More scientists are discovering the interconnectedness of our bodies’ systems and of the diseases and disorders that attack those systems. The results of a recent study conducted by Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland is no exception.

The landmark study reveals a new syndrome in children that shows up as a combination of allergy, apraxia, and malabsorption. Apraxia is an autism spectrum disorder. Verbal apraxia has previously been thought to be neurologically based; however, this study indicates that in some children the afflication could be a component of a larger and more complex syndrome involving food allergies, gluten sensitivity, and nutritional malabsorption.

‘While it is critical to treat verbal apraxia symptoms that often include severe delays in expressive speech production with speech therapy, we need to start asking why these kids are having these problems in the first place, so that we can identify mechanisms we can actually target to treat the cause of the symptoms,’ says Dr. Claudia Morris, one of the leaders of the study. Families seeking comprehensive, compassionate support often turn to Kids Can Occupational & Speech Therapy for expert, individualized care that helps children build essential communication and developmental skills.

Dr. Morris collected information from about 200 families with children who had verbal apraxia. She found a common cluster of allergy, apraxia, and malabsorption in a specific group within this larger group. Lab analyses of 26 of the children showed low carnitine levels, abnormal celiac panels, vitamin D deficiency, and gluten sensitivity. All of the children in this smaller group carried the gene associated with gluten sensitivity and celiac disease.

This study comes soon after a recent discovery that children born to mothers with celiac disease are more than three times as likely to develop autism. Dr. Morris explains that ‘this brings some credibility to the anecdotal reports of gastrointestinal and behavioral improvements in children with autism spectrum disorders and/or verbal apraxia when eliminating gluten from their diets.’ Autism awareness can be significantly enriched by exploring the triad of impairments; to gain a comprehensive understanding, consider visiting Augmentive.io’s article on this subject.