Beckett, An Autism Story

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 7:21 pm

"3 years ago I sat on my son, Beckett's bedroom floor sobbing. He was sitting there with me, stacking his toys oblivious to anything going on around him. A little voice in the back of my head said "Your son is autistic." Why?! Why me? ..was all I could think. What had I done to deserve this? There wasn't suppose to be anything wrong with MY child. We were days away from getting his official diagnosis, but I just knew in my heart.
The day of the diagnosis came and it was frantic. I remember waiting for my husband to come in from work, the sitter arriving and us just being at each others throats. How could this be that we were going thru this? We were both entrepreneurs, well known in our city and had the "perfect all American family". We had already had our fair share of struggles in our marriage and for once things seemed to be smooth sailing. Why us? Why now? Why our son?

Unfortunately, we didn't get much guidance at the time of diagnosis. We were told to enroll him in preschool for peer interaction & give him speech therapy. That was it. I started doing lots of research. How could I help my son?? Surely, we don't just have to take this diagnosis as a death sentence. At first when I read about diet it all seemed so overwhelming. I'm suppose to give my kid HOW many supplements? I'm suppose to cut out bread? Are you kidding me?!

Over a 3 year period (this didn't happen overnight) we transitioned from the Standard American Diet (SAD) to a Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Veggie Strong diet. We also avoid processed food as much as possible. People tell me that there's no way that their child would eat ____. It was NOT easy, but I was persistent & I kept offering him a variety of fruits, veggies, high quality meat, nuts & beans. He definitely didn't accept everything I tried to give him the first time... But I DIDN'T GIVE UP. I had to remind myself that I was the parent and I was in control. Or they will say that they don't have time to eat well. Yes, it can be time consuming so my husband and I decided that I should scale back my career and focus on helping Beckett. Again, a difficult decision but our son's well being was worth it.

The differences in my child were night & day. He went from stacking toys, barely speaking, not making eye contact & not interacting with people to a 5 year old that is full of life. He is energetic, speaks in full sentences, is very loving & has even become a practical joker. Today Beckett started Kindergarten in a regular class with typical children. He has had the label of "autism" completely dropped & is ready to go out in the world and show people that you really can overcome anything if you put your mind to it!

Please share this if you know someone that has been affected by autism."
Brooke M R

YMMV

UkuleleLady · Post by **UkuleleLady** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:03 pm

What an encouraging story.

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 6:01 pm

Pretty amazing story. Thanks Joan.

Gloria

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:29 pm

What a great story! Amazing what diet can do!

Joan, where does this come from? Share it on FB maybe? Gets to more people that way.

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:36 pm

It was posted on Facebook on the page of a gal I know from our pet therapy group. It was written by her daughter.

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:52 pm

It's a wonderful story!

gluten · Post by **gluten** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 12:19 pm

Hi, A member of the gluten intolerence group has an autistic son. He is now a senior in high school, on the honor roll and a starting linebacker on the football team. He has attended meetings with his parent since he was ten years old and you could not tell he was autistic. She did a remarkable job with diet and supplements. He is gluten, refined sugar, diary and soy free. Jon

carolm · Post by **carolm** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 10:36 am

The brings up the question of the role of leaky gut for some kids with autism. Not that I would advocate colonoscopies for children but some inflammation measure would certainly be worthwhile, I would think.

I know some parents who tried to go gluten free for their children with autism but I also know it was more difficult than they imagined. I doubt that in spite of their good intentions that they were really gluten free. They still thought 'a little' was okay. They had other children and didn't purge their homes of gluten. There didn't seem to be any impact for the kids but it probably wasn't 100% gluten free.

I hope somewhere someone will look into the connection between autism and leaky gut. This might explain how some children seem to be developing typically until age 24-30 months and then start losing skills and develop autism. What gets triggered? A very worthwhile research question.

Carol

Post by **tex** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 2:57 pm

Carol wrote:I doubt that in spite of their good intentions that they were really gluten free.

And gluten is so prone to cross-reactivity issues that they probably would also need to avoid casein, and possibly other foods, as well. As you say, that's almost surely more than most of them would be prepared to deal with.

Tex

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 1:24 pm

I just sent this story to my sister for her doctor at NYU.

http://www.med.nyu.edu/biosketch/wisnit01

I also asked her to ask him about the book Grain Brain.

He's working on a vaccine for ALZ!