Customer Reviews

Dylan's Story: Overcoming Autism, A Childhood Epidemic

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I find it amazing that these young parents seem to be ahead of their time. Their research and persistence led them to recognize autism as an autoimmune disorder resulting from environmental toxins, food chemicals, and medical and genetic circumstances. Autism has become a childhood epidemic and should register as everyone's concern. I do not understand why there is not more attention to researching the causes, and treatment. I commend these parents, and others like them, for advancing understanding and discussion about the causes and treatments. Their story is compelling, and the book is written in a clear and easy-to-understand manner. It is informative and I think the lessons learned by these parents, and the treatment plan they developed for their son, will be beneficial to other parents, and people who are concerned about good health.

As a freelance writer and publisher of a weekly marketing email newsletter, Brainy Tidbits, I am often sent books to review. Most of them, quite frankly, do not hold my interest. But Dylan's Story by Cristin and Joe Fergus is an amazing story of one family's journey to learn about and heal their child of autism.
Thankfully, I do not have a child with this problem. I do have a friend whose child has been stricken, however. I have also raised two children with sensitivities to dyes, preservatives and chemicals as well as various food allergies.
This book clearly discusses how to eliminate these toxins from a person's environment and how to move toward a healthier lifestyle that includes whole grains, pesticide-free fruits and vegetables, and organic foodstuffs. Several recipes and numerous resources are included in the book, making it an essential reference book for anyone dealing with food and toxin sensitivities.
It is written in an easy-to-read style and discusses the ordeal these parents went through for almost 6 years before healing their son. I highly recommend this book, especially if you have an autistic child. It may be your way to heal your own child.
Lois Carter Fay
Publisher of Brainy Tidbits
[...]

This book changed my life. It changed my family's life as well. My husband and I work with Autistic children so we read as much as we can about it. We stumbled upon this book and it has changed the way we live and feel. My husband was on several medications for the last 15 years due to a stomach problem. It was never fully diagnosed as anything serious, but treated as Acid Reflux. He received annual endoscopys and went through numerous barium testing, but nothing helped. He threw up whenever he coughed, and coughed whenever his stomach hurt, which was all the time. His immune system was completely shot and he caught every cold and flu that came his way. Because of this, he had a terrible temper and spent most of time cranky. He was over weight and run down and I wondered how long he could go on with this awful daily pain.
My problem had always been my sinuses, allergies and a cronic cough. After reading Dylans Story (which, by the way, is half a story; the other half is a rescorce guide, itself a very helpful and interesting section) we made a pact to change our lives the way Dylan changed his. My husband was never formally diagnosed with Celiac Disease but after cutting all gluten out of his diet, along with dairy & soy products, he became a new man. He was off ALL medications after one month. His body naturally adjusted to a new weight (50 pounds less), he never gets sick, and he's so happy all of the time. As for me, I never get headaches, I can breath now, and ALL seasonal allergys are gone! We never get that afternoon tiredness and we have so much energy now! The food is so delicious and I finally see a long life ahead for both of us. This little boy (DYLAN) recovered from Autism and now his story is helping to recover people from all kinds of ailments. I am so thankful!

This was the first of many previously read books that really helped me to see the extreme measures that are necessary to help kids with this problem. Like Dylan, my son had problems from day 1 (milk allergy), rather than from age 2 from immunizations.

Very moving story about healing autism.
But i must say that i completely do not agree with the autors opinions on synthetic supplements (about how vitamins and nutrients supposedely do not work when they are in the form of tablets).
From my experience (i am a person recovering from asperger syndrome) these synthetic supplements do help very much. And as surveys show on autism.com (not to my suprise) most parents do find them helpful.

My only problem with critizing synthetic vitamins is that it may discourage parents of children with autistic disorders to try them out for themselves.

Apart from that, i find the diet suggestions very interesting, and from my experience, they do work.

Not only did I read Dylan's story, but had the honor to meet Cristen, Joe and Dylan. I am honored to call them friends. Having two children of my own and parents with chronic and continued health problems I read this book and to my amazement the knowledge behind it was amazing. I have adopted a healthy approach to feeding my family and purchase some of the supplements recommended by Cristen and Joe from Mother Necessities.com and my family is healthier. We thank our healthy living to Cristen, Joe and Dylan and look forward to a rewarding life with good and healthy friends and family. This book is AMAZING!

I have two 'healthy' children, but Dylan's Story was recommended to me by a colleague who has a teenage daugther with autism. As I listen intently to his stories and pain with raising a child with autism it became evident to me that our medical field needs to investigate more. As a society we should monitor what is approved by the FDA for our children's consumption. Reading Dylan's story made me stop and realize that as a society, dual parents working and raising children, we tend to lean to the easiest and quickest way to put dinner on the table not realizing what we are feeding our children. Not to mention the millions of dollars in advertising for these foods and services that are clearly not healthy choices. We preach to our children not to smoke, drink or do drugs, but we allow our children to each foods that could potentially harm them in other ways. This is not a slam against only fast food, but the FDA approval process for food that is available in our grocery stores. I would recommend this book to any parent who is concerned about what foods their children are eating and truly believe in healthy choices.

I also want to comment that both Cristen and Joe have done something truly wonderful for their son and I hope others read this book and consider what other options are available to you to feed your family.
Easy reading. Sad, but inspirational at the same time.

I normally don't write book reviews, yet I found this book the most informative resource I know I will refer to it often, there is even a recipe section! I was astounded to read the experiences of this family and related very much with the experiences (sadly so). However, this book has the potential to change the lives of our children, written in laymans terms and clear examples of how nutrition and healthful and natural environment and living can bring recovery and complete health. This is a must read book by anyone, yet especially parents of children with autism, ADD, ADHD and MCS.