Looking For Autism Answers? It's All In The Poop!

I’ve been threatening for some time now to do a whole show about poop. Yes, that’s right, poop. It’s a subject I’ve become rather familiar with – ever since my son got diagnosed with autism. And I know there are a lot of other spectrum parents out there who have reluctantly been promoted to poop experts too. In fact, there are websites, speakers, books and even seminars devoted to it. I’m not kidding.

I mean, poop is a big part of everyone’s life whether you want to acknowledge it or not. It’s just one of those things we all do. We eat; we poop. End of story, right?

Wrong. When you have a child with autism, poop is really where it all begins. It’s where you look for answers, believe it or not. It can tell you if your child has too much of something or not enough. It shows you if you’re dealing with yeast or bacteria, gut malabsorption or dysbiosis. You can tell if your child is having trouble digesting fats or proteins or all food for that matter.

So you can probably see why it’s so important. It seems to me it would make for a great show, but for some reason, my producer wasn’t nearly as excited about it. What’s up with that? He obviously hasn’t spent enough time at my house or logged nearly enough hours in the loo trying to decipher his child’s poo.

I say that because it seems like we’re always talking about poop around my house (remember that the next time I invite you to a dinner party). I try not to do it, but I just can’t seem to help myself. Someone can be sitting there talking about the weather, and, BOOM! There’s a poop story that relates to it…and out it comes (so to speak).

What’s really funny is that my husband is now talking about it too. He calls me when he’s away on a business trip and within just a few minutes, I swear to you, he’s asking poop questions. Has our son pooped today? How was it? Has anything changed? What about yesterday?

I have to admit that I’m a bit proud of how far he’s come (my husband, that is). He used to get mighty uncomfortable about the whole subject, so now I can’t help but smile whenever he decides to go there. I guess that’s what having a kid with autism does for you, doesn’t it? It opens up a whole new world that forces you out of your comfort zone…. and straight into the poop zone.