anyone heard of that aspergers diet, the one about elimintaing certain proteins?

[briarrose]

Hi all,
My DD is 10 and I have got to the stage with her behaviour that I am convinced there is something going on, I am in the process of getting advice from the school and the doctor. I feel bad because of her age, if she does turn out to have a SEN then how did I let it go on this long? In reality she has got a lot worse over the last couple of years, DH and I did go and see the school nurse a couple of years ago, we even went to parenting classes to see if it would help, but in the end the school nurse was crap.
I've heard through a journalist friend of an american diet that has worked with autistic and aspergers children. My friend did a story about a woman who used this diet on her son. He was autistic, and although the diet is not a cure, the symptoms have been drastically reduced.
I wondered if anyone has heard of it, and if so, if anyone has tried it? I would like to give it a go, as I suspect my DD has aspergers, but I don't want to jump into anything drastic; she is a bad enough eater at the best of times, and she's just coming into puberty so i'm aware that her diet needs to be carefully balanced

[yurt1]

gluten casein free? It's very common- but (imo) more likely to be useful in autism rather than AS, or if there are bowel issues. Google Sunderland autism research unit. Lots of info there.

[aquariusmum]

The other thing you might try for behavioural issues is this fish oil called VegEPA. I use it for my ASD son and I am pretty sure it helps. If you google it , you'll see that they did a study into kids with poor behaviour and this particular fish oil performed better than over-the-counter brands, as it has only EPA and no DHA. Worth a try if she will take tablets?

[briarrose]

I have tried fish oil before, and TBH she is crap at taking tablets, but I think that would be preferable to changing her diet, plus biscuits do make fantastic bribes where tablets are concerned! I saw her teacher today, am seeing the SENCo tomorrow, then got an appointment with the doc on thursday, i'll be interested to hear his dietary advice

[briarrose]

meant to say, the fish oil I tried before had both EPA and DHA in

[yurt1]

I wouldn't expect much from your doctor. They don't have a clue about this sort of thing. You could print out some of the Sunderland pages for him, but even my very open and interested GP said he didn't really understand the Sunderland test results. It's not really on their radar.

Agree about omega 3's (go easy on omega 6's).

[briarrose]

My doctor is brilliant, but TBH i'm not that hopeful about his support for a dietary approach. I wonder, do docs put fish oil on prescrip? I'm just a cheapskate really but i'm thinking that if it's a behavioural/developmental reason he might. Am I sounding too hopeful?!!
Will definitely look into that sunderland approach

[aquariusmum]

there is scientific research to back up VegEPA's claims, so if you took an article along (google might help, I know it was front page Daily Mail) who knows, the GP might agree to prescribe as surely it's cheaper/less invasive than ritalin etc?