Jay began the diet in feb. 2000. He is now 13. First of all - his entire restricted diet- was for years- no.....caisen, glueten, hydrogenated oil, chocolate, corn, soy, egg, table sugar, sodium nitrate, peanuts, table salt(sometimes contains anti-caking agent derived from corn starch) That said- his meds are and have been the entire span of time- ritilin, risperdal, serzone, zyrtec-(seasonal) alternating at times with climetidine- an over the counter digestive aide that is actually a very powerful antihistimine, and over the counter digestive enzymes from walmart- with a doctors note. He showed dramatic improvement within days of beging the diet- started talking non stop when prior to diet most people not in his inner familar circle believed he was non-verbal, he became extremely huggy and cuddley making up for lost time, his rigidity became more flexible, said my very first I love yous, and most importantly his rage attacks began to subside and become predictable- he had/has a pretty severe writing -reading disablitiy despite his sheer brilliance and now that he is verbal and testable we discover he has advanced vocabulary(4 years) - but every time the school expected writing/ reading he tazzmanian deviled them instead- very powerful advoidance tactic! His verbal skills didnt work at all for problem solving until this year. Once the disablity was diagnosis and I became a fire breathing dragon with the school demanding the support he needed, the rage attacks have finally evaporated. He has the most wonderful teaching staff this year, they are so supportive and it is with there support that we have introduced regular foods with enzymes in school. He is in a spec. ed 7th grade and mainstreams half the day. We all agree that he his more hyper and bouncier but still directable and polite in school, and it hasnt affected his ability to read/write as I had feared. When Jay has a diet infraction - theres no hiding it, his ears turn beat red. But now that he takes zyrtec or benadryl or the climetidine- the redness and behavior goes away- a pharmacists told me allergies can cause red ears. The theory behind the enzymes is that the reason these kids look austistic is because they have leaky gut - and though my son was not tested- once you begin the diet the test wouldnt be accurate- it was a given that he couldnt have shown the dramatic results that he did - unless he truely had leaky gut- he did not have the classic leaky gut symptoms- no diareah or stomache cramps- just red ears and exczema and bone skinny and dry ratty hair. Leaky gut develops becaused your body does not produce the enzymes to break down the food protiens so instead they become mini bullets shooting holes through the digestive track and leaking the food protiens directly into the blood stream- the dna of milk and wheat is only one strand off from opium, so you have kids who are really strung out on a drug like substance and malnourished - introduce the enzyme to break down the protien and you have broken the viscous cycle. The problems weve incurred using the enzyme with a 13 year old is that its not always perfect-he may eat and not remember to take the enzyme, a little may seep through- as evidenced by ears and behavior-my sister (a nurse and mother of two children allergic to milk) says milk can not be broken down by any enzyme so we do still avoid caisen, however for him to eat normal meals- he is less moody and works harder at behaving because he knows that if he doesnt its back on the diet. - I will keep you posted- and I dont know that I wouldnot recommend giving up following the diet for a younger child- they are still in a very important developmental stage - and i believe leaky gut causes some pretty traumatic developmental delays- weve have exerimented briefly with enzymes and regular food a few times prior to thirteen and had to return to diet immediately. Even now- i try to make sure Jay has a couple of days each week where I just happen to serve all gf/cf all day- to sorta clean out his system. -meme