For a DAN powerpoint presentation with biomedical information, click here.

"The Kuria Natural Preconception Program™ , developed by Dr. Nicola McFadzean, is a program that prepares both parents for healthy conception and pregnancy. It is a preventive program that addresses nutritional, lifestyle and environmental factors, noting their importance in the development of a healthy baby. The impetus for this program came from Dr. Nicola’s work with children with autistic-spectrum disorders (ASD)." For info on this program, click here.

Here is one mother's story:

Hi, My husband and I struggled with this for years. When my son was about 14 mo. when things were starting to get a little strange around here, my husband started talking about having another child. I wanted to find out what was wrong with Joseph our son, first. When my son was 2 1/2 and the GFCF diet had him sleeping through the night again and potty trained, again my husband wanted another child, but I suspected Autism at this point, and thought there might be some serious intestinal issues, so again we held off.

When my son was 3, he was diagnosed severe to moderate autistic, depends on who is doing the evaluating, diagnosed with Celiac's disease and as IgA deficient ( completely). We proceeded to go through our savings 4 times in the following years, to the degree we stopped saving money, and ended up needing an equity line on our home. A child with special needs is extremely costly in every sense. When I finally got the juggling of supplements down, had instituted ABA, vision, occupational, and speech therapy, with my son talking, socializing, learning to write, in kindergarten, etc. My husband and I began talking about having another child.

My biggest concern was "doing this" to another child. I had been cleaning up my own body as I treated Joseph with supplements and altered his diet. I learned a great deal, and yes, I've read the same statistics that you're 75% likely to have another autistic child if you've already had a child with it. Due to the immune system dysfunction we were told to "not have anymore children" by one doctor. Over the course of the last 4 years I've come to believe that while some of this is genetic, some is environmental, and what if we could keep this from happening again, just by altering some things.

So, my husband and I did 3 things. We asked ourselves, can we take care of another autistic child, or a child with more severe immune dysfunction. This was an easier answer for my husband, as he had marveled at all the things Joseph could now do, that Doctors had told us he would never do. I however, was the one up at 3 am. researching, always pushing Joseph, indulging him when he's (not with it) and ecstatic and overwhelmed when he is (with it) and learning so fast I can't keep up. The second thing we did was figure out, can we afford to do this again? If we have the mental, emotional and physical resources, do we have the financial ones? We've spent well over $100,000 since this journey began, could we do it again? The thing we did third, most, first, and second, was Pray.

We now have a beautiful baby girl. Her name is Sarah. She is a joy, an absolute joy. Things have been different from the very beginning. I attribute this to our altered diet, altered lifestyle, and the supplements, especially the enzymes. I am vigilant, but as markers pass and I fail to see similarities, I am relieved. Ex. she is 10 weeks and no colic, and I have sufficient breastmilk of sufficient quality that she is gaining weight appropriately. Joseph had bad colic and he was already on a soy formula at this point in addition to the breastmilk.

Joseph is doing extremely well with all of this. He adores Sarah, is protective of her, never complains about her, except to cover his ears when she cries (think that's the yeast and bacteria flare up for him, often causes auditory sensitivity, especially since it's only recently an issue, and she cries much less now than she did the first week home.) He is helpful, I require more of him independence wise and so he is developing more skills and a wider vocabulary. P> One major benefit has been the breastmilk. I started expressing breastmilk into bottles and then have him drink it. His temperature is normal for the first time in over 5 years. His temp. has always been 96.5, and chronic low temp. is indicative of an overactive immune system, some sort of immune dysfunction exists. His temp. crept up to the 97.4 that first week and has been at 98.4 and 98.6 ever since. I stopped giving him the breastmilk when I discovered the baby and I had a yeast infection, I had already passed it onto Joseph, but didn't want to aggravate it with more breastmilk. Well, his temp. dropped and he looked pretty bad physically. So I started the GSE, OoO, OLE rotation again, and he's starting to come out of it, and his temp. shot up to normal within 2 days of my resuming giving him the breastmilk to drink.

There are moments when I think "Joseph is getting the short end of the stick here". Like when he had to tell me his foot hurt, and come to find out his shoes were now too small, that never happened before. Before Sarah came along, I slowly put on each shoe and tied it, I noticed when his toe was creeping up in the shoe. Now, I'm in such a hurry, with so much on my mind, I don't even remember tying Joseph's shoes, much less pay attention to how they fit him. Or when I can't take him to the park, because Sarah isn't vaccinated and I won't expose her to all the kids at the park. But there are other times, like when at bedtime, when Joseph holds her, as I read him his bedtime story, or like when I'm cooking dinner and she is getting squirmy and Joseph stops what he's doing to come over and make faces or act silly, or sing a song to her. There are these moments when I know no matter the outcome, having her was the second best thing that ever happened to me.

There is a study we are a part of that is being conducted in Canada, to study this very thing you are worried about. The subsequent siblings of autistics. Your concerns are valid, I wish you luck. My son is 6 1/2, and Sarah is 10 weeks. This is so much fun, I don't think about the Autism all the time. In fact the fear strikes only occasionally, and it's not that intense. What is more intense and a lot harder to deal with is the guilt. I look at her chubby little cheeks or fat little legs and I remember how thin Joseph was, and how at 4 mo. he was put on prescription vitamins. Or her beautiful complexion, and I remember the Eucerin I needed for Joseph because his eczema was so bad. I watch her just about roll over, and I remember how weak Joseph's lower body became after his 4 mo. vaccinations, and I know I won't do that to Sarah. The guilt is incredible, and the better Sarah does, the more I think, Joseph should have had it this easy. Again, good luck to you. Sorry this is so long.