Rating: 
Summary: We've seen it with our own eyes
Review: This book is one of 3 that changed our family's life. (Facing autism which made us know in our hearts the diagnosis was right & William shaw's book which details more of the science of this stuff are the other two.)I believe that there are many reasons children are on the autistic spectrum and that this book will only help some. Our son now 4 1/2 was diagnosed with PDD NOS within days of turning 3. We saw some familiarities with the medical issues in this book and thought it worth looking into. (relux, ear infections, persistently loose stools, Milk obsession, food intolerances affecting behaviour in a cousin, bad reaction to vaccin in a normal sibling). Wanting to be more scientific than 'try it and see' we had a number of tests done over the following 6 months. Sure enough the results were consistent with the theories: food sensitivities, enormous yeast& bacteria overgrowth, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, amino acid imbalances. I cried for a week when I realised the 'lifestyle change' the diet would mean (just coping with life seemed such hard work). But I can honestly say that it doesn't seem that onerous now and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I first feared. We made the changes progressively - Dietary eliminations. Vitamin & mineral supplementation. Probiotics, antifungals.We saw improvements in 'behaviour'and what convinced us that these were real and not just wishful thinking was that they were accompanied by other changes:
*At 3 1/4 you could have called our son's name from 2 ft away, all day and unless you were touching him or in his face he didn't know it. After 3 days CFGF he suddenly responded to his name from 20 ft away from then on he would look up/around when his name was called. Having woken up 5 times a night EVERY night for months beforehand our son slept through and in the last 18 months he has woken up in the night on only 3 separate occaisions (wet bed/ fell out). I don't need to tell anyone going through this kind of sleep deprivation themselves what a difference that made.
*When we treated the yeasts and bacteria we saw a change in attention span, eye contact and a spontaneous desire to talk to US. This coincided with his first(that I could remember) "beautifully" formed poops. I can't imagine how we'd have managed potty training without this change). Post treatment tests showed great improvement in results. We have had recently had confirmation of this when our suspicions of a problem this summer (poor attention span, weak eye contact, less complex speech) led us to test again and following alarming results we treated the yeasts again and Wow, what a difference.
We think we have seen improvements from supplementation changes but the more gradual changes are possibly due to other reasons. We are great fans also of his wonderful ABA and AVB therapy he has received in the last year. We are still making changes but it certainly seems that the more normal his body chemistry is the more normal he seems. We believe the changes we've made have helped him be able learn from his excellent teachers. Our son is catching up fast. His communication skills are now only about 6 months behind (from being 'in the bottom 1 percent of children' at age 2 1/2) and people who don't know autistic spectrum disorders don't guess he's any other than a little behind in speech. He will be attending a normal kindergarten next year (no aide expected to be necessary) but continuing speech therapy probably. It hasn't just saved our son. It's saved our sanity. Bringing up a son who had almost no ability to understand what was being said to him and was clearly so frustrated that he couldn't make his needs understood was like living on Mars. Between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 the tantrums were explosive and could last hours despite all the very good advice we did get from the state early intervention program. The need for routines was all encompassing. This book enabled us to open a window in our son's mind that we and his teachers could pull him through. I worried if doing all this biomedical stuff would change his "personality". Didn't I love him as he was??. It's difficult to explain but he is still quite definitely the same person and fixing the problems feels a bit like putting on my glasses in the morning. I can seem 'him' clearly now. When I first told friends and family about what we were doing they smiled sweetly but obviously thought I was nuts. Now the change in our son has been such that I can't count the number of times I've been told "you should write a book about this". I tell them I would......but there already IS one.
Rating:
Summary: Essential
Review: I'll divide this into two parts.. The subject and then the book itself. Over a year ago I started dating a woman whose 4 year old child has autism. On one of my many book store trips (I personally keep both barnes and nobel and amazon afloat ;-)), I saw this book on my way to get coffee. I didn't even read the subtitle, it was a pure impulse buy. Reading through the first few chapters I began to identify with some of the behaviors. The behaviors often relate to food or peculiar correllaries to food. Some of it was medical history. Some of it were questions like "Why do all the autistic children I've met have asthma and eczema (bumps on the skin)? What is that diaper rash that won't go away?". I quickly devoured the book and finally made it to the implementation section. It took awhile but I finally convinced my (by then) fiance to read the book. Once she did, she was convinced that we must try this. Nearly, Immediately after implementing the diet, my stepson (by then) began simple speach and just spontaneously potty trained. After he was off it for awhile we experimented at reintroducing the foods, he immediately regressed and became physically affected! My stepson is not cured of autism and probably never will be (although others claim to be), but I feel that with this diet (as prescribed by the book), he'll have a productive and happy life. The book: The book is well written in a story-like manner. The descriptions of the diet and of that etymological subtype of autism that will respond to the diet, are effective and seemingly complete. The end of the book, the "how-to implement" is not comprehensive enough. For this you'll need to do more research. There are a number of maillists to do this and the book points you to a number of other resources. Many areas have even opened support groups for the diet. I don't fault the book for this as its not the objective, this tells you what and why. Others tell you how. If your child has autism, this diet is non-invasive (unlike medical experimentation) and though a bit cutting edge, its not a big step. In 5-10 years this will be considered blanket fact. The diet is difficult, its especially hard with daycare/school/etc. but while it is a lifestyle change, its worth it. Lastly, the diet does not "cure" autism, nor is it a substitute for behavioral and speech therapy, its what alows greater progress to take place. As for my stepson, he now uses complete sentances to tell us what he wants and can relate simple concepts. He originally just screemed "help help help". He's (at five) recently taken to pbs.org and fully understands the concept of "click" and moving the mouse. He can't yet relate abstract things "how was your day" but has shown small sniplets of past-tense: "I like today". Whats most important is that he TRIES to use language and synthesises new meanings and thoughts. He gets alot of the grammar wrong and most of the pronouns, but he's on the verge of conversational language. His "understanding" has progressed more than his "expression" at this point (where before the opposite was true). Do we credit all of this to the diet? NO. But the diet allowed it to happen. Read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: No magic bullet
Review: This is an very useful book for all parents of PDD and ASD kids, and contains some of the best and most readable discussion of dietary intervention I have seen. The GFCF diet has been enormously helpful to my son, and this book would have been wonderful to have when I was first trying to figure it out. But it makes me crazy that Seroussi attributes all of her son's recovery to diet and completely dismisses the huge number of therapy hours that her county and/or school district provided to her child; and I also feel that Seroussi comes outrageously close to implying that the recovery of Catherine Maurice's children was spontaneous. Buy this book, and also buy books about therapy and special education, and buckle down to a lot of work, and a lot of love. -Sara from Colorado, the Land of Almost-No-Help.
Rating: 
Summary: Would that it Were so Simple
Review: Karen Seroussi has woven a remarkable, well-written story of her son's recovery from Autism through tedious dietary interventions. Her offering of recipes gives the parents considering the diet for their children a place from where to start. As the mother of two Autistic children myself, I felt compelled to read it, even though a grueling 18 month trial of the diet in our home offered few, if any, results, other than depriving my sons of what foods they were willing to eat. Seroussi is a gifted writer, and tells her story from her mother's heart. But facets of her story disturbed me deeply. After reading this book, I felt my choice to live as a mother who has come to accept her children's Autism and lead them towards a good life in spite of grim prognoses was viewed by the author as something to feel ashamed of. While this may not have been Seroussi's intent, the insistence that something is wrong with parents who don't try her techniques, or tried the diet and had it fail are somehow lacking was very bothersome to my heart. Granted, dietary interventions have helped many Autistic children. However, this his book implicates that any parent who does not attempt the diet which benefitted Ms. Seroussi's son is failing his/her child. Children who respond to diet are most specifically those showing a serum IGE response to specific allergens and gliadin antibodies. I'd strongly recommend any parent who considers putting a child through such a restrictive regime will get the bloodwork done first. This diet is not easy to implement and it is not easy to encourage an older child to follow it when away from home. This book tells a rare, triumphant story. It is well documented, and worth a read. But please, don't see diet as a cure-all if the techniques outlined simply don't work for your child. The sad truth is, if diet were the cure, there would be no Autism.
Rating:
Summary: Sound science on the road to recovery from autism
Review: Fresh from the printer I just got Karyn Seroussis book on how her son recovered from autism on a diet free of gluten and casein. I started reading it and couldn't put it down before I had read the last paragraph. Maybe if I hadn't been in a position of seeing for myself the amazing difference of applying the diet, I might have thought the whole idea ludicrous. But while reading this success story I am also seeing for myself, in my own home, the practical effects of a diet free of gluten and protein from milk, on my own son. It makes me want to say to every parent in this world with a child diagnosed with autism or Autism Spectrum Disorders: Don't lose hope! There is a lot that can be done! Maybe not every child can recover but every child can have a better life! In this endeavour Karyn Seroussi has been one of the pioneers. It is important to point out that Seroussi is a woman with a very clear, scientific mind - this is not new age magic. Behind the practice of the diet there is an elaborate scientific theory on peptides not broken down properly in the gut, interfering in an irregular and morphine-like way with the opiate receptors in the brain and causing all sorts of damage in the process. Unraveling these lines of reasoning is straightforward science, but at the same time also a story of suspense. A few years ago Catherine Maurice's book "Let Me Hear Your Voice" meant a breakthrough and a wider acceptance for ABA-therapy for children with autism - I am convinced Seroussis book will have the same kind of inpact for dietary and other biological interventions for children with autism. This will mean saving the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands of children. Seroussis book is both deeply personal and also very clear, with a lot of straightforward and simple advice. It's the kind of book I would love to see in an Oprah show discussing what can be done for kids afflicted with one of the most difficult handicaps there is. This book is a must for everyone trying to come to terms with one of the most devastating things that can happen to a child - regardless of whether you're a parent, a sister or brother, a grandparent or just a compassionate human being. And what's more, it is a book that gives you hope and shows you a way to go forward. This hope is dearly needed: Autism is an epidemic on the rise - statistics show an increase by several 100s %in the last few years. No one yet knows the reason - but in her book Serrousi gives us some of the instruments to start fighting back. I would recommend this book specially to those who have recently started their journey with a very special child - it is often heartbreaking and sad and extremely tiring - and you may even blame yourself at some point. But take a deep breath - soon you will walk the road of the diet together. You're both worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Beepofer is getting better!!!
Review: At a time when not many books on the subject were out there (now there seems to be too many to choose from :)), this one by far could have saved me months in research. She tells the story from a very personal perspective being brutally honest, yet packed with facts, data, etc. Oh yeah and she makes the mysterious scientific stuff understandable. It's been four (seems like 20) years since my family entered this strange new place where it seems all of the rules are backward, conventional medicine has given up long ago and you struggle with what is right or what could help and no one can really tell you for sure... I laughed, I cried, but best of all for the first time in a long while I had hope. I loved this book and I hope one day to be able to leave it on the shelf of 'remember when...'
Rating:
Summary: Hope for parents
Review: A little over a year ago my son was diagnosed with autism at 2 1/2 years old. He would not make eye contact, had basically no language, slept about four hours a night and would not really interact with others. I came across the name of this book in an article on MSNBC. I am a physician and was initially doubtful, but we didn't have much to lose. We started the GF/CF diet, and after 2 difficult weeks my son began his return to us. We have used several other biological interventions and extensive behavioral therapy. My son now plays with friends and family, SLEEPS, stims very little, and enjoys preschool. His remaining isssue is expressive language and that is improving daily. If you are a parent, relative, friend, caretaker or therapist working with a child diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, you owe it to your child to at least find out more about biological interventions, and this book is a great place to start. Thank you Karyn Seroussi.
Rating:
Summary: A Knockout Read!
Review: This book reads like a novel, with so much good information. I was blown away, and the price was so reasonable. This book is a must have, if you need information on Autism. Excellent!!!
Rating:
Summary: This book is a great idea for all parents!!!
Review: I love this book! I went to the store to buy a different book about sensory integration dysfunction and I found this one and read it cover to cover in 24 hours. (I haven't opened the other one!!) The thing I love about this book is the variety and depth of information. My son is mildly autistic but he's already 6 years old. Thankfully, early intervention at age 2 helped is future. However, this book helped me explore more options to help him and me, especially with the diet. It was like the light went on when I read her story, finally figuring out why all these things were plaging him in the past and maybe for the future as well. I would recommend this book to every parent who has a child. My childs needs are no longer severe, but this book just opened my eyes to all of the options and possibilites there are for children. I teared up soooo many times reading about all of the strives that Miles made. I wish I would have read this book when my son was born in 1996. If all of the parents in this world were as ambitious to help their children as Karyn and her husband, the world would be a much better place. You have to be an advocate for your child, and this book is a prime example of this and so many other things!!
Rating:
Summary: Karyn Seroussi hits the nail on the head! A MUST READ
Review: If you have a child with autism you owe it to them on checking out this "GFCF Diet" thing. I have a son with autism and it is hands down the best thing I have done for him (besides hours of ABA,VBA, Speech & OT and some biomed intervention) - the diet wins.
Not only is the the healthiest thing you can do, it is the cheapest thing you can do and something you have complete control over. The diet is truly about proper nutrition for children that have wounded guts (whether you think your child has a wounded gut or not - it is something to truly try.)
Doctors and others who say - a diet cannot help children with autism are 100% wrong. I have seen it with my own 2 eyes on my child and many others.
After starting the GFCF Diet my son -
- stopped self stim behavior
- slept thru the night for the first time in 2 years
- within 6 months had great stools for the first time in 2 years
- began to be much more connected
- all the other therapies were possible
- there is a lot more I could write here - but you are going to have to believe what I am typing... it truly makes a difference. There is also alot of sound advice on other therapies and her journey. It has a happy ending to the story as well and that was worth it enough. My son is now totally connected with us, doing amazing things and is in kindergarten. What do you have to lose? It is just a book... it is just a diet. See what it can do for your child. Karyn Seroussi is a gem and this book is something you need to read.
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