In my humble opinion, dietary and biomedical intervention is really about helping kids with gastrointestinal or immune system issues that are interfering with their ability to function, communicate and learn. Some symptoms that are commonly considered part of autism, such as challenging behaviors, sensory dysregulation and medical issues like GI pain or sleep dysfunction, are not actually part of the diagnostic criteria listed in the DSM-IV for autism and, as such, may sometimes be related to other causes. I think that this needs to be considered for each child as an individual to determine the best course of action.
I know this area has a lot of controversy surrounding it and want to say that I am not at all trying to change who my son is, but simply trying to help him not be in pain and to be given every opportunity to experience and enjoy life however he chooses to do so. (Of course, he doesn’t get to make all the choices because he is only 6 years old, after all!) Anyway, it frustrates me greatly that so many children have medical issues that would be promptly treated by their doctors if they were typically developing and able to communicate more clearly how they feel, but instead these concerns are often dismissed as being part of autism.
Well, this got too long to just be an introduction to the list of resources for special diets, so I am going to now climb down off my soapbox and post those separately.
