Peter:
>Moira, welcome to the list.

Yes, welcome, Moira.

All of Peter's suggestions make good sense to me.

In addition, have you had any opportunity to try him on a 100% meat and/or
fish diet for a period of time (several days or a couple weeks)?
Theoretically this would starve out some of the potentially troublesome
intestinal microbes (assuming they are associated with carbs). It might
also be interesting to see if the induced ketosis-only metabolism on such a
regime would have any effect on his behavior. If the meat was aged and raw
(or _very_ rare) he may well be able to regulate the amount himself by
refusing any more once the taste change occurs--if it occurs for him, which
is difficult to predict given the global effects on the organism in autism.

Is the autism so severe that he shows no particular food preferences? If
not, what does he seem to be attracted to foodwise? Or what will he
absolutely refuse? Have you ever fasted him for a few days?

Mostly, I agree with Peter that an experienced naturopath or even a hip MD
would be indispensable for support. Finding one familiar with paleo-diets
might be a challange though. :/

The listers here are rarely short of ideas, but when dealing with something
so serious you'll need more than ideas from the raw fringe ;) On the other
hand, you may have been around the various autism blocks a few times
already and feel that anything may be worth a try. Best of luck with
whatever regime you may try and do report how it is going--good, bad or
indifferent--if you care to.

You don't say how old your son is but if he isn't too big, I would second
Peter's suggestion of investigating holding therapy...

Cheers,
Kirt