Unique Autism Non-Profit Helping Families Through Nutrition

This article was written by Brita Moore.

A child is screaming loudly in a grocery store. Shoppers may wonder, “Why are this kid’s parents letting this happen?” Meanwhile, the parents stand by, knowing there is nothing they can do to change the fact that their child’s brain-gut connection is affected with the condition of Autism, which affects one in 50 children to some extent.

The Autism Hope Alliance is making the challenges of the condition easier to bear. Fife resident Anna Kulikovskaya is the Executive Assistant with this non-profit organization, founded by Tom Bohager of Florida-based company Enzymedica. Her close friend and president of AHA, Kristin Selby Gonzalez, has a son diagnosed with Autism, and Kulikovskaya wanted to help out.

“I became best friends with Kristin before the non-profit was founded, and I started going to different conferences with her,” Kulikovskaya said. “The founder (Bohager) saw that we worked great together, so he put us in the non-profit. It’s very close to my heart, because there’s a lot of need in the community.”

Gonzalez and Kulikovskaya are currently the only employees of AHA and are working to get local sponsorships with companies that sell "Autism Approved" items. They have given lectures at health food stores, including Nature’s Market in Kent, and create free materials for families through grant funding.

AHA is the first non-profit foundation for Autism to emerge from the natural foods industry. The connection might not be so obvious on the surface, but makes sense, seeing that one autistic trait is a high amount of food allergies. One treatment for Autism is a diet free of gluten and casein. Products must meet these standards to be "Autism Approved."

“A lot of families have noticed that once they pull the gluten and casein from the kid’s diet, the kid’s gut feels better,” Kulikovskaya said. “Their guts are so damaged that the gluten affects their ability to do things. The gluten/casein free diet is usually the first step for a family to take, because that’s the easiest thing.”

Families can also try supplements such as enzymes or fish oil to help repair a damaged digestive system. Enzymedica, which sponsors AHA, produces enzymes like this.

However, the most obvious manifestations of Autism are mental and behavioral. The most severe cases on the Autism spectrum involve children being unable to speak or respond to verbal cues, which makes situations like school, or being in a grocery store, difficult. Applied Behavior Analysis can help with this. Intensive behavioral interventions can cost $40,000 to $60,000 per child per year, but AHA provides scholarships to help with parental training programs and works with several treatment groups to connect families with them.

Kulikovskaya, who runs the communications and social media for AHA, hopes to continue spreading the program across the nation but would love to deepen her connections locally.

“We’re just trying to brainstorm and see how we can bring everyone here together, because I see there are a lot of families who are affected with autism,” Kulikovskaya.

Anyone interested in supporting AHA financially or who wants to connect with the organization can contact Kulikovskaya at anna@autismhopealliance.org. The organization is also on Facebook and Twitter.