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Thank you for posting this excellent article Mark. I hadn't read this and it is fabulously useful for me and my son.
I want to ask you about the "autism" traits and social skills thing that you mentioned developing at the age of 12. My son was diagnosed as autistic when he was very little (aged 2) and after I carried out some drastic dietary changes and heavy supplementation he developed into a "normal" kid. He is 4 now.
He was very bad before - constant stimming, no speech, self harming. Now he could be classified as normal but I and still sometimes worried about his socialisation. He often refuses to play with other children and tell me he is happier on his own. He does play with other children when the mood takes him, but my impression is that he finds it taxing and as soon as he feel a but unwell he wants to be left alone. He is too young for me to be sure about anything, but I wonder, if you feel like it, could you go into a bit more detail about what you experienced in terms of losing social skills when you were a child? it might really help me to understand or help my son.
Many thanks if you feel up to doing this.
Athene.
Athene,
It's been a long time and I am 37 now. But I rememeber being depressed, and not wanting to spend time around others, difficulty maintaining eye contact, and difficulty with speech or finding words. There is probably more.
I sometimes think one thing that would have been helpful to me would be through religion. I'm not religious now and have many reasons why I am still not. However, the supportive environment that kids would get thru religon might help keep him in the loop even though he doesn't want to. Or being around family. But the typical playground mentality might be rough on those kids who can't communicate well. A strong social support group(thru religion) may help kids work through challenges rather than kind of "get removed" from society.
Also finding a hobby like woodworking or sewing (something active and prodcutive with tangible results)to keep the kid busy and stimulated. Sitting in class and maybe not succeeding at structured courses, may be an unecessary blow to a kids ego becuase he may feel lousy for not doing great like everybody else. However, having something to look foward to, and suceed at is important for everybody I think. Being a kid and very bored or depressed is a rough. I think kids like that need something to grab onto and be good at and interested in and the traditional school system just doens't get it.
On a sperate note: I recently realized that I may also have a gluten and maybe casein gut problem after watching corts video link on gluten sensitivity in the "gut threads". After moving and not having much to eat, I ate alot of cheese and pasta. Wow, the brain fog and pressure in my head. Defintely drops the IQ a notch. And the delayed reaction, WOW get slammed a day later. yikes!
all the best,
Mark