Reach Your Child's Potential with Professional Insights
When my 17-year-old stepdaughter, Emily, first came to live with us, we would prepare lovely meals and she would pick at her food, move her food around her plate and hardly eat at all. Some of the items we prepared she had never been exposed to: ribs and rice; pasta with vegetables and meat sauce; [...]
Today, I’m going to write a fun piece about the top three things I wish I did differently last semester. As you all know, last semester was my first college semester at the University of Florida. In many ways, I don’t think I did it 100% “correct”, even though in many ways I did have [...]
Polywhatisms? Very quietly, and without much fanfare, a study was released in the September 2010 edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry indicating a link between food dye and ADHD symptoms. With a name like “The Role of Histamine Degradation Gene Polymorphisms in Moderating the Effects of Food Additives on Children’s ADHD Symptoms” it’s not [...]
Did you know that we are half-way through Fruits and Veggies More Matters Month? More importantly, are you struggling with getting some nutrition into your picky eater? Then, you may want to include fruits and vegetables in your child’s sensory diet in the near future. For despite the common reprimand among the general population of [...]
A recent study uncovers dietary factors accompanying an autism diagnosis. Yasmin Neggers, PhD, a researcher at the University of Alabama teamed up with colleagues from Kangnung-Wonju National University, in Korea. They examined the blood of South Korean children, specifically boys, both neurotypical and those diagnosed with autism. Neggers paid special concentration to the levels of [...]
It’s that time of year in our family, where there is excitement over crocus popping through the earth, song birds returning, and seed packets being sifted through. Since I was a little girl, my family always had a small garden on the side of the house. Tomatoes, peppers, radishes, cucumbers and carrots were some of [...]
When my daughter who has sensory processing disorder was little, I knew I was doing a lot of things right as a parent. Our days were filled with obstacle courses built out of couch cushions, tactile play in sensory bins, playgroups to encourage social skill development, and lots and lots of books. And my hard [...]
Along come the holidays and often a host of different illnesses along with them. When my children were young it seemed someone was always ill over Christmas or New Years or both. I used to blame it on being indoors in close quarters with exposure to many people and figure it was inevitable. I wish [...]
As soon as school begins each September, pediatricians’ offices inevitably fill with children with acute illnesses – colds, coughs, ear infections, sinus infections, intestinal viruses and flus. For many families the seemingly endless parade of illness begins again. At best, a flu shot might prevent influenza. What to do about all the other illnesses? There’s [...]
Anna, mother of a three year old boy with ASD, consulted me last week because she’s planning another pregnancy and would like to do everything possible to ensure a healthy baby. This question comes up frequently. While science has yet to fully identify the causes of autism, there’s much we can learn from children who’ve [...]
