As many folks out there know I'm one of those people helped by dietary intervention.

In my case, that involves nutritional supplements together with a dairy/gluten free and low Salicylate diet.

Until my immune deficiency was addressed I couldn't cope with sugar either as, like 8% of folks on the spectrum I had no secretory IgA (not the one in your blood but the one which lines mucous membranes in the gut, ears, nose, throat, lungs and is also called Salivary IgA, lack of secretory IgA means being unable to fight infections, including Candida which is fed by sugar intake and also means not having enough/or any of the messengers which tell the body to send enzymes to digest foods).

Thing is, there are actually loads of different groups under that word 'autism'. Sometimes you get people who are in more than one of these groups. Sometimes someone with autism is only in one of these groups, sometimes someone with autism isn't in any of these groups!

So a few of the statistics out there go something like this:

• 80% of folks on the autistic spectrum can't digest dairy & gluten for a variety of different reasons (Shattock, Sunderland University)
• 60% of folks on the autistic spectrum can't cope with Salicylate for a variety of different reasons (Waring, Birmingham University)
• 20% of folks on the autistic spectrum have low salivary IgA. and
• 8% have none for a variety of different reasons (Gupta)
• then there are those who are Phenol intolerant (I was diagnosed as being in this group too, but mostly being on a low Salicylate diet cuts out a lot of Phenols anyway).
• and those who reportedly can't cope with yellow/orange pigmented foods.
• And then there are those who reportedly can't cope with starches, including potatoes, rice and corn.
• And there are those with specific food allergies which can severely effect how they process information.
• And then there are those who simply have neurotransmitter imbalances, sometimes effected by treatable dietary issues and other times un-associated with dietary issues though often managed with low doses of the right medication.
• And there are those with epilepsy issues which again are sometimes triggered by treatable dietary issues and sometimes are unrelated to them and can often be managed with low doses of the right medication.
• There are those with multiple immune deficiencies which can be made worse by chronic stress, untreated mood disorders, triggered by environmental insult etc...
• here are those with additional celiac disease, Crohn's or colitis and many who develop leaky gut and immune dysfunction who do not have any of these other gut conditions and one can have both.
• There can be inheritance patterns and aspects which are progressively acquired either through the long term impact of severe chronic stress upon digestion/immunity or because of dietary issues (i.e. high sugar) or environmental insult (i.e. long term or repeated use of antibiotics etc etc).
• And there are those with issues of neurological organisation such as left-right integration which may have been effected by dietary/immune issues or be independent of these and can sometimes be addressed via patterning exercises.
• And there can be identity issues in holding onto old behaviours even when the underlying causes have been dealt with or who are reluctant to let go of redundant behaviours because they previously were able to control the environment that way and fear who they'd be among others in the face of change. There are respectful strategies for countering self defeating identifications and redundant patterns.

So, you see, it's all clear as mud.

Thing is, there are a lot of invasive tests to find where someone is in all this but at the end of the day it is a matter of looking at the signs, the family history, the specific behaviours and symptoms associated with different gut/immune problems and working out, where, if anywhere, someone with autism is most likely to fit in and to decide to take it from there.

Basically its about getting away from the label and looking at the systems at work that give rise to the label.