take a look at Xan now:
He speaks in sentences, has some conversational speech now and has a large vocabulary. Spontaneous speech has improved tremendously. He is finally adding in extra things like how he feels, specific things he wants to eat, places he wants to go, just out of the blue stuff. He has an opinion now! He wants to wear his "crocodile pants" all the time :) He loves to play with other children and responds to simple questions. Still no full conversations with kids, but we have come a long way! He still has some tactile issues and can cry easily when he gets his feelings hurt. He seems to have some issues with controlling emotions. He has no aggression issues though. His stimming has been reduced dramatically, but he does still have some, at home mainly. It is much more functional than it used to be though and much less frequent. He appears to just be shy to alot of people. He can have issues with eye contact if he doesn't know you. He is very affectionate with his baby brother and with us. He is just a joy to our lives and he is finally happy! I am excited about creating this blog because I want to keep track of all of his progress. Other than healing Xan, my other interests are collecting cookbooks, candles, trying new recipes, loving on my baby boy Tyce, trying to squeeze in some time with my hubby Chris, and soaking up all the fun stuff to do in this area. We are always on the go...shopping, beach bumming, water parking, amusement park going, zoo exploring, traveling...you name it, we do it. Ok, let's get started :)
