You have no idea how we dread parent teacher conferences. Mary is struggling in junior high, and doesn't even turn in half of her assignments. "I know she's a bit dyslexic, but it seems like she's not even trying.", laments her teachers.
Next child. "Elizabeth is bright, but so sad, and preoccupied. Is there something going on at home? She talks about John hitting Mom, and hurting her. I think she needs to see a therapist, to talk through all these issues."
And John, well, that's always the worst meeting of all. The conclusion is usually "No progress, no improvement. Although John is bright, he's falling further behind; years behind in almost every subject. And his anger will get him into serious trouble if we don't get a handle on it soon." What are they going to say today? More of the same?
John's special ed teacher opens with a question. "I was wondering if you changed his medication, about a month ago? He's not been in time out for the past month, even once, and he use to be in the time out room every day. We've had no tantrums, no meltdowns. He's going to all his specials, gym art etc, and he can even be with the regular class for science and reading. Not every day, but maybe 50% of the time he can go to the general ed room for science. He's really very proud of that." The teacher looks through his logs. "It started about 5 weeks ago."
I explain about the blood test, and the butyric acid, and the yeast/bacteria that live in a protective biofilm in his intestines. These microbes are impervious to drugs; diet is our only recourse. Five weeks ago we eliminated sucrose. That was the first step, and it took place precisely five weeks ago.
They must think I'm nuts. They've thought so for the past five years. But now, finally, it's hard to argue with success. I tell them we will probably implement SCD 100% next semester, and we'll see what happens. We walk out of his school smiling, for the first time.