<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> 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 .