I'd like to recommend a wonderful book that has just been published by SkyHorse Press. It's called "The Autism Cookbook: 101 Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Recipes" and it was written by Susan K. Delaine. It is a great resource for anyone struggling to maintain a GFCF diet who also wants to eat great tasting food. I have personally found the recipes to be easy to follow and the results very satisfying!

Susan K. Delaine has struggled for years with her autistic son’s food sensitivities and health discomforts. After painstaking trial and error, she found that a gluten-free and dairy-free diet, combined with healing arts, positively affected his dietary health, as well as his emotional and mental health. In The Autism Cookbook: 101 Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Recipes, Delaine offers to everyone a strong case for how a nutritious diet, free of dairy and gluten, combined with a spiritual living can enhance the health of an autistic child and adult.

According to The Autism Society of America, as many as 1.5 million Americans today live with the effects of autism spectrum disorder. Autism may manifest itself through diverse symptoms, commonly including a resistance to change, difficulty in expression, tantrums, obsessive attachment to objects, repetitive use of language, and unresponsiveness. It has been seen that a stable environment, one-on-one programs, speech, occupational, and physical therapies that help the child gain communication, social, and physical skills, and a nutritious, special diet can improve the health and symptoms of autistic children and adults.

Written by a passionate mother of a son with autism and numerous food allergies, The Autism Cookbook is a vivid, full-color cookbook determined to target the dietary needs and emotional, spiritual health of autistic children and adults. By combining healthy foods, with some fun, healthful activities that enhance the health of the whole individual, The Autism Cookbook features 101 gluten-free and casein-free recipes, and is a simple and easy guide to preparing family-friendly meals that can improve digestion and immunity. Recipes include:

• Blueberry banana sorbet

• Pumpkin bread

• Sesame ginger chicken

• Sweet potato casserole

• Cornbread muffins

• Vanilla cupcakes

• Chocolate frosting

• Twenty raw-food recipes

• And more 

The recipes featured are free from wheat, rice, barley, oat, egg, milk, soy, peanut, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish. Even more so, they are accompanied with an easy-to-use index, glossary, appendix, and a table of recommended food substitutes—alternatives to refined white sugar, such as agave nectar.

Having in mind the autistic child with food sensitivities—digestive discomfort, irritability, emotional stress and other health complications—The Autism Cookbook is a warm, loving, and practical cookbook that targets these needs. Most importantly, it brings to light the ability of families to aid autistic children in their path to becoming healthy and thriving individuals.

About the Author

Susan K. Delaine is the mother of an autistic child and a spokesperson for autism awareness. Her recipes and her story have been featured in Real Simple, Black Health, Fayette Woman, Fayette Neighbor, and appeared on local and national radio and television programs, including affiliates of ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX. Her Web site is www.SusanDelaine.com.

I hope you give this book a try!
Blessings,
Mary
Mary E. Riposo, PhD
www.IntegratedEnergyHealing.com

The Fifth Annual “One Piece at a Time” Autism Awareness Walk will be held Sunday, April 25, 2010 at Longbranch Park in Liverpool, NY.  Registration begins at 9:15 a.m. with the walk to follow at 10 a.m. The event is sponsored by the CNY Autism Society of America and is supported by the Margaret L. Williams Developmental Evaluation Center (MLWDEC) at Upstate Medical University, Kohl’s Autism and Related Disorders Outreach Program and FEAT of CNY. To register, call 315-464-8668 or toll-free at 1-800-464-8668. For more information, visit www.cnyasa.org or e-mail cnyasa@yahoo.com. This has been a wonderful event since its inception and I highly recommend attending for anyone in the Central New York area.
Blessings,
Mary
Mary E. Riposo
www.AlternativeAutismSolutions.com

I'm happy to share this product with you, as I believe it speaks to the heart of many parents who have a child diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. When I first heard "All He Has To Say", by aika, I was touched by the depth of emotion that is expressed through this song. If you or someone you know has a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, you will want to check out this CD.

Here are the lyrics:

When I walked into his room

He was sitting on the floor

Last night I prayed that he would

Wake up to something more

When I reached for his hand

He tightly held to mine

I looked him in the eyes and smiled

Told him everything was fine, child

I wonder what he’s thinking

When he's starin' off in space

His eyes filled with emotion

an innocent look on his face

As the silence filled the room

I wished for just one day

I could give him a voice

And hear all he has to say

all he has to say

all he has to say…

Where’s the link we need

That piece to make it whole

I need my little boy back

I need what autism stole

Before I put him to bed

I kneel beside and pray

One day he'll speak again

One day he'll speak again

All He Has To Say was written by Boston songwriter Will Carr (www.WillCarrMusic.com) after reading a poem written by Lea Bishop about Autism. Lea Bishop, a teacher's assistant at the May Center for Child Development in Randolph, MA, who is devoting her higher education to bettering herself in order to change the lives of those on the Autism Spectrum. The inspiration for the song came as one of Ms. Bishop’s colleagues in the classroom was leaving the school to join another division of May Institute. “There is an inextricable bond between teacher and students with autism,” Ms. Bishop explains. “We were talking to the kids about their teacher leaving. Some of them are non-verbal or have difficulty with communication. We weren’t sure whether all of them understood that the teacher wouldn’t be coming back. But then one child got up from the circle and walked over to give her a big hug. For me, that moment captured the connection that exists between the child with autism and the world around him or her,” Ms. Bishop said.

All He Has To Say features award wining singer/songwriter aika (Aika Hirahara) on vocals (www.aikahirahara.com), with music by Music Producer/songwriter Nicolas Farmakalidis (www.Neilaproductions.com). The song, which was released in 2009, is available for purchase through www.allhehastosay.com, iTunes, and www.cdbaby.com. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the song will be donated to the May Center for Child Development in Randolph, MA, a full-day, year-round school for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum and related disorders. For more information on the May Center, go to www.MayInstitute.org. For more information on the song, go to www.AllHeHasToSay.com.

Blessings,
Mary
Mary E. Riposo, PhD
www.AlternativeAutismSolutions.com 

Bethesda, MD (December 18, 2009) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released their national autism prevalence report today, confirming that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in the United States is 1 percent of the population, or one in 110 of children 8 years of age in 2006.

The long-awaited report was conducted by the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network in 11 sites in 2006 and tracks prevalence in children 8 years of age. The Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network is a group of programs funded by CDC to determine the number of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in the United States. The ADDM sites all collect data using the same surveillance methods, which are modeled after CDC’s Metropolitan Atlanta Developmental Disabilities Surveillance Program (MADDSP).

“This report confirms what we at the Autism Society have been saying for years about the prevalence of autism in America and the critical importance of early identification and interventions. For the first time, we are hearing our government acknowledge the real increase in autism and validating the impact this condition has on individuals, families and their communities,” said Lee Grossman, Autism Society President and CEO. “The question still remains: How bad does it have to get before families receive appropriate lifespan services?”

This report presents a number of other important details, including:

• The study suggests that while better diagnosis accounts for some of the prevalence, a true increase cannot be ruled out. The report also underscores that “efforts are needed to understand how complex genetic and environmental factors interact to result in symptoms which make up the autism spectrum.”
• The report again highlights that delays in identification still persist. Children in 2006 were being diagnosed only five months earlier on average than those in 2002, thus still missing the critical years of early intervention. (In 2002, children were diagnosed at an average age of 53 – 66 months, and in 2006, the average age was 50 – 60 months.)  The report laudably notes that the continued lag in identification needs to be addressed as a public health concern so that this nation “can ensure that children in the U.S. receive optimal early intervention services.”
• Increases in prevalence among minority population were significant, with a 91 percent increase in Hispanic children (with 144 percent increase in Arizona contributing to this) and 41 percent in black non-Hispanic. There was a 55 percent increase in White non-Hispanic.
• Prevalence in boys was found to be 4.5 times higher in males than females. The report states one in 70 boys and one in 315 females have autism. 
• This study gathered data on prevalence and cognitive impairment, showing a 90 percent increase in children with borderline intellectual functioning and a 72 percent increase among children with average to above average intelligence. As intelligence testing is unstable in the autism community, further analysis needs to be done to understand this change.
• Overall prevalence was lower among the sites with access to health evaluations alone, so sites that did not include educational evaluations likely underestimated ASD prevalence for that site. The lack of educational data would have impacted the cognitive functioning analysis as well.

It is important to note the ADDM study does not cover adult prevalence or those children who receive diagnoses later than 8, which can be common in the Asperger’s community, where the average age of diagnosis is 11 years old.  

The ADDM report, which was conducted in the states of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin, is consistent with the Department of Health and Human Services National Survey of Children’s Health, published last October.

I'd love to know what you think about this newest research. I invite you to post a comment to this blog with your thoughts and comments.

Blessings,
Mary
www.AlternativeAutismSolutions.com