This is for my kids with the following diagnoses: Asperger's (14, 10, & 8) Anxiety/OCD (14, 10, & 8) ADHD (14 & 8) Dyslexia (8) Dysgraphia (14 & 8) Slow processing speed (10) Auditory processing disorder (10) Dyscalculia (14 -mild/borderline) Working memory deficits (14 & 8) Visual processing issues (14 & 8) Convergence insufficiency (8) Okay, I've been researching for a couple of years now. We have been gluten free for two years as well as no processed food, no dyes, no preservatives, and all organic (organic is EXTREMELY important for our kids.. this includes meats and dairy).. We are also mostly dairy free and mostly soy free and low sugar/starch. My kids have made HUGE improvements with diet change alone.. More than I ever dreamed possible. However, we still have some lingering issues that need some work, mostly in the area of learning disabilities. I came up with this plan that we will be implementing over the next 6 months and then WE ARE DONE (with the exception of my 8yr old who has significant issues with visual processing and retained primitive reflexes). I am sharing this here for anyone who is interested.. If this is not your thing, then please ignore. But thought it might help someone, maybe as a springboard for their own research if nothing else. If you have any suggestions for improvement, would love to hear. My living room is our "Brain Gym". We do Brain Gym in the mornings after breakfast. This consists of: 1. Wii Fit Plus "Training Plus" exercises. I have them do four of my choice, then they do two of their choice. 4X per week. The main exercises they need to do are: a) Perfect 10 (for processing speed and math facts) b) Rhythm Kung Fu (for processing speed, coordination, working memory, and rhythmic movement training (google this for more info). c) Rhythm Parade (for processing speed, auditory processing, coordination, and rhythmic movement training) d) Big Top Juggling (for coordination and processing speed) 2. Brain Age II for the Nintendo Wii or DS. 2X per week. This improves working memory and processing speed 3. Dianne Craft's Brain Integration Therapy Manual. 4X per week. a) Cross Crawl exercise (for ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia) b) Eye Eight exercise (for ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia) c) Writing Eight exercise (for dyslexia, dysgraphia) d) The Jogger's Lunge (Integrates back receptive brain with front) e) The Fencer (for convergence insufficiency) 4. Brain Gym book- I am waiting for this to arrive.. Haven't looked at it yet. 5. Juggling book - We will also soon be doing juggling a couple of times a week. Juggling is good for integrating the two sides of the brain. 6. Twice a week, we will work on handicrafts (crocheting, beading, woodworking, etc.). Handicrafts stimulate the frontal lobe, which is where executive functioning is located. That concludes our Brain Gym. We do not do everything every day. We do Brain Gym until lunch time (because it takes a while to get 4 kids through it all). After lunch, we play outside, then we start school. Now on to supplements: In the a.m., my kids take: 5HTP (precursor for neurotransmitter serotonin production) Tyrosine (precursor for neurotransmitter dopamine production) Probiotic (for gut health/candida elimination) Cod Liver Oil (needed for the above Brain Gym exercises to be effective) Drink Orange Juice (vit C, D, folic acid) Digestive enzymes P-5-P (b6) (this is just as effective as Ritalin in some kids.. Also a co-factor for 5HTP & Tyrosine) At noon, my kids take: B12 (brain vitamin. Given at noon because it can contribute to sleep issues) Multi-vitamin Grapefruit Seed Extract (to help with candida elimination) Vitamin D3 (especially important during the winter months!) At bedtime, my kids take: 5HTP Tyrosine Probiotic Biotin (co-factor for 5HTP & Tyrosine.. Also good for treating candida) Calcium/Magnesium (because we are dairy free. Given at bedtime because the magnesium has a relaxing effect) Melatonin for the ones who have trouble with sleep My kids are used to taking supplements so this is nothing new to them. They swallow pills easily. I promise you they are not being tortured.. :D *DISCLAIMER* I am not a professional in any field except HOMESCHOOLING MOM.:D I was a nurse in the military years ago, but that doesn't count. Please do your own research on EACH AND EVERY ONE of the above supplements before giving to your child. Consult your doctor for more info.

I am so surprised at the overuse of antibiotics for acne! Antibiotics kill good bacteria in your gut.. Long-term antibiotics is unfathomable to me. Be sure to take probiotics when you are done with your course of abx! This is crucial for immune system function and overall health.

Yes, my oldest daughter (Aspie) began reading very young and was very much accelerated in reading for years (and still is). However, she is a very concrete thinker and can only pull concrete facts from what she has read.. She cannot analyze, predict, conclude, explain a person's intentions or feelings, or anything else that is too abstract. She reads, reads, reads, and reads some more.. Addicted to the written word and practically memorizing what she reads.. But her comprehension is limited to visual concrete facts and she depends on her superior memory to get through comprehension questions.

Is she dairy free? Dairy free is a MUST for acne sufferers! I wouldn't personally try an antibiotic as it would further compromise gut flora and potentially lead to more acne. I would have her go dairy free, have her take probiotics, and give her activated charcoal several times to soak up toxins. Acne is caused from toxicity within the body. Usually liver or gastrointestinal toxicity. Google "liver toxicity + acne" and also "dairy + acne" and you'll get some information that further explains. My dd used to have cystic acne, but I cleared it up by treating her from the inside. She hasn't had cystic acne since. Here is a link that explains how acne is not caused by bacteria, but by toxicity.. Acne Causes.

I would say it's from the nuts.. Gluten ravages the gastrointestinal system for days before it lets up. We've never had a problem with Amy's, but then again we don't buy Amy's very often. I keep having nightmares that I am eating gluten.. I'm so worried about it happening for real.. I hate gluten. Hope you feel better soon.

LOL... My Aspie daughter once tried to force me to go into KFC and demand that they fix their sign that read "Try are chicken buckets":lol: She just couldn't stand it.

Have the symptoms gotten worse or more frequent over the past 15 years? Could it be that the tightness in chest and tingling feelings are panic attacks? I always got tightness in my chest when I had panic attacks. If you feel that something is not right, I would keep pursuing it. MVP (mitral valve prolapse) is common and can be difficult to diagnose in some people.. You almost have to have an "episode" right in the hospital for them to catch it. Also, when you talk about tingling, that would indicate a nerve problem to me, not necessarily the heart. Maybe nerve damage? What type of work do you do? Could it be carpal tunnel syndrome? And could the tingling be causing panic attacks (tightness in chest, lightheaded, etc.)? Just some thoughts..

I had amalgam fillings from when I was a kid.. One of them broke sometime in the past 20 years. I had them remove it earlier this year and replace with white. Alzheimer's, Autism, and dementia runs in my family so I try to stay away from all free radicals/metals.

Just remember that Celiac testing is not always accurate. Be sure to make the doctors pay attention to the IgG antibodies on the Celiac panel. If those are elevated, even if IgA is not elevated, then consider him to have an issue with gluten. Also, not all of these kids have full blown Celiac disease.. It's usually a non-celiac gluten intolerance. These kids test negative on Celiac blood tests. This is why it's so important to look for IgG antibodies, no matter what the doctors say. Most doctors just aren't very knowledgeable about non-celiac gluten sensitivities yet.

It's fabric.. Sort of a hemp or canvas feel.

I had two daughters evaluated for auditory processing disorder.. In the now 8yr old.. They discussed the test with me, talked about her weaknesses, gave me a few examples of what she did, told me what I could work on at home, etc.. But they did not mention APD. And when I asked if she had APD, they said no. In the now 10yr old.. They discussed the test with me, talked about all the sections, her weaknesses, etc.. but then they told me that she has auditory figure-ground processing disorder, told me exactly what that was, told me exactly what therapy she needed for it, etc. So I would think if your daughter had a specific diagnosis, they would have told you and discussed it with you, including any therapies she would need.

I completely and totally 100% agree that this is a must in your situation. We are striving to be old ladies with no regrets, right? I had to remind myself of that several times when we first made the transition to GFCF. It was tough! But we are a million times improved in so many areas today. Stay strong through the transition period. And if you really want to see what your son is reacting to, consider IgG testing through Great Plains Labs. They test 93 different foods. Alletess is another good place to do IgG testing.

My dh got me this awesome case..

It has magnesium, which relaxes them.

This sounds like a possible Asperger's profile to me. I would watch for signs over the next few years and consider an eval later on down the road if you think it fits with her. Of course, go sooner if significant behaviors arise. Feel free to PM me with questions. I have 3 daughters with Asperger's.

Thanks for this! Dh is about to buy two Nook Colors for our girls THIS WEEKEND to give to them for Christmas. I just forwarded him the link. I have a Nook Color and love it! Dh has one too.

The news report I saw said this man had well water. The bacteria actually has to go up the nose in order to somehow reach the brain.. It can't affect you just from drinking it (from the news report on the Today show a couple of weeks ago). Regardless... No hose drinking or lake/river swimming for us!

Well, my dd10 with Asperger's would get along great with your dd10 with Asperger's.. They can talk about how much their grammar books don't make a lick of sense..:lol: It doesn't matter how many times I try to explain to my dd what a pronoun is.. The child has an IQ of 142, but can't figure grammar out to save her life.. She has language processing issues as well as slow processing speed AND she also has auditory processing issues.. Sometimes I think something ate half of her IQ, because she certainly doesn't act like she has an IQ that high. She will whine and complain that she has no idea what a pronoun or a verb phrase or a preposition is when I JUST explained this all to her two days ago! :banghead: She uses Easy Grammar, but this is her first year with it.. For the past two years she has used Growing With Grammar and before that it was FLL. I *think* she is going to do fine with Easy Grammar after she gets the hang of what a preposition is. One of her issues is not understanding the directions on the page.. I told her they are pretty much the same directions every day.. Cross out the prepositional phrases, underline the noun once, underline the verb or verb phrase twice.. She starts in with "But I don't know what a verb phrase is" or "How do I know what a preposition is?" Her language therapist had me bring her grammar book in to therapy once and she did a grammar lesson with them.. Of course, she didn't have any issues with them. Just a little trouble getting started. She was fine when prompted.:glare: My oldest Aspie daughter is a whiz with languages and has very fast processing with very large vocabulary, etc.. So they are complete opposites. :tongue_smilie:

What sort of testing did you do? And with what type of doctor? Testing for PANDAS can be hit and miss.

Thanks for all this wonderful information! I have been researching adrenal fatigue and found this quite helpful!

Parasites? As for the gluten.. If he has a Celiac gene, he should probably be gluten free no matter what. People with celiac genes tend to have some level of gluten sensitivity even before their gene is triggered.

Send them outside.. Or if it's near bedtime, give them an epsom salt bath.

We don't care for Tinkyada. We like Gillian's or Heartland (found at Wal-mart in the pasta section). Gillian's is harder to find. Heartland does have preservatives, but it is good. Like regular pasta. It's a corn/rice blend, I believe. Probably GMO too, but we don't eat it very often. Gluten free doesn't have to be expensive once you find the things you like. Eating all organic is what costs us the big bucks moreso than GF. Just keep at it and the cost will begin to go down once you find your favorites..

If your daughter seems "addicted" to gluten, then that's a good sign that she shouldn't be eating it. My 8ry old was completely addicted to both gluten and dairy. When I found out she couldn't have either one, it seemed like mission impossible to remove them. That was ALL SHE ATE! I think we lived off of french fries and GF cookies for those first two weeks.:D Then she started to eat other things (eventually.. slowly).. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. After you get past those first two months, it becomes your new normal and eating GF is automatic. You don't even have to think about it. Two years later and dd8 is doing FANTASTIC! Still a picky eater, but doing very well on a gluten-, dairy-, and soy-free diet. We are all gluten free in our house.

These are all good suggestions.. For us, it was diet. My daughter had undiagnosed Celiac and had headaches nearly every day. One morning she woke up with a headache that was so severe, she vomitted.. I took her to the ER and they did an MRI and some other tests. Everything looked normal. The day she went gluten free was the day she was finally free of her headaches. She hasn't had but maybe 2 or 3 headaches in the 2 years since going GF. She used to have them almost daily. My frequent headaches also went away when I went gluten free.