“To date, no study has found any long-term benefit of attention-deficit medication on academic performance, peer relationships or behavior problems, the very things we would most want to improve. ” Children’s A.D.D. Drugs Don’t Work Long-Term – NYTimes.com.

This is such an important article, given the number of children (and adults) on drugs for ADD/ADHD, or contemplating it.

I have had tremendous success in my practice, with an individualized, comprehensive approach to addressing ADHD and ADD, that includes:

• identifying and addressing nutritional issues, including food sensitivities, re-balancing macronutrients (protein, fat and carbs) appropriately, looking at minerals such as zinc and magnesium.  Supplements can be helpful at times, and I have lots of experience in working with (and often correcting) kids’ picky palates. Each of these issues has a tremendous impact on the brain.  Individualizing this is key!
  
• Decreasing toxic burden. This may include addressing heavy metals, over-reliance on sugar or processed foods, or other toxic substances that have been introduced into the environment.  Lead, mercury and cadmium are neurotoxins that have been associated with ADHD, as well as other health issues. Fortunately there are safe and healthy ways to decrease levels, even for young children.
• Homeopathy. If used appropriately, as a constitutional approach, homeopathy can be nothing short of miraculous at times.  It is also safe, and inexpensive. However, I do not recommend the combinations of remedies with “symptom labels” that you find on drug store and health food store shelves. Any issue that is chronic should be addressed by a professional homeopath, who identifies the single remedy that will work most effectively for the person on all levels.
• The Listening Program. Since I have been working with TLP in my office, the accolades for this program have been pouring in.  While it is an investment, I can’t say enough about its benefits over the long term.  Furthermore, it is a resource that can be beneficial for the entire family.

Please don’t believe that there are no alternatives to medication.  There are, and they work.

Hospital Treatment for Anorexia Is Questioned – NYTimes.com.

I’m no expert on anorexia, and I can honestly say that eating disorders are some of the toughest issues I’ve worked with in my practice.  But I do know that one component of anorexia, and most eating disorders, is zinc deficiency, and that correcting this often helps significantly.

This can be tested, very simply, by doing a zinc challenge.  A small amount of liquid zinc is swished around in the mouth and swallowed.  If it tastes like water, that indicates a severe zinc deficiency.

I find this is also an issue with many young children with extremely fussy palates, as is often the case with kids on the spectrum. Correcting the zinc deficiency often opens their palate to many new foods that they had previously rejected.

Liquid zinc for testing and supplementation is available here.  Just let them know you are my client. Or you can pick up a bottle in my office.

Listen to the conversation I had with Deborah Turner of Natural Awakenings. We discussed ADHD and kids’ nutrition; the problem of mold and solutions for addressing it in the home and the body; The Listening Program; some problems with health headlines; and a couple of great easy delicious recipes. (30 minutes)

http://www.rocklandworldradio.com/program/connections/

I am very excited to be a certified provider of The Listening Program©. TLP helps people of any age maximize their potential, performance and brain health. It is a therapeutic tool to enhance and improve auditory and sensory processing. Based on over a decade of research and clinical success, it stimulates the brain to take in information better, so that you can organize, process and remember better.

TLP has been used successfully for Autism, Brain Injury, ADHD and ADD, Sensory Integration issues, as well as to improve academic, professional and creative performance.

I can work with you locally, or long distance via webcam or phone sessions.

The Listening Program uses psychoacoustically modified classical music, which trains the brain to process sound more efficiently. This leads to improvements in:
Learning
Attention
Communication
Reading
Listening
Sensory Processing
Social Engagement
Behavior
Self Regulation
Musical Ability
Brain Fitness
Daily Living

It requires only 15-30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. The program is carefully designed to systematically “exercise” different functions of the auditory processing system, helping us move from a “disorganized” to an “organized” system. The program can be customized as necessary to identify and strengthen an individual’s weaker areas.

The Listening Program combines decades of clinical research in several fields, including neurology, physiology, psycho-acoustics, auditory processing, music theory and more.

Alex Doman, the founder of Advanced Brain Technologies and the creator of The Listening Program, and Dom Campbell, best selling author of The Mozart Effect, have co-authored a new book called Healing at the Speed of Sound, which will be released later this month. I will be carrying the book in my office, as well as the CDs that go with it.  I am also offering ABT’s other products, including BrainBuilder, SoundHealth and Music for Babies.

For more information, including videos and testimonials, please see their website. If you would like to know more about a program with me for yourself or a child, please let me know. I am very excited to have this as an additional healing modality in my practice.

Scientists have come to believe that the reading difficulties of dyslexia are part of a larger puzzle: a problem with how the brain processes speech

via Study Says Dyslexia May Affect Listening Comprehension – NYTimes.com.

The Listening Program is psychoaccoustically modified music in a systematic format that can lead to improvements in auditory processing for people of any age, from young children to seniors.  It can impact a wide range of functions, including reading, communication, learning, attention, focus and memory.  The research is very impressive.

For more information, or to have me customized a program for you or your child, please contact me.

This article was originally published in Natural Awakenings, as a sidebar to an article on ADHD.

Food Sensitivities
Along with gluten and dairy, peanuts and soy are common culprits.  One clue is that if it’s a food your child craves, and it makes up an unusually high proportion of her diet, there’s high likelihood it’s a sensitivity and should be eliminated.  Expect some outbursts and complaints, but don’t give in. Remember: you are the parent, and it is your responsibility not only to do what’s best for your child, but to teach her what’s healthy.

Adequate Protein
While you’re making nutritional changes, make sure your child gets enough protein, especially in the morning. Breakfast foods like bagels, cereal, french toast, or cereal bars may go down easy, but they are simply refined, processed carbohydrates that raise and drop blood sugar quickly, leaving your child without the sustained fuel he needs to focus.  And of course, these foods are high in allergens, as well.  Eggs are a great breakfast choice. Try a breakfast wrap with eggs, a non-dairy non-casein cheese like Daiya, salsa or ketchup, in a brown rice tortilla.  Or many kids enjoy having a protein shake for breakfast. It can be delicious! Use coconut milk for its healthy, brain-supportive fats, berries (they have so many health benefits!) and other fruits, with a non-dairy protein powder like pea, rice, or hemp protein.

Assess Zinc Levels
Is your ADHD child a fussy eater? It may be because he is low in zinc, which effects the palate as well as the neurological system.  It is easy to check by doing a zinc challenge: have him swish a small amount of liquid zinc supplement in his mouth. No taste indicates extremely low zinc levels; a slight taste indicates low levels, and a strong metallic taste indicates adequate levels.  If low, supplement zinc for a few weeks, then re-test.

Detoxify
Lead, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals are neurotoxins that have been associated with ADHD. Even low level exposure can have an effect.  Sources include amalgam dental fillings, fish, paint, pipes, pesticides, household and industrial chemicals, and even air pollution.  Natural supplements that can help bind and remove heavy metals include chlorella and modified citrus pectin.  Detoxification should be an integral part of any ADHD protocol.

I am privileged to have trained with Dr Dietrich Klinghardt in ART, as well as in the treatment of Lyme and other chronic disease, and Autism.  I hope and expect to continue my training with him indefinitely, as the benefits to myself and my clients have been incalculable.

I had been using muscle testing for two decades when I first saw Dr Klinghardt demonstrate his approach. I believed the approach I had developed over years of clinical practice was both thoughtful and effective, yet I was blown away by the subtlety and comprehensiveness of Dr Klinghardt’s work. I immediately knew I had to learn it, and immediately committed myself to doing just that.

ART stands for Autonomic Response Testing.  It uses muscle testing, or muscle strength, as a form of bio-feedback, and allows practitioners to identify and address client issues with a high degree of sensitivity.

Click here to schedule an ART session.

Study Links ADHD in Kids to Pesticide Exposure – TIME.

Pesticides are just one factor, as the article notes, in the alarming rise of ADHD.

I have worked successfully with children with ADD and ADHD ( as well as kids on the Autistic Spectrum) for almost 2 decades, using nutrition, homeopathy and kinesiology to identify and address issues.  Please try a natural approach before you consider medication. Medications always have side effects, and both their short and long term impact is always uncertain.  Too often, issues are addressed with medication and behavioral methods, but basic issues like sensitivities to foods, household chemicals, electromagnetic fields, and more, are ignored, and they can make a dramatic difference for your child.  Sometimes a simple change can make a profound and lasting difference.

With school ending and summer approaching, now is the perfect opportunity to work on these issues so that by the time your child returns to school in the fall, s/he can be functioning significantly better, as well as being healthier and happier.

Here are the stories of three very different children who came to my office.  Each one is remarkable and yet, typical of the kinds of transformation I see all the time.  I am very grateful that their parents not only allowed, but encouraged me to share their stories with you.

1. Rosey:  “Thank you for giving me my daughter back”

Rosey is 10 years old.  Her Mom brings her in to see me because she is concerned about Rosey’s anger, her violence and her difficulty socially.  Rosey is incredibly bright and lovely to look at.  She plays the violin and the piano, dances, does gymnastics, and hopes to be on the swim team at her school.  She loves nature and animals, writing stories, and designing the clothing for her Mom’s upcoming wedding.  Rosey doesn’t want to have scary thoughts any more: that she doesn’t love her mother; that a man is going to hurt her; nightmares both waking and sleeping.  She is afraid of bears, killer whales, and her own dark thoughts.  She tells me she has them any time she’s not busy.  She has an extensive history of unusual illnesses from a very early age, including giardia, migraines, and Henoch-Schönlein purpura, an immune disorder.  She tells me, with great candor, that she has a hard time getting along in school, that she gets in trouble, that she’s mean.  She confesses she has anger problems, that she’ll cry, scream, jump up and down and throw herself on the floor.

I checked Rosey’s food sensitivities, and suggest they eliminate gluten, peanuts and soy from her diet.  We did a little bit of kinesiology to help her with her fears, and I gave her a high potency homeopathic remedy: Thuja.  Thuja can be helpful for people who feel worthless, unattractive, and ugly inside.  They want to fit in, but don’t feel they can.  They often have fixed ideas or delusions, and dreams of death.  They are often described as having a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other.

Rosey’s Mom reported that by that same evening, after the initial dose of her homeopathic remedy, Rosey was already a different girl.  “Thank you”, she says, “for giving me my daughter back.”  The anger and violence diminished, and Rosey was more at ease with herself and others.  They repeated the remedy after 2 weeks, and Rosey continued to improve.  When I saw her for her one month check up, she was still having some disturbing thoughts, but they are fewer, less frequent and less intense.  She is doing great on her new diet, and seems happier and more self-content.  I look forward to seeing her continue to improve in every way.

2.  Samantha: “She can get a hold of herself now.”

Samantha is a 4½  year old diagnosed with autism.  She has not slept through the night since birth, in fact, wakes repeatedly, exhausting both herself and her mother.  She is minimally verbal, with just occasional single words.  She is anxious and has extreme sensory issues.  Fearless, she frequently gets hurt.  She has had repeated episodes of candida, and has been on an organic yeast-free diet.  She is taking Risperdal, and a second medication to help her sleep, although it does not seem to be working.  She is by turns extremely irritable and irresistibly cheerful.   I checked her for food sensitivities, and recommended they take gluten out of her diet.  I also gave them Inositol (part of the Vitamin B Complex) to help promote a calmer, more focused state, and a probiotic powder.  Lastly I recommended homeopathic Chamomilla, a remedy that fits Samantha’s extreme hypersensitivity, her inability to sleep, the inconsolable periods she has had since birth, and her need to be carried.  Because she is on strong pharmaceutical medications, I gave her both a high potency constitutional dose, and a low potency daily dose, as the action of the pharmaceuticals will erode the homeopathic remedy somewhat.

Nine days later, Samantha’s Mom called for a refill of the daily dose of Chamomilla.  She reported that Samantha was much calmer, and not waking much at night any more.  Her teachers and therapists noticed a big difference in her as well. Samantha is learning to work things through, rather than having a tantrum.  At her one month follow-up, her Mom noted that Samantha is sleeping through the night regularly for the first time since birth.  She goes to bed at 8:30PM and her Mom has to wake her at 7AM.  Even on the rare occasions she wakes up at night, she goes right back to sleep.  She is off the sleep medication, and her Mom is looking to cut the Risperdal as well.  “She’s able to get a hold of herself now. You can see her breathing, trying to control herself.”  She is more interactive with toys, and more attentive to and engaged with what her brothers are doing.  She is less sensory-seeking, more relaxed, and more directive about what she wants.  She is paying attention more, and has more eye contact.

Interestingly, there was one slip-up with Samantha’s gluten-free diet.  A teacher gave her a bagel bite, and 15 minutes later the tantrums and stimming were back. Samantha literally threw herself into the walls.  The regression was so striking that even hours later,  when her dad came home, he said “What the %*&* happened to her?!”   Fortunately, once the gluten was out of her system, the improvements returned.

Her Mom says Samantha has very much come out of her other world.  I am so thrilled with her progress, and look forward to seeing her continuing to improve.

3.  Colin: “A Normal Little Boy”

Colin is 7 and cute as a button.  Colin was breastfed for his first year, but as soon as he was weaned, he started throwing up.  He had eczema as a baby, which was treated with steroid creams.  He then had secondary infections, and was on antibiotics three times in his first year.  He is now diagnosed with asthma, a common progression when eczema is treated in a way that eliminates symptoms but does not address the underlying cause.  He is doing well academically and socially, has no problems sleeping, but is an extremely picky eater.  His knees crack and hurt sometimes.  He has a rash all over his body, worse than it’s been in a long time.  His Mom reported that the Singulair prescribed by his doctor for the asthma “made him insane”, with night terrors and a psychotic episode.  She took him off it, and got him through last year with Benadryl.  But this year, his asthma is worse. He is using an Albuterol inhaler a few times a week, and the nurse wants him to have it at school.  His parents are constantly getting calls from her saying that he needs it, especially in gym class.

I checked Colin’s food sensitivities, and advised them to eliminate gluten, all animal milks, peanuts, potatoes and soy from his diet.   Because he was such a picky eater, I recommended zinc, which often helps normalize sensory issues, as well as a tasty, fizzy Vitamin C drink, and 2 pleasant-tasting powdered supplements to help heal his tattered intestinal tract.  We did some non-invasive detox work using kinesiology (Colin found it fun and interesting) and I sent them home with homeopathic Natrum Sulphuricum in a medium high potency, to take daily.  This is a deep-acting remedy which can be very helpful in a number of chronic conditions, including asthma, particularly in children.

Two weeks later Colin had had a dramatic improvement.  There were no more coughing fits, and he had not had to use his inhaler. He was “a super trooper” about his new nutritional regimen.  His Mom said “I see such a huge improvement.  He’s not so lethargic, much happier.  He had gym today and didn’t cough!  His nose is running a little bit, he is still a little itchy, and has lost a pound, but he is not wheezing, and his nightmares are gone.”  The next month, he had a setback, and his mom realized that the gluten-free waffles he tried contained potato starch.  Since eliminating them he is fine again.  “It’s working!” they reported with delight.  He was still taking the supplements and homeopathic remedy every night.  For the first time, he was able to go to his grandparents’ house and not react to their cats, where he previously could only tolerate it for 20 minutes without coughing and wheezing.

As of his visit last week, Colin is doing better than ever. He looks like a different child: bright-eyes and clear skin, and is filling out nicely.  He is not only no longer coughing or wheezing, he is able to run around and do everything little boys should do without it bothering him at all.  His knees no longer crack or hurt (this is almost always a sign of gluten sensitivity).  His nose is no longer runny.  His dad says “we used to have the nurse’s number programmed in our phones because she called so much to say he needed his inhaler.  The only time she called now is when he fell and bumped his head.  I loved that. He’s active and mischievous, not tired and lethargic.  He’s a normal little boy.”

•         Autism has increased from estimates of 1in 25,000 to 1 in 150 in the past 20 years.

•         ADHD has increased over 400% in the past 20 years.

•         Asthma has increased 300%.

•         Allergies have increased over 400%, with more than 20 % of kids being treated for allergies

1/3 of all American children have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, Autism, Allergies or Asthma.  This is not accounted for by better reporting or diagnosis.  My experience using a combination of nutritional changes and homeopathy for all of these issues is consistently positive.

*Please Note:*

1. I am not a medical professional. I do not diagnose or treat disease.  This information is not intended to replace a relationship with a qualified health care professional or to substitute for medical advice.  It is intended only as a sharing of knowledge and information based on my experience.  Do not treat any chronic or serious illness on your own, but always seek the support of a qualified professional.
2. Thanks to the parents of these children, and all the parents I have worked with, who are so committed to following through on all my suggestions, who stick with it 100% and thereby achieve the results they had hoped for.  And thanks in particular to the parents of Rosey, Samantha, and Colin who so generously gave me permission to share their stories, as inspiration for others.

3. This was originally written in 2008.  Two of these kids, Colin and Samantha, continue to do well.  The third, Rosey, found it too difficult to stay away from her food sensitivities, and we continue to work together to find ways to support her despite this.