Tag Archives: autism awareness

A Mother’s Experience with the Casein Free Diet for Autism

Guest blogger Janice Ellen Wright is a former magazine editor and website editorial person, currently being the mother of 7-year-old DuckyBoy and making forays into online information marketing. Janice also blogs about her experiences with her son’s school program for students with high-functioning autism and how this experience got her sent to the principal’s office for the first time in her life. Feel free to search for controversy at Autism and Public Schools.

Part of the casein-free diet‘s success for me and my son was the amount of time I was able, and willing, to devote to preparing things that were not only CF, but also would be something DuckyBoy would eat.

It was this past Christmas that we tried going off the diet. Now, he’s in love with the grilled cheese sandwiches at the school cafeteria, and some days I find myself wondering what protein he ate on the CF diet now that I pack some combination of cheese sticks, cheese crackers, and Goldfish for his snacks or lunch almost every day. (more…)

Posted on October 4, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Using the Gluten, Casein and Soy-Free Diet for Children with Autism

The week of September 20 is Autism Awareness Week at DietsInReview.com.

Guest Blogger Holly Bortfeld is a work-at-home mom to two children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ages 14 and 16. She home-schools her son and writes content for the Talk About Curing Autism (TACA ) site, including the popular series, “Autism-On-A-Budget.” Follow Holly on Twitter @TACAnow.

My son has been on the GFCF diet since 1998. Back then, there was little available as far as information, research or foods that didn’t taste like cardboard. Happily, you can now find an extensive array of mixes and pre-packaged foods now in grocery and health food stores, as well as online grocers.

Why should you do the diet? Because it works! According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, at least 70% of children with ASD have gastroenterological problems and both published and anecdotal research shows diet to be the single-most effective treatment used with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) kids. (more…)

Posted on September 25, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Feeding a Finicky Autistic Child

The week of September 20 is Autism Awareness Week at DietsInReview.com.

Guest blogger Jean is a mom to three young sons, one of whom is on the autism spectrum. She has spent many years trying to find ways to entice her autistic son to eat healthy food. She writes about her life and her kids on her blog, Stimeyland.

“C’mon, Jack, just take one bite. Please?”

You hear this a lot at my house. Jack is my autistic son, and he does not care for new food. Nor does he care for familiar food, especially if it is a fruit or vegetable. He has about 15 foods he will happily eat, and he is usually unwilling to stray outside that list.

We’ve tried many things to get him to eat: Fruit in smoothies! Vegetables hidden in spaghetti sauce! Raisins hidden in cookies! But he just takes one tiny sip of the smoothie and walks off. He cleans the sauce off of his pasta with his cup of milk. And if he finds a raisin in his cookie, he will spit it out. In fact, he’s started to avoid cookies because of the unwelcome surprises he’s found in them. (more…)

Posted on September 24, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Sound-Based Intervention Offers Eating Hope for Autistic Children

The week of September 20 is Autism Awareness Week at DietsInReview.com.

Guest blogger Sally Brockett, M.S., is a Berard AIT Instructor/Practitioner and the Director of the IDEA Training Center. For more information and a list of international Berard AIT practitioners, visit Berard AIT.

Berard Auditory Integration Training (AIT) is a sound-based intervention designed to reorganize or balance the auditory system when it is functioning inefficiently. One would not expect a listening program to have any effect on the self-restricted diets and feeding problems experienced by those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are many reports and data that indicate Berard AIT may, in fact, have an effect, due to its overall impact on sensory modulation.

Berard AIT provides an intensive program of electronically modulated music filtered through the Earducator or Audiokinetron. The training requires two half-hour listening sessions for ten days. The novel stimulation, provided with intensity and repetition, provides the key components to trigger neural plasticity and reorganization of the auditory system, which is home to the sensory processing system. Sensory processing problems underlie many of the behaviors exhibited by those with ASD, including some diet and feeding issues. (more…)

Posted on September 23, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Learning to Love the Casein-Free Diet for Autism

The week of September 20 is Autism Awareness Week at DietsInReview.com.

Janice Wright's son's favorite food: Oyster cracker & cream cheese

Guest blogger Janice Ellen Wright blogs about her experiences with her son’s school program for students with high-functioning autism and how this experience got her sent to the principal’s office for the first time in her life. Feel free to search for controversy at Autism and Public Schools.

When my son was about four-years old, and struggling with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), a behavioral disorder of autism, I bought a book titled Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder: A Mother’s Story of Research and Recovery, by Karyn Seroussi.

I had no idea what the GFCF diet was, nor did I want to know. But Seroussi was such a thoughtful writer, I kept on reading. When she wrote something like, “How can you not try removing dairy, for your child’s sake?” I knew I had to try. (more…)

Posted on September 23, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Yoga’s Benefits for Autistic Children

The week of September 20 is Autism Awareness Week at DietsInReview.com.

Guest Blogger JoAnna Ross is the founder of Yoga By the Dozen, an online company which promotes a healthy lifestyle for kids through their highly acclaimed ‘Yoga By The Dozen’ DVD and their complete line of lifestyle products for yoga. She has been featured on Broadway, “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” “The Today Show,” and “The David Letterman Show.”

Yoga is becoming one of the newest techniques to help an autistic child develop their cognitive and motor skills; and foster self-confidence and respect. Yoga is a calm place for an autistic child to feel safe in. The classic definition of an autistic child would be problems interacting socially and verbally, limited activities and interests. With the structure of a yoga class, an autistic child starts to develop their coordination and learns how to focus. (more…)

Posted on September 22, 2024 by GuestBlogger

The Feingold Diet for Autism

The week of September 20 is Autism Awareness Week at DietsInReview.com.

Guest Blogger Karianna writes at The Karianna Spectrum. Her oldest son was diagnosed with PDD-nos when he was in pre-school.

Food is sustenance, but it also has sensory and social components. All three of these come into play for individuals on the autistic spectrum.

Many kids with autism are affected by food in ways that neurotypical children are not. My son is on the Feingold Program, a diet that avoids certain salicylates and petroleum-based additives. Other children have found success with gluten-free/ casein-free diets, particularly when they also have celiac disease. Some autistic kids might have lots of food sensitivities, while others may have none.

Even without a specific food concern, kids on the spectrum typically have more pronounced reactions to food, so eating healthfully is even more crucial than for a typical kid who might be “off” after lots of junk food or without a well-rounded diet. (more…)

Posted on September 22, 2024 by GuestBlogger

A Biggest Loser Family Fights Autism with a Healthy Lifestyle

The week of September 20 is Autism Awareness Week at DietsInReview.com. The Parhams join us to share their story.

Phillip and Amy Parham were contestants on season six of The Biggest Loser where they lost a combined total of 256 pounds. They have three children: Austin, (14), Pearson (12), and Rhett (9). They continue to inspire people through their website and social network PhilAndAmyFitness.com and through “90 day fitness challenges” that they conduct across the country. In June 2024 they will release a book entitled “Dream Again: Phil and Amy’s 90 Day Fitness Challenge” and a companion DVD.

When it was first suggested to me that my son Rhett might have autism I instantly thought about Raymond on the movie “Rain Man.” Suddenly my life became about trying to “fix” Rhett. So I went out in search of every therapy, diet, and program I could find to do this. I soon learned the reason that they call autism a “spectrum” disorder. (more…)

Posted on September 21, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Tag Archives: autism awareness

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