While researching Autism, you may discover sites about the GF/CF (gluten free and casein free) diet. My personal experience it that, it helped my second ASD son, greatly.
The diet is about removing all sources of gluten and casein from the diet. My understanding is that some ASD kids digestive system do not break down the gluten protein and casein (milk protein). Many kids with ASD suffer from "Leaky gut". Leaky gut is a term used to describe small holes in the intestinal wall, which may have been cause by a virus or yeast overgrowth. This damage allows substances to "leak" into the bloodstream. The gluten protein and casein protein leak through, making their way into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream these proteins/peptides cross the blood/brain barrier. Once in the brain, my understanding is that they attach to the opioid receptors in the brain creating a "morphine-like" effect on the brain. Which explains why some ASD kids act and appear to be on drugs, in my opinion. Some parents even go a step further and remove soy and corn from the diet. We took the corn out of the diet.
We noticed our son started to be more attentive. We saw less stimming, inappropriate laughter, less hanging onto us, and improved eye contact. We started off by removing the gluten one item at a time and casein cold turkey (he didn't like to many milk products). It was easier for us to take away one gluten laden item at a time, some have gone cold turkey.
Gluten is found in wheat and wheat products, oats, barley, spelt, Bulgar, rye, and kamut. Gluten is found in foods made from these grains too. You will eventually become a great label reader! Casein is found in products made from cow's milk; yogurt, ice cream, cheese, etc. It is also found in food products as caseinate.
Some great alternatives to gluten are; rice, tapioca, potato, corn (if your not going corn free), soy, millet, buckwheat, chestnut, almond, amaranth, bean, quinoa, pea, teff, and sorghum flours.
Some great milk substitutes are; rice, nut (almond, hazelnut), hemp, coconut, and soy (if your not going soy free).
Implementing a gluten/casein free diet is at time very challenging to say the least. For me it has been worth the time, energy, and money to do it. The diet helped my younger son become so alert/attentive that he was able to be recommended for a mainstream kindergarten classroom with support, than a self contained classroom. Our pediatrician rebuffed the idea of the diet, only to change her mind on the diet once she saw the improvements to him. She now has me talk to other mom's considering the diet for their child.
Some great places to begin your research on the Gluten Free/Casein Free Diet:
The GFCF Diet
The Autism Recovery Network Gluten/Casein Free Resources
TACA -Gluten Free/Casein Free Diet
Autism Web - Diet
The Autism Research Institute-leaky gut/gfcf diet
GFCF Experience-Casein Free Substitutions
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