Re: How much ProEPA/ProEFA/Vitamin E to give 24 lb toddler?

[Guest guest]

I am using one ProEFA and 400 mg of vitamin E with my 19 lb 18 month old.

Her doctor approved this amount reluctantly because she has no idea what

the dosage should be for an 18 mo old. She gets all the ProEFA in her (I

poke the capsule and squeeze it into her mouth and then she chews and sucks

the capsule until she eats it all. She loves the taste and begs for more!)

The Vitamin E she rarely takes all of. She doesn't like the taste so I

have to put it into her food and she doesn't finish it all. Plus a lot

remains in the capsule and she won't chew and eat the capsule. I started

her a few months ago on the ProEFA and haven't noticed any change (I also

took it through my pregnancy and while nursing her - she is still nursing a

lot as well.) The Vitamin E I started about two weeks ago and she has a few

new words (ah-o = apple, no, bye with a weak b sound) and she is trying to

imitate now. She had no imitation before! Her apraxic 6 yr old brother

also didn't really respond to EFAs, but has made HUGE gains on Vitamin E.

He has severe language issues in addition to his resolving apraxia

(resolving thanks to Prompt and now Vit E!)

My daughter hasn't been diagnosed apraxic and doesn't fit all the classic

signs. Like her brother she doesn't have eating issues, nursing issues,

sensory stuff or low tone. She does, however, have an almost complete lack

of babbling and what little she babbles is all vowels. At 17 months of age

she had just the /m/ and /j/ sounds (mama and yaya were the only things she

babbled.) Her language was age appropriate as was her fine and gross motor

and cognitive assessment. Her speech was at a 1 year delay (about a 5 month

old level) at 17 months. I had brought up my concerns on her almost weekly

to my son's SLP and supervisor from about the age of 6 months and they both

didn't think it was a big concern because everything " looked " right with

her. She also clearly understood and has high social abilities. Finally

they listened at 16 months and evaluated her. We have since moved. She has

qualified for EI, but I was just informed last week they have no available

speech therapists! I can't go private until my son gets pre-approved. I

suspected that putting two kids with related issues to insurance would

hinder my older and more severely disabled child's chances at getting

insurance coverage. Their doctor agreed and suggested waiting to get

approval on the baby until the older one is approved. Age 5 and under I

have a certain number of visits with insurance coverage, but my son is 6 and

it will be a fight! In the meantime EI has offered us an hour with an early

childhood specialist. I accepted because it is better than nothing. We are

out of town this week, but I plan on arguing for proper SPEECH therapy when

I get back. It's never easy, is it?

Miche

On Sat, Feb 23, 2008 at 12:34 PM, alisa_stein <alisa_stein@...> wrote:

> Hi. My daughter is too young to be diagnosed as apraxic but she is

> speech delayed, shows a lot of the hard and soft signs of an eventual

> apraxia diagnosis, and sees a speech therapist 3 times per week. I

> would like to start a fatty acid/vitamin e protocol for her (I figure

> that it can't hurt and may help) but am wondering how much to give

> her... the recommendations I've seen to date are for a four or five

> year old child. Any ideas/suggestions? Thanks so much!

>