Re: Enabled Kids - Bringing your child into the world

November 19, 2010

I just read this over and found much of the philosophy mimics Dr. Deepak

Chopra's from his book The Seven Spiritual Laws for Parents: Guiding Your

Children to Success and Fulfillment...and much of that I too embrace. However

since you asked for feedback just a few things I do believe you need to add.

While we do want to let our children follow their own path and help them

holistically find their way in our world, we do need to establish first if they

need therapy that is beyond us observing and following their lead. For example

with the licking it could be sensory, it could be part of the oral exploration

stage which is developmental, it could be a sign of a deficiency. If a child

has an impairment in some area whether it is speech, motor planning, weakness,

or sensory we are best working as well with professionals who know how to

provide appropriate therapies to help these children overcome and that means

speech, occupational and if needed physical therapy as well. I'm also a huge

believer in getting a special needs child evaluated in depth by a

neurodevelopmental medical doctor. The methods you write about can for sure be

incorporated into traditional therapy and treatment- but unless I'm

misunderstanding the blog I didn't see much about the importance of first

seeking definitive diagnosis to secure appropriate services for the child which

to me is always step one. There is a wealth of information on the importance of

Early Intervention. And I'm big on second and third opinions from recommended

professionals. I embrace professionals from all disciplines who share the

philosophy you share in your message.

I see as a great concern that I speak to parents who are taking their children

to doctors, medical or alternative who are so quick to use theory and put

children on long term dosages of medication -not letting parents know the side

effects of some of these drugs can be worse than the symptoms of the impairment

they are looking to treat. (I mean we all listen to the drug commercials and

laugh don't we!) There appears to be few parents who will question the advice of

a " doctor " - not many like me that will question every doctor. Of course I'm

not saying that there is not a time and place for medication -but to me that

should never be exploratory to start. I'm huge into natural approaches that are

benign -diet additions such as the essential fatty or amino acids from foods for

example.

About diet I too just wrote a new blog and due to NV I have a new interest in

diet's links to neurogenesis. Instead of just saying a " light " diet which can

be interpreted many ways -especially in this country where nutrition knowledge

is low, I would be a wee bit more specific.

Here is my blog (still working on the new websites and this will be up at the

new Pursuit of Research page as well)

Neurogenesis; Does Mother Nature Know Best?

Dr. Perlmutter, a Board-Certified Neurologist and Fellow of the American

College of Nutrition and author of the upcoming book " Power Up Your Brain " ,

recently wrote an exciting article on neurogenesis titled " Neurogenesis: How to

Change Your Brain "

As pointed out we've come a long way in neurology from the now outdated belief

that " In adult centers the nerve paths are something fixed, ended, immutable.

Everything may die, nothing may be regenerated. " ~Santiago Ramon Y Cajal,

" Degeneration and Regeneration in the Nervous System, " 1928 "

But where are we today, and what is neurogeneis? As Dr. Perlmutter states

" within each of our brains there exists a population of neural stem cells which

are continually replenished and can differentiate into brain neurons. Simply

stated, we are all experiencing brain stem cell therapy every moment of our

lives. "

So what stimulates neurogenesis? According to the website

" Neurogenesis.iord.org " we would find " One of the main goals of researchers is

to develop drugs to stimulate areas of the brain to repair itself by replacing

its own cells "

So the question is while even Neurogenesis.iord.org states " in the past few

years, scientists have discovered that the brain does change throughout life,

and can possibly repair itself as well as be enhanced by healthy activities

including exercise and proper nutrition " why would researchers focus be on

drugs?

Dr. Perlmutter pointed out some of the research of various ways to stimulate

neurogenesis including physical exercise, caloric restriction, Omega 3 and

curcumin. And there are other natural approaches to add to that list; including

touch stimuli which can stimulate neurogenesis in the spinal cord of mice,

according to a study published online recently (16 November 2010) in Molecular

Psychiatry, suggesting that neurogenesis may be an important component of touch

sensation.

And a diet " rich in essential amino acids "

University of Pittsburgh December of 2009, neurology researchers have shown that

feeding amino acids to brain-injured animals restores their cognitive abilities

and may set the stage for the first effective treatment for cognitive

impairments suffered by people with traumatic brain injuries.

With Amino Acid Diet, Mice Improve After Brain Injury Monday, December 7, 2009

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences

A similar study was done by SUNY a few months later using synthetic amino acids

and drugs, which had similar findings of cognitive improvement. Drug Combo May

Treat Brain Injury, Animal Study Suggests

It appears to me that while the focus may be on finding drugs to help, that

Mother Nature holds the answers, and perhaps we need to learn how to utilize

natural methods more. Why do we look at what is natural and known as healthy as

" alternative " ?

In looking at Dr. Perlmutter's list, and in appreciating the Mc Rib and Redbull

world we live in,

* where a third of our children are overweight or obese according to a new study

by the Trust for America's Health and the Wood Foundation on the

health and obesity concern for a growing number of children

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Neurogenesis; Does Mother Nature Know Best?

November 20, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment (Edit)