I observed Jonathan very closely today. His reactions, interactions, questions, interests, etc. I read several postings in the Internet (I am a member of a few Yahoo autism groups). Read 3 times the Autism article that just came out in the Discover Magazine. And suddenly it clicked. It must be gluten again. He has been craving gluten products: pizza, waffles, chicken nuggets. Although I had eased up on the GF/CF diet last September when he started preschool (because it was hard to send food to school every day), I was quite strict at home. But lately I have not had the energy to cook gluten free foods and have gone the easy route: pizza, chicken nuggets, frozen waffles.He has been gigglely, clumsy, absentminded, has loud outbursts. Looking back at when we started, he seems similar. He has not lost language. On the contrary, he can pretend now, he can clearly express what he wants, he can communicate his needs, he can engage in play if he feels interested. But something is missing that at some point we had during the past year. The first intervention that we ever introduced was GF/CF. I remember that cutting the milk and milk products was hard for us, but didn't make that much of a difference in terms of behavior. But gluten was another story. The change was so dramatic, that after the withdrawal period was over (about 4 weeks), we could tell if he had had a cookie at school that day. Now, after careful observation, I feel that that is what is going on. He has gluten back in his brain.
Despite the difficult day we lived yesterday, we had a pretty decent day today. The best was this morning when he woke up and came to our bed. Again, he was very talkative, very social, wanted to know where Vanessa was, wanted to wake us up because it was daytime, etc. Vanessa wanted her bottle, and Daddy was downstairs working, so Jonathan took Vanessa downstairs and helped Daddy warm up the bottle. He was completely engaged. The came back to my bedroom and he asked what I was doing, what we were going to do today, etc.
I fixed his supplements (a 30 minute ordeal), during which time the kids played together with a balloon and other toys (no TV) and Jonathan seemed really happy and social. After that we went to Starbucks as we do most Sundays. He ate 2 cupcakes and had
chocolate milk (first load of gluten and casein). While at Starbucks, he was playful and engaging. When he finished his first cupcake, he asked Daddy for more, and Daddy said no. Jonathan did not react badly, did not scream. He turned to Vanessa and politely asked her if he could have some of her cupcake. She said no (typical selfish 3 year old answer) . But Jonathan did not cry. Asked me to ask Vanessa to give him some. So after a couple of minutes of pointless negotiation with Vanessa, Daddy bought Jonathan a second cupcake. We went to the bathroom and washed our hands and he did not mind. From there we went to Home Depot. He started to get a bit strange but was playing with his portable video game and coped. We got home and I told Daddy I was going to take Vanessa to Walmart to buy the stickers for her putty training program. Daddy called about 1 hour later asking where Jonathan's video game was because he was having a meltdown. He did not want to listen to anything Daddy was saying. Bingo. Gluten had crossed the blood brain barrier and it was making Jonathan irrational.
In the afternoon we went to visit my family. Jonathan did not want to say hello, he went straight to the TV. He communicated whenever he wanted to ask about something that interested him. It was hard to get him to be social. Later, I forced him to sit at the table and eat with us. After he ate he became more social and went to Tio Drew to play with his video game. We was obsessed with the appliances and particularly with the microwave because he could reach the buttons. He asked me if he could heat up Vanessa's milk. I told him that he could do it at home, when he replied that he could not reach at home. Then he noticed that the dishwasher was done, so he pressed a button to start it up again. And he told Tia Malu several times the time as he could read it on the Microwave. So he was social only during events where people entered his world. He did not want to participate in our world. It will be hard, but I am going to be very strict again with the GF/CF diet for a while. At school it is very hard to do. So I will make sure that he takes his enzymes right when he comes home from school (as he always takes them in the AM), and see what happens. During Spring Break (which starts April 2nd), we will not brake the diet. We should be able to tell the different during that week.
This makes me feel better. At least I have something to work with that is somewhat tangible.
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