2 questions: 1 about fish oil and 1 about therapy

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone. I have two questions that I'm hoping someone can help me

out with.

1) I have a 22 month old son who has been on ProEFA for about 6

weeks. He was completely non-verbal before we started the ProEFA. We

saw an almost immediate increase in the number of consonsant sounds

he made. We hit a plateau and I added the ProEPA yesterday morning.

By yesterday afternoon he started saying mama and dada all on his own

to address my husband and I (he only did it when prompted before) AND

he consistently said " bah-bah " for ball many, many times without

being prompted.

MY QUESTION: Does the ProEPA really work that fast??

2) Our SLP recommended brushing my son's teeth and tongue with an

electric toothbrush and putting " high value foods " in different

places on his lips and mouth area to encourage him to lick them off.

I need advice, please.

Toothbrushing: Ever since he was an infant, he has HATED anything

that vibrates (made him cry and/or scream). He picked out his

toothbrush (one with a fire truck on it) and everything was going

great... until I turned it on. Luckily there was no screaming or

crying. He just didn't want it anywhere near him. I tried to pretend

brush my teeth with it and the dog's teeth and his favorite bear's

teeth. He was not convinced. So then I just left it on the table and

tried to encourage him to touch it. He finally picked it up.

Eventually, after three days, he put it in his mouth for half a

second, but didn't touch it to his teeth or tongue. So there's where

we stand. I'm so proud that he even got it in his mouth, but the SLP

believes that he needs vibration applied to his tongue and teeth. Any

suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Licking: My son can stick his tongue out, but cannot lick his lips.

When he gets food on his face, he pushes it back into his mouth with

his fingers (like a windshield wiper). Efforts to follow the SLP's

instructions to put foods " of high value " on his lips and face for

him to lick off have failed miserably. I even tried to gently

restrain his hands... big mistake! He nearly had a fit. I tried

getting him to stick out his tongue and lick a popsicle (I

demonstrated it first several times). I thought this would work for

sure because he LOVES popsicles! He sticks out his tongue out and

then promptly bites into the popsicle every time. I'M SO

FRUSTRATED!!!

I'm walking a fine line between trying to gently coax him to do these

new things while making sure the " therapy sessions " stay fun and

relaxed. Any suggestions would be so very, very appreciated.

Thanks!

-leslie