This blog will be following the journey of Lucas, who is our wonderful 14 year old son, as we change our diets.
I was lucky enough to run across a book by Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride called "Gut and Psychology Syndrome". Dr Natasha has developed what looks like a very promising nutrition protocol. It's called "GAPS" (Gut and Psychology Symdrome), which she used as an intervention for her own child on the autistic spectrum.
She subsequently began treating many children in her clinic in England, apparently with great success.
I am an RN. While I was studying in school there were so many questions I had that our instructors didn't have answers for. The GAPS book gave me many of the pieces I knew had to be out there, but had not found yet.
In the course of Lucas' journey we have tried many things to help him. Some of those included: ABA (Applied Behavioral Therapy), (NAET) Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques , chiropractic, speech therapy, GFCF diet (gluten free casein free, all sorts of supplements, early childhood intervention of 3 hours a day in class starting at 2-1/2 years old, 8 hours a day of program work in his early special ed class, AIM (energetic balancing program), the list can go on and on. The cost is something I have never totaled up. I would spend it all again if it would make a significant difference.
His language has developed very slowly - he started with single words, then after a vaccine booster, things began to change. He stopped speaking and started communicating in a flowing bird-like language. It was beautiful, but disconcerting.
He became fixated on lights and mirror. Sometimes he seemed deaf.
We dubbed him "The Amazing Non-Sleeping Baby" - cause he didn't.
He didn't crawl, he walked like a baby elephant: on all fours: the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. Way cute and......... disconcerting.
He developed eczema and odd waxy deposits on his scalp and crusty spots behind each ear. He started growing all sorts of moles.
He had shown great interest in all kind of foods which stopped abruptly. He began self-limiting his foods to the narrow list of choices he now will eat. It is typical for someone on the autistic spectrum: sugar, carbs, cheese, salami, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, french fries, pizza. In the fresh category: apples, bananas, oranges, grapes, carrots (under duress). Oh and ketchup. And soda. As much as we'll let him have.
He was unable to toilet train until age 8. We tried a few different reminder and reward systems, starting at the usual age, but it seemed that he simply couldn't feel when he had to go. When he did succeed, it was all at once with virtually no prompting. This was huge - it's hard to find a day care provider who will understand and support an 8 year old who is still in pull-ups, having accidents.
We began homeschooling Lucas at age 6. He attended 3 years of early childhood intervention and then kindergarten with a wonderful teacher who supported him well. He had an aide, no language and no friends. It was him alone on the playground, flapping and running the fence. It was depressing. They planned to promote him to half-days in the first grade, we thought he would benefit more from another year of kindergarten. That was not an option.
By fall of first grade, he was beginning to cry every morning before we'd head out the door to school. Not typical behavior for this guy. We chose then to take him out and school him ourselves, at his own pace. Which we have done until last year, when he started 7th grade in Oregon. It was clear to us he had grown to the point that he was ready for the challenge of school. He succeeded wildly - carrying a 3.5 average across all his classes and winning a winter ice skating trip for academic and attendance achievement. He is beloved of his teachers.
Below is a video of Lucas talking about things in his life that he might like to see change. These are all things that I believe can improve with this diet.
