I'd love to do some testing before starting the diet. Is there a measurable test result I can use to convince myself, my spouse, or my doctor?

We are all looking forward to the day when reliable peptide testing is available. Remember, this is not an allergy. Allergy testing may be useful for other reasons, but not to determine whether the child needs to be off dairy and gluten because of developmental delays or autistic behaviors. Until that time, it is imperative that you take your child off of these foods for a trial period of at least three months. And this means completely, or you will not see a change.
If your child craves or self-limits to foods containing dairy and/or gluten, we can tell you that in all likelihood your child needs to be on this diet. We have never heard of a child with those symptoms who did not respond. Although starting the diet seems difficult, waiting may hurt your child. Try imagining that foods like macaroni & cheese are actually a dose of autism. If your child's delays are being caused by these foods, this could be the case.
At this time, testing for urinary peptides is being done at the University of Oslo in Norway (Reichelt), at the University of Sunderland in England (Shattock), and at some private, independent labs such as Antibody Assay, Great Plains Labs, etc. However, because there may be some variability in results, and there appear to be some false positives and false negatives, it seems to be best to simply try the diet. Do it right, and do it for at least three to six months, and see if your child is a responder. In very young children, the response is often apparent withing hours or days. In older children and adults, it may take longer to see an effect. If you are unsure about your ability to commit to this diet without medical testing, contact one of the labs that does urinary peptide testing for more information. -KS
In order to find out precisely how effective the GF/CF diet is the GF/CF support group has launched a survey where people can report their experiences. The survey is open for everybody, and we strongly urge everybody who wants to use this diet, to share their experience with others, in return for others having done the same to them. The following data are available from the survey:
1. Tabulated data describing individual improvement
2. Interpretation of individual improvement data
If you're willing to take part, please first get an ATEC score for your child. Write down the score, which you recieve at the end of the process. Secondly, register this score and other comments about your experience at the www.GF/CFdiet.com internet survey website.
GF/CF Scientific Studies & Abstracts
A good starting place for medical abstracts:
http://www.gnd.org/autism/autism.htm
If you need more medical abstracts than this, contact Judy DeHart at comments@GFCFdiet.com; she has many.
Also at www.GFCFdiet.com, Jorgen Klaveness is conducting a diet survey with
preliminary results already published.
The DAN protocol from ARI (Autism Research Institute) is a great source of
information for testing, etc. ARI also has a lot of information about
vitamins and supplements www.autism.com/ari/ . There is also a list of DAN
doctors in this protocol book and also on GF/CFdiet.com.
The following are articles of interest in the journal titled "Autism":
1. International Journal of Research and Practice vol 3 (1) (1999):
2. Whiteley P., Rodgers J., Savery D., Shattock P. "A gluten free diet as an intervention for autism and associated spectrum disorders: preliminary findings."
3. Dr. Cade: "Beta Casomorphin induces FOS like immunoreactivity in discrete brain regions relevant to schizophrenia and autism" and "A peptide found in schizophrenia and autism causes behavioral changes in rats."