When I finally accepted the fact that my child has autism, I set out to find
ways to help him.  I am not alone.  So many other parents have done, or will
do the same.  Over the years I have found some excellent information; and I
have found some bad information. 

My son also has epilepsy.  This is getting to be more and more common with
autism.  Learning to help a child with autism can be tricky enough.  Adding
in the epilepsy made it a little harder for me, but not impossible.

One of the first things I found when researching autism: GLUTEN FREE, CASEIN
FREE.  This is so highly promoted.  Its now common to find GLUTEN FREE labels
on food.  I just could not find any research proving this.  In fact, I found
many medical websites that flat out said there is no proof of this.

At 3 1/2 yrs old, I put my son on this diet.  Within one week, he started
making eye contact again.  Within a month he was initiating interactions with
us.  I was beyond thrilled!  He became a very playful child who likes to
scatter his toys all over the house.  However, there was no further
improvement. 

Before we went on the gluten free, casein free diet, he was addicted to cows
milk.  He would drink nothing else at all.  He was also doing the same with
peanut butter sandwiches.  This was also a common complaint among other
parents. He would often get very dizzy after eating.

Over the next three years, he did not digress, but he did become more and
more hyper and quicker to throw temper tantrums.  I started noticing a few
other things. Even on the diet, he was starting to form some addictions
again.  He got to the point where he would only drink rice milk.  He
constantly wanted to eat his gluten free, rice snack bars.  It was getting
difficult to get him to eat good foods.  He refused to eat his chex cereal
that he once loved. Still I believed this diet was right for him. I would
"test" him by feeding him random things with gluten in them.  The old
dizziness would hit him.  This kept me convinced.

He started having one seizure weekly.  This was not common for him, but I had
no clue why.  The only thing I knew was: certain food additives and
preservatives cause him to have seizures.  Of course, he was not getting any
of these.

The one night something happened that set my mind to thinking...
My husband made spaghetti for dinner.  For spaghetti we used rice noodles,
and made our own sauce.  For some reason which I am unsure of, we also had
regular spaghetti noodles in the kitchen at the time.  We all ate our
spaghetti dinner.  Later I went in the pantry to get a snack.  The box of
rice noodles was there unopened.  My husband unknowingly made our spaghetti
with regular noodles.  I almost panicked. 

A few days later my son had dental work done.  His mouth was sore and he
didnt eat much that afternoon and night.  He would only drink his rice milk. 
That night he had another seizure.  I immediately got on the internet and
started looking stuff up.  I read that sugar was a big problem; not only for
autism, but also for seizures.

I started brain storming and writing my thoughts down.  I went and read food
labels and wrote down what I found.  There was definitely a common theme.

Cows milk has 11 grams of suger per cup!  Does not matter if it is whole or
skim...  The Rice milk he was drinking has 12 grams of sugar per cup.  He
was addicted to the rice milk just like the cows milk.  He loved eating
beenie weenies.  8 grams per serving.  He wanted sweet gluten free cereals
only.  Even gluten free and casein free, there was so much sugar in his diet
that I never even realized was there.

So the next morning I had to test him again.  This time I paid more
attention.  I did not use something like a pop-tart.  I knew his mouth was
still very sore.  I gave him a plain piece of bread to eat.  The kind I buy
has 1 gram of sugar per slice (and no high fructose corn syrup).

Guess What?  He loved the bread, ate the whole slice.  He NEVER got dizzy!

I have decided that it was a great coincidence that when I put him on the
gluten free/ casein free diet, I also lowered his sugar intake some.  We have
since gone back to eating a diet where we no longer fear gluten and casein! 
I still don't give him cows milk because of the high sugar content.  I use
light soy milk.  The brand I buy only has 1 gram of sugar.  The flavor is far
different from the rice milk.  I get him to drink it by adding sugar free
chocolate milk syrup (which I buy the Great Value brand at Walmart for
$1.48!).  The soy milk is also cheaper than the rice milk!

In the few months since we have changed his diet, we have seen positive
results.  He is no longer hyper.  He has become even more loving.  He still
does not speak, and I know he may never.  He does communicate in his own way,
which has also improved.  He has not had a seizure since.

I have not had him tested for diabetes.  As with any low sugar diet, I also
have to make sure his glucose level does not get too low.  I will discuss
this with his doctors in his upcoming appointments.  I am not going to insist
that he is diabetic.  For now, I will just say he is sugar intolerant.