Product Description

When their nineteen-month-old son, Miles, was diagnosed with autism, Karyn Seroussi, a writer, and her husband, a scientist, fought back with the only weapons at their disposal: love and research. Consulting medical papers, surfacing the Web, and networking with other parents, they traced the onset of their child's problems to an immune system breakdown that coincided with his vaccinations. As a result, his digestive system was unable to break down certain proteins, which in turn led to abnormal brain development. So Karyn and her husband got to work -- Karyn implementing their program at home while her husband tested his theories at the scientific lab where he worked.

Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder is an inspiring and suspenseful chronicle of how one couple empowered themselves to challenge the medical establishment that promised no hope -- and found a cure for their child.

Here are the explanations and treatments they so carefully researched and discovered, a wealth of crucial tools and hands-on information that can help other parents reverse the effects of autism and PDD, including step-by-step instructions for the removal of dairy and gluten from the diet, special recipes, and an explanation of the roles of the key players in autism research.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9700 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-08
• Released on: 2002-01-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
What can be more devastating for parents than to learn that their child is autistic? The severely debilitating neurological disorder, which affects social and language development, can be difficult to treat. When her son was diagnosed with autism at 19 months, Seroussi, a small-business owner and wife of a research chemist, determined to do everything in her power to help her child achieve normal functioning. In addition to pursuing recommended speech and behavior modification therapies for her son, Seroussi devoted her considerable energies--often against medical advice--to researching alternative approaches. Her own experience and a growing body of scientific evidence pointed to connections between autism and diet. And though the theory has not yet been proven, Seroussi says, research now suggests that autism may be an autoimmune disorder triggered in rare cases by an infant's measles-mumps-rubella immunizations. Convinced that the inability to digest certain proteins was contributing to her son's condition and that his autism was related to his reaction to MMR vaccines, Seroussi eliminated suspect foods from his diet; he made such dramatic improvement that, by age four, he was functioning normally. Now a crusader for dietary intervention, Seroussi has written a book that will give hope to many families--though she cautions that not every autistic child responds to such treatment. She includes a FAQ section, gluten- and casein-free recipes and resources, and a list of organizations and readings. Agent, Kathi Paton. (Feb.) FYI: Seroussi is co-founder of ANDI (the Autism Network for Dietary Intervention) and co-editor of the ANDI News.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Lisa S. Lewis, Ph.D. author of Special Diets for Special Kids Karyn Seroussi's good sense and her ability to sort out fact from fiction make her the perfect person to tell the story of autism research. Add to that a son who got better and a scientist husband who helped figure out why. -- Review

From the Inside Flap
When their nineteen-month-old son, Miles, was diagnosed with autism, Karyn Seroussi, a writer, and her husband, a scientist, fought back with the only weapons at their disposal: love and research. Consulting medical papers, surfacing the Web, and networking with other parents, they traced the onset of their child's problems to an immune system breakdown that coincided with his vaccinations. As a result, his digestive system was unable to break down certain proteins, which in turn led to abnormal brain development. So Karyn and her husband got to work -- Karyn implementing their program at home while her husband tested his theories at the scientific lab where he worked.

Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder is an inspiring and suspenseful chronicle of how one couple empowered themselves to challenge the medical establishment that promised no hope -- and found a cure for their child.

Here are the explanations and treatments they so carefully researched and discovered, a wealth of crucial tools and hands-on information that can help other parents reverse the effects of autism and PDD, including step-by-step instructions for the removal of dairy and gluten from the diet, special recipes, and an explanation of the roles of the key players in autism research.

Customer Reviews

Grandmothr searching for information
We have recently discovered that my 2 year old grandson may be on the spectrum of autism with pdd. This book gave me much information that we have found helpful. As a result of reading it, my son and his wife put the child on a glutenfree and casein free diet. I am gluten intolerant, so it seems that this should be helpful. We are still testing, but I was glad to have this author's account of the her son's issues and the lengths to which she and her husband were willing to go to find solutions. The book is being passed on to other members of the family to educate themselves.

Questions answered!!!
I believe any parent with a child diagnosed with Autism, ASD, PDD, allergies and bowel disease should invest their time and money in reading this book. Reading this book validated what I had suspected with my child. Karyn Seroussi filled in the blanks. I feel empowered. Yes, it is difficult to accept her suggestions to a restricted diet for some. It is selfish to not at least try the diet because it is inconvenient.

I have been preparing special meals for my daughter since she was able to eat solid foods because she has severe food allergies to milk, soy, all nuts and eggs. My pediatrician took it even further and tested for food sensitivities (IgG; Elisa testing) and discovered a list of food intolerances. Same ped checked her titers for MMR and discovered they were through the roof. My baby's system was overloaded with vaccines. I was fortunate to have an open-minded pediatrician on my daughter's side. She has been on a specialized diet removing the additional 23 harmful foods (IgG) for one year now and she has improved tremendously. Especially removing the apples and tomatoes from her diet. However, it wasn't until reading this book did I understand the reason for her improvement. I even took it further and removed the last phenol from her diet.....BANANAS. She no longer has hours of inconsolable crying. Her GI physician wanted to put her on Prevacid and all along it was bananas. Needless to say I didn't start her on Prevacid. She recently started Nystatin and after the initial die-off of yeast, the haze has lifted. For the first time since she was 3 months old, she's now 5 years old, she laughed when we tickled her. I didn't understand the effect of yeast until reading this book. At least I was already on the right path. MOM'S KNOW........

This is a wonderfully written story of ups, downs and eventually ups. It will not be the answer to everyone's situation. Although I highly recommend reading the book if only to better understand and answer your own questions.

~ From a parent of a non-Autistic child but instead with a child with diagnosed with PDD, LGS, asthma and severe food allergies.

Excellent Book!
This book is wonderfully written! You will learn so much. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has or suspects their child has autism!