The Times, UK
12 June, 2004


A school claims dyslexic children show astonishing improvements with special meals

IT HAPPENED by accident. Twelve-year-old Nathan Moscrop had suffered a severe bout of food poisoning and was prescribed a wheat-free diet to settle his stomach. Four weeks later, the shy farmer’s son whose school life had been blighted by dyslexia had become a confident pupil who excelled in class.
Two years on he admits: “I used to be a bit moody before and couldn’t be bothered with things, but now I’m much better.”



Nathan’s teacher, Carol Hodgson, noticed the change immediately. She said: “It was as if he’d been walking under a cloud. Suddenly he was more alert, healthier and smiling all the time. His reading ability while on the diet at home improved by a year and 5 months. After the school introduced a wheat-free diet, that improvement continued by a further 2 years and 6 months.”

The changes in Nathan prompted Nunnykirk School in Northumberland, one of five special schools in Britain for dyslexic pupils, to undertake a big controlled experiment. It removed all wheat from the pupils’ diet — and the effects were immediate.

While many dyslexic children either withdraw or become frustrated when new demands are made of them, a sense of calm took over the classrooms.

Six months later, the results of annual tests in reading and comprehension were astounding: 11 of the 12 boarders tested had made more than a year’s progress and, in two cases, more than three years’ progress. Of the 22 day students, 17 had made a year’s progress.

Dyslexia affects 10 per cent of the population and is severe in 375,000 children. It makes learning to read, write, spell and do mathematics difficult. An inability to concentrate and a lack of short-term memory are also symptoms. There is no cure for the condition but specialist teaching can help a child to learn to live as normally as possible.

Paul Greenshield, a 14-year-old from Glasgow, is a boarder at Nunnykirk, which is set in 12 acres near Morpeth. He said he was not sure whether the new diet was responsible for his turnaround in reading but he admits the coincidence is hard to ignore.

“I didn’t really do anything for about two years . . . now I like reading because I can read faster and easier. In the last year, I’ve made three years’ progress . . . before I couldn’t get halfway through a book without getting bored.”

New arrivals at the school are usually about four years behind their chronological reading age. Ordinarily they are rewarded at the end of the school year for making one year’s progress.

Carol Hodgson, the deputy head who has taught at the school for 18 years, says the best reward now is that the pupils themselves recognise their own progress.

“It goes round in a circle — the improvement that they recognise improves their selfesteem, which improves their attitude towards their work and their motivation and then it is simply an upward spiral, or so it seems to have happened here,” she says.

Since the mid-1980s scientists from Norway to Australia have been researching links between autism and dyslexia and wheat and dairy products.

Paul Shattock, a pharmacist who has carried out several studies into the links at the Autism Research Unit at Sunderland University believes that autistic and dyslexic children often suffer from what is known as a “leaky gut” or damaged intestinal walls. When a child cannot digest milk or wheat proteins, most of the resulting short-chain amino acids are dumped in the urine but some cross into the brain and “interfere with transmission”.

When wheat and casein, from human or cow’s milk, are broken down in a baby’s stomach they produce casamorphins and glutomorphins. “Casomorphins effectively drug the baby,” says Mr Shattock. “That effect of milk or wheat on a baby’s brain should stop when the child grows but, if it doesn’t, we believe conditions like autism and dyslexia occur.”

Pig rearing and planting an ornamental garden exemplify the holistic approach of Nunnykirk, where the aim is to relieve the stress of learning for its 45 dyslexic pupils aged between 8 and 16.

Simon Dalby-Ball, the head teacher, and his staff do not believe that the wheat-free diet — which is also low in sugar — is solely responsible for the results. Some children take fish oils and all play so-called brain games at the start and end of each day.

It is not foolproof; perhaps not all children have a gluten allergy. But it appears to be working.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/articl...1142326,00.html

After reading DANDR, I always believed it would be possible to affect children's learning by diet. I worked at a private school for children with different disabilities and problems (learning, behavioral, emotional, etc.), and often wondered what removing sugar and increasing vegetables would have done for them. I do believe it would have had a positive affect on most of them.

I wonder what exactly makes up the diet at Nunnykirk. It would be interesting to see just how low carb it is (wheat free and low in sugar sounds like a good start).

This is excellent news and made my heart warm when I read it.

This is amazing to me. I've been mildly dyslexic all my life. It's affected a lot of things in my life, but so has insulin resistance. I don't know that I'm not dyslexic anymore -- being only mildly affected, it's sometimes hard to tell I have it, but what they said about coming out of a fog has definitely happened for me since I stopped eating wheat. And since my reading problems are exacerbated by vision problems, well...

I guess this is one more symptom we can attribute to over-eating grains (carbohydrates). And it's interesting to me also that my carb problem was always grains, not sugars.

I have first hand experience of this - my friend has a 3 yr old boy and he was borderline ADHD - I use to work with special needs kids - and I knew there was something wrong - it wasn't normal for him to behave like this - not as much as he was when they tried to diagnose him. So I did some research and lo and behold - when my friend started a wheat-free diet with him his behaviour became unbelieveably different. She has now got a loving, calm and able to learn child who is a pleasure to be around. I truly believe that this has revolutionised his life - so there is definately a case for cutting out all the crappy things in a childs diet - not only for dyslexia!
Interesting article, thanks!