Hello Rob,

I just read your message on our blog (http://friendinreach.blogspot.com/). I am glad you posted your forum on there. I would love to hear more stories about what other parents are experiencing. I went to one web site to hear more stories from parents but they wanted me to pay a membership fee. I don't want to pay anything until I can at least experience the site and see if it is worth it. This site wouldn't let me do that so I am glad you contacted us!

My daughter was diagnosed with Autism but I feel it is a miss diagnosis. She will be reevaluated in a few weeks so I don't "really" have a true diagnosis of SM yet. Although her teachers who I adore and who I feel are very intelligent, think that is what she has (not autism). My daughter has a food allergy (Celiac disease - allergy to gluten) and that gave her many of the autism characteristics. Here are her characteristics and the ones her special diet rid of:

1. Obsessive-compulsive behaviors (I could not move a table one inch or she would have a HUGE meltdown). This went away after I took gluten out of her diet.

2. Pulling her hair out during HUGE tantrums. This went away after the diet change.

3. Isolation. She is a triplet and she would not play with her siblings very often. She was a loner. This too, went away with the diet change.

4. Waking during the night. This went away with diet change.

5. Tantrum for no apparent reason. The majority of these went away with diet change. She still tantrums but now I feel it is more "typical."

6. Sensory issues. She would rub woodchips between her hands for about 1/2 hour. She would have stemming issues (looking at her hands and pitching the air). This has gone since diet change. However, now I notice that she will pitch her hands in the air ONLY when she is uncomfortable (in new surroundings or new people get too close to her). Since she was diagnosed with autism she had many OT personnel try to help her "sensory issues" and NOTHING worked. It only irritated her more. She did not like any of the brush or the "hug suits" that supposedly help most autistic children.

7. High pain tolerance. She could take a flu shot like it was a walk in the park. She just sat there. No crying or anything. This went away after the diet change as well. I feel she has a more "typical" tolerance to pain now.

8. Artistic talent. I don't know if this falls into any "special" category but she is so much more involved in our craft projects at home. Her triplet siblings will put a few paint drops on a piece of paper and be done. However, my daughter will spend 1/2 painting one piece of art and it is just beautiful! I had to throw this "symptom" in to just see if anyone else can relate. I find it interesting.

9. Social issues. She does not talk to new people who enter the house. She does not say one word in pre-school. However, she will talk to me all day long while at home. The diet change has not done anything for this. This is what is leading me to believe she has SM. All of her other "autism characteristics" have gone away after the diet.

I think the food allergy and the SM combination made all of the specialists jump to the autism conclusion. Now that most of her autistic characteristics have gone...how do we explain the social anxiety?

I wonder how many kids are getting the autism diagnosis and that is not what they actually have. I wonder how many kids have this food allergy and are not even being told to try the diet change. 1 in 133 people have Celiac Disease. It is highly genetic too. My father was diagnosed in June of 2008. Celiac is an allergy to gluten. Gluten is just about in everything. It is an overwhelming diet at first but you get the hang of it. It is easy now. We just eat like my great-grandmother used to cook (meats, potatoes, rice, corn tortillas, veggies and fruits).

I will find out soon if my daughter gets her diagnosis changed to SM. My gut tells me I am on the right path. Autism just never fit her completely. She was never a picky eater, no flapping of arms, she loves imaginary play (which most autistic kids don't do) and my questions go on and on

Thanks for contacting us and reading my latest post on my daughter. - Alicia

Thank you for joining.

"She does not talk to new people who enter the house. She does not say one word in pre-school. However, she will talk to me all day long while at home." I am sure that you have read a lot of information on SM by now, and your statement is a typical observation that the parent of an SM child would make.

Has your daughter ever had, or been to birthday parties? I ask because we noticed that our daughter's behavior would change when it came time to open her presents. She would seem to be enjoying herself as usual during the party, but looked emotionless while opening her presents. I figure that would be due to the fact that she is the center of attention during this time. Does your daughter speak to family members from outside the house? If so, how about other family members that she may not see on a regular basis? Even if she does speak to all family members, that wouldn't mean that she didn't have SM. The number of people that SM children can speak to varies. Our daughter will not speak to all family members. If she is sick, she won't even speak to us (Once she had the flu and didn't speak a word for over 36 hours).

When someone mentions that their child is silent at Daycare/School and is chatty at home, that is a very good indicator the the child may have SM. Some other characteristics that SM children may have:

`very sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others
`very sensitive to noise, touch or crowds
`intelligent, perceptive and inquisitive
`good powers of concentration
`difficult to express their feelings
`may suffer from constipation (sometimes caused by not wanting to use public/school washrooms)
`prefer to wear clothing that feels soft against their skin, doesn't like clothing tags (Sensory Processing Disorder)
`could be a Perfectionist
`more common in girls

Our daughter likes to make crafts as well, and she too likes to take extra time to do a nice job. Her Teacher from last year told us the she asked the class to make a pattern with numbers (ie. 1,2,1,2,1,2), and she said that our daughter did the pattern correctly but she created a mosiac design with the numbers as well. Her really big interest is singing. She can sing along to almost any song that plays on the radio. She currently hold the high score in our house for Singstar.

I hope that you are able to find some useful information here.