Hello

I hope your doing ok... I just wondered is the diet you are following a gluten free/ caesin free one?

Your story is one so familiar to me and I am so so for you this is a hard time for you and your family but there is help out there you just need to dig dig dig to get there which requires a huge amount of stress.

Have you read Mother Warriors by Jenny McCarthy? or Louder than words by same author, if not I would highly reccomend it to you as its full of information you may not get from your gp/hv's and it proves that autism can be treatable the above diet and supplements and many other things can and are improving children with this condition everyday but like the title of the book you need to become a warrior in order to get what you so rightly deserve.

She has a website to which is full of other reading sources and advice and has parent links for you to speak to other parents in your position.  Your not alone hun .  xx

hi hun thanks for reply it was peadrtioin i saw on wednesday who has put him on this diet for 6 wks and so far not good if anything his behaviour is getting worse he barley drinking and i have been up since 3 am coz of him think im gonna go round bend with another 5 wks of this

My only advice would be to go to the GP and insist for a referral to a paediatrician. Write a list of your concerns and those of the speech therapist and demand a referral. HVs have no specialist knowledge of child development and so knows no more than you would find out by reading any baby book so don't allow her to dismiss your concerns.

Unless your child has had tests for allergies and intolerances and you have been advised by a paediatrician to change his diet then no one ekse should have advised you to do so and changing it may make things worse rather than better particularly if your child has a restrictive diet already. So not only is it expensive it may not be necessary and may make things worse.

Lots of what you write is very similar to how my son Jack behaved he has autism, if you look on the NAS website you will find advice for parents who want to know how to get a child assessed and also signs and symptoms of autism. If you print this off underlining any points that are relevant to your son it should help your GP to refer him to the best paediatrician. Hope this helps, Donna

just a quick one hun cause i am in a rush, buy u can request to see a different health visitor. maybe one more helpfull.

also how old is your son? is he 4 or 5? if 4 he doesnt legally need to start school till he is 5.

amanda x x x

just a quick one hun cause i am in a rush, buy u can request to see a different health visitor. maybe one more helpfull.

also how old is your son? is he 4 or 5? if 4 he doesnt legally need to start school till he is 5.

amanda x x x

thanks for that reply it sounds like what i am going through the dr yesterday said his hearing is fine and to scrap the hearing test(she the one who would of done it at hospital) so we one step closer so far change of diet aint made any differance i know it will prob take a few weeks anyway but he is now really unsettled due to changes as he alwas has cheese spread sandwich for lunch and he aint allowed it i am gonna arrange a meeting wth the school for when he goes there on 3rd sept to discuss it all and make sure i gonna get support otherwise i will send him to school where i will get support

its pointless me going to hv as she says its his age and wouldnt even refer us neither would doctors it was speech therapist who refered us along with speech assesment so i do try to keep away from her as she alays puts me down aswell and its last thing i need

kieran also has a rare alternating squint as the surgeon says its huge and has had 1 opperation already and is needing another 2 maybe 3 to correct them so at the mo i cant work with is frustratin as we are on very low income and my hubby works long hours to bring it home we do get tax credits but with special diet and nappies for 2 kids espec when he takes it of after 1 wee it costs alot oh and coz of his milk intolerance he has to have soya milk with cereal now also he normally would have normal milk but they have said keep him of to make sure that aint having affect on behaviour

i wil be happy once i can see the light at the end of the tunnel as i know i am along way of yet

i too am sorry to hear about your son, b ut i felt i must reply, as he is exactly the same as my son was and still is now.

my dylan was 4 in june, we have known from birth something wasnt right, he was always slower with everything. sitting, up, walking, talking, playing, ect ect.

it has taken us a full year to get appointments and we are near the end now of knowing what it is or isnt.

so far we have had the hearing tests done, which they said is the cause of his lack of concentration, like your son, but his hearing has come back to be perfect.

he had blood tests done to see if it is anything genetic, them too have come back as normal thankfully.

we tried the diet thing first, nothing worked, no matter what we cut out or added ar changed, it didnt make a difference.

he had speech therapy too but doesnt require therapy as he is referred to the ear nose and throat as he has a 'leekage'' in his throat which causes his nasal speech.

he is still in nappies too and i get them free now he is 4. i tried everything too.

we are now aiting for the educational psychologist to asses him at home or nursery then to do his statementing,

the health visitir thinks i am right, it is asd or aspergers. but the drs have to cross everything off the list first before they can label anything, thats why they have advised the hearing tests ect. which dont get me wrong it may be just that.

you are not alone, i found coming on here helps so so much, often you feel drs only tell you half but know more, i hate that feeling.

dylan wont be starting school in sept with his friends but hopefully not long after with 1 on 1.

he has already been diagnosed with development delay and social communicational problems but i know there is more, his obsessions drive him mad bless him.

it is a long long road and you will wait for appointment after appointment but the best thing to do is just carry on as normal, wait for the appointments, go with a open mind and dont expect too much fromeach one. you dont get answers straight away.

try to relax and stay as calm as you can for your little boy and see your health visitir as much as you can, they help alpt.

were all her for you too

amanda x x x x

Hi i am sorry to hear about your son. I think the reason why they are cutting a lot of the foods out as i have been reading up a lot about allergies and it is amazing what allergies can do they affect each child differently, and it can make them hyper and give them brain fog, so basically put them behind now that they have removed certain food types you may find he improves a little, it is happening more and more. I am concerned about my dd who is 6 she is a year behind at reception level and going into year 2 she is in a group where they get taught seperatly as they are that far behind she is the only girl in group of 5. Now i think she has allergies going on she had abnormal poos when she was younger all the colours under the rainbow took her to docs who said it can be normal, yes whatever, she coughs a lot has 2 hernias i think she as just been refferred to a surgeon to have a look at them. She as a lot of stomach cramps, it is either the hernias or i think it is food intolerance/ allergy which would explain her brain fog puts them really behind and her behaviour she is constantly on go from like you said about 7 until 10 she did used to get up earlier when she was younger as early as 5 up until she was age 4. She is harder work than my 17mth old but saying that she has started to get very hyper, but i know she has got allergies going on due to the total ige antibodies circulating i am waiting to go back to the peadiatrician for her she as been under one for 6mths now and seen them about 5 times she has severe reflux and other problems, probably due to allergies. Sorry for babbling but i am trying to say that is why the pead is going down that line first as more and more children are getting like this like the teacher said. Autism and adhd are linked to allergies so it shows how allergies can affect children. Sharon x

hi thanks for your reply hv says its his age and hearing and so refered him for hearing test speech therapist refered to to peadrition which i have just come bk from and we are now been refered to differant people plus have to have change of diet (no cheese acid foods (oranges etc) artificvail colours or flavours no juice chocolate etc as this will say if his behaviour is related to his eating but she did say his brain aint developing he basically has the brain of a 18 month old and we have to treat him like one potty training is outta the window now so gonna cost a fortune as i have a 8 month old and was hoping would be outta them soon im still confused as she didnt say if she thinks is autism or not just his brain aint developing so if anyone knows what this could mean would be great im now just as confused as before only now i know its not just me thinking he bad and slow there is a reason for him been how he is

What has your health visitor said about him?From what you have described it does sound like he is somewhere on the Autistic spectrum,possibly Aspergers but I'm not an expert.I've been a primary school teacher for 12 years and over the last 5 or so have come across increasing numbers of children that are on the Autism spectrum.You must be tearing your hair out with him!!Has no-one done anything to help you out or guide you?I don't want to step on any toes if you are already getting help but mail me if you need to

my son is 3 on 14th of this month and most people think he is only 18 month old including teacher at school was shocked he starts there in september in nursrey here is what he is like

as soon as you try stopping him from doing summet he throws himself on fllo and either hits the floor with his hands rpeatedly or bangs his head repeatidly on floor or wall like yesterday someone said watch your fingers in door and he threw his car across garden threw himself on floor and had his paddy

he gets easily frustrated and dont seem to play with one thing for to long(always swpping from one thing to another even painting will do one quick painting and thats it he bored)

potty traing aint doing well at all he just wee's and poo's where ever he is even tho he knows he needs to do it as he asked for a nappy

he also has taken for the last month playng with his poo and spreading it about including covering himself in it

he finds it very funny to hurt people and laughs hysterically if he does hurt you

if you sing he hits you

his speech is very poor he barly says any clear words and alot of what he say is baba dada etc baby talk speech therapist saw him last month he said he aint made improvment since last visit in october he has been refered for hearing test just to rule it out

also hv concerned now as in 7 months he has grown only 2 cm and in last year 3 cms and he has dropped to the blue shaded area on the growth chart

he has been seen to put hairclip in his sisters mouth (she was 5 months at this point now nearly 8 months) he bounce on her takes toys away and is same with his older sisiter and has been fore over a year

his socila behaviour well he wont interact with othwers unless he knows them and at partyies he either clings to me or plays in seperate room and at last day of playgroup they had party and coz it was differant he did like it and got all upset and they was shocked at how it affected him

also he has endless energy he alsoways on go gets up 6.30 roughly sometimes early sometimes later and goes to sleep no earlier than 9 normally about 10 when he finally sleeps

now my question is do any of you parents have any simular problems and think he could have adhd or autism we are seeing peadriatrition on wednesday and just want some ideas on if i might be right  or wrong in think he has a problem

thanks for any replies