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Hello and thank you all for your replies. I am clearly not alone in my
concerns or experience. I have been asked for a summary and I wanted to get
this into the archives for anyone else who may need it.

    I knew that Erik was not experiencing the "opiate" phenomenon since he
had self eliminated all common forms of gluten and all dairy (milk
allergy). But I still didn't understand the link between CD and autism. The
input below provided clarification on that point as well as offering some
resources for info on the autistic spectrum.  Since most of Erik's PDD type
behaviors are resolving with time, as many of your children's did, I'm
going to relax and see how things develop.  The preschool is great for both
of us and today when I dropped him off, to my blessed relief, he looked
straight at everyone and even made "conversation type" babble! He was
thrilled to be there and I was spared the quizzical looks. He enjoys the
speech therapy [undivided attention of attractive young woman who has toys]
so we'll continue until he reaches his age-appropriate language level.
Thank you again for your help and I appreciated hearing your experiences. -
Dianna

1.Celiacs, while they're still eating gluten, can exhibit any number of
behavioral "problems."  The spectrum is huge, ranging from ADD/ADHD-type
symptoms (inability to concentrate, lack of focus, distraction,
impulsivity) to severe "autistic-type" behaviors.  Some adults even talk
about schizophrenic episodes.  All of these behavioral issues go away when
they go 100% gluten-free.

2 ...when my son was diagnosed (age 16 mos.); he was quite ill. Being my
first child I thought his quietness & staring off in space was just his
personality. After diagnosis, he recovered & ended up being a rather
different child from those early years. I believe his 'insides' were really
messed-up & it just took some time for him to heal & get back to normal
existence. You're son might still be going through some recovery.

3. I have a 4 year old boy coleiac with autism and a 5 year old girl
coeliac with Aspergers syndrome. I have done a TONNE of research into the
connection, and as far as i have found there is absolutely nothing
conclusive to prove there is one. Infact, there hasn't even been enough
research done yet. ...Since being diagnosed with CD a year ago and starting
the GF diet my childrens general developmentand behaviour has improved
dramatically, but i sincerely believe this is simply because their
intestines aren't stripped raw like they were and they are not in pain.

4.We got a diagnosis from a pediatric neurologist at 26 mo saying he was
P.D.D. ( a form of autism ) Two months later we were told by a pediatric
Gastrointerologist that our son was Celiac. I , for about 2 mo more,
thought that I would be dealing with both diseases. We started to see
improvements in the autism about  a week after starting the diet and a
couple of months later it was clear to our pediatrician that the
undiagnosed celiac symptoms were mimicking autistic behaviors. Our
pediatrician, gastroenterologist, neurologist and even special education
teachers are all amazed to this day..... I ( along with all of our son's
doctors ) believe that our son was never P.D.D. he was mis-diagnosed based
on his symptoms that were mimicking this and were really Celiac.

5.. ...She showed definite autistic behavior, and it stopped when she
turned 5 1/2, because we took the last of the hidden glutens out of her
diet (Rice Dream). ...This place has some good autism info:
http://www.geocities.com/arnfl/newsletters.html

6. I have two books to recommend..."Special Diets for Special Kids:
Understanding and Implementing Special Diets to Aid in the Treatment of
Autism and Related Developmental Disorders" by Lisa Lewis, Ph.D...
and..."Successful Diet Intervention for Autism and PDD : Gluten Free Casein
Free" which I ordered from www.GFCFDiet.com.

7.It's possible Erik is suffering from Neuro-Immune Dysfunction
Syndromes (NIDS), an affliction which creates symptoms which resemble
autism......www.neuroimmunedr.com

8.Get the book "Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and PDD" by K. Serousi--
available at Amazon.com and other sites.  This gives a clear overview of
autism and the diet that seems to help some kids

9.about the best link I've found that discusses celiac disease in
relation to disorders like ADD and autism is one of Ron Hoggans, at
http://www.gluten-free.org/hoggan/adhd.txt  .