Gluten And Child Development?

[VydorScope]

We are noticing now that we are about 2 weeks out from his last gluten mistake that he is reaquring skills he seem to have lost, and making new strides foward. He has starting jumping with both feet off the ground as an exmaple.

Do others notice this with their kids that Gluten seems to slow down, and sometimes reverse progress made?

[Smunkeemom]

We are noticing now that we are about 2 weeks out from his last gluten mistake that he is reaquring skills he seem to have lost, and making new strides foward. He has starting jumping with both feet off the ground as an exmaple.

Do others notice this with their kids that Gluten seems to slow down, and sometimes reverse progress made?

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When Annika was diagnosed she was developmentally delayed (mainly motor skills) since she has been gluten free she has jumped ahead of the others and is almost on a three year old level, but she got accidentally glutened one day and for like a week it was like she zoned out and forgot everything.

[VydorScope]

When Annika was diagnosed she was developmentally delayed (mainly motor skills) since she has been gluten free she has jumped ahead of the others and is almost on a three year old level, but she got accidentally glutened one day and for like a week it was like she zoned out and forgot everything.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats sounding more and more like what we are seeing. Our son at 18months tested at about the 9month old level for commincations, and we think his celiac disease "activated" around 10 or 11 months old. In all other areas he is at or above age level. I wonder where he will be when he get s a decent gluten-free run!

[Jnkmnky]

Thats sounding more and more like what we are seeing. Our son at 18months tested at about the 9month old level for commincations, and we think his celiac disease "activated" around 10 or 11 months old. In all other areas he is at or above age level. I wonder where he will be when he get s a decent gluten-free run! 

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You should prepare for speech delays rather than imagine he'll jump to where he should be .. or better. Not using your emerging speech skills, not working through the fine motor skills necessary for speech, being "zoned out" due to peptide overload, all contribute to serious speech delays or impairments that require therapy to overcome. My seven year old is still in speech. But he was heavily doped with peptides the first three years and used very rudimentary speech to communicate until gluten free.

[VydorScope]

You should prepare for speech delays rather than imagine he'll jump to where he should be .. or better.  Not using your emerging speech skills, not working through the fine motor skills necessary for speech, being "zoned out" due to peptide overload, all contribute to serious speech delays or impairments that require therapy to overcome.  My seven year old is still in speech.  But he was heavily doped with peptides the first three years and used very rudimentary speech to communicate until gluten free.

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He currently sees 2 speech therpists a week. He ahs since he was about 18 months. His RECPETIVE language has grown very well, and he can speak a litte in sign langauge now (His mom, and I both know some ASL, in classes for it). So that helps at least get over the "hes crying and cant tell us why" part for now.

We tell when he is comming off the Gluten crash becasue he suddenly remebers things, and his behavior imprvoes, he starts sleeping at night agian, etc. His D goes away in a 4 or 5 days, but the effects seem to hold on roughly two full weeks.

[Jnkmnky]

He currently sees 2 speech therpists a week. He ahs since he was about 18 months. His RECPETIVE language has grown very well, and he can speak a litte in sign langauge now (His mom, and I both know some ASL, in classes for it).  So that helps at least get over the "hes crying and cant tell us why" part for  now.

We tell when he is comming off the Gluten crash becasue he suddenly remebers things, and his behavior imprvoes, he starts sleeping at night agian, etc. His D goes away in a 4 or 5 days, but the effects seem to hold on roughly two full weeks.

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There's not enough research to support what I think about gluten, the peptides, and additional autoimmune diseases... but here's my thinking on the subject. I believe that the leakier the gut, the more likely you are to develope the other, more aggressive autoimmune diseases. If your gut is so permeable that peptides are screwing with your brain to the point of NONfunctioning *like with my kid*, then it stands to reason that the leaky gut would permit more opportunity for your body to react to OTHER things getting through. Increasing your chance for extra misidentification of "HARMFUL" stuff for your immune system to attack. My son has a fantastic vocabulary....when his recall is working! But the lagging memory issues are a result, I believe, of being doped for three years. He's improved dramatically, but still struggles over some pretty easy stuff once in a while. Like losing the name for simple things such as "frog".....saying instead..."the small green animal". Just can't find the word. or "the flat, round, brown stuff"....for "bologna".

I used sign language for my oldest. He had a stroke at birth and was delayed in gross and fine motor skills due to the stroke. Speech requires fine motor skills. ANyway, gross motor comes back more quickly than fine motor. So we did sign.... the thing to know is that you don't have to be accurate with the signing for babies. Once they realize they can sign to get what they want... they take off and make up their own signs. It's like baby talk... only it's in sign language. I had a hell of a time figuring out some of my son's signs once he took off with it. He just made them up for everything. He'd stick with a sign he'd created... like pointing at his nose for "orange" *this was because ELMO'S nose is orange. Or Huffing and puffing for the color "BLACK"..... this was because Darth Vader is black and he huffs and puffs. OR GROWLING while TURNING HIS HEAD for the color brown... that was becauce Chewbacca was brown and did the growling....hahah you know what movie he was into!

[VydorScope]

There's not enough research to support what I think about gluten, the peptides, and additional autoimmune diseases... but here's my thinking on the subject.  I believe that the leakier the gut, the more likely you are to develope the other, more aggressive autoimmune diseases.  If your gut is so permeable that peptides are screwing with your brain to the point of NONfunctioning *like with my kid*, then it stands to reason that the leaky gut would permit more opportunity for your body to react to OTHER things getting through.  Increasing your chance for extra misidentification of "HARMFUL" stuff for your immune system to attack.  My son has a fantastic vocabulary....when his recall is working!  But the lagging memory issues are a result, I believe, of being doped for three years.  He's improved dramatically, but still struggles over some pretty easy stuff once in a while.  Like losing the name for simple things such as "frog".....saying instead..."the small green animal".  Just can't find the word.  or "the flat, round, brown stuff"....for "bologna".   

Based soloy on the sample of my child, and the 2 other parents in this thread, I completely agree theres alot more to this then just the GI issues. I mean the difference from any random day gluten-free, and what happens within hours of him getting some gluten is huge! He reverts to bad behaviors we already broke, he forgets his signs, he stops sleeping over night, etc. Once past the gluten crash he goes back to where he was before it and we can start making headway again. Someone posted that they think theres a link between autism and gluten, I already know there are links between food additves and various mental condtions.. its not a stretch for me to see a possible link between gluten and Autsim. Esply with the very high rate which its appearing in today society, when a GENTIC disorder should not in theroy have an "outbreak" like it seems Autsim has.

In addtion I have slot of memory issues my self, and there are days when I can just not get ANYTHING figured out an done. Its very not fun. Hence why I ordered the York labs test...

I realy cant wiat till he is old enough to understand and start refusing gluten. I hate having to depend on his other caregivers to get it right, and chasing him around as he steals food from other ppl/kids.

I used sign language for my oldest.  He had a stroke at birth and was delayed in gross and fine motor skills due to the stroke.  Speech requires fine motor skills.  ANyway, gross motor comes back more quickly than fine motor.  So we did sign.... the thing to know is that you don't have to be accurate with the signing for babies.  Once they realize they can sign to get what they want... they take off and make up their own signs.  It's like baby talk... only it's in sign language.  I had a hell of a time figuring out some of my son's signs once he took off with it.  He just made them up for everything.  He'd stick with a sign he'd created... like pointing at his nose for "orange" *this was because ELMO'S nose is orange.  Or Huffing and puffing for the color "BLACK"..... this was because Darth Vader is black and he huffs and puffs.  OR GROWLING while TURNING HIS HEAD for the color brown... that was becauce Chewbacca was brown and did the growling....hahah you know what movie he was into!

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HAHA!! LOVE IT.

Yea we show him the right sign for somthing, then play guess his interpretation for a bit till we get what HE thinks is the right sign.

[taweavmo3]

Well, I have to jump in here too! We definately have a speech and memory regression with a glutening. My dd does exactly what Jnkmnky's son does....she forgets the names of simple things. For frog, she says "ribbit", but can't remember the name. She also forgets the names of family members, or she'll get their names mixed up.

I also don't think it's something that can be caught up on. I am beginning to see the long road ahead of us, so far two months of speech therapy haven't made one bit of difference. I'm not expecting a quick fix by any means, but I thought she would have made at least a little bit of progress. This week in fact, her speech is worse than ever, I can not understand anything she is saying. She did have a gluten accident about a month ago, but it's odd that her speech is worse now, nearly four weeks later. It is so frustrating for both of us when I don't know what she is saying......I feel so bad for her.

We went for her follow up GI appt yesterday. We talked for a bit about the gluten-brain connection. He said he has one patient who is 17 years old, but reverts back to stuttering like he did when he was 8 years old, when he gets gluten.

[JoyfulDancer]

Hi, I'm kind of new here. I'm glad I saw this thread. My 5yodd was diagnosed this summer with celiac disease. She has been gluten-free since Aug. Already there is so much improvement in her personality and energy level, but I've been worrying about her memory. She just can't seem to keep things in her brain. We go over the days of the week almost daily and she still can't figure out what day comes after Tuesday. She doesn't know the names of most of the letters, if I ask her to write 15 she will not know what to do (with a number chart right in front of her). Her 3yo brother knows more than she does.

What I'm really wondering is, could any of this be related to celiac disease, and if so, will it improve? Actually, this week she suddenly started recognizing 3 letters we've been working on, seeing them in signs whenever we drive somewhere, etc. That's a big change and gives me some hope, but there is still a long way to go.

[VydorScope]

My though is this is realated to the sympton we call "brain fog" and given enough time Gluten free your daughter's memory will improve.

[Jnkmnky]

Hi, I'm kind of new here.  I'm glad I saw this thread.  My 5yodd was diagnosed this summer with celiac disease.  She has been gluten-free since Aug.  Already there is so much improvement in her personality and energy level, but I've been worrying about her memory.  She just can't seem to keep things in her brain.  We go over the days of the week almost daily and she still can't figure out what day comes after Tuesday.  She doesn't know the names of most of the letters, if I ask her to write 15 she will not know what to do (with a number chart right in front of her).  Her 3yo brother knows more than she does. 

What I'm really wondering is, could any of this be related to celiac disease, and if so, will it improve?  Actually, this week she suddenly started recognizing 3 letters we've been working on, seeing them in signs whenever we drive somewhere, etc.  That's a big change and gives me some hope, but there is still a long way to go.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It will improve over time. Don't rush it. My son was dx at three... still has memory/recall issues at 71/2. At this point, I guess it's just who he is!

[CARLY]

Hello everyone. I just registered with this group. I am really glad to get some info and have others to realate to. My daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease @18 months. She is almost 2 now and is gaining weight nicely, but still has a ways to go on her height.We were surprised to find that it is a genetic disease and that no one in either sides of our families has it.(that we know of). I have 2 older children that my pediatrition reccomends get checked for celiac disease also. They show no signs of it. So I am not sure if I want them to go through the whole endoscopy thing. Anyways, just wandering how many of you actually have other people in your families that have celiac other than your kids. thanks, carly

[VydorScope]

Hello everyone. I just registered with this group. I am really glad to get some info and have others to realate to. My daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease @18 months. She is almost 2 now and is gaining weight nicely, but still has a ways to go on her height.We were surprised to find that it is a genetic disease and that no one in either sides of our families has it.(that we know of). I have 2 older children that my pediatrition reccomends get checked for celiac disease also. They show no signs of it. So I am not sure if I want them to go through the whole endoscopy thing. Anyways, just wandering how many of you actually have other people in your families that have celiac other than your kids. thanks, carly

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I prbly do... wont know till doc get back from manternity leave so I can get tested my self...

[Guest nini]

I just wanted to add that before my daughter and I were dx, she had many behavioral issues that she could not control, violent outbursts, crying kicking screaming fits, hitting biting thrashing etc... she was also slow to walk and wasn't very coordinated for a long time. Since going gluten free however, she has only had 2 accidental glutenings that we know of and both times she got very moody and forgot how to use her legs. It was really scary.

I wanted to reassure anyone reading this, that at five years old she is very bright, very healthy, and extremely coordinated now. In fact she is tops in her ballet class. She remembers what gluten does to her and therefore she is extremely cautious about putting anything near her mouth that possibly contains gluten. She very politely refuses questionable items when offered. I think it helps her that I am gluten free with her. That she knows we are in this together.

[e&j0304]

I just wanted to add that before my daughter and I were dx, she had many behavioral issues that she could not control, violent outbursts, crying kicking screaming fits, hitting biting thrashing etc... she was also slow to walk and wasn't very coordinated for a long time.

My daughter was much like this as well. We always wondered why she was so uncoordinated and seemed to lose her balance really easily. We often joked that she would never be able to be an athlete! She also had MANY behavioral problems and was such a difficult child before going gluten-free.

Now she has been gluten-free for about 4 months and she is running well, jumping with both feet off of the ground for the first time (she's almost 3!) and is very well-behaved and happy. It's amazing what gluten can do to people...

[RiceGuy]

Much good info and advice in this thread. I Just thought I'd add that if damage has been done to the gut, other foods can become a problem, which could hinder progress. So, I'd recommend watching out for stuff like dairy, refined sugar, yeast, soy, meats, etc. Plus anything that is on the frequent allergies list.

I can speak from experience that yeast can be a nasty one. The toxins it produces can cause all manner of problems, and the diagnosis from all the doctors I saw was always way, way off. If the gut leaks, those toxins are even more of a problem. It takes time to heal. I can only give my own experience, which is that I'm still at it. However, I only discovered the gluten issue relatively recently. So, I guess I've got years of damage to deal with, and I basically lived on wheat products, if what I did could actually be called "living".

[Guest Lucy]

My son never had any delays. He is above average I'd say in memory, and is very coordinated. I remember as a toddler lots of poeple compilmenting his coordination.

I have noticed a better "mood" since going gluten free.