My son's diagnosis was significantly different than I had originally anticipated. After weeks of testing, he was diagnosed with a high functioning form of Asperger's syndrome as opposed to ADHD. The two have many similarities. The main symptoms we deal with are lack of impulse control and difficult social interactions. Our goal to treat without medication has not changed. We have started with two treatment options: diet and family counseling.
The diet modifications we started with may seem drastic, but have reaped phenomenal results. Although we have made a huge effort to include our son in decisions about his diet and let him pick out wheat free and diary free items to try, we have been very surprised by his willingness to cooperate. He has actually enjoyed picking out and trying various flavors of rice cream, gluten free bread, pretzels and so much more. We have to date, cut out red and yellow dyes, wheat and cut back on dairy. Omitting cheese has been our biggest obstacle. Our best results so far have come from cutting out foods with red and yellow dyes and replacing ice cream with rice cream.
We had the opportunity to make these changes before school let out for the summer. My son's homeroom teacher said the changes in his ability to listen and follow through on instructions were absolutely phenomenal. The biggest change occurred when we eliminated foods and drinks with red and yellow dyes. It was completely amazing! It makes me wonder if many other difficulties we suffer with today would be eliminated if we went back to eating simple foods.
Although we have just started treatment and have a long way to go, we feel encouraged with the progress we have seen. Stay tuned for updates.
- Patricia -
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