192 Diet Wise
picture of a low IQ, he was incredibly inventive when it came to mischief:
he would turn instructions completely round and do the opposite of what
was required. Good with his hands, he had dismantled several objects with
a screwdriver, including his own sleeping cot when he was quite young. The
fact that he was really subnormal became less and less tenable as a working
hypothesis, I thought. He was antisocial and uncommunicative all right, but
not stupid.
Well, I’m pleased to say he improved on the diet. His tutors noticed
it immediately and were soon asking questions about his treatment. For the
first time it was possible to feel that communication was bridging the gap
between this lonely little boy and the rest of us. He in turn responded by
becoming more playful and affectionate. The exasperating willfulness of
his behavior seemed to lessen as he became more contented and better
adjusted. His mother told me with some pride that if she now asked for the
door to be closed it would be closed, not swung wide. We were winning,
though progress was steady and slow.
Food incompatibilities
We eventually established that Michael was intolerant of wheat, milk, sugar
and especially colorings and chemicals (tartrazine and others) commonly
used in children’s pseudo-fruit drinks such as orange squash and ‘pop.’
Avoiding these substances, which for him were as deadly as poisons, he
continued to make good progress.
Subsequently Michael attended one of his regular follow-up visits
with the pediatrician managing his case. The gentleman was rightly impressed
and most interested in what we had been doing. It was then that he confided
to the parents, for the first time, that Michael had been diagnosed as a
case of disintegrative psychosis (Heller’s Syndrome), a wretched and helpless
collapse of the child’s mind and capabilities being the only considered
prognosis. The specialist admitted the mistake, which was generous of him
and exciting for us; but I don’t think the poor man appreciated the shock
this revelation caused the stunned parents.
With such a condemning diagnosis on his records it meant that
Michael had been virtually written off. Many encounters with unsympathetic
officialdom now seemed to make sense in the light of this new, sinister
information. Even a dentist had one day told his mother that there was
no need to explain what he was going to do ‘because Michael wouldn’t
understand anyway’. This had astonished her because there had never been
any doubt in her mind that her son understood what people were saying!