Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional I think I cured DS's AD/HD

Wow, good job! I love hearing other people take diet as a serious cause of health issues.

I have heard really great things about body ecology. Here is a link to someone who used it for her autistic son: http://www.healthiertalk.com/caregivers-guide-autism-0259
She has a blog somewhere that talks about it but, I couldn't find the link.

A great probiotic for kids on the autism spectrum is D-Lactate Free Probiotics from Custom Probiotics. It is dairy free, hypoallergenic and does not contain any artificial colors, flavors, sugar, gluten, soy or FOS. Dairy and gluten are huge problems for many, many kids on the spectrum (including ADHD/SPD as well).

That's wonderful. I am actually a huge advocate of probiotics. I take them every day.

my son has SPD and I have read everything I can find on it and have met with several psychs and doctors and almost everything I have read/heard states that a child with autism almost always has SPD, but it does not work the other way around - you can have SPD and not be on the autistic spectrum. My little guy has had SO many assessments and does not have the required checklist items/requirments for autism or aspergers and we have had 3 doctors all agree on the findings. There are several articles out there that seem to automatically lump SPD into the autistic catagory because as one of our doctors states - it is convenient to do so....SPD is where ADHD was 15 years ago...no one quite knows what to do with it or where it fits in so they lump it in with something. We have had so many doctors and professionals state that he is no way near the spectrum and his family doctor lately has been leaning towards that we just have a very highly gifted child that has some serious OE's.....so before automatically jumping to the conclusion of autism with SPD, make sure to do some more digging and talking with professionals because there are a huge amount of doctors/people who do not think that all SPD children are on the autistic spectrum :-)

Belle, I get what you're saying and it's true, SPD doesn't have the most important autism hallmarks. There is strong verbal comprehension in these kids, they have social affiliation, eye contact, spontaneous displays of empathy. My son is so emotional and sensitive. He is acutely aware of what others are feeling and is sensitive to facial expressions. It's not autism, right? Interestingly, the Eides who wrote that book I'm reading even stated that there was a link between SPD and highly or profoundly gifted kids. They also said that 2E kids (gifted with issues) are more likely to be mis-labeled autistic than other kids. I don't really know what to make of that just yet because I'm still actually digesting everything that's happening.

I also remembered what was drilled into us in every science class, "A correlation does not equal a causation." so the fact that SPD occurs without autism does not escape me. I have been to every doctor in town. Excellent doctors, as a matter of fact. DS has seen three psychologists, two physicians, three OTs and a psychiatrist. Others have said that he seemed on the spectrum (teachers, assorted nosy types) and I kept asking the docs about the possibility. Every single one laughed off the suggestion that he might be on the spectrum and I still don't think he has high-functioning autism, asperger's or whatever. I now view my focus on how he didn't have autism as something that was holding me back from considering different treatments. The probiotics helped. You can call his disorder a pizza for all I care. It's getting better. LOL.

Love the comment - "You can call his disorder a pizza for all I care. It's getting better. LOL." In our every day life and with families I just call him my Tornado child because that is how he conducts his day :-) We love the throw it at the wall and see what sticks method and what works, we keep and what doesn't we throw away :-)

Along the same lines but a little off-topic, what do you think about giving a child soy milk? My son (7) has been drinking soy milk since he was one, after several ear infections. My mom finally said, "you know, it could be dairy, two of your sisters couldn't tolerate cow's milk". So we switched to soy milk (well, formula first then soy milk). And, lo, and behold, the ear infections and sinus infections cleared up.

Since then, however, I've had two people tell me interesting thigs about soy milk. The first is that it inhibits intellectual growth in boys. The second is that since soy milk has a lot of estrogen, it can cause problems in boys by messing with their hormones. We do let him have dairy in pizza and ice cream because he loves them. When we had allergy testing, he tested very low for a reaction to casein, the protein in dairy.

Thoughts, comments, questions? Is the soy milk contributing to some of the behavior prolems we're seeing? He usually has 2 cups a day, sometimes 3.

I've read similar things about soy milk. I don't know if it's true or not. WOuld he drink rice milk? Now that he is older and the anatomy of his ear canal has changed, he might be fine w/ dairy. It won't hurt to take him off soy for a month or two and see what changes occur.

I'm doing coconut milk right now. Soy is a huge allergen and there's some problem with it in the U.S., like ours is unfermented or something so the protein is useless to us. I don't know. What I do know is that I can't have dairy and I also am sensitive to soy milk and that particular combination of allergies is very common. Rice milk is great for the stomach and delicious but not especially nutritious. My mom just told me about coconut milk (which is also antibiotic and antifungal) and I bought some just this Tuesday. The kids drank it like it was going out of style, fell asleep and woke up in the morning with rosy cheeks. So, I'm going back to the whole foods (only place that stocks it here) today to buy two gallons. It's called "So Delicious". I tried their ice cream but it was too coconut-ey but the kids loved their yogurt.

Cow's milk is mucus forming so if you're going to do that, there will be mucus issues in all of their forms. However, I have just learned something very interesting about cow's milk. It's not necessarily the casein that's the problem. When they take the fat out of milk, they add back in a bunch of vitamins and other stuff. The vitamins can be sourced from chemicals that cause reactions. So, if you choose to serve cow's milk, make it whole milk, not skim. Kids with neuro issues need all the fat they can get, anyway, over three years old or not.

That's exactly right.