Tips For Parents

Constipation

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Many experts believe for best health your child should have a “Type 4”  bowel movement at least once/day. (see Bristol Stool chart)

However according to WebMD, the definition of constipation is as follows:

The normal length of time between bowel movements varies widely from person to person. Some people have them three times a day. Others have them just a few times a week. Going longer than 3 or more days without one, though, is usually too long. After 3 days, your poop gets harder and more difficult to pass.

I’ve recently created a free handout: 8 Tips to Reduce Constipation

I hope it helps you to get things moving!

Please remember that 
no matter your dreams or obstacles, you have the power to change your child’s life. I sincerely hope our resources can help you do just that.

Reference:

  1. https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/digestive-diseases-constipation

2016 ASD rates skyrocket to 1 in 36 children (2.76%)

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In Jan 2018 JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) published shocking new statistics from a survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. As of 2016, the autism rate is now 1 in 36 children (2.76%). For males, this breaks down to 1 in 28 boys (3.63%).

According to NIH, in 2016 a mere $232 Million was spent on Autism research, compared to $4.3 Billion spent researching “Rare Diseases”. Please contact your Elected Officials and ask them to prioritize autism research funding.

How Can I Get My Kids to Eat More Vegetables?

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Many of my private coaching clients reveal to me that their children eat low-to-no vegetables. This concerns me because it sets the child up for numerous vitamin deficiencies. Furthermore, a low-fiber diet leads to constipation.
How much produce should my child be eating? 
According to the USDA (MyPlate, 2018) a 4-year-old child should be consuming 2 cups of vegetables, and 1.5 cups of fruit per day. A GAPS patient (who is not eating grains) might want to eat even a bit more veggies than that. I shot a quick 2 minute video to help you do just that!
Please remember that no matter your dreams or obstacles, you have the power to change your child’s life. I sincerely hope our resources can help you do just that.
Reference:
United States Department of Agriculture, MyPlate. Available at www.myplate.gov.

Do the Work

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Business people connecting puzzle elements representing collaboration concept

Rather than “accepting my child as he is” it is my goal to help him reach his fullest potential.

And rather than play the blame game (government mandated vaccinations, modern toxic environment, genetics, etc.) I’ve adopted the attitude:

He is my child = He is my responsibility.

Early intervention is crucial for a complete recovery. You can peruse this website to see all the things I did. But I’ll also mention, here are things I chose not to do:
– waiting for him to “grow out of it”
– waiting for him to talk “when he is ready”
– counting on the public school system
– eating gluten, soy, lactose, or any processed foods
– have any more children
– work outside the home

Yes it is a lot of work (and expense) to recover your child. But let’s consider the Worst Case Scenario: if we look down the road, when your unrecovered autistic child is an adult, what is his life going to be like? When you are dead, who is going to care for him?

Or let’s look on the bright side, don’t we all have hopes and dreams for our children? They’ll graduate college, get good jobs, get married, and have grandchildren?

I knew I couldn’t afford not to pursue his recovery. But the main obstacle? Was me…
I am the single biggest limiting factor in his recovery.
No one else is going to do this for me.

Our children are powerless to change their own situations. They are counting on us to:

Do The Work.

Food & Behavior Research Study

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On British TV show “The Food Hospital”, dietician Lucy Jones and physician Dr. Gio Miletto conducted this research study which showed how food affects behavior. Schoolchildren in Britain aged 5 – 9 attended a party and were split into two groups:
Group 1 was fed healthy options such as apple slices, carrot sticks, hummus, etc. and drank water.
Group 2 received the usual party fare: candy, potato chips, and soda, which contained sugar, artificial coloring, and other additives (food additives in European countries are assigned “E numbers” which are then printed on packaging).

The children’s ability to follow instructions, concentrate, and remember information was then measured as they played party games, and their mean/aggressive/hyper behaviors were carefully recorded. The healthy food group performed 48% better on the game tasks, and had SIGNIFICANTLY less mean/aggressive/hyper behaviors.

At the conclusion of the experiment, several parents were interviewed. The parents were surprised at the big difference in behavior that could be triggered by something as simple as “party food”. Unfortunately many children consume this type of food on a daily basis from their school cafeteria, unwittingly contributing to a worsening of their ADHD and aggressive behaviors. Perhaps we could all learn from this creative experiment and strive to feed our children nutrient-dense foods to ensure their success in and out of the classroom.
partyfoodexperimentchart

Reference:

The Food Hospital. BBC (2011). 4.

 

Discipline: 1-2-3 Magic

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We found this book and video to be enormously helpful:

1-2-3magicbookBook: 1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12 by Thomas W. Phelan
DVD: 1-2-3 Magic: Managing Difficult Behavior in Children 2-12 by Thomas W. Phelan

The video explains how to do this program the correct way — and the real kid/mom scenes are super helpful! (and hilarious too)

Initially the method was hit-or-miss for us (mostly miss) as James’ transition skills were still so “stuck” that he couldn’t make himself stop the activity, even if he knew the timeout would happen for noncompliance. We took James for chiropractic adjustments, and also to a homeopath who administered 2 homeopathic remedies (Helium 12C and Ignatia Amara 7C). His compliance really improved after these interventions.

GAPS/Paleo compliant frozen meals

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chicken-meatballsEfficiency Tip #1 – Frozen Meals that are GAPS/Paleo compliant? YES!

Beetnik foods is a fast-growing national company specializing in gluten-free, grass-fed cuisine. I have found it in the freezer case of my local Whole Foods and MOM’s Organic Market, and/or you can mail-order directly from Beetnik. I ordered the Paleo Resolution (5 dinners / 5 breakfasts). I’m happy to report that the Chicken Meatballs are a hit and totally GAPS-compliant. (Unfortunately the Peruvian stew was too spicy for us.)

Read the labels carefully to discern the best fit for your family’s current diet, as some items contain tapioca flour (Yes tapioca is Paleo compliant, but not GAPS compliant).

www.beetnikfoods.com

Find a Biomedical Doctor

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Doctor and child

Active until 2011, Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) was the premier biomedical autism treatment resource. There is a great next step for families living with autism called MAPS: The Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs. Below are some useful links to help you locate an autism practitioner:

Generation Rescue Practitioner List:
http://www.generationrescue.org/resources/find-a-physician/

Old DAN! list from 2009:
http://autismcoach.com/list-of-defeat-autism-now-practitioners/

TACA’s article on MAPS doctors & DAN! Doctors:
http://www.tacanow.org/blog/treating-autism-maps-doctors-dan-doctors/

TACA’s article – Why Are MAPS Doctors So Expensive?
http://www.tacanow.org/family-resources/why-are-dan-doctors-so-expensive/

Screentime Lockdown

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screentimelockdownMy phone and computer have passwords only I know.

But we lock all other electronics (ipad, game controllers, TV remotes, James’ computer) in a locking file cabinet.
Devices are only unlocked after all homework and chores are done.
All devices re-locked up before bedtime.

tileandtileslimFor bluetooth device tracking (i.e. finding lost, or hidden-by-your-child devices) you might consider super-glueing a “tile” or “tile slim” to them.
www.thetileapp.com


(BTW I have a tile on my keychain, and it has saved me countless times.)