Topic : 01/17 Extreme Disorders

I have a beautiful little girl who is 8.  I have had her to a Dr. and a Therapist..  The Dr. said to give her an anger pillow.  She never acted up in front of the therapist.  She will get mad and hit herself, bang her head into a wall and throw things.  She used to shove the grocery cart at me.  She says I hate myself and I don't know I am even here.  I am at my witts end.  She can go from nice to nasty in 0 to 60 sec.  She just tries to defie me.  I don't know what to do, or what to exactly say to her Dr. in order for them to take this serious.  She is great in school, but gets picked on and doesn't take it well.  Please if anyone has any advise, I can use it!! 

Thank you 

My son is 11 years old and has AS. Life has not always been easy with him and things finally "fit" when we got our diagnosis. We could look back and understand and say "Ah hah!" about things that he did even as a baby. Though I am HAPPY with the greater concentration of attention that Asperger's is getting lately, I am not at all thrilled with the direction that attention is taking it. It seems that most people don't feel like children with AS have to learn to control themselves and that you just have to say "Oh well, it's not his fault cause he doesn't understand." BULL!!! My son has always been taught that there are consequences to inappropriate behavior and therefore has learned to control his temper tantrums. Was it easy? No but it was worth it in the long run! My child started having his fits when he was about a year and a half. They would last for hours and it was due to him also being extremely sensitive to sounds and lights (which is a trait common with lots of aspies). A counselor reccommended me taking him in a quiet, dark room and holding him down until he calmed down. It may seem extreme to some people but he learned and after LESS THAN A WEEK his tantrum would stop the moment we stepped into our "holding room." I didn't hold him down meanly, just forcefully and talked very soothingly and calmly to him and it would calm him and it taught him how to calm himself as well. You have to speak very directly to a child with AS and make sure they answer you back. We alway follow what we say to our son with an "OK?" and he sometimes must repeat things back to us just to be sure we are all on the same level. I homeschool my son as well. We tried school but the school didn't want to work with him. I know they are supposed to but I felt like it was more torture than I was willing to put my son through while I got the school to conform to the law. We don't have a perfect life but who does?! We love all 4 of our children and we just figure God blessed us with a child with Asperger's cause He has great plans for him.  

By the way, AS is not a chemical imbalance and we've been told meds have not been approved for Asperger's and most would only treat symptoms for a while. Why put that stuff in your kids system if they only work for a little while and you have to keep changing them? Aren't they really only to make your child fit into the mold that the world thinks they should be like anyway? 

I wish the show would have a follow up with families that have worked positively with their AS kids so the world doesn't think there is just a bunch of uncontrollable kids running around with this syndrome that "can't be helped"... just a thought!! 

Just wanted to let you know, there are simple tests that can be run to see if your child would benefit from this diet. It's called a urinary peptide test. There are only a few places to have the test done. One is Dr. Cade @ the University of Florida (he invented Gatorade), also Great Plains Labs. This is a simple urine collection. The test will show if your child has elevated antibodies to casein and gluten. We were told that normal antibodies were between 1 and 80. Our son's tests came back well over 2000 for casein and over 2700 for gluten. We saw immediate improvements after removing casein (dairy). It took well over 6 months to see any changes after removing gluten. Some don't see anything for a year or more. The problem is removing ALL  intances of gluten. It is hidden in MANY ingredients, i.e. natural flavorings, malt flavoring, MSG. I don't know your situation, but is it possible that not all instances were removed? 

This diet definately is not a cure, but it can be a crucial step down that road. Like I mentioned in my original post, most ASD kids have absorption problems. Methylcolbamin or MB-12 is essential, along with Cod Liver Oil, probiotics, digestive enzymes, Vit. C, minerals, etc. 

My point is this: I am not a dr. Have your child tested. If their urinary peptide antibodies are elevated, the diet will help. Yes it is expensive, yes it is hard, but YES it is worth it. If gluten and casein are elevated, those enzymes are not being processed, but leaking out of the gut and into the blood/brain barrier. 

Read a great book: "Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Development Disorder" by Karyn Serrousi. It's excellent. Then get Lisa Lewis' book: "Special Diets for Special Kids".  There are some great recipes, and excellent resources in both these books. 

If you want more information, please email me privately. 

Kerri 

You are so right!!   The diet and biomed approach has to be tried...if it is the underlying cause for the autism (as it is for the most--not all-- of these kids), the child can experience dramatic improvements!!!!  So very, very worth it !!!