Autism and Diet - What Are Your Options?

                

 

When, as parents, you hear your child has autism, the first response is usually one of shock even though you may have had concerns that led to the diagnosis. After the shock wears off, you?ll probably be looking for things that can help your child. Unfortunately, information regarding a cure or even the root cause of autism is not yet known, so many parents turn to differing treatment options and there are a number of theories that suggest there is a link between autism and diet. More specifically that a special diet called GFCF that might help children with autism in many ways.

GFCF stands for gluten free casein free. Following a GFCF diet means foods with those proteins are eliminated from your child?s daily diet. Sounds simple right? Well, unfortunately it?s actually pretty difficult to do.

The problem is that these proteins are commonly found in foods that most of us eat each day, and therefore the diet can be somewhat restrictive.

Casein is found most commonly in milk and milk products like ice cream and cheese that are made with milk. Gluten is found in grains and also in oats and barley. It is also found in soy products, and many additives that are put in foods for coloring, flavor, or as a preservative. Both these proteins also appear in other food sources as well meaning you have to become an avid label reader.

Though studies are on going, there is no conclusive link between the GFCF diet and improvement for autistic children just yet. However, what is known is that some autistic children find if very difficult to digest these types of proteins in the same way as others can, and can lead the body to treat them as if they are poisonous.

Having this reaction to these proteins might lead to problems with bloating, gas, and diarrhea. Some also believe that these have an impact on social and emotional problems that are very common in children and adults struggling with autism.

Before removing any foods in order to follow a GFCF diet, it is a good idea to get approval from a doctor. The doctor might want to keep a close eye on the child because many important nutritional elements like calcium might be missing from the diet once milk is removed.

There are other foods that can supplement calcium, and a doctor can help with adding foods back to replace what following such a diet can miss. Vitamins and minerals are important to any eating plan, and if they are lacking, a child will suffer in other ways.

Continue reading for more information about GFCF diets and sign up to the newsletter for additional information on managing autism with dietary changes.

Some parents? report astounding changes in both physical and emotional problems, while others say that nothing changed when trying the GFCF diet. There are some in the middle that say the elimination diet helped with one problem but not others. How each child will react cannot be known until the diet is tried.

However, before jumping in and restricting your child?s diet to see if there is a link between autism and diet, parents should talk to the doctor and remember that the results for other families have been mixed. As long as a physician is overseeing the diet, and the child is receiving regular check ups, there should be no harm in trying the diet to see if it works.

By Rachel Evans. Sign up for a free newsletter for more information on autism. In the newsletter you'll find out more about the signs and symptoms of autism.

Understanding Glyconutrients Autism Treatment

                

 

Though there has yet to be a cure found for autism, there are studies ongoing in hopes of finding the root of the problem. There are many theories about why this happens to some children, and also why the numbers of those being diagnosed are so high. At the moment they are just theories. One such theory looks utilizing a glyconutrients autism treatment.

There is a body of thought that purports that when a child is not getting enough glyconutrients autism might be one of the possible results.

If you don?t know what glyconutrients are, you can think of them as the same things as what others refer to as the sugars in your body. You get these from foods that you eat. Glyconutrients keep the body moving, and they also aid in keeping the immune system running in tip-top form to protect the body. Because autism is considered to be an autoimmune condition, this leads some to believe that a lack of these glyconutrients might contribute to a child developing autism.

There are those who believe that almost 75% of all disease and other medical conditions are a result of the ?free radicals? that invade our bodies each day. These can be anything that is not normally found in the body, and that the body has to work to get rid of as soon as possible. Free radicals are formed from inhaling smoke, from the preservatives in foods and drinks, and other types of toxins. We are bombarded with these each day. If the immune system is impaired, it cannot process these free radicals quickly enough and they start to build up, which can lead to illness.

There are some that believe that glyconutrients should be supplemented in some children, as they may not be getting the level of nutrients required from the foods that they eat. Children are notorious for being picky about what they will eat. Supplements would then allow the immune system to work better, and the toxins would be easily flushed from the body. Though no one can say that this might stop autism from occurring, some believe it might help with some of the problems of a child who has already been diagnosed. Some parents who have supplemented with glyconutrients claim that this had made a huge difference, and yet others report no such difference in behavior.

There has yet to be any scientific research that points to glyconutrients being a huge help for those with autism just yet. There are many great things that can come from supplementing glyconutrients. However, autism may not may not respond to it, but there are studies that are ongoing.

However, if you believe that glyconutrients autism treatment is right for your child, you should never attempt to do this on your own. Talk to your doctor about the pros and cons first, and if you do decide to do it, you should make sure your doctor knows what is going on, and that you allow them to evaluate as they see fit. It is not wise to start a supplement program without medical supervision.

By Rachel Evans. Sign up for a free newsletter about autism and discover more on the signs and symptoms of autism

The Connectivity Theory And Autism Syndrome

                

 

Autism syndrome affects the way a person communicates and limits the ability to relate to others in a meaningful way, it is a lifelong developmental disorder that emerges in early childhood. A child with autism syndrome isn't able to appreciate cuddles or understand other people's feeling, he can't show signs of affection or develop friendships with other children.

There are researches saying that a lack of central coherence or a problem in the central nervous system is the cause of autism syndrome, and for that people with autism aren't able to bind many activities into a single and have many cognitive and behavioral difficulties. For the same reason, children with autistic syndromes learn to sit up, turn over and crawl in a different manner than normal children.

Brain activity in people at people with autism syndrome has been shown to be atypical in many ways including reduced synchronization across areas of the brain.

The brains of a child with autism syndrome is larger than a normal child's brains and there is one possible suspect for that, meaning a inflammation possibly due to autoimmune activity in the brain.

Autistic children learn to sit up, turn over and crawl in noticeably different manner than normal children and this difference in movement is caused by the same wiring problem in the central nervous system that later causes the social or verbal symptoms commonly associated with the condition of a child with autism syndrome.

Children or adults with autism syndrome have problems with activities such as coordinating their multiple brain areas or flexible understanding or spoken language.

We must know that in the connectivity theory we must also discuss about underconnectivity that can account for the social symptoms of autism syndrome. Social abnormalities are atributes of a deficit in integrative processing, and they may arise in integrating the perceptual and affective processing of social stimuli such as face affect.

High function autistic subjects have much lower levels of connectivity when many brain areas are compared.

It has been noted that a person with autism syndrome can answer sentence comprehension questions more rapidly, though more errors were noted with passive voice sentences.A study's findings are consistent with another theory about the underlying cause of autism syndrome, that faulty connections between the brain's parts may be responsible.

The process to discover if your child has autism syndrome can be slow and upsetting for the family and also for the child, and making friends or receive affection from those they hold dear it is difficult for a child with autism syndrome.

More informations about autism or autism causes about can be found by visiting http://www.autism-info-center.com/

A Brief Overview of the Criteria For Diagnosing Adults with Autism

                

 

Currently, there is no one single medical test that will definitively diagnose audlts with autism. Instead, the diagnosis is made on the basis of observable characteristics of the individual. Here is an overview of some of the different diagnostic standards: I. Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) is a clinical diagnostic instrument for assessing autism in children and adults. The ADI-R is a semi-structured instrument for diagnosing autism in children and adults with mental ages of 18 months and above. The instrument has been shown to be reliable and to successfully differentiate young children with autism from those with mental retardation and language impairments. The ADI-R focuses on behavior in three main areas and contains 111 items which specifically focuses on behaviors in three content areas - they are: Quality of social interaction, (e.g., emotional sharing, offering and seeking comfort, social smiling and responding to others); Communication and language (e.g., stereotyped utterances, pronoun reversal, social usage of language); and... Behavior (e.g., unusual preoccupations, hand and finger mannerisms, unusual sensory interests). (ADI-R) Scoring The interview generates scores in each of the three content areas. Elevated scores indicate problematic behavior. For each item, the clinician gives a score ranging from 0 to 3. A score of 0 is given when "behavior of the type specified is probably present but defining criteria are not fully met"; a score of 2 indicates "definite abnormal behavior"; and a score of 3 is reserved for "extreme severity" of the specified behavior. ICD 10 (World Health Organisation 1992) Diagnostic Criteria Diagnosis requires that single words should have developed by two years of age or earlier and that communicative phrases be used by three years of age or earlier. Self-help skills, adaptive behaviour and curiosity about the environment during the first three years should be at a level consistent with normal intellectual development. However, motor milestones may be somewhat delayed and motor clumsiness is usual (although not a necessary diagnostic feature). Isolated special skills, often related to abnormal preoccupations, are common, but are not required for diagnosis. Diagnosis requires demonstrable abnormalities in at least 3 out of the following 5 areas: 1. Failure adequately to use eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture and gesture to regulate social interaction; 2. Failure to develop (in a manner appropriate to mental age, and despite ample opportunities) peer relationships that involve a mutual sharing of interests, activities and emotions; 3. Rarely seeking and using other people for comfort and affection at times of stress or distress and/or offering comfort and affection to others when they are showing distress or unhappiness; 4. Lack of shared enjoyment in terms of vicarious pleasure in other people's happiness and/or a spontaneous seeking to share their own enjoyment through joint involvement with others; 5. A lack of socio-emotional reciprocity as shown by an impaired or deviant response to other people's emotions; and/or lack of modulation of behavior according to social context, and/or a weak integration of social, emotional and communicative behaviours. Diagnosis also requires demonstrable abnormalities in at least 2 out of the following 6 areas: 1. An encompassing preoccupation with stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest; 2. Specific attachments to unusual objects; 3. Apparently compulsive adherence to specific, non-functional, routines or rituals; 4. Stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms that involve either hand/finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole body movement; 5. Preoccupations with part-objects or non-functional elements of play materials (such as their odor, the feel of their surface/ or the noise/vibration that they generate); 6. Distress over changes in small, non-functional, details of the environment. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) Diagnostic Criteria A. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following: 1. Marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction; 2. Failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level; 3. A lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests or achievements with other people (eg: by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people); 4. Lack of social or emotional reciprocity. B. Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following: 1. Encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus; 2. Apparently inflexible adherence to specific, non-functional routines or rituals; 3. Stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (eg: hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements); 4. Persistent preoccupation with parts of objects C. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. D. There is no clinically significant general delay in language (eg: single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years). E. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood. F. Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder, or Schizophrenia. International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) issued by the World Health Organization

DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA FOR AUTISM DISORDER (ICD-10) (WHO 1992)

At least 8 of the 16 specified items must be fulfilled. a. Qualitative impairments in reciprocal social interaction, as manifested by at least three of the following five: 1. failure adequately to use eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture and gesture to regulate social interaction. 2. failure to develop peer relationships. 3. rarely seeking and using other people for comfort and affection at times of stress or distress and/or offering comfort and affection to others when they are showing distress or unhappiness. 4. lack of shared enjoyment in terms of vicarious pleasure in other peoples' happiness and/or spontaneous seeking to share their own enjoyment through joint involvement with others. 5. lack of socio-emotional reciprocity. b. Qualitative impairments in communication: 1. lack of social usage of whatever language skills are present. 2. impairment in make-believe and social imitative play. 3. poor synchrony and lack of reciprocity in conversational interchange. 4. poor flexibility in language expression and a relative lack of creativity and fantasy in thought processes. 5. lack of emotional response to other peoples' verbal and non-verbal overtures. 6. impaired use of variations in cadence or emphasis to reflect communicative modulation. 7. lack of accompanying gesture to provide emphasis or aid meaning in spoken communication. c. Restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by ate least two of the following six: 1. encompassing preoccupation with stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest. 2. specific attachments to unusual objects. 3. apparently compulsive adherence to specific, non-functional routines or rituals. 4. stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms. 5. preoccupations with part-objects or non-functional elements of play material. 6. distress over changes in small, non-functional details of the environment. d. Developmental abnormalities must have been present in the first three years for the diagnosis to be made

Born in Oklahoma, in 1951, Karen L Simmons had her first book published in 1996. The book, Little Rainman, Autism Through The Eyes of A Child was written to raise awareness about the early detection signs of autism and has sold over 10,000 copies worldwide to parents and educators of these special children.