\> I am interested to know more about anybody's specific experiences
with diet
> and improving cognitive functioning.
>
> I have a 9 year old girl with a fairly high IQ (121) whose performance IQ (as
> tested by a neuropsychologist) is 106.  She seems fairly bright, loves school,
> and wants to please, so we were shocked when she had such a struggle with
> school beginning in 1st grade.  She has been diagnosed with "ADHD," "mental
> fatigue," and has some executive function difficulties as well as some minor
> problems with things that seem similar to dyslexia (though she was not
> diagnosed as having dyslexia -- for example, she confuses b's and d's, p's and
> q's, digital 2's and digital 5's, etc.)  She use to have problems knowing
> which end of a word to start reading from (and would sometimes start in the
> middle.)  She would also have problems tracking from line to line while
> reading.
>
> Let's see - what else?  As a baby she was colicky.  Since age 6 or 7, she now
> gets migraines.  As far as diet goes, until the last 6 months or so, she used
> to be a VERY poor eater (did not like to eat, was very thin - she seems to be
> going through a growth spurt now).  She is crazy about sweets, in particular
> pure sugar things like popsicles and hard candies and such (as in "addicted.")
>
> I would love to hear from anybody who has seen improvements in cognitive
> functioning as a result of changes in diet.  Thanks!
>
> thanks!

Sounds to me like a possible celiac disease and hypoglycemia
candidate.  If you wanta to see if diet improves the problems, there
is no alternative but to try out the diet for a predetermined time and
take notes to see if anything changes.

If you try the gluten-free diet (with or without casein) I suggest a
minumum of six weeks.

Below is my reply to private correspondence on this subject:

The answers are on the internet, but you have to spend time to read
them.

The following site has information on PARTIAL COMPLEX SEIZURES.
http://www.neuro.wustl.edu/epilepsy/syn.html

If you read this carefully you can imagine the following:  electrical
activity at a lower level in the brain (not picked up by EEG
electrodes, which are on the skull surface) which interferes with the
connections between the various areas of the brain, especially the
frontal lobe, causing executive dysfunction (confusion, generally) and
keeping parts from coordinating so that things like dyslexia happen.

Partial complex seizures do not necessarily involve any muscle
activity at all, although they can do that.  They may be the same each
time, or different, and may last long or short lengths of time.  I
find I can go into this state and stay there for days and days after
accidentally ingesting a minute amount of gluten.  It is so hard to
avoid gluten that I am seldom "all there."

http://www.sfu.ca/~jfremont/celiaclinks.html
and
http://rdz.acor.org/lists/celiac/index.html

have exhaustive lists and links that explain (if you are persistent
enough) how the protein gliadin (in wheat gluten), and its
similar-looking (chemically) relative casein, affect people who are
sensitive to or unable to tolerate those proteins.

If you decide to try a gluten free/casein free diet, I have a list
that contains many products by brand name that are gluten free.  I do
not keep a casein free list, as casein does not seem to affect me.

The absolute shortest amount of time to try the diet is two weeks --
it takes that long for the intestine to heal if celiac disease is
present.  The first signs of better health usually show up on the
eleventh day.  Continuing improvement occurs for months after that.

Patty