From Schafer,

The duplicated chromosomal region in mice is the equivalent of human chromosome 15q11-13, which is duplicated in about 5 percent of all people with autism. It is believed that chromosomal abnormalities account for 10 to 20 percent of autism cases, according to a news release from the journal’s publisher, Cell Press. So far, duplication of chromosome 15q11-13 is the only recurrent aberration connected to autism. The mice with an inherited duplication of a region on their chromosome 7 showed autism-like behaviors, such as poor social interaction, behavioral inflexibility, abnormal vocalizations and anxiety, the researchers found.

“The link between social behaviors in rodents and social behavior in humans is difficult to establish,” the study authors concluded. “Our model mouse will be valuable not only for therapeutic studies but also provides a starting point for more detailed genetic analysis directed toward understanding the etiology of developmental brain disorders.”

Treating Autism with Special Diets

Amy Eisenbeisz, RD, LN, and Marcie Kemnitz, MS, RD, LN

Does following a certain diet or eliminating certain foods from a child’s diet help treat autism symptoms? This is a common question that parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) ask. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this question.  Several studies show some improvement with these various diets, while other studies show minimal effect.  We put together information on the three most common diets used for treating ASD symptoms to help you better understand them.

Elimination Diet
This diet is used to determine if a child has a potential allergy to certain foods by starting with a very basic diet low in potential allergenic foods and then gradually adding back in these foods to see what type of reaction occurs.  We might expect to see an allergic reaction such as hives or runny nose or we might see gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea or constipation.

These foods tend to be responsible for 90% of all allergic reactions:  milk*, wheat*, egg*, soy*, peanuts*, tree nuts*, fish and shellfish (*more commonly seen in children).  There are multiple tests for food allergies including blood and skin prick tests.  However, there may be false negatives or positives with these tests.  The ELISA test is sometimes recommended, but it is not a validated food allergy test and many not indicate accurate results.

We know that, according to Elizabeth Strickland, children with food allergies are at a higher risk for nutrition related problems and decreased growth.  Also, children with autism are more likely to be more negatively affected by problems with food allergies because of their issues with sensory dysfunction.

Gluten Free/Casein Free (GF/CF Diet)

With this diet, the child must avoid all sources of gluten (the protein found in wheat-based foods) and casein (the protein found in milk and dairy foods).  There are two theories as to why this diet might work:
1. The protein found in gluten and casein may cause disruption in normal brain activity resulting in the symptoms seen in autism.
2. These same proteins may cause an inflammatory response resulting in the symptoms seen in autism. While this diet is considered to be experimental, many families have found a positive response to the diet. This response is more commonly seen in younger children.  Reichelt recommends trying this diet for a minimum of three months to see the full benefit.  However, to see the benefit of this diet, strict adherence is required.  Adherence is often difficult because of the complexity of the diet, and even minute amounts of gluten or casein will affect the outcome and you may not see any benefit.  The diet has to be followed
at home, school, and wherever the child eats.  Even eating a small graham cracker (which contains gluten) could throw off the outcome of this diet.

Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)

This diet is considered the last resort and is not commonly used.  It is based on a belief that certain carbohydrates can cause gastrointestinal (GI) inflammation, which causes pain and discomfort.  By removing these carbohydrates (mainly lactose, sucrose and maltose), these symptoms are lessened and the bowel can heal.

Should this diet be recommended?  Current studies show that many children with autism have a lot of GI problems and a child presenting with these problems should be referred to a gastroenterologist for an appropriate diagnosis before starting this restrictive diet.

Problems with the above diets
• These diets are quite restrictive in terms of the types and categories of foods that need to be avoided; therefore, if not done correctly, a child can become deficient in many nutrients such as protein, B- complex vitamins, iron, and calcium.  We recommend visiting with a registered dietitian before beginning any of these to receive guidance as to how to follow these properly.

• Foods required by the diets can be quite expensive.  For example, a normal brownie mix costs around $2.00, but a GF/CF brownie mix is going to cost about $4.00-$5.00.  Generally, most GF/CF foods will cost 50%-100% more than their regular counterpart.

• Strict adherence to these particular diets is required.  Often it is difficult for families to adhere to the diet for the three months required to see any benefit.  Many parents think that they don’t have to follow the diet every day or all day and eventually give in and allow their child to eat foods not allowed on the diet.  This is especially noted in families where other siblings are eating regular food items.

Recommendations
While many of these diets might seem to be the answer to helping deal with the aspects of autism, they are rather difficult to follow and can be expensive.  Several studies have shown that these diets may improve ASD symptoms, but the overall results are inconclusive.  We recommend visiting with a registered dietitian and getting a full nutritional assessment of the child before starting any diet changes or modification.

If you have questions about the above information, please feel free to contact us at 800-658-3080 and we
would be glad to answer your questions.

References:
Strickland, Elizabeth; Nutrition Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Autism, Asperger’s, PDD, and Other Related Disorders, 2005.

Reichelt K. et al.  Gluten, milk proteins and autism: Dietary intervention effects on behavior and peptide secretion.  J Appl Nutr, 1990; 42:1-11.

Simone Sewell still shudders at the memory of the moment she was told her two-year-old daughter, Sienna, was autistic.

She and her husband, Geoff, sat in shock as the paediatrician spelt out the bleak future that awaited their first-born.

‘The doctor said Sienna would never fall in love, marry or have an independent life,’ recalls Simone. ‘With no hope of a cure, we were more or less told to live with it.’

Yet three years on and this grim future seems unlikely, given the great improvements in Sienna’s behaviour. Indeed, her parents believe Sienna, now five, is on her way to being cured.

It’s a staggering claim, not least because mainstream medicine insists autism – which affects nearly 600,000 UK children and adults – is a life-long condition.

Yet Simone offers countless anecdotes as proof of her daughter’s improvement. ‘For instance, like many autistic children, Sienna always hated noise, people and busy places,’ says Simone.

‘She would scream, have a tantrum or cry because she was so overwhelmed. Now I can go shopping to a supermarket with Sienna holding one hand, and her sister Olivia, who is three, holding my other without worrying whether Sienna will stay by my side or create a scene. This is how I know she is getting better.’

This progress has been achieved at a cost – the couple have invested £100,000 in behavioural and dietary therapies, and Geoff, who was in the pop opera group Amici Forever, has given up his singing career to help with Sienna.

She would line up her toys obsessively

It is not known what causes autism but it affects a child’s ability to communicate and relate to others. They are often withdrawn, mute, unable to make eye contact and prone to disturbed sleep and tantrums. Many never take part in mainstream education and some require full-time care.

Milder cases may struggle with communication, but be able to live a fairly independent-life. But even then, as the paediatrician told the Sewells, it was unlikely Sienna would have a truly self-sufficient future.

‘We were devastated,’ recalls Simone, 35. ‘Afterwards we just walked round a local park, bawling our eyes out, hardly able to speak. But I refused to write off my daughter. I felt there had to be something that would help her.’

Simone and Geoff, also 35, who live in Hampstead, North London, didn’t realise Sienna had a problem until a few months before her diagnosis. It’s only with hindsight they realised the ‘red flags’ were there.

For the first two years of Sienna’s life, she travelled with her parents as her father toured with Amici Forever.

‘She had tantrums, slept badly and would line up her toys obsessively,’ recalls Simone, ‘but I just thought she had a strong personality. As she started to talk, she didn’t use conversational language, but there were no other children around to compare her with so we didn’t realise anything was wrong.

‘But her behaviour deteriorated as she got older,’ Simone says. ‘Eventually, she would be awake for seven hours a night. She was very much in her own world, and wasn’t interested in other people.

‘Autism was the last thing on our minds. We were so naive. In fact it was only at her assessment that we realised something was wrong. The speech therapist said at her age she should have had about 50 words in her vocabulary. Sienna didn’t have anything like that.’

I refused to write off my daughter

An agonising six months of tests assessments followed before Sienna was formally diagnosed.

After the shock Simone spent hours searching the internet, desperate for possible leads to a cure, overwhelmed at the vast amount of opinion and advice.

Then fate intervened. Geoff decided to abandon his singing career so the family could have a more stable home life (they now run an entertainment agency). A farewell concert in his native New Zealand was arranged.

Hearing of their situation, Dr Debbie Fewtrell approached the couple. She believes autism is linked to an inflamed gut.

While the cause of this inflammation is not clear, it means autistic children can’t digest proteins found in foods such as bread and milk. As a result, tiny proteins leak into the bloodstream and act like opiates which turn off part of the brain and also cause or aggravate the symptoms of autism.

Blood and urine tests suggested Sienna’s gut was indeed inflamed, and she was placed on a gluten and dairy-free diet. ‘Within a couple of days, Sienna said “water” and pointed to the tap – something she’d never done before,’ says her mother. Though they cannot prove this was linked to a change in diet, it seemed more than coincidence.

The next step was a ‘specific carbohydrate diet’ – a regime avoiding complex carbohydrates such as bread, cereal and pasta to rid the gut of harmful bacteria and reduce inflammation.

Her behaviour improved within days of the special diet

Some may suggest the family’s peripatetic lifestyle was largely to blame for Sienna’s behaviour, but the Sewells say the diet is what has transformed her. ‘It made the most amazing difference,’ says Simone. ‘After about a month Sienna started to do imaginative play – something I’d never dreamt she could do.

‘Normally she would just line up her dolls but I came in one day to find her sitting with them on a little table and telling them: “We’re going on holiday to Crete.” I was flabbergasted. It was then I dared to believe we were actually getting somewhere and making progress.’

The Sewells also started giving her supplements such as zinc, selenium and Vitamin B6 injections – which some studies claim improves the behaviour of autistic children – and ‘detoxified’ their home to limit Sienna’s exposure to materials such as household chemicals that could be aggravating her condition.

Dr Fewtrell also recommended applied behavioural analysis (ABA). This involves teaching linguistic, cognitive, social and selfhelp skills to autistic children by breaking these down into small, repetitive tasks.

For example, if a child was attempting to learn to match pictures up, the therapist would initially direct the child to match the pictures by putting their hand over the child’s and directing them. Once the child has done this several times, the therapist may tap their elbow to prompt them instead. Eventually, the child should do it without prompting.

As well as only being available privately, it is also time-consuming. Simone found a practitioner in London, and Sienna, then three, began working with her for 12 hours a week. This has gradually increased to 33.

The Sewells believe they will confound the paediatrician’s bleak prognosis. ‘Sienna gave us cause to hope,’ says Simone. ‘Within a few days of starting the ABA therapy, she called out “Mummy” to me, just as a normal child would do as a sign of affection.

‘Her speech began to improve and she began to use connectives such as “but” in a sentence. Her reading and writing skills have developed rapidly in the past year.’

Sienna is at mainstream school, with her ABA helper in tow for part of the week. She is, says her mother, popular with her peer group and does ‘imitation’ play with her sister – who is not autistic – copying everything Olivia does.

Without evidence to prove the link between diet and autism, the medical establishment remains sceptical and maintains autism cannot be cured, only positively managed at best.

‘There is evidence early intervention can help a child cope with their condition,’ says Caroline Hattersley, of the National Autistic Society. She says while the NAS understands parents’ need to find something that will help, there are a lot of interventions, including ABA, ‘which may or may not help’.

She adds: ‘The bottom line is that, unfortunately, there is still no cure for autism.’

The Sewells are far more hopeful. ‘The future is so exciting and I visualise Sienna well, graduating, sitting round the family table telling us her news,’ says Simone.

‘By healing Sienna’s body from within and teaching her how to connect, I’m sure we can beat it.’

From Medical News Today,

Alan and Ann Keen in a special message said: “We are very sorry that we cannot be with you tonight for this very auspicious occasion. The hard work and dedication of the UK Autism Foundation deserves huge support and we are extremely impressed with the Foundation’s achievements to date. We hope you all have a great evening and raise lots of money to continue to help fund the Foundation’s excellent work.”

Continue reading “UK Autism: MPs Impressed With UK Autism Foundation’s Achievements” >>

As part of the investigation, participants were asked to complete patterns in the Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) – test that measures hypothesis-testing, problem-solving and learning skills.

“While both groups performed RSPM test with equal accuracy, the autistic group responded more quickly and appeared to use perceptual regions of the brain to accelerate problem-solving,” says lead author Isabelle Soulières, a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University who completed the experiment at the Université de Montréal. “Some critics agued that autistics would be unable to complete the RSPM because of its complexity, yet our study shows autistics complete it as efficiently and have a more highly developed perception than non-autistics.”

Continue reading “People with Autism Better at Problem-Solving”>>

By Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel–

Click here to continue reading.

That’s because Jason has Asperger’s Syndrome, a communication disorder on the Autism spectrum.

But thanks to HILL House, the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District’s two-year transition program for intellectually disabled students ages 18-22, Janet Christenberry no longer worries about her son taking public transportation.

Click here to continue reading “Reaching the Top of the Hill”