The data suggests that if I child does not have any allergies and is getting the proper nutrition these diets do very little if anything at all. My daughter goes to one of the best autism schools in the world NECC and they have all sorts of dates that prove exactly that, and unless a child in their care has deficiencies in any nutrients they will not give them any type of supplement or put them on any kind of diet. I can tell you if you look into the school and their success rate with children you would know they can be trusted with how they do things.

The fact is that a lot of parents with autistic children grasp at straws to find some therapy or cure so to speak, so they will try anything to try and help their children. The only proven strategies that do work with autistic children are the common ones you hear about such as speech, OT, PT, and ABA to name a few, and if that does not do the trick an added medication will help. Some parents are against the meds and use the diets as a substitute but they are not really effective.

The thing you need to realize about autism is that children moderately to severely affected go though stages and routines, and commonly make progress and then regress from time to time. The key is early intervention and a lot of therapy. I am sorry if I have offended anyone but this is the truth, and is backed up with all kinds of data and statistics.

I work with a young man in the public schools who has been on gluten casein free for several years and while research is not always favorable for this diet; the team has noticed huge gains in his ability to function in social settings. It would be worth the investment of time and a few more dollars I think

Anecdotally, my DD did not have any obvious GI symptoms and had tested negative twice for celiac (2nd time extended panel) and wheat allergies (again 2nd time extended panel). Yet we saw a dramatic physical response to going GF. She went from wearing a size 18-24 months at 2 yrs. 11 mos to wearing a size 4T at 3 years 4 months. All of her doctors agree that she has some sort of non-celiac gluten intolerance that the current tests are not able to detect. We never would've known had we not done a trial of GFCF. I personally believe that ALL kids with ASD should do a 6 month trial followed by a challenge to see if the diet makes any difference.

my DAN doctor told me to give it a try , but 100% , for 3 months , if you see positives changes then continue with the diet , if there is not positive changes well your child may not be a candidate for this, Hope this helps :-)

Actually, there really is some legitimate scientific research to support GFCF. Now some professionals are very narrowminded (like the ones running the school mentioned earlier obviously do). Here is one study supporting GFCF: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/12...