fish oils + vitamin e

[Guest guest]

hello everyone,

i do not post frequently but am always on here reading everyones

suggestions, thoughts, etc. we have a 2 year old toddler who has

global apraxia and autism. like you all, we are doing all we can to

help our little one. we decided to start with the fish oils and we

completely spaced about the vitamin e so we started it over the

holiday. can i just say WOW!!! our daughter is usually a non-

responder to this kind of stuff so i didn't have my hopes up b/c i have

had them up to have them come crumbling down. well 2 days after we

started the vitamin e, we saw a surge in her fine motor skills and

gross motor skills. we have heard new sounds, but since she is

globally delayed, we know she has to catch up in other areas before she

becomes verbal. she was having a hard time with simple imitiations and

now she can do them with ease. it has been about a week. it just

seems like the fish oil/vitamin e combination has given her an extra

push to get her to the next level. it's exciting and so inspiring.

anyhow, i just wanted to share our experience and recent developments

with the fish oil/vitamin e combo. i hope you all had a great holiday

season and look forward to what life brings our way in the new year.

[Guest guest]

Your daughter sounds a lot like my son, can u tell me what brand and

doses u use?

Thanks

Zita

[Guest guest]

Hello,

how much of the fish oils were you giving your daughter? do you give

her both ProEFA and ProEPA? how much vitamin E did you add? this

sounds interesting and I'd like to try with my almost 3 year old.

thank you.

Jenn

[Guest guest]

Hi Jenn,

Both the ProEFA and ProEPA contain vitamin E- 15 IUs per capsule.

I found the 2/1 ratio of 2 ProEFA to 1 ProEPA to be best.

For a year or so many of us added a high gamma tocopherol 200/200

from Vitamin World to the mix...but there was a product that came out with much

much much much (repeat the word much about 8 times)and that ended up

being horrible for quite a few of us that tried it. My son regressed

and to this day I can't even give him any extra vitamin E without side

effects (headaches in his case) Much more on this and one of the

parents here put together all the archives which is in the links

section if you want to see it -but bottom line...there's vitamin E in

the fish oils -they work. If you want to use more -proceed with

caution as it's clear you don't want to use that much. Truth be told

-the research on vitamin E for children is keeping it low -and back in

the day the parents in this group freaked out when Nordic raised the

vitamin E in the ProEFA and ProEPA to 15IUs from 8IUs. They raised it

because there was a study that supplementation of fish oils over time

can create a vitamin E deficiency -so they raised it to compensate.

The supplementation of a small amount may create a mild surge -many of

us saw that -but again PLEASE don't get carried away -even at 500 IUs

of alpha and 200 IUs of gamma there were some pretty severe negative

reports -again check the links as other than bringing this up just to

warn you or whomever brought this up -I'd don't want to bring this up.

(curiosity killed the cat -and want that to stay just an expression)

Here's an old archive of the basic information for the newbies on the

oils etc.

Below is a new member archive that keeps it simple on what to know to

start.

Re: Hi! New and wondering about apraxia.

Hi Mrs Laurie and welcome!

Your son sounds like he has some oral apraxia which would of course

need to be confirmed by professionals. If oral apraxia is present

together with your child's delay he should at least be diagnosed

as " suspected apraxia " and appropriate therapy should be provided.

He is entitled by federal law to a free and appropriate public

education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE) which

means that if 5 days of one on one speech therapy is appropriate for

him then that's what he should receive. What type of speech therapy

is he receiving from the school right now when you say " some " ?

Below is a very long archive to help -please know that you don't have

to understand it all at once -we're here as a group to help!

Thanks for sharing. This group has from the start been a group

that's made up of parents and professionals who care for children

with many types of speech and/or language delays and/or disorders.

There are parents here for example with undiagnosed " late talkers "

and we just have not heard from them in awhile. It's actually a

really good thing when there is a mix of us to share because we all

learn from each other as many diagnoses can overlap -or down the road

we learn that our child does have co diagnosis.

While this group is open to parents of all children with

communication impairments -including hearing impaired, autistic etc.

it wasn't that all that posted recently had a child with autism, or

autism and apraxia -but because of society focus on autism -many here

started following an autism approach -including ABA in some cases!

That's understandable if the much more basic approach to apraxia -ST

and OT and EFAs were tried first and didn't work -but some were

trying that to start.

The overwhelming majority (if you check the archives) have success

with the basic approach to apraxia.

On the other hand- most of us are dealing with more than verbal

apraxia.we just don't know that when our child is 2 -and we learn

through professionals and observations as they continue to grow and

more and more is expected of them. This is also why it's important

to take your child for a neurodevelopmental medical exam when your

child is suspected of apraxia to confirm or rule out other diagnosis

such as sensory integration dysfunction etc. The earlier you know -

the sooner to start appropriate therapies to get them up to speed by

kindergarten.

Don't let it overwhelm you -perhaps we aren't meant to know more

than what we have to know at each stage. We'll be here to help along

the way. It's OK to have any type of emotion when we find out our

child has more than a simple delay -or " more " than " just " verbal

apraxia. And it's OK to be completely overwhelmed and saddened to

find out your child has apraxia. And as I was one of those parents

it's never " just " apraxia when you find out!!!

It's OK to be upset " just " because your child is a " late talker " too!

Please know that I too believed Tanner to just have apraxia and have

my first message posted to a grouplist about that below.but down the

road found out he had a few other things we needed to help him

address. The incredible news is that the majority of our children if

you check history are up to speed to be mainstreamed by kindergarten-

and of course many have learned with communication impaired children

that it's best to start kindergarten at 6 vs. 5 to give them that one

extra year of therapy and developmental time.

If you have questions after reading the following please share them.

This group has always been a wealth of information for all of us, no

matter how long we've been here.

Below is a new member archived message to hopefully answer more of

your questions for now (did you read The Late Talker yet?) For updated

information on fish oils and vitamin E and more - please visit the

links section here

/links

What type of apraxic like speech behaviors are you seeing that makes

you and the SLP suspect your child has apraxia vs. a simple delay in

speech? Is your child talking at all yet? At your child's age -

without speech, it's difficult to diagnose verbal apraxia -they

could " suspect " verbal apraxia and begin treatment just in case,

which wouldn't hurt your child if he ended up just having a simple

delay. Just a few questions before we could provide more accurate

answers:

Does your child have signs of oral apraxia? (for example, can he on

command smile, imitate funny faces, blow bubbles...if you put peanut

butter anywhere around his mouth can he lick it off no matter where

it is?)

http://www.cherab.org/information/speechlanguage/oralapraxia.html

Does your child have any neurological " soft signs " such as hypotonia

or sensory integration dysfunction?

http://www.cherab.org/information/speechlanguage/parentfriendlysoftsigns.html

Who else evaluated your child? Was it only the SLP through your

town school or was he also in Early Intervention through the state?

(birth to three) Was he evaluated by both a speech pathologist as

well as an occupational therapist? Was/were they knowledgeable

about apraxia? (If your child wasn't diagnosed by an occupational

therapist as well and professionals suspect apraxia -I highly

recommend you request that too either through both the school as

well as private through insurance for many reasons)

To answer any questions you may have about taking your child to see a

neurodevelopmental MD if he has not yet been to one and apraxia is

suspected... in one word - " Yes!!! " I would have your child diagnosed

(private) by a neurodevelopmental medical doctor (developmental

pediatrician or pediatric neurologist) who is knowledgeable about

apraxia and other neurologically based multi-faceted communication

impairments for numerous reasons. Reasons include (but not limited

to)

*having a " hero " on the outside of the school who can assist in a

therapeutic plan and oversee your child's development over the years

*advocacy support with the insurance company

* ruling out or confirming any neurological soft signs or any other

reasons for the delay in speech

*help those that ask " why isn't he talking yet " understand this is a

medical condition -and has nothing to do with your child's cognitive

ability. (if in your child's case it doesn't. Apraxia in itself

does not affect a child's cognitive ability -and speaking early or

late is no indication of a child's intelligence. Also contrary to

popular belief -most who have speech impairments have average to

above average intelligence)

Here's an article written by Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician Dr.

Marilyn Agin that was featured as a cover article in Contemporary

Pediatrics -a trade magazine for hundreds of thousands of pediatric

medical professionals across the US. (I wrote the parent guide)

" The " late talker " -when silence isn't golden

Not all children with delayed speech are " little Einsteins " or garden

variety " late bloomers. " Some have a speech-language disorder that

will persist unless warning signs are recognized and intervention

comes early. Includes a Guide for Parents. "

Podcast interview with Dr. Marilyn Agin from Contemporary Pediatrics

http://contemporarypediatrics.modernmedicine.com/radio_peds4

Actual article (where you can read it for free)

http://opsc.mediwire.com/main/Default.aspx?P=Content & ArticleID=132720

There are also many activities parents can do at home with their

child to

promote the development of speech. These are detailed in the Guide

for Parents

http://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/contpeds/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=1363\

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