When my son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at the age of two, I immediately put him on a dairy free, gluten free diet. I did not put him on the diet because of any health problems. However,two weeks after having implimented the diet, his speech began to emerge and his behavior steadily improved.

I am not very knowledgable about the special eating habits that help autistics, could someone please help me out, and give me some information on them, it is a route i have been interested in but always got side tracked. Thanks for your responses.

My daughter was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at age 18 months. She has always had digestive issues. Diarrhea would be the biggest complaint as far as that goes. We have been doing the gf/cf diet for over a month now and have seen improvement in her digestive issues. We have also noticed an increase in her ability to incorporate new words into her vocabulary. We plan on trying the diet for 6 months and then evaluating the results. We have found it a fairly easy diet to implement and Maria actually eats better on this diet and has a more varied palate than before we began the diet.

Does anyone know a great reference sight for getting info. about the CF/GF diet? What about any stores that sell that type of food? We've done great off the dairy, but finding and incorporating gluten free food is extremely hard. Any help you can offer is appreciated! Thanks!

Whole Foods Market is a great resource for gf cf foods. Also get some cookbooks that deal with special diets (check with your local library). If you know other parents with children on gf cf diet you will have great resources with their knowledge as well.

gfcfdiet.com, clubceliac.com, tacanow.com/dietinfo.com are all great starters.

lisa lewis's book special diets for special kids is great.

your local health food store should have plenty of gfcf things in stock. your local supermarket may also carry some gfcf items much to your surprise.

my son started the diet when he was five, he will be eight this october. the diet works great for us. it was hard to start (mostly me not wanting to clean out my pantry and restocking it with more costly items) and the first week he ate very little but now he is fully aware of what he is and isnt allowed to eat.

good luck!

Whole Foods and Trader Joe are great. You need to check all the ingredients. Barley Malt is a gluten. I have actually called manufacturers and asked them about gluten contents. Be prepared to see your food budget double if not triple. Michael has been on the GF/DF/CF diet for several years and his autism ped, Dr. Usman, has given us the ok to start to reintroduce gluten and dairy into his diet.