Welcome
to
Diet Intervention and Autism
In October 1998, just before his third birthday, my youngest son, Jack, was diagnosed as being autistic, after extensive observation and testing by a team of specialists.
I was informed that he was profoundly autistic, with severe learning difficulties and that if he could say half a dozen words in adulthood to express his basic needs like 'toilet' and 'drink', then I could consider that I had done a good job raising him.
The diagnosis was not a surprise, I had already guessed. Well it was hard not too, Jack didn't talk, he didn't 'do' eye contact, he rarely slept (he averaged 2x 1hour slots a night), he self harmed, he was destructive, he was very rigid in his routines and feeding habits and if I had disappeared off the face of the planet, I don't think he would have noticed, much less cared.
Roll forward many years to August 2012, when Jack has reached the grand old age of 16 and he has just found out that he has achieved 9, yes NINE, GCSEs - one of which is an A grade - YAAAAHOOOOOOO.
Despite the initial prognosis, he has managed 50% more GCSEs than the predicted words.
He is now doing 3 A levels and hopes to do well enough to do a degree.
More importantly, he is now happy and he is healthy too.
He also sleeps, eats well, chats for England, has a very dry wit, he is a very kind, caring and talented young man.
& he does know that I exist :)
He is still autistic. He isn't 'cured'. And truth be known, I wouldn't want that part of him cured/eradicated. His autism is part of him, part of what makes him the wonderfully unique young man that he is.
Jack has changed from a young boy with severe autism, being educated at a school for those with profound and multiple learning difficulties, to a young man who is now studying for 3 A levels, how did this magical/miraculous transformation take place? What happened?
Two things happened,
1. I didn't give up on him, I wouldn't accept that he should remain in so much obvious pain,
&
2.I changed his diet
oh & then I changed his environment too but that happened much later.
ok, so I did 3 things, things that dramatically changed the life of my son and the family.
What does Jack think of the diet?
"If there was a cure for my autistic traits and allergies, I wouldn’t take it. Being autistic and having allergies is part of me and who I am and I don’t want to change anything about myself – period! I really like being me, but I couldn't be the 'real' me without the diet."
"The diet has never stopped me from doing anything that I have wanted to do. I’ve eaten in a restaurant, I have stayed in hotels, I’ve gone on holiday and I’ve gone away with my school. I have even starred in a movie – I just mention that, as I noticed on the film set that almost everyone eats all the time when they aren’t filming."
I was informed that he was profoundly autistic, with severe learning difficulties and that if he could say half a dozen words in adulthood to express his basic needs like 'toilet' and 'drink', then I could consider that I had done a good job raising him.
The diagnosis was not a surprise, I had already guessed. Well it was hard not too, Jack didn't talk, he didn't 'do' eye contact, he rarely slept (he averaged 2x 1hour slots a night), he self harmed, he was destructive, he was very rigid in his routines and feeding habits and if I had disappeared off the face of the planet, I don't think he would have noticed, much less cared.
Roll forward many years to August 2012, when Jack has reached the grand old age of 16 and he has just found out that he has achieved 9, yes NINE, GCSEs - one of which is an A grade - YAAAAHOOOOOOO.
Despite the initial prognosis, he has managed 50% more GCSEs than the predicted words.
He is now doing 3 A levels and hopes to do well enough to do a degree.
More importantly, he is now happy and he is healthy too.
He also sleeps, eats well, chats for England, has a very dry wit, he is a very kind, caring and talented young man.
& he does know that I exist :)
He is still autistic. He isn't 'cured'. And truth be known, I wouldn't want that part of him cured/eradicated. His autism is part of him, part of what makes him the wonderfully unique young man that he is.
Jack has changed from a young boy with severe autism, being educated at a school for those with profound and multiple learning difficulties, to a young man who is now studying for 3 A levels, how did this magical/miraculous transformation take place? What happened?
Two things happened,
1. I didn't give up on him, I wouldn't accept that he should remain in so much obvious pain,
&
2.I changed his diet
oh & then I changed his environment too but that happened much later.
ok, so I did 3 things, things that dramatically changed the life of my son and the family.
What does Jack think of the diet?
"If there was a cure for my autistic traits and allergies, I wouldn’t take it. Being autistic and having allergies is part of me and who I am and I don’t want to change anything about myself – period! I really like being me, but I couldn't be the 'real' me without the diet."
"The diet has never stopped me from doing anything that I have wanted to do. I’ve eaten in a restaurant, I have stayed in hotels, I’ve gone on holiday and I’ve gone away with my school. I have even starred in a movie – I just mention that, as I noticed on the film set that almost everyone eats all the time when they aren’t filming."
*************
It isn't my intention on this site to repeat the 'what is the diet' & the basics of 'how to do the diet', as that is more than adequately covered in my book 'Diet Intervention & Autism'. I do need to point out, that the book was written many years ago and during this time the products have changed, my knowledge has increased greatly and best of all the diet has evolved. So you do need to keep up-to-date with dietary changes and latest 'best practice'. Hence the need for this site.
As well as keeping you up-to-date, I see this site as also being a 'day-to-day diet in practice' site with helpful tips on recipes, cooking, sourcing the right ingredients, helpful suggestions, more in-depth information of foods used or not to be used on the diet and other things that I come across that might be of use to you and your family.
I hope once my 'technical director' has finished his back-log of revision, he will be able to take some videos and up-load them, of me tackling some of the gf/cf foods that have some of you in a panic, bread, rolls, pastry, pasta etc, until then you'll have to suffer with my very dodgy photo skills.
To subscribe to the FREE Diet Intervention & Autism Newsletter please click here. It really is FREE
http://www.dietinterventionandautism.com/subscribe.html
You can also be kept up-to-date by following me on my Twitter account (link directly below)
https://twitter.com/MarilynLeBreton
All information, photos, pictures, recipes, in fact everything on this site, is copyrighted to Marilyn Le Breton. Do not copy or in any other way distribute without the author's consent. Let's not feed the lawyers more than we have too!
Thank you.
This site is constantly under construction - thank you for your patience & please visit again soon :)
It isn't my intention on this site to repeat the 'what is the diet' & the basics of 'how to do the diet', as that is more than adequately covered in my book 'Diet Intervention & Autism'. I do need to point out, that the book was written many years ago and during this time the products have changed, my knowledge has increased greatly and best of all the diet has evolved. So you do need to keep up-to-date with dietary changes and latest 'best practice'. Hence the need for this site.
As well as keeping you up-to-date, I see this site as also being a 'day-to-day diet in practice' site with helpful tips on recipes, cooking, sourcing the right ingredients, helpful suggestions, more in-depth information of foods used or not to be used on the diet and other things that I come across that might be of use to you and your family.
I hope once my 'technical director' has finished his back-log of revision, he will be able to take some videos and up-load them, of me tackling some of the gf/cf foods that have some of you in a panic, bread, rolls, pastry, pasta etc, until then you'll have to suffer with my very dodgy photo skills.
To subscribe to the FREE Diet Intervention & Autism Newsletter please click here. It really is FREE
http://www.dietinterventionandautism.com/subscribe.html
You can also be kept up-to-date by following me on my Twitter account (link directly below)
https://twitter.com/MarilynLeBreton
All information, photos, pictures, recipes, in fact everything on this site, is copyrighted to Marilyn Le Breton. Do not copy or in any other way distribute without the author's consent. Let's not feed the lawyers more than we have too!
Thank you.
This site is constantly under construction - thank you for your patience & please visit again soon :)
Disclaimer
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained on this website is correct.
The author does not take any responsibility for any changes to the information or to any decision/s taken as a result of the information contained on this site.
None of the information contained within the site is to be taken as medical advice.
Always consult a qualified medical practitioner before embarking on any form of dietary intervention or change.