Have you taken your Child to an Energy Healer yet?
Why not? What have you been waiting for!

Does your child suffer from anxiety, digestive issues, tics, ADHD, ADD, Autism, body jerks, tourettes, depression, OCD, and/or negative behaviors? Is your child having issues adjusting to change?

Read below on how CranioSacral can help.

It takes a village to raise a child. Therefore as a family, a parent partnership or as a single parent, you should not be left alone to be “everything” for your child; there isn’t enough energy in a single person to do so. Physically, emotionally, and mentally one person cannot be “all parts, all persons, all personalities” for our child, that is why the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child”. Children are born into this world very open and vulnerable; therefore they are very susceptible to absorbing other’s emotions into their emotional body. We are taught in this world to hold tight and contain our emotions instead of releasing them, therefore our children follow suit and begin to hold tight and contain their emotions and absorb the emotions of others. When children and even adults begin to contain their emotions instead of releasing them, it causes distress and dis-ease in the physical, emotional, and mental body. The stress that is placed on the body can create aliments and issues, for example: digestive issues, tics, ADHD, ADD, Autism, body jerks, tourettes, depression, anxiety, OCD, negative behaviors, relationship issues, & more.

What is CranioSacral and How will it help your child?

CranioSacral Therapy is based on the concept that our body is self-healing; if our mind, body, and spirit are aligned as ONE, our body will be in perfect health and balance.

CranioSacral Therapy is a gentle non-invasive modality that releases restrictions around the brain and spinal cord, thus allowing our body to self-heal and self-correct. There are no side effects from CranioSacral Therapy; the practitioner creates a loving and safe environment for the client to begin their self-healing process.
• Gentle
• Non-invasive
• No force, pressure, or poking (very relaxing)
• No side affects
Throughout the journey of life, we encounter and endure stress, strains, and trauma that become trapped in our bodies. When our body holds onto the stress, strains, and trauma (instead of releasing it), our tissues and fluids are no longer in harmony, thus our core body system becomes compromised. When there is disharmony in the body this will result in dis-ease in our body and symptoms of pain, discomfort, emotional, physical, and behavioral issues will arise.

Who can benefit from CranioSacral?
• Babies
o Colic
o Ear infections
o Sleeplessness
o Hyperactivity
o Birth trauma
• Children/Young Adults/Adults
o Asthma
o ADD/ADHD
o Negative behavioral issues (Tourettes, OCD, tics, body jerks, & etc)
o Digestive issues
o Brain Injuries
o Cerebral Palsy
o Autism
o Emotional distress
o Assist with transitions/changes
o Focus/Attention Span
o Trauma
o Relationship Issues
Many clients have received the following benefits from CranioSacral:
• Relief from Migraines
• Release of Depression & grief
• Relief of Sinus pressure and pain
• Loosening of tight muscles and joints
• Release of muscle and joint pain
• Balance in the emotional and physical body
• Gain of clarity
• Positive change in behavior patterns, thus leasing to improvements in relationships and quality of life
• Awakened Life purpose and passion
• Reduced stress, anxiety, and fear
• Improved sense of well-being, peace, and happiness

Facts about Autism

According to the “Autism Speaks” organization:
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism are both general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development. These disorders are characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. ASD can be associated with intellectual disability, difficulties in motor coordination and attention and physical health issues such as sleep and gastrointestinal disturbances. Some persons with ASD excel in visual skills, music, math and art.
• Autism now affects 1 in 88 children and 1 in 54 boys
• Autism prevalence figures are growing
• More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes & cancer combined
• Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.
• Autism costs the nation $137 billion per year
• Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases
• Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism
• There is no medical detection or cure for autism
• Research suggests that the development of autism is rooted in very early brain development. However, in most cases, no one cause can be identified.

Autism Intervention and Therapy
The typical therapies offered for Autism only focuses on the social skills, language and communication, imitation, play skills, daily living and motor skills. A therapy approach that focuses on addressing just the symptoms will not be a cure because the root cause is ignored. Many of the symptoms of Autism are directly connected to the emotional body and so far the emotional body is not addressed through the current therapies offered widely throughout the Autism Intervention Program. “Emotion” is energy in motion, therefore when emotions are not flowing freely through the body, it causes dis-ease and symptoms rise to the surface. Symptoms are external signs that alert us when something inside of us is out of alignment. CranioSacral addresses all the of the “bodies”, the emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual, thus allowing the “bodies” to find it’s Divine alignment and release the symptoms and obtain “ease” through the “bodies”.

When there is decompression on the Cranium (head), your child might experience the following symptoms:
• Sensory issues
• Delay in speech
• Lack of eye contact
• Highly Introverted

Many children on the Autistic Spectrum experience the above symptoms and with CranioSacral Therapy the Cranium will begin to expand and contract allowing the tissues and fluids to release, relax, and flow without restriction.

How CranioSacral works for Autism (and other behavioral and emotional issues)
• Restores autonomic nervous system’s flexibility and adaptability
• Enhances flow of blood and fluids throughout the body
• Improves the internal environment for the brain, spinal cord, and central nervous system
Take your Child to see a CranioSacral/Energy Healer today
CranioSacral and Energy Healers are widely spread throughout the world today due to the increased need of alternative medicine. If you live in the Chicago area and would like to learn more about what I do, please contact me, Dana Massat, 708-703-1791 or by email: dana@ascendyoursoul.com. If you are out of the Chicago area and would like to locate a CranioSacral Therapist, I would be happy to assist in locating one near your area as well.
How Dana Massat BS. CST. MRT., works with our “Gifted Children”
I am passionate about spreading the healing around the world and the children are seeds of Mother Earth. I am here to assist and teach them how to grow strong roots of their emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental bodies. I will use my intuitive healing gifts and CranioSacral techniques to release any trauma or blockages in their emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental bodies.

I have always had a special passion working with our “gifted children”, reawakening their natural healing flow and teaching them to strengthen their gifts. I have two sons myself, whom are my spiritual teachers and have strengthened my gifts with working with children through my own parental experiences. Children are open- hearted by nature, all they need is to feel safe and loved and the healing begins right away. I am an assist teacher at the Sacred Journey Institute and I currently teach the Gifted Children’s class; which is a class designed to teach adults how to understand and learn how to strengthen the miraculous gifts these children have! I will teach your child and you tools that you can use to release emotions, restrictions, and blockages from the body and shift old behaviors and patterns.

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Martha H. Howard, MD, Dipl. Ac. NCCAOM

Most sunscreens contain chemicals that have strong estrogenic effects. They are also known as “gender-bending” chemicals. This means that the chemicals in them act like the female hormone estrogen in the body, and can be associated with serious medical problems like smaller penises in boys, loss of libido or breast development in men, early puberty in girls, and uterine fibroid tumors, irregular periods and endometriosis in women.

A 2008 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) showed that 97% of Americans are contaminated with a widely-used sunscreen ingredient called oxybenzone that is associated with hormone disruption, as well as free-radical damage to cells, and allergies.

A Mt. Sinai School of Medicine study published just one day before the CDC showed that oxybenzone is also associated with low birth weight in baby girls whose mothers are exposed during pregnancy.

Why would anyone want to the idea of slather a cream full of these chemicals or any chemicals on babies and young children every day? Or on a pregnant woman? Or even on an adult?

The Environmental Working Group, a consumer protection group, has listed more than 600 sunscreens and other cosmetic products that contain oxybenzone. For the list, and more information, check out their website, http://www.ewg.org. Here are the names of some of the most commonly used gender-bending chemicals, so you can recognize them on labels:

Benzophenones (dixoybenzone, oxybenzone)
PABA and PABA esters (ethyl dihydroxy propyl PAB, glyceryl PABA, p-aminobenzoic acid, padimate-O or octyl dimethyl PABA)
Cinnamates (cinoxate, ethylhexyl p-methoxycinnamate, octocrylene, octyl methoxycinnamate)
Salicylates (ethylhexyl salicylate, homosalate, octyl salicylate)
Digalloyl trioleate
Menthyl anthranilate
Avobenzone [butyl-methyoxydibenzoylmethane; Parsol 1789] (allowed in EU)

What to use instead:

Badger SPF 30 + unscented sunscreen. If you like a scented sunscreen Badger also makes one with natural lavender.
Mychelle Sun Shield
California Baby Fragrance Free Sunblock for Kids
Aubrey Organics Natural Sun

Have a great summer!!

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Dr. Martha Howard, MD, Dipl. Ac. NCCAOM
Treating children exposed to air pollution, toxic chemicals and other pollutants costs $76.6 billion dollars a year.

This is a big issue around the holiday season, with its chemically scented candles and potpourris, gifts of lotions, soaps and sprays that contain chemicals and dyes, plug-in or spray air “fresheners” made to smell like cinnamon or other holiday fragrances, new clothes with formaldehyde resin coatings, (wash all new clothing before wearing!) pajamas treated with fire retardants, toys with lead paint or toy jewelry with lead parts—it seems like there is no end to the “list that you have to check twice.”

According to a study sponsored by Kresge Foundation, done at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and reported in the May 2011 issue of the journal Health Affairs, cancer, asthma, autism, ADD and exposure to mercury are some of the pollution-related diseases that cost the most. And that does not even measure the physical, mental and emotional costs to the children themselves and their families. The study’s cost estimates included lost productivity of parents taking care of sick children, as well as the treatments.

Here is the cost breakdown:

Childhood cancer cost $95 million.
Lead poisoning cost $50.9 billion.
Autism cost $7.9 billion.
Intellectual disability cost $5.4 billion.
Exposure to mercury (methyl mercury) cost $5.1 billion.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder cost $5 billion.
Asthma cost $2.2 billion

What does this mean to allergic children and their parents? Children with existing allergies to common airborne allergens like tree pollens, grass, dust and molds, and foods are even more vulnerable to chemical pollutants than other children. Toxic chemicals in air, water and food act as poisons in themselves, and in addition increase allergic response to common allergens.
What to do?

Avoid exposure to indoor chemical pollutants, and chemicals in foods. Here is a list of some of the important items:

• Air fresheners, candles, potpourris, and other scented holiday items that have chemical ingredients. Make sure they are naturally scented. Airborne chemicals, oils and waxes can make asthma and allergies worse, and actually cause lung damage.

• Formaldehyde in new clothes, carpet, wallboard and furniture made of particle board,or backed with particle board. If you do purchase a piece of children’s furniture backed with particle board, it should be sealed with a no-VOC, water-based sealer.
• Lead paint and other toxic paints. Children’s rooms should be painted only with nontoxic no-VOC paints. Even latex paints can emit toxic fumes over a long period of time, worsening allergies and asthma.
• Painted metal toys and children’s jewelry–many of these have lead based paints
• Permanent markers
• Food dyes, additives, and artificial sugars. The so-called “generally recognized as safe” food dyes are made of coal tar. MSG and aspartame are neurotoxins. See Russell Blaylock MD’s comprehensive book, Exitotoxins: The Taste that Kills.
• Plastics that contain BPA
• Fire retardant chemicals in pajamas and bedding
• Shampoos, lotions and other body products that have endless lists of chemical ingredients. Desert Essence makes a good line of chemical-free body products.

And, speaking of lotions, if you are going to enjoy a holiday vacation in the sun, remember to avoid sunscreens with “gender bending” chemicals like homosalate, octylmethoxycinnamate, octocrylene, oxybenzone.

Use California Baby hypoallergenic sunscreen, Desert Essence sunscreen, or Aubrey Organic Sunscreen on all children (and on adults too!)

Have a safe, joyful and chemical free holiday!

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Julie Murphy Casserly,CFP®

The school year is well underway for millions of children around the country who are grappling with the difficulties of being  kids  – issues we adults can forget at times. Our problems – office politics, the mortgage, caring for aging loved ones – seem so much bigger than the things our children have to face in their lives.

What many of us don’t realize, though, is what happens in childhood affects us our entire lives. Our subconscious is completely formed by the time we are six years old. So the majority of our actions and reactions got their roots before we even hit the first grade.

Your childhood

No one has total control of their emotions 100 percent of the time. When we face conflict, we won’t always be able to handle the situation without going a little bit off the deep end. During those moments when restraint goes out ofthe window, we tap into our subconscious and our deepest feelings – the ones that shape us – come to light.

For example, pretty much all of us are taught from a young age that setting personal boundaries is selfish. And as adults, even when something makes us uncomfortable, we sometimes feel like we have to go along with things because that’s what we are supposed to do.
When was the last time your coworkers went for post-work cocktails and pressured you into going, even though you knew it was over your budget? These types of scenarios have been happening to you your entire life. Like when you were peer-pressured into drinking after your junior prom, or when the other kids teased you at summer camp because your clothes were too different from everyone else’s. We’ve essentially recreated familiar situations we faced in childhood and replicated them in our adulthood. The only difference between what happened to us in childhood and what’s happening now is that our finances are greatly affected by our decisions.

Reflect

So this week, while your kids are doing homework, spend some time reflecting on your own childhood experiences. What did you do with your allowance – spend it all or save it? Did your parents encourage you to use your money a certain way?

Think about the different situations you were in during your childhood and teenage years. Journal about the things that come to mind.

What were some of the things you wrote down? Did you quickly spend your allowance or did you tightly hold on to it? Were you the leader of your pack or a shy type that went along with what your friends did?

Look over the things you wrote. What do you feel when you remember those childhood experiences? And how does that feeling shift when you think about how those experiences affect you today?

Here’s an example. When you would go shopping with your group of friends in high school, you felt pressured to buy something when everyone else in the group had a shopping bag. You didn’t want to feel left out, and you eased your anxiety by doing what the others did. As you grew older, you never kicked that feeling of needing to purchase something – anything – when someone close to you got something new for themselves. You never grew out of that anxiety; it grew right along with you.

So why is this anxiety so hard to kick? Most unhealthy behaviors are the result of two types of internal emotional conflict: having needs that aren’t met or having trouble setting personal boundaries. When you look over the things you wrote down, I’m willing to be that all of them fall within these two categories. And if those experiences still give you feelings of shame, anger or resentment, now is as good of a time as any to reroute those feelings.

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Kevin M. Boehm, DDS

We enjoy working with our young patients and understand that they have different needs when visiting the dentist.

We try not to push children so they end up fearful of the dentist’s office. We want their visit to be as fun and comfortable as possible, and for them to build life-long relationships with the dentist’s office.

Your child’s first visit:

We suggest that your child’s first visit be between eighteen months and two years of age. At that age we can begin to monitor the growth and development of their teeth and mouth.
Proper oral hygiene at home is extremely important and needs to begin at a very young age. Your dentist should take care  to instruct parents and children on proper brushing and flossing techniques and nutritional needs so they can enjoy good oral health for a lifetime.

Consider dental sealants:
Dental sealants are an excellent tool to use in the prevention of tooth decay in children. Dental sealants are applied to teeth, especially molars with large crevices where bacteria can accumulate and cause cavities. The sealant fills in the crevices forming a barrier to protect the tooth surface. When the use of sealants are accompanied by an oral health regimen that includes regular dental exams and cleanings, a healthy diet and good at-home dental care, we can greatly reduce and/or prevent the number of cavities experienced by children.

See the movie! To view fun animated clips that illustrate concepts of oral hygiene in a format your kids can relate to, click through to our site below and select Dental Sealants.

Kevin Boehm DDS-Services we offer    

 We encourage reproducing our articles as long as you link back to this page.

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Raymond G. Hatland DDS

Most parents take great care to monitor their children’s sugar intake, so when a dentist tells them their children’s teeth show signs of decay it comes as an unpleasant surprise.

Tooth decay is caused by frequent exposure to foods containing carbohydrates (starches and sugars).

Common culprits are soda pop, candy, ice cream, milk, cakes and even fruits, vegetables and juices. The problem with sugar is that it can lurk in the most unexpected places. There are sugars that appear naturally in many foods- even milk! For this reason we recommend parents don’t put their babies to sleep with a bottle of milk. Natural bacteria live in the mouth, and as the milk pools, the sugars mix with the bacteria to make a mild acid. This acid damages tooth enamel over time by dissolving, or demineralizing, the mineral structure of teeth, producing tooth decay and weakening the teeth.

Here are some tips to prevent teeth from the harmful effects of sugar:

• Read food labels carefully to identify sugars, which also come in the form of corn syrup, molasses, dextrose, fructose, glucose, sucrose and honey.

• Read medicine labels carefully too, as even medicine isn’t sugar free…remember Mary Poppins singing “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down? The pharma companies seem to have taken that to heart. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about the ingredients of liquid cough syrup and other medications – sometimes they can recommend sugar free alternatives.

• When satisfying your candy cravings keep in mind that sticky sweets like toffee or hard candy that linger in your mouth compound the effects of sugar by offering a sustained food source for bacteria. Remember that it’s not necessarily the amount of sugar that can cause decay, but how long the candy stays in the mouth, which is why hard candies like suckers or sticky treats such as caramels and jujubes are poor choices from a dental perspective.

• If you’re trying to rationalize a chocolate craving, remember that popping a piece of solid chocolate in your mouth is better than choosing one filled with a gooey center, as the candy filling may stick to the teeth and provide a longer lasting food source for the natural bacteria to feed from in the mouth.

• Excess sugar can wreak havoc not just on your teeth, but elsewhere in the body too, so the wise thing for both your dental and general health is to make a habit of reading all the ingredients in all packaged foods before you buy them, being aware of low-sugar or sugar free alternatives in your daily diet and making healthy choices.

If possible, rinse your mouth with water and brush your teeth thoroughly after exposure to sugars. If you can’t do that right away, keep a supply of sugar free gum with xylitol on hand to help cleanse your mouth.

We encourage reproducing our articles as long as you link back to this page.

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Martha H. Howard, MD

Turkey, ham, or almond-butter-and-jam sandwich
Potato chips
Carrots
Apple, tangerine, organic fruit twists, or organic apple sauce
Organic chocolate bar or cookies
Water

Isn’t this is a lunch any kid would love?

But first, what not to do! If you choose breads with a list of “dough conditioners” and other additives that is as long as your arm, standard “lunch meats” with all their nitrites, nitrites, MSG, “modified food starch”, chips with MSG and dyes, non organic carrots and fruit and a “Halloween candy” style candy bar, and a sugary, corn syrupy juice drink or sports drink, this same lunch can be totally unhealthy.

Here’s what to buy:

• Applegate Farms or Hormel Naturals turkey or ham (no nitrites, nitrates or MSG.) A good spread for these meats is organic mayo, or organic mustard, or both! And you can include some lettuce and tomato in a separate bag to add to the sandwich, or organic cheese, for kids who are not dairy allergic.
• Any organic whole grain bread. There are some softer light wheat breads that are kid-friendly. If your child has to be gluten-free, Udi’s is a good gluten-free bread.
• Chips¬-there are many varieties of organic, dye and additive free chips (that are actually good) at health food stores. My favorites are the reduced- fat Kettle Chips.
•  I have suggested apple or tangerine because they tend to survive better in a lunch bag. For fun, you can sometimes substitute Clif Organic Twisted Fruit—each stick contains a serving of real organic fruit, in strawberry, grape or tropical fruit flavors.
• Small lunch-bag size organic mini carrots are available at health food stores, or bag your own and save money.
•  I have suggested almond butter because many schools forbid peanut products due to children with peanut allergies. Be sure to get almond butter that contains only almonds, almond oil and salt. Check the label! I also suggest all-fruit jams. These have no cane or corn sugars, just the natural fruit sugar that belongs to the fruit itself.
• Chocolate! There are many varieties of organic chocolate bars, both milk and dark. Or, if your child needs a sugar-free treat try Nana’s No’s cookies, which are also gluten, dairy, and egg free.

For winter:

Make up some chicken soup with organic ingredients. Kirkland now has a good organic, gluten free chicken broth, available at Costco. With organic or free range chicken, the broth, and some organic veggies, and potatoes or noodles, this is a favorite. A wide mouth thermos is easy to fill and keeps the soup hot until lunch time. A whole grain roll and an apple are good “sides” for the soup.

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Martha H. Howard, MD

Children are susceptible to illnesses caused by air pollution and exposure to toxic chemicals and other pollutants – asthma, cancer, autism and ADD are among the most serious – and costly. And children with existing allergies to common airborne allergens like tree pollens, grass, dust and molds, and foods are even more vulnerable to chemical pollutants than other children. Not only do toxic chemicals in air, water and food act as poisons in themselves, they also increase allergic response to common allergens.

What positive, preventative steps can you take?

•  Good indoor air filtration (with charcoal and zeolite in the filters, not just HEPA filters) can help limit exposure to airborne pollutants.
• Drink filtered water.
• Give children fresh, mostly organic unprocessed foods. This doesn’t have to be complicated. A turkey sandwich with whole grain bread, Applegate Farms or Hormel natural turkey (no additives, MSG, nitrites or nitrates–both big causes of cancer), and an organic apple are a great lunch, rather than packaged “cracker and cheese” or many of the items that are currently offered in school lunches.
• Become active in advocating for better indoor air quality and better food at your child’s school.
• Become media savvy, and help your children do it too. For younger children, edit out commercials, so that you bypass direct advertising of bad food and other products to kids. For older children, discuss who is selling what and why they are doing it–what the ads mean in terms of bringing in income for the advertisers, rather than bringing good or safe food or other products to the children.
• Stay informed about air and water quality and pollution hazards in your neighborhood and your town.

These precautions can help keep you and your child safer and healthier, and prevent further increases in pollution-related illnesses

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Martha H. Howard, MD

Treating children exposed to air pollution, toxic chemicals and other pollutants costs $76.6 billion dollars a year. According to a study sponsored by Kresge Foundation, done at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and reported in the May 2011 issue of the journal Health Affairs, cancer, asthma, autism, ADD and exposure to mercury are some of the pollution-related diseases that cost the most. And that does not even measure the physical, mental and emotional costs to the children themselves and their families. The study’s cost estimates included lost productivity of parents taking care of sick children, as well as the treatments.

What does this mean to allergic children and their parents? Children with existing allergies to common airborne allergens like tree pollens, grass, dust and molds, and foods are even more vulnerable to chemical pollutants than other children. Toxic chemicals in air, water and food act as poisons in themselves, and in addition increase allergic response to common allergens.

What to do?

Avoid exposure to indoor chemical pollutants:

• Formaldehyde in new clothes, carpet, wallboard and furniture made of particle board or with particle board backing
• Lead paint and other toxic paints. Children’s rooms should be painted only with non-toxic no-VOC paints. Even latex paints can emit toxic fumes over a long period of time, worsening allergies and asthma.
• Painted metal toys and children’s jewelry–many of these have lead based paints
• Mercury in any form–especially as a preservative in vaccinations, or in dental materials
• Permanent markers
• Food dyes, additives, and artificial sugars. The so-called “generally recognized as safe” food dyes are made of coal tar.
  MSG and aspartame are neurotoxins (see Russell Blaylock MD’s comprehensive book, Exitotoxins: The Taste that Kills.)
• Plastics that contain BPA
• Fire retardant chemicals in pajamas and bedding
• Sunscreens with “gender bending” chemicals like homosalate, octylmethoxycinnamate, octocrylene, oxybenzone. Use California Baby hypoallergenic sunscreen, Desert Essence sunscreen, or Aubrey Organic Sunscreen on all children (and on adults too!)
• Shampoos and lotions that are full of chemicals. Desert Essence makes a good line of shampoos, conditioners and lotions that are chemical free.

This is by no means a complete list but it is a good start.

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Kevin M. Boehm DDS

“Keep out of reach of children. If more than used for brushing is accidentally swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away.”

Ever wonder why this warning is placed on toothpastes containing fluoride?

Studies show that like mercury, fluoride can be detrimental to a person’s over-all health. There is increased risk of hip fracture, birth defects, cancer, arthritis, thyroid dysfunction, and the lowering of a person’s IQ. Even if fluoride does reduce tooth decay, is it worth the risks?

For the first time in 50 years, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is recommending a change in the fluoridation of water. Currently, a range of 0.7 to 1.1 milligrams per liter of water is recommended, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a maximum allowable amount of 4 mg/liter. The proposal, which would recommend all drinking water have less than 0.7 mg/liter, is a reaction to a 2006 study by the National Academy of Science showing that excessive fluoridation can lead to dental fluorosis in children younger than eight.

Dental fluorosis causes teeth staining in its mildest form, but more serious cases can result in enamel damage and pitting of the teeth, both of which can have adverse health impacts. It specifically affects children because it only occurs when the permanent teeth are developing under the gums.

Here are actions you can take today to protect your family from fluorosis.

• Check with your local water company to find out the fluoride concentration of your drinking water. If it is more than 2 mg/liter, use an alternative source of water.
• Be aware that bottled water companies are not required to provide this information on the label. (Another reason not to buy or drink bottled water, in addition to the environmental concerns!)
• Do not use toothpaste for children younger than 2 years old. Once the first tooth emerges, it should be gently brushed with a soft toothbrush and plain water.
• Supervise tooth brushing until age 6 to avoid accidental swallowing of a large amount of toothpaste. Limit the toothpaste to a pea-sized portion.

Because of the possible health risks of fluoride we chose not to use it in our practice. We have found that a good oral health regimen and proper nutrition does an excellent job of preventing decay without harming the body with the introduction of possible toxins.

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Dr. Helen Lee, DC

Fever and aches and pains, oh my! Many people don’t enjoy when their bodies don’t feel well and do whatever they can as quickly as they can to get rid of the symptoms. But what if symptoms arise for our benefit? Symptoms are cues to make us notice that the body is tired or imbalanced in some way and to get us to slow down.

A fever awakens our immune system and makes it inhospitable for foreign invaders such as bacteria and virus to proliferate. It also makes us uncomfortable in many ways so that we will be forced to slow down, rest, take care of our selves and shut down so that our bodies can focus on healing and rejuvenating. Stifling this process too quickly with acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and or other over-the-counter drugs can prevent the body from healing as effectively and as quickly as it would like to.

Some Benefits of Fevers:
- Increased temperature directly kills bacteria/viruses/other microbes
- Increases production of white blood cells, macrophages, interferons and other cells which fight off and prevent further spread of microbes
- Stimulates antibody production which strengthens our overall immune system for the future

Natural Options To Support Person with Fever:

- Make sure keep hydrated with water and natural fruit juices; no sugar filled drinks
- Breastfed infants, breastfeed as much as infants desire so they can benefit from mother’s antibodies
- Eat lightly or even skip a meal depending on individual desire, giving the body a chance to focus on fighting the microbes; such foods as soups, broth, steamed vegetables and rice are good for the feverish person
- Rest, rest, rest and lots of TLC
- Reassurance and trust that the body is well on its way to healing and repairing itself!
- Visit your holistic healthcare practitioner to aid in supporting your body

When is a fever too high? Each person knows themselves and their child the best so always trust your own instinct. Some basic considerations for consulting health care professional:

- Infants 3 months & younger with fever greater than 100.4 degrees F
- Children 3-36 months with fever greater than 102.2 degrees F and if they appear ill
- Any fever over 104.5 degrees F
- Persistent vomiting, confusion, extreme lethargy, “floppiness”, extreme stiffness/pain in neck, seizures

References:

•Scientific American – what causes a fever
•Yale Medical Group
•Hippiedippiebebe.com
•Mercola.com

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Martha H. Howard, MD

One of the biggest health worries for parents is a child with a fever.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently published guidelines for pediatricians
regarding the advice they should give parents when they are called about this issue.
Click here for a short summary from the AAFP.

They emphasized the following:

• Fever can be helpful in fighting infection
• The primary goal should be to keep a child comfortable rather than to get to an
  exact “normal” temperature of 98.6
• Parents should focus on the child’s activity and well-being rather than the
  numbers on the thermometer
• The child should be well hydrated
• The child should not be awakened to receive  a fever-reducing medication
• Parents should be aware of the correct dosage of medication according to the child’s body weight
• Ibuprofen and acetaminophen should not be alternated-this is likely to cause mistakes in dosage
• Exact measurement devices should be used for all medications
• Medications must be stored safely out of any possible reach of children

These are common-sense guidelines that essentially say to pediatricians, and therefore to parents,  that they should stay away from a “numbers game” when their child has a fever, and focus instead on observing the child for any signs of serious illness, and making the child comfortable:

• Be aware of the child’s activity in relationship to his or her normal state
• Make sure the child is well hydrated
• Take extreme care with safe storage and exact dosage of medications.

If a child has a fever of 100 or even 101, and is playing normally, it is reasonable to let
the fever help reduce infection rather than to give medication immediately.

One important exception to that is infants three months or younger. A temperature of
100.4 or more means they should be seen immediately by a doctor.

Another exception is a child who has an underlying chronic illness, and may be immune suppressed.

I would add another exception: a child whose temperature is going up, who may still be playing normally, but has known exposure to flu or strep. In this case the point is not whether to reduce the fever or not, but to get immediate treatment for the underlying illness.

And, I would add that all parents should be aware of symptoms and signs of serious illness in a child. If a child has a fever and any of these, they should be taken to an emergency room immediately:

• Vomiting
• Severe neck stiffness or pain
• Severe pain in any area of the body
• Abnormal crying
• Extreme drowsiness, lethargy,lack of alertness, loss of consciousness
• A bulging soft spot on a baby’s head
• Severe dehydration
• New skin rash or spontaneous bruising
• New swelling, pain or redness in joints
• Rapid, difficult breathing
•  Bluish skin or mucous membranes
• Drooling and not wanting to swallow
• Difficulty and pain urinating
• Anything that makes the child seem “not himself” to the parent.

For more information please consult this excellent article from a Belgian study of parents’ observations of children identifying serious infection .

We encourage reproducing our articles as long as you link back to this page.

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Peanut allergies are scary. Peanuts can be a hidden food ingredients. Other foods that are not “supposed” to contain peanuts can be contaminated by invisible peanut particles found on processing machinery. Some food (such as chili) may have peanut butter as a secret ingredient in the recipe.

And for many children and adults, taking in even the tiniest amount of peanuts causes an allergic response called anaphylaxis, which can be almost immediately fatal. So it is understandable that researchers would be looking to prevent the whole process.

The July 2010 issue of Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology has reported a study done at Berlin’s Charite University Hospital and New York’s Mt. Sinai hospital attempting to do just that. They started with extremely small amounts of peanuts, and gradually increased the amount, hoping to “train” the immune system not to react.

One of the principal investigators, Dr. Wayne Shreffler said that it’s “not ready for prime time.” There were many problems:

• The children had to be hospitalized for a week at the beginning of the study

• Only 14 out of 23 made it to the end of the study. Four dropped out because of severe allergic reactions.

• Only 12 of the 14 who completed the study could tolerate an amount of peanut particles equaling one peanut. That’s just over 50% of the 23 original participants.

• The doctors still don’t know if the tolerance will last more than two weeks
.
• Avoidance of peanuts and products processed in facilities which also process peanuts, and carrying an Epipen are still the only recommended ways to protect against peanut reactions.

For more on this study, check out this link link.reuters.com/nyx36m or the original study in Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, July 2010

No one knows exactly what causes peanut allergies, and why allergic reactions are increasing, especially in the last 10 years. Here are some thoughts about the possibilities-peanuts are grown and stored differently, possibly increasing the amount of a very toxic mold that can easily infect peanuts—aflatoxin molds. More molds could easily mean more intense allergic responses.

Also peanuts are generally eaten as peanut butter. For many years, this has meant brands of peanut butter that contain processed corn products, such as high fructose corn syrup. Exposure to peanuts in the presence of high fructose corn syrup could increase the allergenic potency of the peanuts, and the person’s reaction to all peanut products.

The bottom line is this: The current way of dealing with peanut allergies—avoiding peanuts and carrying an Epipen—is still considered the best method for now. If you have a child who is allergic to peanuts:

• Avoid, at all costs, any allergist currently offering desensitization to peanuts as an office-based therapy.

• Be sure to teach any allergic child how to say no to people who offer them food.

• Be sure you, the child’s other caregivers, and the child him or herself as they get older, have an Epipen on hand at all times.

• Remember, there is currently an 80% chance that your child will have the peanut allergy for life, so be sure they learn how to master the coping strategies for themselves as they get older.


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With their smaller stomachs, kids may not eat much in one sitting, but they do eat often. The problem is, children are not only notoriously picky eaters, they’ll usually fight for sugary junk food. It’s a constant struggle to find snacks that are both appetizing and good for them.

Because many kids get about one-third of their daily calories from after-school snacks, these nibbles are as important as a balanced breakfast, lunch or dinner [source: Iowa State University].

Fruit

Perhaps your little prince would like an orange?
Natural, sweet and good for you, fruit is a popular snack choice among kids and parents. OK, so maybe the youngsters don’t need as many as five a day, like the old saying goes, but kids do require about 1.5 cups of fruit per day [source: KidsHealth.org].
If you want to make fruit even more appetizing, try pairing it with low-fat, plain yogurt for dipping. Or stick some freshly washed grapes in the freezer for a cool snack on a hot, summer day.
HINT: Another popular alternative is dried fruit. If the label doesn’t list any additional ingredients to the fruit, such as sugar, much of the nutritional value remains the same (but with a higher caloric density. tlc.discovery.com

Smoothies

Serve smoothies in parfait glasses for added appeal.
Even the pickiest kids can’t resist fruit smoothies, which are naturally sweet and can be an excellent way to sneak nutrition into their diet. Beware of store-bought smoothies, however, which are usually full of added sugar. These end up carrying as many calories as a full meal (for a toddler). You might as well be giving them a milkshake [source: Bohn].
If you make the smoothies at home with fresh fruit such as bananas and strawberries, plain yogurt and low-fat milk, it’ll be a healthy source of calcium and protein.
HINT: If your child isn’t getting enough fiber or protein in his or her diet, add powder supplements to the smoothie.

Cereal

Cereal and fruit: a winning combination!
Cereal is a great source of fiber, which is filling and healthy. Unfortunately, many cereals that kids love are full of sugar. Consumer Reports investigated the sugar content of some brands and found that a bowl of Kellogg’s Honey Smacks serves up as much sugar as a glazed donut [source: Consumer Reports]. Several other popular kids’ cereals also had hefty amounts of added sweeteners.
The good news is that Consumer Reports rated several kid-oriented cereals as both low in sugar and nutritious. These include Cheerios (regular and Honey Nut varieties), Kix and Life.
FACT: Fiber helps with digestion and can also help lower cholesterol.

Peanut Butter

Peanut butter is full of healthy fats.
Although high in fat, peanut butter is packed with fiber and protein. If your child has peanut allergies, you’ll have to steer clear of this snack choice. Such allergies have become increasingly prevalent in recent years, so it’s important to watch for evidence such as rashes around the mouth and face. But sometimes, more severe reactions occur, such as difficulty breathing, which require immediate medical attention [source: PBS].
If allergies aren’t a concern, kids love peanut butter spread on graham crackers or paired with different flavors of jelly for a classic PBJ. Try smearing peanut butter on a celery stalk and topping it with raisins to create a treat with flair — ants on a log.
HINT: Opt for natural peanut butter to avoid trans fats and added sugar.

Trail Mix

Trail mix is a tasty snack you can tote anywhere.
Instead of buying pre-assembled bags of trail mix at the store, try making your own at home. Not only is it a fun activity for the kids to participate in, it allows you to control the salt and sugar content. If you’re up for it, you can also make your own granola. A great source of fiber, granola can also be high in sugar if you buy it at the store pre-made.
In addition to granola, tasty — and healthy — ingredients include dried fruits, various nuts, unsweetened coconut flakes, peanuts, mini pretzels and pumpkin seeds or hulled sunflower seeds.
HINT: If you’re not worried about the added sugar, kids will love the addition of M&Ms or chocolate chips.

Pear Pinwheels

Ingredients:
Whole-wheat tortillas
Cheddar cheese, grated
Pear, peeled and thinly sliced

Directions:
1. Place 1 whole-wheat tortilla on a plate, and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Cover cheese with pear slices. Sprinkle pear with a bit more cheese. Microwave for 30 seconds, or until cheese melts. Roll, and cut into slices.

Fruit Smoothie

Ingredients:
1 container (8 ounces) vanilla-flavored nonfat yogurt
1 banana, sliced
1 cup frozen strawberries or peaches
1/4 cup orange juice

Directions
1. In a blender, whip together all ingredients. Serve in glasses.

Cupid Clusters
Ingredients
3 cups Yogurt-Burst Cheerios or similar whole-grain cereal
1/2 cup chopped dried strawberries
1-1/2 cups white chocolate chips
Directions
1. Place paper liners in 24 mini muffin cups. Toss the whole-grain cereal and chopped dried strawberries in a medium bowl. Melt the white chocolate in a microwave on high for a minute, stirring it frequently. Combine with the cereal and strawberry mixture. Spoon into prepared cups and refrigerate until the clusters are firm, about 5 minutes.

PB and Raspberry Pops

Ingredients:
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 cup reduced-fat milk
2-4 tablespoons honey, divided
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups raspberries
2 cups raspberry juice or raspberry juice blend
1/4 cup sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:
1. Combine peanut butter, yogurt, milk, 2 tablespoons honey, and vanilla in a food processor or blender until smooth.
2. Pour peanut-butter mixture into eight 6- to 7-ounce paper cups or pop molds until they’re one-third full. Cover and freeze for 1 hour. Cover and chill remaining peanut-butter mixture until needed.
3. Stir together raspberries and juice, divide among the cups or molds, and insert sticks. Cover and freeze for an hour. Then fill with remaining peanut-butter mixture and freeze for at least 8 hours, or until firm.
4. Let stand at room temperature for about 5 minutes before unmolding. If you want, spoon honey around the rims and sprinkle on sesame seeds.

Nutty Popcorn and Fruit Mix

Ingredients:
1 package (6- to 7-cup yield) plain microwave popcorn
Nonstick cooking spray
2 to 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups potato sticks
1-1/2 cups peanuts or almonds
1 cup mixed dried fruit

Directions:
1. Pop popcorn according to package directions. Pour popcorn into a very large bowl; coat lightly with cooking spray.
2. Sprinkle popcorn with Parmesan cheese; toss gently to coat. Stir in potato sticks, peanuts, and dried fruit.

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According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychology, between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese. Additionally, obesity costs U.S. citizens an estimated $100 billion a year.

A healthy diet for teens is essential to keep stress under control, increase energy and maintain mental processing and health. With school starting this month, unnecessary stress can build up and it is important to pay special attention to a teen’s diet.

The benefits of a healthy diet help to keep a teen’s blood sugar levels balanced which, in turn, affects the mood and how the body functions. By eating certain foods, a teen can balance the serotonin levels in the brain, promoting sharp mental processing and an elevated mood.

People may notice that their mood feels more intense at certain times of the day, especially before meals. The foods you eat affect mood, mental functioning, energy and stress levels.

Try these eating tips for keeping your teen healthy and happy:
• Eat Your Meat!– Protein from lean meats such as turkey and chicken are a good source of amino acids, which produce healthy serotonin levels and aid in memory function.
• Keep Carbs Simple – Whole grains such as wheat bread, oatmeal and brown rice are rich in vitamin B and folate, a mineral known to increase attention span.
• Stay Hydrated – By drinking water throughout the day, teens are less likely to lose energy and maintain healthy skin and joints.
• Fat Can be Your Friend!– Omega 3 and Omega 9 fats, which are found in olives, almonds, avocados and salmon can help teens focus and decrease risks for cardiovascular problems and strokes later in life

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As summer approaches, your children’s excitement to get outdoors and play should be met with an equal measure of precaution on your part.

Although more common in adults, children are also vulnerable to muscle pulls and joint sprains and strains. The most common causes of these injuries include inadequate warm-up time and stretching. Before beginning the activity, encourage your child to take a few minutes to warm-up. A good warm-up will imitate the actions that your body will undergo during your sport, but at a lesser intensity. So for most kids, a brief walk or light jog will do the trick just fine. In some cases, just parking the car farther away from the play ground or sporting field, to allow for a walk before play, may be an adequate warm up. The main point to remember is to avoid having your child transition immediately from resting in bed or the car directly into strenuous activity.

Toddlers won’t need to stretch after exercising, but it’s a good habit to develop by the teen years. Stretching should be performed after, not before, activity. The key to proper stretching is to remember that “less is more”. Stretches should be gentle, relaxing and never painful. You’ll want to hold a steady stretch for at least 20–30 seconds without bouncing. Stretching too far or stretching for less than 20 seconds, or stretching before activity may do more harm than good. In doing so, you may initiate a “stretch reflex” which actually causes the muscles to tighten up even more. This may cause pain and physical damage to your muscle fibers, as well as scar tissue formation and decreased elasticity over time.

Finally, proper nutrition is also important in preventing muscle injuries, cramping, and dehydration. Many people are often concerned about vitamin and mineral intake, but the most common pitfall when exercising in the heat of the summer is dehydration caused by inadequate fluid intake. You can avoid this by simply drinking enough water, which is at least 8-12 cups of water for an adult, plus an additional 1-2 cups for every hour of exercise. This amount should be adjusted to the size of your child, although children will need a larger amount of water in proportion to their body weight, compared to adults.

All parents should be aware of the signs of dehydration, which include:

Keep in mind that your children must drink, even if they claim not to be thirsty. Unfortunately, the human thirst mechanism is not sensitive to the early stages of dehydration. As a result, significant dehydration usually occurs before the sensation of thirst is recognized.

So to summarize:

Dr. Richard Ezgur is a chiropractic physician, homeopathic physician, and acupuncturist in private practice specializing in natural health and sports and spinal rehabilitation. His clinic, Progressive Chiropractic Wellness Center, provides chiropractic care, physical therapy services, homeopathy, acupuncture, and massage therapy. For more information: ProgressiveChiropractic.com, Dr. Ezgur’s Twitter, or Dr. Ezgur’s Facebook Profile.

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We all know that money does not grow on trees, nor does it fall from the sky. However, many parents are subconsciously teaching their children the exact opposite through their money behaviors. The sooner you erase this idea from your kids’ minds, the more wisely they’ll be able to handle their own money throughout their life.

Introducing concepts of money management and instilling a good sense of fiscal responsibility should start at an early age, and be continued throughout a child’s life. Below are some of the top money rules parents can teach their children during different life stages.

Julie Murphy Casserly, CLU, ChFC, CFP® is a 15-year veteran of the financial services industry, founder of JMC Wealth Management in Chicago and author of the award-winning book, “The Emotion Behind Money.” Julie helps people understand how their emotional attitudes and behaviors affect how they earn, spend and save. For more information, please visit www.JulieMurphyCasserly.com.

*The tips above may not be suitable for all people, and JMC Wealth Management advises clients on their investment strategies on an individual basis.

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There is a rising sentiment that we have become too clean! But wait, isn’t cleanliness next to Godliness? Well, not exactly according to of us who believe that the immune system needs to be challenged, naturally. The Hygiene Hypothesis basically states that our bodies need to be challenged by friendly bacteria and parasites or the immune system doesn’t respond appropriately. This results in a significant rise in autoimmune disorders and allergies. So, although most people have their wipes, hand sanitizer and multiple other solutions for keeping their kids hands germ-free, however, kids need to consume some dirt, bacteria and friendly parasites for a healthy immune system.

In 1989, David P. Stratchan was the first to see the relationship between a decreased incidence in eczema and hay fever in children who came from larger families. Eczema and hay fever are known to be allergic reactions. Since that time hundreds of articles have been published supporting the need to be in contact with friendly bacteria and parasites to balance the immune systems ability to recognize a foreign invader.

The body has two sides of the immune system. One side that produces cells called T1 and the other produces T2 cells. When our body comes in contact with a “bad” bacteria or virus, T1 cells are produced to fight that bacteria, this is a normal response. If the immune system receives inadequate amounts of this simulation, the T2 side becomes over-active, resulting in allergic and auto-immune reactions. The autoimmune disorders associated include MS, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, hay fever and allergic rashes.

We know that if all the bacteria, yeast and mold in our body were to die, we would die and our stools can contain up to 60% bacteria. Clearly there is a symbiotic relationship that cannot be denied. We need good bugs! And while it is important to keep devastating diseases in check, ridding our body of the friendly flora and fauna is equally devastating.

So, to balance all of this consider the following:

Dr Kristina Sargent is a chiropractic physician with 18 years experience.  Her mission is to engage, educate and empower people to take control of their health to prevent chronic diseases and lead successful lives through serving people with alternatives to medication.  Her toolbox includes personalized diet recommendations, weight loss, exercise, chiropractic care, positive thoughts, prayer and meditation, and massage therapy. Her office, Restor Healing Centre, is located in Wheaton, Il. The website is www.RestorNow.com .

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“Mommy, mommy, I got to go potty”, I looked around, no potty and no one in site, so I told my 5-year old son, “go find a bush,” to which he said, “is this bush okay?”, “it doesn’t matter which bush Cooper.” We were at the park a few days ago, coolish, spring day, the kids were happy to be outside, and definitely not ready to go home. I was talking to a friend who said, “seriously, did you just say that to Cooper?”. “What?he’s a boy, it’s bound to happen!“ “Are you the mom with the hand sanitizer ready to go?”, “No,” I replied, and it was in that moment I realized my mom was probably right, you’ve got eat a pound of dirt before you die. My son’s hands were filthy from playing on the equipment, in the sandbox and now he had touched himself.

So, although excessive soil consumption is unhealthy. There are cultures which consume it regularly. In sub-Sahara Africa, it is common for pregnant women to eat clay during all three trimesters. It is especially common in cultures where dairy is not consumed. Clay soils contain high levels of calcium, great for skeletal development, so in that culture it makes sense. Here in the US, certain parts of the south have similar cultural traditions.

Also, because soil contains lots of bacteria, as does a healthy intestine, it is believed that these “good bugs” positively stimulate the immune system in women who eat the clay. This kind of immunity is passed to the newborn during breast-feeding in the form of IgA. IgA is a healthy molecule that protects the newborn’s intestinal tract from infections and allows “good bugs” to populate their intestine. There is evidence to suggest that children who grow up on farms, as opposed to the city, are exposed to many more germs. Same reasoning applies, more “good bugs” in the intestines. This exposure is thought to lead to less allergies, and a healthier immune system overall through strengthening the intestinal immune system.

Seems to me, in this sanitized world of antibiotic resistant bacteria and strong strains of viruses, my kids need as much natural immunity as possible. So, yes, my son urinated outside with dirty hands. And went back to play in the sandbox. No hand-sanitizer, wipes, or other concoctions to rid himself of everyday germs. When we returned home, a hot bath with plenty of soap seemed to do the trick. Really, the only person who was slightly bothered was my husband as he joked that he should have been the one to teach Cooper how to urinate outside.

Dr Kristina Sargent is a chiropractic physician with a Master’s in Advanced Clinical Practice and 18 years experience. Her mission is to engage, educate and empower people to take control of their health to prevent chronic diseases and lead successful lives, through serving people with alternatives to medication. Her toolbox includes personalized diet recommendations, weight loss, exercise, chiropractic care, positive thoughts, prayer and meditation, and massage therapy. Her office, Restor Healing Centre, is located in Wheaton, Il. The website is www.RestorNow.com.

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Many people today, especially younger people, are being labeled as having a deficit of attention, often with hyperactivity. This is called either Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). This diagnosis is so prevalent in our culture that many consider it to be an epidemic. In reality, we cannot have a deficit of attention because the mechanics of the mind are the same for all of us in much the same way that the physiology of the body is essentially the same.


What can happen is that the ability to hold the attention where we choose for it to be can be weakened, in some cases to the point of apparent helplessness. This leads to the attention jumping from one thing to another without the ability to follow through effectively. This can also be displayed as an inability to sit physically still, which is an outer expression of the scattered mind. This can affect not only the person experiencing the scattered mind, but often those he or she is in contact with. Fortunately, just as with weakened muscles of the body, we can do exercises for the mind that build our ability to control the attention and stay focused on the project at hand.


One type of mind exercise that has been used successfully for thousands of years is meditation. Few would argue the effectiveness of this practice in bettering the life of the practitioner, but often we do not realize that the foundation of meditation is the focused mind, which replaces the scattered mind over time.


To begin a meditation practice, first sit in a comfortable position keeping the spine long and vertical. Lying down is not recommended, especially when starting out, because of the ease of slipping into sleep. Next, focus your attention on the breath. Feel the breath as it enters and leaves the body. Any time that the attention leaves this experience, bring it back. It doesn’t matter how often you must do this, only that you do it each time. As you experience your mind becoming focused and calm, begin listening to the mind paying close attention to any gaps between your thoughts. It is these quiet moments that we expand over time. If you find yourself wandering, bring your attention back to the breath.


Five minutes a day is sufficient to start, eventually working up to about fifteen to thirty minutes daily.


School of Intuitive Arts & Sciences
204 Spring Street, Cary, Illinois 60013
847-462-8951
www.IntuitiveSchool.com

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Science is showing that there is a new evolution of the human species that is happening in the genetics of many of the children that have been born since the 1980’s. These new children are referred to as the new spiritual children of today or as the Indigo, Crystal, Star Kids and Rainbow Children. These new children have new DNA communication patterns and posses one or two new genes that were discovered by the Univ. of Chicago in August 2005 and they use a higher percentage of their brain and have higher IQ’s. As a whole, the new children can be very intuitive, sensitive, telepathic, highly intelligent, wise souls, musically or artistically gifted, empathic, healers, sense dishonesty and have sensitive immune systems. These children have come to help the human species evolve consciously, to become more aware of what we are doing to the planet and to each other. They are here to help break down the old systems that are not in alignment with our hearts and for the good of the people and planet as a whole and to help us reconnect to our spirit and remember who we really are…spiritual beings having a human experience.

Indigos children are more free spirits, independent, have nervous energy, need to move and wiggle, are protectors, activists, rescuers, get bored easily, out of the box thinkers, and like to challenge the old systems and authority that is not in integrity and often get diagnosed with ADD & ADHD. Crystal children are easier to raise, very loving, highly empathic and sensitive, very clingy and want to be held a lot, late to speak, love to sing, musically inclined, artistic, extremely sensitive to chemicals, foods, vaccinations, drugs and have higher percentage of autism diagnosis. Star Kids are highly evolved, usually petite, love science and technology, extremely intelligent and intuitive, fascinated with the stars and constellations and have telekinesis abilities. Rainbow children are very advanced wise souls that teach wisdom at early age, avatars, very peaceful and loving, completely fearless, all about service to others, highly telepathic & empathic, advanced healers, vegetarians and highly diagnosed with autism.

The most important thing for raising these children to keep in mind is to give them a very healthy diet, one of organic and unprocessed foods without food dyes and preservatives and chemical free products and home. They need to learn in smaller class rooms and do best at schools that incorporate all the senses in learning that are more project based. They are very sensitive to vaccinations and can not handle the ridiculous amount of vaccinations that are being recommended for children by the time they are 18 months old. These children respond extremely well to natural ways of healing, using sound, color, herbs, homeopathy, natural foods and energy medicine to help them heal. Parents need to talk to their children honestly and explain why certain rules or things need to be done and parents need to be in integrity, walk the talk. Getting your children involved with music, the arts, and spiritual studies or organizations is highly recommended.

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Don’t Stress During Tests: Natural Ways to Prepare for a Successful Exam

by Ian Wahl, LaC

With mid-terms and finals just around the corner, many students have difficulty concentrating and experience high anxiety. This high anxiety often leads to unsuccessful test taking. Put down the energy drink. There are natural remedies to help boost cognitive performance when taking exams, including comprehension and information retention.

Taking an exam will always add extra stress and over-stressing is unnecessary. Prioritize and avoid junk food and sugar, drink lots of water and get the proper amount of rest and relaxation. These tips will help de-stress students when an exam is approaching.

Eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones is a necessity to successful test taking. There are certain ingredients in foods that are detrimental to brain cells. Saturated fats are the most dangerous. Avoiding fast foods such as hamburgers and milkshakes is smart. Anything with trans-fatty acids can also be harmful to the blood flow in the brain. Processed foods such as salad dressing, fried food, doughnuts and margarine are high in trans-fatty acids and need to be avoided.

• Simple rest and relaxation is an excellent way to unwind and recharge. Stress is less likely, while concentration and focus will be much easier.

• Increased water intake is a simple solution to revive brain function. Since water makes up 85 percent of brain tissue, it is essential to smooth, consistent brain function.

• Avoid diet soda. Aspartame, the artificial sweetener used in most sugar-free drinks, may go directly to the brain and disrupt memory function.

• Omega 3 supplements are a good addition to a diet, especially when trying to avoid stress. These supplements are known to boost mood and brain function. Another way to increase Omega 3 fatty acids is by incorporating servings of fish, such as salmon, to the diet.

• Drinking tea is one of the easiest, quickest and most calorie-free ways to infuse the body and brain with antioxidants. The caffeine in tea is just enough to give a buzz for concentration but not enough to be over caffeinated.

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All children are gifted. And although it often goes unsaid, it is undoubtedly our job as adults to seek out, evoke, and name the giftedness in each child. It is vitally important that we identify gifts, because people cannot see their own gifts except when they are recognized in contrast with others. Even for the profoundly gifted, their talent and its expression are “normal” to them. It is also important to focus on a child’s giftedness because there is a growing trend to do the opposite: to look for and label children as “disordered.” There seems to be a growing number of children who are talented in unusual or unusually intense ways. Many of these children do not find traditional schools helpful or happy places. In my opinion, those diagnosed as “learning disordered” are actually “differently ordered” when measured by the shrinking definition of (educationally) “normal”.
It is not easy to tell whether the phenomenon of children who are differently ordered is new, or whether it has always been with us. We don’t know whether evolution is having a hand in producing brighter children who have different ways of knowing and accessing experience than past generations. We have no idea what the collective impact of electromagnetic fields such as cell phones, computers, videogames, microwave ovens, wireless environments, etc. is on those born after these items became commonplace. We also don’t know if it is simply that our reporting systems and criteria are more sophisticated and able to differentiate what would have previously gone unnoticed.
What we do know is that there is an alarming increase in medicating children with psychotropic drugs so that they can fit in better at school. And we do know that there are increasing reports of highly sensitive children, some with abilities beyond the norm. Finally, we know that traditional education has no tools to measure these gifts as competencies – and even if they did, it is unlikely they would be honored and supported as valuable intelligences.
As a medium who offers spiritual, psychological, and emotional information and healing for adults and adolescence alike, I believe that more and more children are “multi-sensory.” This is a term I use for those who gather information, experience life, and/or express themselves through more than five senses and/or through multiple senses with great intensity. The characteristics associated with “learning disorders” lead me to believe that many children who fall under these categories are multi-sensory, and are caught in a system that cannot see or recognize them as gifted or value their differences as gifts. These are my perceptions regarding giftedness, as well as some ways to learn from and support these children:

Autistic – There is a spectrum of autism, and no description captures all children under this diagnostic label. However, many of these children live in an inside out world, relating less to the outside physical world and more to the one that they are experiencing within. And ironically, their inside world is often outside their body. They are often spiritually connected in a way that most of us do not experience. Their vibration is very high and touches into physical reality every so often, but they do not typically use their five senses to relate to others in the three dimensional world. Finding ways to effectively communicate with these children is important. They may have as many things to teach us about the world of Spirit as we have to teach them about the physical world.
Practitioners who are highly conscious and can contact these children telepathically make the most progress in understanding the child and in helping the child’s awareness and development in a three dimensional world. Decreasing the stimuli in their environment on all levels supports them. Meditating in the presence of the children and honoring the richness of silence also helps.

ADHD – These children are often highly creative and relate to life in holographic ways, resulting in their having less access to linear, logical and/or sequential brain capabilities. The way these children experience the world may be summarized through the simple adage: “A picture speaks a thousand words.” These children may be better at communicating through art or theater than linear language. Also, competition means less in a holographic, un-sequenced world, so they may be less inclined to want to compete. These children are also highly sensitive and can vibrate at higher frequency than others, slipping in and out of their bodies. ADHD children are more inside their bodies than those with autism, but they may not relate to physical reality in a relational way. They are often in touch with other worlds that feed their imaginations and offer them ever more out-of-the-box creativity.
Honoring and nurturing the creativity of these children and connecting them to environments that support their creative gifts are very beneficial. Professionals who can measure and support the development of spatial and sequential intelligence are also helpful.

ADD – These children often notice and can take in more sensory data than others. This includes: light, sound, vibration, verbal tones, and non-verbal cues, to name several. While they are sensitive to more stimuli, these children and teenagers may not have the brain function developed to process this overload of sensory data until their mid-twenties. Therefore, they can be overwhelmed more quickly than others. Physical problems, such as anxiety, panic, stomach aches, etc. may result as they try to take on the challenge of digesting their multi-sensory experience. They may have a harder time organizing material, distinguishing big picture from detail, and determining what information is most important. There may be a capacity to be sequential, but it may not be a common version of logical. Their nervous system may be vibrating faster than the rest of their body can comfortably contain.
Their energy and gift often leads them to be more comfortable in expansive and visionary roles than in routine or operational ones. For these children, helping them find and practice their energetic and physical relationship to the ground and the boundaries of their body is very helpful. It is also beneficial to help them with mental boundaries and structures in their thinking.

Highly Sensitive: Like the others, these children are also highly sensitive to external stimuli. In addition, they can be very intense, mature beyond their years, feel responsible for the world, be insightful, clear, very intuitive or conscious, and sometimes mystic. They can organize their world around their spiritual awareness and are therefore often misunderstood. They can be very good symbolic, abstract thinkers, but may not be able to communicate their experiences. Many can easily leave their bodies and merge, or find spiritual union. Some have extraordinary gifts.
These children in particular may pick up others’ thoughts, feelings, emotions, and moods. They may pick up information about another person’s current situation or the future, and try to make sense of it in present time, or they can carry around past family patterns (ancestral or “past life”) with a sense of responsibility and intensity. These children may be labeled ADD, though they seem (even if not until later childhood or adolescence) to exhibit specific spiritual, intuitive, and/or psychic gifts.
It is helpful for these children to have a regular spiritual practice and to articulate their values. Assuring they feel accepted and have a comfortable method for describing their experiences (through arts, journaling, or verbally) is important. It is also beneficial for them to allow their awareness of the state of the world to become a prayer for the world rather than an overwhelming personal responsibility — and to be assisted in the notion of giving the responsibility for the world back to Spirit/God/Universe.

Practical Recommendations for Multi-Sensory Children
There is no magic bullet or right answer that will make life smooth for these children and their families. It is a painful experience to hear the judgments of others, to project into a bleak future for a child labeled with “learning disorders”, and to wade through conflicting advice and recommendations that come from well meaning physicians, psychologists, teachers, and others. Parents’ attitude toward their child makes the biggest difference in a child’s life. Parents can name and celebrate their child’s gifts and also address development opportunities. While all kids want to fit in and feel “normal”, it is more instructive for parents to model and teach that “normal” is not optimal.
The most important things parents can do is to love their child, stay in their hearts, trust themselves, believe in their child, and see the child through the lens of her gifts so that the world can learn what she came here to teach us.

There are environmental conditions, spiritual practices, attitudes, and actions that serve multi-sensory children well. Here are seven:
Coordination of mind and body through conscious movement

Nutrition that keeps them in line with a healthy relationship with the planet

Environment in the home that is as calm and peaceful as possible

Spiritual Practice as the touchstone for health, gratitude, and challenges

Validation and Appreciation as regularly as food

Leadership opportunities

As much as possible, use facilitative language rather than authoritative language:

Therese Rowley Ph.D., is a ChicagoHealers.com practitioner, a management consultant, educator, and medium. She has facilitated leadership development and accelerated change for leaders and organizations over the last 25 years. Dr. Rowley’s practice as a medium most recently included families with adolescents who are spiritually and/or intuitively gifted. Based on her experience with clients and with her research into this area, she produced a video on The Misdiagnosis of Gifted Children, interviewing experts from across the country on this phenomenon. Based on her organizational change expertise, she is now speaking about multi-sensory children and offering new perspectives.

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Are you aware that victims of childhood abuse can have a lot of serious health troubles in their lives? It seems like the abuse has altered how our body’s immune system functions. It is the same case for sensitive children. There is usually no real abuse going on. However, their bodies, in a stressed and chaotic state, associate resuscitations, shots and restraining while giving shots as “abuse”, thus causing the immune system to malfunction. This malfunction can lead to hyper sensitivity to everything comes in its path, no matter how clean and health the allergens are.


This is the reason why they can be allergic to their own organs, hormones, and all the organic food you provided for them. When the immune system is under so much stress for long period of time, it can lead to serious illnesses such as autoimmune conditions and cancer. This is the reason we see emotional therapy is an important part of our healing program.


Through emotional tapping (not EFT or TFT) and a combination of different emotional homeopathic remedies (symptom-specific or Australian or bach flower essences), we train the body to overcome the false sense of “being abused”, and truly protecting the body rather than attack everything coming into its path (hyper-sensitivity). We also train the body to not over react to stressors, such as change of environments or being refused of a request the child made.

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According to Dr. Elaine Aron, Highly Sensitive Children, are easily overstimulated and require informed parenting in order to prevent temper tantrums, stress illnesses and the avoidance of pleasurable group activities.


Changes in life are very hard on Highly Sensitive Children. The beginning of a new semester, especially if they are moving on to new schools, can be extremely difficult for them. If you throw in moving of the family residence, it is even harder. Make sure your children meet their new teachers before school starts. Let them know which one of their old friends are going to the same school. Please also listen to your kids during this difficult time, especially if they mention some new kids at school who are giving them a hard time. Stay on top of things so you can inform teachers of problems soon after such problems occur. You can never be too careful when dealing with sensitive children. This type of stress can turn them against schooling for a long time—something no parent would like to happen. There are other things you can do to strengthen your kids’ character, such as karate and sports. Holistic therapies for emotional stress include flower essences (such as Bach or Australian flower essences), homeopathic remedies that support the heart and kidney meridians, and Emotional Freedom Tapping Technique. It is also helpful to provide your kids with another community other than school, such as church youth groups, park district sports teams or scout groups. These communities give the kids extra identity and confidence, so they don’t feel being totally defined by who they are in school.


Back to school time is also time for more vaccines for your children. Please do your own research to make informed decisions. Highly Sensitive Children are much more likely to have adverse reactions to any kind of medication, including vaccines. Delay them to an older age when the neurological and immune systems are well-developed would help your children avoid heavy damages by vaccination. More importantly, get the kids check out structurally by their osteopathic doctors or chiropractors. Sound structure will help to insure their body’s natural detoxification system work properly, so they are less likely affected by germs in school.


Highly Sensitive Children are more likely affected by artificial ingredients. If you pack their school lunches and snacks, make sure to give them foods with less sugar, additives, artificial coloring and preservatives. This will ensure they have good concentration in class.

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Autism is a disorder that impacts 1 in 150 children. Children may appear to meet the milestone until about 18 months when symptoms appear. There is often decreased language, lack of emotional response, and repetitive motor movements. Diagnosis of the symptoms includes lack of social/emotional interaction, repetitive stereotypical behaviors, impaired communications, lack of spontaneity, poor initiation, little reciprocity, and impaired non-verbal communication. If the child is under 3 years old, impaired language, social interactions, and symbolic play may be a signs of Autism. Occupational Therapists can screen children under 1 year old for early delay in attention, impaired coordination, and emotional expression.


In order to reduce immediate and long term side effects of medications, many parents are seeking natural and holistic treatments. The cause of Autism is still unknown and therefore the treatments are not exact. Traditionally Occupational Therapists trained in Sensory Integration treat the children and provide parents with management techniques. Therapy is often effective with weekly intervention which may last for years. Parents often continue to seek ways to support their children’s healing with complementary integrative treatments. Nutrition, detoxification, and manual therapy are some of the options available. Parents find holistic treatments appealing because of noticeable improvements with few side effects.

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An article in the November 8, 2004 edition of the “Daily Record” from Glasgow in the United Kingdom, reports on a study showing that children who watch TV for large amounts of time are more likely to suffer spinal problems and pain.


The study conducted by the British Chiropractic Association, looked at 200 secondary school aged children. They found that boys spent an average of 41 hours in front of the TV (or video game) per week while girls spent only 21 hours. The article notes that one quarter of them are lying down with their heads up placing extra tension on the neck and upper back areas. The article also notes that heavy backpacks seem to additionally contribute to the problem.


The article explains that the additional time in a non-active posture does not permit the spine to strengthen during the years of development, which last up till around age 18. Dr. Chris Turner, a chiropractor in West London, said: “The major factors in children’s back problems are a more sedentary way of life and lack of exercise.” He continued, “This means their muscles do not work very well and leads to strains when they are used, especially for carrying relatively heavy weights, including school bags.“


The research also noted that 44% of children with school bags do not use both straps and instead carry the bags unevenly with only one strap. Dr. Scott Miller, the chiropractor who led the research, explained by saying: “Children’s bones are soft up to the age of 18. Discs in the spine are stronger than the bones and so deform if you keep carrying weight on one side.” He added, “Because many children lead sedentary lives, the bones aren’t getting the exercise they need to get strong. Then they are subjected to the horrendous weight of school bags, so the spine distorts.”

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Autism has devastated more families this generation than any natural disaster. It is likely that you or someone you know has a child with autism. The typical autistic child starts life as a seemingly normal child until about 18 months when the stereotypical behaviors of spinning, loss of speech and abnormal behavior surface. Once consulted, the pediatrician may refer to specialists, such as psychiatrists, to verify the diagnosis. Treatment can include Occupational, Speech, and Physical Therapy. According to the latest research, an integrative approach may be the best route to treat and cure Autism. The neurological clues and research behind the latest methods for treating this devastating disorder are now available.

Autism has sky rocketed in the last 20 years from 1 in 1000 to 1 in 150 births. The incidence has increased 1400%. The severity of autism spans from the thoroughly unaware hand flapping to the mildly obsessive or sensory sensitive child who over-reacts to touch, sounds or lights. These all fall under the spectrum of disorders which may get different labels depending on various symptoms: Autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Non Verbal Learning Disability, Sensory Integration Dysfunction, and Asperger’s Syndrome. What these groups of people have in common is an inability to regulate their nervous system.

The diagnosis for Autism includes symptoms such as difficulty in communication, social interactions and limited ability to attend or divide attention. Autistic individuals might also exhibit these typical body movements: rocking, flapping hands or spinning objects. The Asperger diagnosis applies to children who have poor social awareness but have communication skills.

Difficulties in the ability to attend to the environment could result in either Attention Deficit or Obsessive Compulsive Disorders, which are opposite extremes: one not able to attend while the other is not able to move on to another topic. Sensory Integration Dysfunction is when system over-reacts or under-reacts to the physical sensations of smell, sight, touch, and sound. We all have transient feelings of Sensory Integration Dysfunctions which occur when we are overly tired, have a headache, or encounter a texture that sets off a gag reflex but, unlike those with true sensory issues, we are able to self-regulate.
Theories on the causes of Autism:
• Autism as a failure to relate
• Autism as a sensory neurological deficit
• Autism as a brain difference
• Autism as a genetic factor
• Autism as an autoimmune disorder
• Autism as a toxin overload
• Autism as Barrel Theory

Children with Autism do not have a typical response to social interactions. They often do not make eye contact, smile, or return the facial expressions to indicate interests, social cues or reward that fosters bonding. One theory is that the area of the brain that recognizes faces is impaired in children with Autism. This failure to relate leads to a downward spiral of poor bonding and social skills. Dr. Stanley Greenspan advocates play and heightened emotions as a route to engage and improve children’s ability to learn and interact.

Autism has been theorized to be a reaction to severe overload of sensory information. These children are possibly so overwhelmed by the information of the senses that they shut down to protect themselves. Jean Aryes, an Occupational Therapist, studied children with adverse reactions to the normal senses. She believed that the brain could be changed by altering the types of external stimulation. According to Sensory Integration Theory, the central nervous system takes all sensations and sends them to the right part of the brain. When there is sensory traffic, the brain over-reacts with pain response or fight or flight reaction. This sometimes results in temper tantrums, an overwhelming need to move, run, flap hands, or spin around. Sensory Dysfunction is also linked to events such as birth trauma, difficulty breathing, and a poor Apgar score, a number from 0-10 which indicates the physical state of a newborn shortly after birth.

PET, EEG’s and CT scans all support the theory of Autism as a neurological brain dysfunction. Functional imaging is pioneered by Dr. Daniel Amen of California who targets his medications to the areas of the brain that show decreased activity. Occupational Therapists proposed neuro-plasticity in the early 1970’s by Jean Ayres and built the Sensory Integration Theory based on her experience and research. In the early 1990, an Icelandic Occupational Therapist by the name of Guðrún Árnadóttir developed a test that helps to localize the area of the brain which produces behaviors such as poor visual recognition, repetitive motion or getting stuck on one topic. Another OT, Josephine Moore was able to relate the areas of the brain and functions to the Sensory Integration Dysfunctions. This helped OT’s to target treatments to enhance strengths and minimize deficits. The area of the brain affected in the Autistic Spectrum is the lateral temporal region. This area houses the emotional centers and the cingular gyrus which allows attentiveness, switching attention from one topic to another, and keeping two focuses at the same time. Visual, motor and social cues are also processed within the lateral temporal region. More and more evidence points to poor blood and electrical flow in that area of the brain as the cause of Autistic Spectrum behaviors.

Autism may have a genetic factor; Many families have more that one child with the disorder. The likelihood of having another Autistic child increases to 14.5% if the first Autistic child is a girl but only increases to 7% if your first Autistic child is a boy1. These statistics are frightening, but there may be other factors that contribute to familial expressions of Autism. This recent epidemic speaks of more than genetics, as the human gene does not mutate at this rate or with that amount of regularity. A study done on cats over three generations showed that Autistic like behaviors developed when nutrition was deficient.2 Families may share the same environments and other risk factors that produced a child with Autism. Expression of genes can also be activated by stress, leading to each child’s chances being different. Parents who have experience with their first child who has Autistic Spectrum Disorders are able to recognize and intervene with the subsequent children at an earlier age.

Autistic behaviors with obsessive compulsive components have been strongly tied to auto-immune disorder reactions. The body can become sensitized to various cells and begin to attack them as if they are invaders. One reaction to streptococcus infections is an autoimmune attack on the brain cells. This syndrome is called Pediatric Autoimmune Neuro-Psychiatric Disorder associated with Streptococcus (PANDAS). After an infection, the child will start display tics, attention disorder, obsessive compulsive symptoms, and cognitive inflexibility, sharing many symptoms with autism. Auto-immune diseases are reaching epidemic proportions as Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Diabetes, and allergies becoming more commonly diagnosed.

Immunizations for childhood illness have increased from 6 or so in the 1950s to over 60 by the time children are 5 years old. New vaccines and immunizations are created and marketed to us every year, sometimes with very minimal testing. Many of these vaccinations contain a form of mercury as a preservative, the toxin aluminum, and other ingredients. Controversy surrounds the immunization of children and the concurrent symptoms of Autism, with research supporting both sides. Autism as a metallothienon syndrome is specific to heavy metal metabolism. Symptoms of metal poisoning are eerily similar to Autism symptoms. Autism as a toxin overload is a theory that started heated debates with proponents advocating the purist approach of no immunizations, to those who believe there is no relationship between the two factors. The truth may lie somewhere in the middle.

Heavy metals in the environment enter our system via food, air, contact, and medical treatments may be contributing to the toxin load that we have to deal with. Any toxins in our environment eventually have the greatest impact upon the top of the food chain due to bioaccumulation. Humans are the top of the food chain, and fetuses are exposed to toxins in utero. As soon as they are born, babies are subject to the same environmental pollutants as we are, and it is shortsighted to only look at immunizations as a source of toxins. We need to examine every source, such as the materials we build with or where our foods come from and what we do to prepare them. The simple thing act of washing our fruits and vegetables could be vital to our health.

This leads us to the Barrel Theory of Autism. Like a barrel that overflows with enough contents, Autism may be the result of reaching our body’s tipping point. For example, a child who is diagnosed with Autism may have many factors that contribute to the condition. The mother might have had a high toxin level affecting the fetus. Birth may be difficult and prolonged, leading to constrictions in the cranial system. The newborn is usually immediately inundated with immunizations and antibacterial medications all containing a variety of chemicals and inert ingredients. Getting an immunization during a weakened state can lead to overloading the child’s immune system which might lead to autoimmune dysfunctions such as allergies, asthma, and eczema.

As science makes our foods more attractive and less nutritious, we ingest thousands of new chemicals, and we are quickly developing a wide array of illness from allergies to autism. What can we do to cure this syndrome? Based on the theories of the causes of Autism, we can do many things that contribute to the overall health of our children and to preserve our reproductive future.

Treatments which impact the brain, improve alertness, digestion, and decrease toxic load will all address the symptoms of Autistic Spectrum Disorders. A good assessment from an experienced Occupational Therapist can help to identify systems that are stressed. Any treatments that help to decrease the load on the body will help the lower the level of stress to the child and family struggling with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The following are direct techniques that make changes to the nervous system:

Occupational Therapy using the Sensory Integration approach will give a clear evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of a child’s sensory processing. Sensory Integration is rarely done in pure form, but the sensorimotor approach is standard for many OT’s who are able to calm, regulate or increase alertness with play-based sessions. OT’s can provide parent education in reading the signs of Sensory Integration, providing a tool to take home and better manage the child’s reactions to his environment. Occupational Therapists have also been impacting the peripheral nervous system with a deep pressure from a brush applied deeply and evenly to the body. The theory is that the deep receptors of the tendons are fired, releasing endorphins from the brain much like a runner’s high. Play based treatments with lots of movements activate the brain and increases affect. Visit www.ilota.org , and www.sensory-processing-disorder.com for more information.

Cranio Sacral is a gentle hands-on technique which directly changes the pressures of the fluids of the brain. Studies have shown that the gentle pressure applied on the head and the body can have significant changes in breathing, relaxation, circulation, and emotional health. Cranio Sacral addresses the body’s influence on the brain which is often underestimated, yet vitally important. The brain is much like the old fashion barometer which responds to the pressure on the body with increased tension. If pressure builds, the cranial fluids become immobile, often resulting in increased sensitivity to light, smell, sounds and poor regulation. To stimulate their own cranial system, children will often make noises, grind their teeth, react with constant movements or hit themselves. Cranio Sacral can lessen the symptoms of hyperactivity, sensory integration dysfunction, and birth traumas. For more information visit www.Upledger.com.

Visceral Manipulation makes changes in the brain due to the nerve impulses in the organs. When the body is gently manipulated, the change in tension of the soft tissues is received by the brain as feedback. An example of such a treatment is chronic constipation that may be caused by inflammation of the large intestine, possibly due to an auto immune response or allergy to gluten. The large intestine may be swollen and pressed against the pelvis, unable to move normally. Gently pulling the intestine away from the pelvis can improve mobility and function. Since 90% of the neurotransmitter for relaxation and happiness, called serotonin, is made in the gut, the brain benefits greatly. With the regained ability to make serotonin, the patient has the physical ability to be happy. If the pelvis is freed up to move properly, gait improves which decreases pain and tension along the whole body. It is not unusual for the body to continue to process these changes for weeks after a single treatment, due to the domino effect that visceral manipulation can have on the body and the brain. Some of the common results are improved posture, better mood, speech, alertness, better organ system function, and ability to clear toxins from the body. Specific training in these techniques is required, see www.barralinstitute.com for more information.

Heavy metal detoxification and testing can be done at the Pfeiffer Treatment Center (http://www.hriptc.org/main_PTC.html). The Genova Diagnostics Laboratory, formerly known as Great Smokey Mountain Laboratory, is a good resource for testing to verify metal (http://www.genovadiagnostics.com/index.php?option=com_gpanel&Itemid=2&nav=test) levels, nutritional status and genetic predispositions. Laboratory findings can give a clear direction as to the stress the digestive and central nervous system is under. Treatments can then be individualized for your child. Some herbal and dietary supplements can assist in clearing Mercury, one example being Cilantro. One should always clear heavy metals with a concurrent treatment of anti-bacterial and anti-viral supplements because heavy metals, bacteria and viruses are often encapsulated together in the lymphatic system. Pulling the heavy metals out will leave the bacteria and virus loose in the body and may cause recurrent illnesses. Reducing the toxin load can lead to better digestion, improved mood, better speech, and improved regulation of the sensory system.

Samonas listening program is based on the effects of vibrations through musical instruments reproduced as purely as possible. These classical music collections are played through special headphones to affect the auditory system at a cellular level, enhancing brain circulation, making new pathways and regulating mood. This system has been researched by Ingo Steinbeck and is used for learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity, speech & language, communication, memory & information processing, focusing & organization spatial & bilateral organization, task management and motivation disorders. Improvements in sleep, urinary control, speech, and mood regulations have been documented. Only a specially trained therapist can prescribe and purchase the products. See www.samonas.com for more information and to find a qualified therapist.

Pharmacology and medical treatments, once seizures and other medical diagnosis are ruled out, can assist Autistic Spectrum patients. Having a good image of what is happening in the brain with a functional scan (PET or EEG) can help doctors to be more specific in targeting the areas of the brain most impacted. Any treatment that helps lower the stressors on the child and the family will decrease the symptoms. The techniques covered above are the ones that have a direct impact upon the central nervous system. Many natural and holistic techniques such as Acupuncture, are not covered here, but are still effective because they positively impact the body which will create changes in the central nervous system. The important criteria is to determine if a child with Autistic symptoms has improved over time, is just keeping up, or is falling behind. Treatments should allow a child to improve faster than normal growth development if they are to be effective.

If we apply the latest neurological research and treatments and we can cure Autism now.

1. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=950DE1DF1E39F937A1575BC0A96F948260
2. http://www.westonaprice.org/nutritiongreats/pottenger.html
3. Nakazawa, Donna Jackson, The Autoimmune Epidemic, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2008.
4. Marohn, Stephanie, The Natural Medicine Guide to Autism, Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc, Charlottesville, VA, 2002.

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Vaccination Precautions
I do not feel it is wise to receive swine flu vaccination for grade school children at this time.

The vaccines being developed are to contain the “adjuvant”—a chemical that induces greater immune response—squalene, which is known to cause a harmful immune response in rats resembling rheumatoid arthritis.

There are currently no other vaccines containing squalene that have been approved for use in the United States.

There are generally about 100 child deaths per year in the United States from flu. Even if that is doubled by swine flu, I do not feel it is worth the risk of exposing your child to possible long-term problems with immunity.


Effective Ways to Protect Children from Getting the Disease-
Make sure children carry tissues and hand sanitizer, and know how to use them—sneeze or cough into the tissue, throw it in the wastebasket (not on the desk), put a dime size blob of hand sanitizer on hands and rub together until dry.

Make sure children are trained as much as possible not to share drinks or food, and not to touch their eyes nose or mouth with their hands.

Avoid close contact with sick people.


Natural and Homeopathic Alternatives
N-acetylcysteine.

A recent study reported in the August 2009 issue of the American Family Physician journal, showed that elderly patients taking 600 milligrams of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) twice daily over the flu season were much less likely to have clinical influenza illness (29% vs. 51% of controls), and when they did have it, episodes were much less severe. In addition, cell mediated immunity was improved in the people receiving NAC, and not in the controls.

Give children N-acetylcysteine in a dose that is proportional by weight to the adult dose of 600 milligrams twice a day.

A 70 pound child would be given 300 milligrams twice a day. A 35 pound child would be given 150 milligrams twice a day, and so on. For children under 2, consult a physician.


Treatment for Children who Contract the Virus
I recommend supportive treatment—rest, fluids, and Chinese herbs

The combination of two readily available formulas, Zhong Gan Ling and Yin Chiao Chieh Du Pian (both available online) is effective for treating flu.

CDC now is recommending that people stay home 24 hours after fever is gone (without Tylenol) rather than the previous recommendation that they stay home 7 days OR 24 hours after the fever is gone, whichever is longer.

Emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention, according to the CDC:

- Fast breathing or trouble breathing
- Bluish or gray skin color
- Not drinking enough fluids
- Severe or persistent vomiting
- Not waking up or not interacting
- Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
- Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough


General Virus Information
At this time, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) does not consider novel H1N1 “swine” flu to be more dangerous than other types of seasonal flu, but it does state that the disease burden of swine flu is greater on young people.

The flu virus is mainly transmitted from person to person by sneezing or coughing, but can also survive for 2 to 8 hours. If you touch a contaminated surface and then touch your nose or eyes, you can be infected.

The most important thing to consider about swine flu is how to teach good public health preventive measures that are based on actual facts about the way the flu virus is transmitted.

For more information, please visit www.ChicagoHealers.com.
About ChicagoHealers.com
Chicago Healers (www.ChicagoHealers.com) is the nation’s pioneer prescreened integrative health and healing network, offering a comprehensive understanding of each practitioner’s services, approach, and philosophy. Our practitioner experts advocate natural and empowered health and life choices through their practices, the media, educational events, and our website. With close to 200 practitioners offering over 300 different alternative therapies, ChicagoHealers.com has provided nearly 400 free educational events for Chicagoans. ChicagoHealers.com provides a steady resource for TV and print news where member practitioners are requested as experts for health and lifestyle stories. ChicagoHealers.com is regularly featured on every major TV network (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX) and in leading publications such as Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune. ChicagoHealers.com takes the guesswork out of finding Chicago’s premier alternative health and healing practitioners. For more information, visit www.ChicagoHealers.com.

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Children feel pain, just as adults do, but have a hard time explaining what hurts. Their pain can result from either physical or emotional reasons. It’s up to parents to do a little detective work to see what is causing the pain.


The most common causes of pain in children are often related to trauma. By their nature, children are extremely active. Injuries that occur while bicycling, rollerblading, running or even rough housing are familiar to all parents.


The most important thing for a parent, as the primary caregiver, is to obtain a good history of the injury. It may be difficult to find out exactly what happened to cause the pain, because children cannot verbalize or are simply unaware of how they got hurt.


One day, when our daughter was 10 years old, she began to complain of pain in her right hip. As the day progressed, she actually started limping. As my wife and I reviewed what activities she’d done that day, I remembered that our daughter and her 15 year old brother had been playing soccer in the backyard with an oversized exercise ball. When I examined her, the thigh muscles were extremely tense. Our treatment plan was to stop kicking the big ball, gently massage the muscles, take a warm bath, perform an acupuncture treatment and stretch.


As children return to school, it is important to remember that the most common cause of headaches and shoulder, neck and lower back pain among students is an improperly fitted or overweight backpack. A good rule of thumb for maximum backpack weight is to keep it at less than 10% of a child’s weight. An 80 pound child’s backpack, for example, should weigh up to 8 pounds. Although messenger bags and various shoulder book bags may be “cooler”, they may result in strained and overused muscles. I’ve found that wheeled backpacks are the most sensible solution.


Some parents may be averse to giving their children Tylenol and other over the counter medications for pain. There are alternative pain treatments available. A good source of information is The Family Guide to Homeopathy: Symptoms and Natural Solutions by Andrew Locke. Remember never to give a child under 17 years old aspirin, because of the possibility of Reyes Syndrome.


Children can also have physical pain caused by emotional reasons. Stress and anxiety caused by difficulty in school, bullying, divorce, moving and changes in routine can result in everything from constipation to headaches and restless sleep. As parents, we have to listen to our children and deduce what is affecting them. Most children like routine and knowing what to expect. Here are some simple things you can introduce to your routine which will result in a healthier, pain free child:

- Regular daily exercise
- Set meal times and healthy meals & snacks
- Regular bedtimes, bath/shower times and quiet time/music before sleep
- Limiting electronics (TV, computer, handheld games & iPods)
- Positive reinforcement—showing support through listening and affection

- Finally, children mirror their parents in how they react to stress and pain. What example are you setting? Incorporating some of these tips may also help you in your life.

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1. I am very interested in your new Eco-Friendly Dentistry^TM practice. Can you tell me what makes it different from other dentists?
Since this is a new concept and we actually coined the term, it is probably best to define what Eco-Friendly Dentistry^TM actually is first. Eco-Friendly Dentistry is a newly evolving practice of dentistry, which encompasses a simultaneous devotion to sustainability, prevention, precaution, and a minimally invasive patient-centric, as well as global-centric treatment philosophy. Eco-Friendly Dentistry, through green design and operations, protects the immediate health of patients and team members, protects the health of the surrounding community, and protects the health of the global community and natural resources.


ORA Dental Studio and ORA Oral Surgery & Implant Studio has proudly become the first and only green group dental practice in the nation. Our team at ORA truly embodies Eco-Friendly Dentistry and we have distinguished ourselves as leaders in the dental community through our steadfast commitment to the environment. We are significantly different from other dentists by not only building offices from the ground up as sustainable, green LEED projects, but also by employing green business practices and most importantly by comprehensively practicing green healthcare. As a landmark achievement unique to ORA, we are the first dental facility in the country to generate zero bio-hazardous waste.


2. I know my readers are concerned with some of the ingredients in toothpaste, like sodium laurel sulfate, silica, chalk and fluoride to name a few. What do you recommend as a non-toxic toothpaste for children?
This is an important concern and our recommendations for children are not really any different than what we recommend to adults. Growing evidence supports the idea that what goes in your mouth stays in your body, even after you brush and swish. Your mouth and gums absorb ingredients, and act as an entry point into your system. As a result, your choice of oral products is as important as the food you eat, what you put on your skin, and all the other products you choose for a healthy home environment. Small changes made to our daily habits can really add up. Two very good products out there that avoid toxic ingredients are:


- Tom’s of Maine Natural Toothpastes^TM, Adult and Children Formulations – these products do not contain triclosan; saccharin; artificial sweeteners, preservatives, colors, or flavors; or animal ingredients. They are tested without the use of animals. They have a refreshing natural flavor from real wintergreen and peppermint oils, not artificial sweeteners like saccharin. Some preparations are fluoride free and others contain only naturally sourced fluoride and zinc citrate, a naturally occurring mineral, which interferes with the calcification of plaque into tartar.

- The Natural Dentist Toothpastes^TM, Adult and Children Formulations – these products do not contain any artificial dyes or flavors. Mainstream products use artificial additives such as Blue #1, Yellow #5 and other FD&C colorants. The Natural Dentist uses vegetable juices such as red cabbage, purple carrot, beet, tomato and annatto. The company does not contribute to the manufacture of artificial ingredients, therefore, they are not introduced into the ground water or water treatment systems when consumers use their products. Their toothpastes are made without Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS is a foaming detergent that can irritate your mouth and has been linked to canker sores) Instead they use a natural coconut based oil as an effective surfactant. Their products are sold without a cardboard box – an important “green” step that reduces excess packaging. While eliminating a box may seem small, consider that one billion tubes of toothpaste in boxes are sold each year, contributing more than 28 million pounds of packaging to the waste stream. The environmental effect is more than the trees that are saved by eliminating the cardboard box — it’s also the energy to manufacture, print and transport the excess packaging.

Your readers’ quest for dental products that have natural, non-toxic ingredients should not end with toothpaste. They should also consider safe, eco-friendly choices for dental floss, toothbrushes and mouth rinse to complete a healthy at-home, eco-friendly dental wellness regimen.


3. We are concerned about mercury in old fillings. What are your recommendations about this issue?
This indeed has been a serious topic of concern for many years now for the public, the ADA, the WHO and the FDA, and would normally require quite a lengthy response.


At ORA, one of our paramount practice tenets is upholding the precautionary principle, which we feel all health professionals and organizations should abide by. The precautionary principle is officially defined as “a moral principle, which states that if an action or policy might cause severe or irreversible harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of a scientific consensus that harm would not ensue, the burden of proof falls on those who would advocate taking the action. The principle implies that there is a responsibility to intervene and protect the public from exposure to harm where scientific investigation discovers a plausible risk in the course of having screened for other suspected causes. The protections that mitigate suspected risks can be relaxed only if further scientific findings emerge that more robustly support an alternative explanation.”


So for us, the answer is quite simple. ORA Dental Studio has proudly partnered with the WHO (World Health Organization) to advance its Mercury Free Health Care Program. Mercury is one of the world’s most ubiquitous heavy metal neurotoxicants and ORA is leading the way as a designated mercury-free practice that also implements the safe removal of mercury containing fillings. But the concern for mercury use in healthcare shouldn’t stop with amalgam fillings. ORA Oral Surgery & Implant Studio utilizes only mercury-free thermometers, and sphygmomanometers. In addition, in the few locations where we use fluorescent lighting, we purchase only low-mercury fluorescent bulbs that meet the Toxic Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) standard set by the EPA and we also properly recycle these bulbs at designated recycling centers.


4. Are your sealants, plastics used in mouth guards and retainers, and tooth-colored fillings BPA and phthalate free?
Traditionally, mercury fillings are replaced by tooth colored resin fillings, which contain BPA. This made absolutely no sense to us. BPA, known as Bisphenol A, is an organic compound used as a building block for several important plastics, plastic additives and in composite dental resins. It has been found to be hazardous to humans due to its estrogenic and possible carcinogenic potential. For the safety of our patients, ORA Dental Studio has diligently sought out a BPA-free dental composite resin, which we use exclusively.


Upholding the Precautionary Principle within our practice, ORA Dental Studio is the first dental practice to exclusively utilize a BPA-free dental composite resin. In addition, none of the Invisalign aligners or Vivera retainers that we use contain bisphenol A or any phthalate plasticizers.


5. How else do you limit your patient’s exposure to toxins while visiting your office?
Besides reducing our environmental footprint, having a true healing facility is what my vision was and what we at ORA strive to deliver. We have implemented countless protocols and details to limit our patient’s and our team member’s exposure to toxins. Some of these protocols and innovations include:

- Being a PVC-free, DEHP-free, and latex-free practice
- Having all of our furniture and cushioning BFR-free (Brominated Flame Retardant)
- Non- VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints and textiles preventing off-gassing
- Non-urea-formaldehyde containing, chlorine-free composite wood and agrifibers from recycled content
- Finishes, textiles and veneers made from sustainable, non-toxic, recycled post-industrial and post-consumer waste
- Mercury free, BPA-free treatment
- Digital dental radiography and digital CT scanner – which means over 80% less radiation dose for the patient compared to conventional plain film. Also, no toxic chemical developers and fixatives as well as no lead-foil content to film, nor the carbon-footprint in the manufacturing, packaging and transport of these materials
- Lead-free patient x-ray aprons
- Eco-rock drywall^TM, Modular Arts^TM sculptural paneling, 3-Form^TM eco-resin doors, all of which are not subject to hazardous polymerization
- Earthwise^TM Energy Star HVAC system with no CFC coolants
- Digital patient charting and registration (paper-free) office
- Non-chemical sterilization, utilizing steam and dry heat, thereby avoiding any noxious chemicals within office and in surrounding environment
- GreenMaid^TM green cleaning services
- The ability to process our bio-hazardous waste with a revolutionary state-of-the-art system that renders it non-toxic, non-contaminating and safe for disposal with regular garbage – thereby avoiding harmful incineration, which releases these toxins into the atmosphere.


6. What are the most important things parents can do to help keep their children’s teeth healthy?
Starting at a young age, more frequent (at least bi-annually, if not quarterly) preventative check-ups and professional cleanings. Good healthcare habits and preventative care is built on trusting relationships with the doctor and team, education within the office and at home, and also by example. This means that good dental habits are modeled and learned as our children watch our behavior as parents, coupled with more frequent visits as a family to the dentist. Early detection of decalcification/demineralization is the key, thereby preventing the end stage of bacterial demineralization of tooth structure – namely tooth decay. Diagnostic tools like the DIAGNOdent^TM by Kavo, which is a laser detection tool measuring the mineralization loss in teeth, allow clinicians to detect cavity formation at its earliest stages and allow them then to intervene either before the cavity forms with re-mineralization procedures, or it allows them to be minimally invasive with cavity repair. In addition, Ozone therapy is a revolutionary treatment approach that is just on the horizon within dentistry and ORA Dental Studio is one of the first practices in the nation to begin its safe implementation in treating decay in a completely non-invasive way, utilizing the CMU3 device from LIME Technologies^TM.


So reinforcing thorough home care, healthy eating habits, using safe dental products and quarterly visits to the dentist are all part of the recipe to empower our children to maintaining healthy teeth for their lifetime.


7. How can parents encourage more dentists to take on these non-toxic and green principles? What can parents do right now about BPA in sealants and fillings as well as mercury in fillings?
The medical field has already embraced the fact that the health of the environment and our own health are inextricably linked. And a grand reformation is underway, albeit slow, within the medical industry towards sustainability. The dental industry should follow suit and at ORA we are trying to pave the way for this to happen. The motto we have is “What’s good for the environment is good for the patient” and as such, we have both built and are operating green facilities and comprehensively practicing green healthcare. As doctors, aligned with the Hippocratic Oath, we have an obligation to ensure that we do no harm – not only to the patient but also to the environment. In addition, patients and consumers are beginning to realize that one way that they can contribute to a healthy community and environment is to support green businesses and healthcare facilities. Every dollar spent, in essence, is a vote for or against the environment.


Patients need to encourage their dentists to take on more non-toxic and green practices by voicing their concerns and by starting dialogue with their healthcare providers. Another great resource to start with is the “Green My Dentist” program extended by the EDA (Eco Dentistry Association, www.ecodentistry.org) to help guide patients and their dentists towards better, safer patient health as well as planetary health.


Parents can also choose to have their families treated only by practitioners who practice mercury-free dentistry and who utilize non-BPA containing resins. There is only one BPA-free resin available on the market at the moment, so have your dentist do their homework and specify that this is what you prefer that they utilize.

Back to Children Articles

Would you want your child to live a healthier and well nourished life? Children, nowadays, need the most impeccable guidance from the parents to help them live a wellness lifestyle. Now is the time to help our children break the unhealthy eating patterns that lead to heart disease, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, and many other health problems that many are now experiencing.


A great place for parents to start is with nutrition. Your child’s health will benefit tremendously with the incorporation of Super foods to their daily eating regimen.
Super foods are nutrient rich whole foods that are mostly found in your local grocery store or health food store. You may ask, “Why are Superfoods important for a child’s diet?” The answer, your child’s health now and in the future depends on it. Superfoods will give your child what they need for growth, development, adaptability and function.


The top 5 Basic Superfoods for kids to get started with are:

Almonds: Almonds are a great source of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, protein, folic acid and fiber. Almonds also contain the good fats or monounsaturated fats and vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant. This powerful nut neutralizes acidity in the body with its high alkalizing mineral content. Almonds help protect the heart, build bones, and prevent cancer. Almonds can be eaten as they are, made into almond milk, or added to cereal.


Apples: Apples are a great source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. They contain a soluble fiber called pectin which helps to regulate blood sugar, prevent clogging of the arteries, and cleanses the digestive system. Most of the nutrients such as Vitamin C and other antioxidant phytonutrients like Quercetin are found just below the skin. To get the full nutrient value of the apple, the whole apple with skin must be eaten. Slice up some apples for your kids to graze on throughout the day. This will also help them sustain a good level of energy for their busy and playful lives.


Avocado: Avocados are actually a fruit that is high in the good fats and contains essential minerals like potassium, iron, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, and sodium. Avocados also contain essential antioxidant vitamins like vitamin C and E. Other vitamins include Vitamin A and B-complex vitamins. This fruit when added with other fruits and vegetables help with the absorption of fat soluble nutrients. Avocados are great for healthy skin, improved muscles and nerve function, electrolyte balance, energy metabolism and immune booster. Avocados can be made into raw soups, chip dips, shakes, smoothies, and popsicles.


Bee Pollen: Bee Pollen, of all foods, contains all the needed nutrients necessary for life. They contain a great amount of B-complex vitamins such as Vitamin B-12. Bee pollen also contains several amino acids, minerals, vitamins, fatty acids, and enzymes. Add this superfood to smoothies and cereal for a complete nourishing meal. It is recommended that children that are allergic to bees should stay away from this food.


Berries: Berries with its deep and luscious colors tell you immediately that they are a great source of fiber, minerals and antioxidants from phytonutrients and vitamins such as Vitamin C and E. Berries promote healthy aging, improved memory, and prevention of chronic diseases. Berries are easily incorporated into you child’s meals as snacks, in pancakes, in cereal, shakes, smoothies and home made popsicles.


Superfoods are not limited to a few foods, there are many. The rule of thumb is to slowly incorporate a variety of superfoods like fruits and vegetables into your family’s lifestyle. As your child gets older, their taste buds will continually change and improve. The creativity by the parent to find ways to keep these foods in every day meals is hard work at first and, just like any other practices, become easy and effortless. Continue to consistently teach your child the power of healthy choices in what they eat. You will see an impact not only in their health and vitality, but in their mindset. The child learns the mindset of what true nourishment is all about thanks to mommy and daddy.


Other recommendations that are the next step to the basic superfoods mentioned are cacao nibs, coconut, coconut water, gogi berries, green vegetables, and krill oil.

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Participation in athletics is a necessary part of growing up. The need for sports is especially great because obesity affects 25% of American children, and only 35% of school age children meet the criteria for fitness. However, we must realize participation in athletics does not come without risks.
In the United States, it is estimated that 35 million children are active in some form of organized athletic activity. Athletic injuries in this group are relatively common with up to 50% due to overuse of muscles and/or improper technique. Pediatric sports injuries constitute 750,000 emergency room visits annually. While 80% of the injuries are minor bruises, abrasions, cuts, strains and sprains, 20% are major fractures, dislocations, and spinal cord injuries. These injuries can cause severe pain, permanent deformity and significant delays in return to activity.
Many overuse injuries are unique to children. The child’s immature musculoskeletal systems, as well as external factors such as improper training and adult or peer pressure for performance and success, complicate children’s injuries. Most injuries, about 60%, occur during practice, not during competition. As mentioned before, the largest groups of injuries are due to repetitive micro trauma and the developing musculoskeletal system. Often the best treatment is rest, activity modification, and early conservative care. In addition, injuries of a more serious nature occasionally occur, and these injuries are not dealt with in an efficient manner.
Safe participation begins with coaches. Unfortunately, the coaches in youth leagues have very little training in the care of most injuries. Coaches should have at least basic first aid skills and on field first aid kits. Coaches should have an emergency plan of action so first aid and transportation can be readily activated in case of emergency.
As parents, it is up to us to be as informed as possible about the risk of participation. We need to understand the differences between adults and children. First, kids are continually growing, and exercise helps them grow. Second, the bones and muscles of their bodies are under tremendous strain as children grow, stretch, and improve coordination. Finally, muscles do not grow as fast as bones, making stretching of the muscles vitally important to injury reduction.

Beware of Strength Training
The structure of immature muscle determines that it has different needs than in adults. For instance, children are less capable of performing anaerobic (without oxygen) training. Strength gains with children are not due to increases in muscle mass as much as they are due to improved neurological input and balance, which combine to improve coordination. Young athletes are susceptible to injury because they lack coordination and therefore have slower reaction times. Exercise should be aerobic, preceded by a warm up and stretching, with focus on a variety of balance and coordination enhancing movements. Therefore, a new weight set for your young football player is not a necessity this Christmas.
Because a child’s bones are not fused, they are susceptible to a very serious type of fracture. The “end plate” of a growing bone may fracture, slip or separate. These types of fractures can cause permanent deformity as the fracture also disturbs the growth plate where future growth would occur. This type of injury is common in pitching; baseball players should have a maximum pitch count and a number of days to rest before they pitch again.

Keep Kids Hydrated
Dehydration can be a problem with children because they produce more heat per surface area than adults do. Children are not capable of dispersing heat at the same rate as adults. Additionally, children do not experience the effects of overexertion as readily as adults do. It is our duty to keep kids hydrated with water and to modify activities on hot days. We must realize that when the humidity increases, so does the heat index. Our body is approximately 75% water and if we are thirsty, it is too late. The body is already dehydrated. To hydrate, drink water rather than soda or sugared juices. Sports drinks often have too much sugar, and they should be diluted one-third water to aid with digestion. Dehydration leads to fatigue and poor performance. Hydrate hours before training or competition. Studies have shown that athletes who hydrate particularly right before activity have greater risk of dehydration versus those who started hydration much earlier. We need to make sure that children drink fluids before, during and immediately after competition and practice.
Take this to heart. Your child’s heart works much harder than yours does! A child’s heart is smaller per volume than an adult heart and is pumping less blood. Because it pumps a smaller volume, it has to beat faster to provide adequate circulation. This reinforces that rest intervals are a necessary part of any competition or practice. Parents and coaches should allow a young athlete’s heart rate to resume a resting rate during early conditioning practices, before beginning the next workout.

When Injuries Occur
If injuries occur, remember the PRICE method:

PROTECTION can minimize further injury. Splinting, immobilization, ace bandages all help before transport of an athlete for evaluation. Padding on bruises before competition, and cushions on blisters can help the athlete’s comfort and allow participation. Protect “dings and bruises,’ and protect injuries from re-injury. Try not to “play through” injuries especially without protection.
REST reduces bleeding, swelling and allows the injury to heal. Most injuries with kids are due to overuse and repetitive motion. With simply resting their bodies, overuse injuries can catch up with the healing process. An injury can worsen if return to activity occurs to soon. The child should be able to return to activity without pain before a full return to practice or competition. The athlete may benefit from doing associated activities, which are pain free or perform only within certain parameters without pain.
ICE applied for about 10 or 20 minutes each hour will reduce swelling and pain. Realize that ice when initially applied goes through four phases. First ice feels cold then burns, then achy and finally numb. To be effective it must be numb for about 5-10 minutes. Research has shown ice works better than heat for athletic injuries; do not apply heat! Do not massage the injury site; it causes additional bleeding and swelling within the injury. Ice and rest sports injuries.
COMPRESSION an elastic bandage with compression helps reduce pain and swelling. The compression also provides support, which assists with protection. Compression should not be too tight – check nail beds that they remain pink after compression on the nail bed itself.
ELEVATION reduces the pressure of swelling. Evaluation above the heart reduces pain and prevents the accumulation of blood and inflammatory products thereby improving the rate of healing. Pain from an injury is often due to the pressure of swelling. If you reduce the pressure, you will reduce the pain.
Solutions to the problems outlined include focused pre-participation examination by doctors with an understanding of sports demands. The pre-participation exam should occur weeks before practice starts. The sports doctor can provide valuable information regarding potential areas of concern and possibly recommend pretraining exercises to prepare for the season.
Warm up and stretching is essential, emphasize the basics that encourage coordination and improve balance. Strengthen with body weight exercises like push-ups and lunges. Strengthening exercises should also incorporate balance. Use the proper fitting equipment and understand the rules of the game. Encourage your child to understand that they should be fit first to participate. Vary sporting and training activities, cross train to avoid overuse injuries. Sports camps might be too specific. Take adequate breaks from training and competition to refresh and heal injuries. Allow children to guide their own athletic involvement; encourage but do not push. Listen to your child if they complain of soreness or fatigue; this could be a sign of injury, or apathy and both need to be considered.
Protect the little injuries and rest the painful injuries before they become serious. Seek help with doctors and sports specialists if needed. Offer positive responses win or lose. Kids want nothing more than to please moms and dads. Your children will model your actions, be a good sport and they will follow.
As parents, we have a duty to insure the health and safety of our children. We also need to teach them how to care for themselves through nutrition, health and fitness. Stress participation with your children. Encourage them to do the sports they enjoy and to do the best they can. Have fun and be safe.

Dr. Robert C. Scott specializes in orthopedic, spine and nerve disorders. He received his doctorate as a chiropractor physician from the National University of Health Sciences in Lombard. He is a certified chiropractic sports physician and is the director at Scott Chiropractic Associates, Long Grove.

Back to Children Articles

CranioSacral Therapy for Autism by Dana Massat BS, CST, MRT
Sunscreens—The most dangerous cosmetic! – by Martha H. Howard, MD, Dipl. Ac. NCCAOM
Memo to Santa—Better Watch Out, Keep the Chemicals Out! – by Dr. Martha Howard, MD
Financial upbringing: childhood shapes your money habits – by Julie Murphy Casserly,CFP®
Children’s dentistry update: See the movie! – by Kevin M. Boehm DDS
Sweet deception:sugar lurks in unexpected places – by Raymond G. Hatland DDS
Healthy school lunches – organic brown bagging – by Dr. Martha H. Howard, MD
Prevent pollution related illness in your family – by Dr Martha Howard, MD
Indoor chemical pollutants make children sick: Tips to avoid exposure – by Dr Martha Howard, MD
Fluoride – How much is too much? Tips to protect your family – by Kevin M. Boehm DDS
To sweat or not to sweat – by Dr Helen Lee
Childhood fever – by Dr. Martha H. Howard, MD
Can Kids Be “Cured” of Their Peanut Allergies? – by Dr. Martha H. Howard, MD
Five Best Snacks for Kids – by Dr Melody Hart
A Healthy Back-to-School Diet Teens Can Live By – by Dr Melody Hart
Summer Sports for Kids: How to keep them safe, prevent injuries and still have fun – by Dr. Richard Ezgur
Money Rules for Kids – by – Julie Murphy Casserly
Germs or No Germs? – by Dr Kristina Sargent
A Pound O’ Dirt Before I Die – by Dr Kristina Sargent
Kids as Athletes – by Robert C. Scott, D.C.
How to Get Kids in Shape after the Holidays – by Dr Harry Hong, Ph.D, OMD , L.Ac.
Preparing for your Spring Athletic Season – by Robert C. Scott, D.C.
Children and Food Allergies – by Martha H. Howard, MD
The Top 5 Superfoods for Kids – by Dr. Jaena Stanley Gonzaga
Non-Toxic Approaches To Childrens Dentistry – by Dr Steven Koos, D.D.S., M.D.
Pain Management For Children – by Dr Mark Sobor
Back To School Swine Flu Precautions – by Dr Martha H Howard
Autism – by Malina Chin OTR/L LAc. MSOM
Children Addicted To TV Run Higher Risk Of Spinal Problems – by Dr Helen Lee
How to Fight Autism Holistically – by Malina Chin, OTR/L L.Ac.
Chinese Medicine For Children – by Qiying Jiang, Lic. Ac.
It’s Back To School Time For The Highly Sensitive Children! – by Dr Harry Hong, PhD, OMD
Healing the Hidden Emotional Stressors of Highly Sensitive Children – by Harry Hong Ph.D, OMD , L.Ac.
Multi-Sensory Children – by Therese Rowley, Ph.D.
Don’t Stress During Tests – by Ian Wahl, LaC
Indigo, Crystal, Star Kids & Rainbow Children – by Karen Erickson
Meditation for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity – by Patrick Andries

Prepare for your spring sports adventure by first receiving a pre-participation exam. This examination is done months before the actual date of beginning the sports activity and is in addition to the typical physical examination done by an athlete’s family doctor. Get your pre-participation exam done by a qualified sports medicine chiropractor (CCSP) or medical physician (MD).

During this examination special detail will be taken to look at specific aspects of the athlete’s body which will be stressed during the specific sporting activity. For example, if you are a soccer player special detail would be given to your lower extremities, the foot, ankle and knee, hips; we would also investigate the cervical spine and lower back, and of course cardiovascular function. If deficits are found it is incumbent on the athlete to rehabilitate these regions before beginning the athletic season.
In addition to the pre-participation examination I recommend you focus your preparation for spring sports in three categories. Flexibility, coordination and diet. Improve flexibility in those muscles groups which will be used most. Teach kids the proper way to stretch after a functional warm-up. Improve coordination with body weight exercises which emphasize balance, coordination, and endurance. Try to focus on a cross training regimen with your coordination exercises.
Eat right! Begin to eat the foods necessary to fuel athletic success. Good lean sources of protein will help build and repair muscle, complex carbohydrates in proper portion to provide quick energy, and nutrient dense vegetables, fruits, grains and cereals to aid in the pathways of energy production. Stay away for sugary snacks and health drinks; drink water instead. Don’t be afraid to eat the good fats which aid in the proper expression of the inflammatory pathways and help with endurance and hormone production. Consider a multivitamin, from a whole food source, especially if you participate in an event which requires long endurance. Of course be aware! Women and children have different nutritional requirements then men.

Holiday is fun but can be very stressful. The stresses are basically adrenal stress and dietary stress. Adrenal stress is from playing too much and not sleeping enough. Our body has an internal rhythm that follows the sun rise and sun down. If our activity messes up this rhythm by sleeping too late, the Pituitary-Adrenal system could be stressed. The symptoms of a stressed adrenal system include sleeping problem, fatigue and focus issue during the day. Not sleeping enough also weakens our detox function. Toxin accumulation may lead to a variety of high inflammatory symptoms as well.


Dietary stress is from having too much bad food or simply eating too much. Too much sugar intake causes hyper activity and Candida over growth in the gut. Candida produces extra toxins in the body and leads to high inflammation. The common symptoms include sleeping problem, indigestion, focus problem in school, breaking down easily etc.


To get kids in shape after holidays, parents have to do two things: control sugar intake and sleep early at night. Some children with low sugar diet may have to go through a sugar withdrew for a few days. For most of cases, life will go back to normal after two weeks. If the symptoms do not get better in two weeks, it could be a Candida outbreak. Special Candida therapy may be needed to help the kid return to the healthy balance.

Prepare for your spring sports adventure by first receiving a pre-participation exam. This examination is done months before the actual date of beginning the sports activity and is in addition to the typical physical examination done by an athlete’s family doctor. Get your pre-participation exam done by a qualified sports medicine chiropractor (CCSP) or medical physician (MD).

During this examination special detail will be taken to look at specific aspects of the athlete’s body which will be stressed during the specific sporting activity. For example, if you are a soccer player special detail would be given to your lower extremities, the foot, ankle and knee, hips; we would also investigate the cervical spine and lower back, and of course cardiovascular function. If deficits are found it is incumbent on the athlete to rehabilitate these regions before beginning the athletic season.
In addition to the pre-participation examination I recommend you focus your preparation for spring sports in three categories. Flexibility, coordination and diet. Improve flexibility in those muscles groups which will be used most. Teach kids the proper way to stretch after a functional warm-up. Improve coordination with body weight exercises which emphasize balance, coordination, and endurance. Try to focus on a cross training regimen with your coordination exercises.
Eat right! Begin to eat the foods necessary to fuel athletic success. Good lean sources of protein will help build and repair muscle, complex carbohydrates in proper portion to provide quick energy, and nutrient dense vegetables, fruits, grains and cereals to aid in the pathways of energy production. Stay away for sugary snacks and health drinks; drink water instead. Don’t be afraid to eat the good fats which aid in the proper expression of the inflammatory pathways and help with endurance and hormone production. Consider a multivitamin, from a whole food source, especially if you participate in an event which requires long endurance. Of course be aware! Women and children have different nutritional requirements then men.
www.ScottChiroSport.com

Back to Children Articles

How do you develop healthy habits in children through the wisdom of Chinese Medicine?

The middle burner in Chinese Medicine is the heart of the digestive system. A vivid analogy of the middle burner is a fuel-burning stove that heats a house. Digestion is the stove and food is the fuel. The quality of the fuel determines the efficiency of the stove and therefore the warmth of the house, i.e. the health and energy of the body.

My experiences growing up gave me the best quality of knowledge in nutrition and good health. My mother, Dr. Ming Yin, is a pediatrician of Chinese Medicine for almost forty years. She studied and practiced with Dr. Shongzhao Tsao who is the 20th generation of Chinese medicine doctor in her family and practicing pediatrician. I am a proud mother of two beautiful healthy boys, age 8 and 5. I have taken the important knowledge I learned from my mother to raise my boys western-medicine free, and I have been sharing this knowledge with mothers and patients for many years.

Guidelines

The equivalent to efficient middle-burner in Western medicine is an effective metabolism. Good metabolism will “burn” the food cleanly, utilizing calories and assimilating vitamins and nutrients, giving the body energy for day-to-day activities. If your child’s metabolism is appropriate for his/her activities and food intake, he/she will naturally maintain a healthy immune system.

Tips for Newborns and infants

Tips for Toddlers

Parents should provide freshly prepared fresh foods with a minimum of chemical preservatives or additives. Grains should be cooked thoroughly to allow for easy and complete digestion. Vegetables, on the other hand, should not be overcooked so as to conserve valuable vitamins and enzymes. Sugar, salt, oil and fat consumption should generally be kept low.

Breakfast: It is best to begin the day with breakfast to build a strong digestive fire. In Chinese medicine, hot whole grain cereal, called congee, is an ideal meal to gently start digestive metabolism for clean, efficient, warm burning.
Lunch: The digestive fire is strongest at lunchtime. Lunch should be the biggest meal of the day with the most variety. It should contain concentrated protein such as meat.
Dinner: The last meal should be the smallest. It is best to eat a cooked meal of vegetables and grains before 7pm.

Tips for sick children:

For children with a cold, flu, fever, cough, diarrhea or ear infection: Rice congee and Ultimate aloe vera juice along with Chinese herbal formula. For children with chronic illness such as constipation, asthma, allergy. ADHD, autism and cerebral palsy: Chinese herbal formula combined with pediatric massage, acupressure and acupuncture. Please consult with a holistic practitioner.

Health is wealth. Starting these practices early on and offering infant massage daily will give your child the advantage of learning ways of eating and living that start the anti-aging process from day one. Nutritious foods, a harmonious environment, nurturing touch and good quality sleep are the key to preventing illness. This is true for all of us no matter what age. Teaching our children healthy ways of being is a wonderful gift that will continue to give back to them throughout their lives.

References

The Tao of Healthy Eating by: Bob Flaws 1998
Between Heaven and Earth by: Harriet Beinfield & Efrem Korn 1991

Qiying Jiang is a licensed acupuncturist in Illinois and is certified by NCCAOM in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology. Her practice is in Willowbrook.
www.QiAcupuncture.com

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Everyone knows about the type of food allergy that causes an immediate reaction. The response can range from hives, to life-threatening anaphylactic shock. This type of allergy has received the most attention in standard medical practice here in the United States. It is known as a Type I, IgE-mediated response. A child who wheezes or gets hives immediately, or within 20 to 30 minutes after eating a food such as peanuts or strawberries has a Type I reaction.

However, there is another type of food allergy response that is delayed. It has brought about a huge gap between public and practitioner awareness of these syndromes. Unfortunately, here in the U.S. you may be more likely to hear about the wide range of symptoms caused by gluten in the book Gluten Free for Dummies than you are in the offices of many allergists and internists. In all too many medical practices, these reactions are often called “food sensitivity” or “food intolerance” or even “not real allergies,” and may be misdiagnosed, overlooked or dismissed. This has led to misunderstanding between medical practitioners and people who are seeking help for themselves and their children.

The fact is that these delayed type responses are actually identified in medical textbooks as a true allergic response. Most of the delayed-type food allergies fall into the category of Type III response. This means that an antibody called IgG, (or less often IgA or IgM) attacks the food. In a delayed response, the combination of the antibody and the food is a highly inflammatory particle (an antigen-antibody complex) that circulates in the body and causes many different problems. These particles can even cross the blood-brain barrier and cause mood and behavior problems. A child with a delayed Type III response may have ear pain, look flushed, have chronic nasal congestion, and a history of ear infections and tonsillitis. Or, a child might be very tired, have flu-like symptoms, swelling in lymph glands, and appear depressed. Or a child might have attacks of tantrums, hyperactivity and stomach pain. In some children, bedwetting may be the only symptom. In others, it may be only ADD, or childhood migraines.

Two of the most extreme examples of delayed-type allergic response may be autism and schizophrenia. There is a correlation between delayed response to wheat and dairy proteins and these two diseases. The main “problem protein” in wheat is gluten, and in dairy is casein. Both of these proteins, in people who are susceptible, are attacked by the body’s immune system, and the delayed-type allergy response is set off, with disastrous consequences for the health of the brain. Here is a paragraph from a June 2002 article in Original Internist by Meera V. Jathar, MD and V.S. Jathar, PhD:

“Cade, et.al, in their recent article “Autism and Schizophrenia: Intestinal Distorders,” [in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience,2000, 3:57-72] reported [that] a gluten-casein free diet was accompanied by improvement in 81% of autistic children within three months in most of the behavior categories. High-titer IgG antibodies to gliadin were found in 87% of autistic and 86% of schizophrenic patients, and high titer of IgG antibodies to bovine casein were found in 90% of autistic and 93% of schizophrenic patients.”

Delayed-type allergy is also associated with many symptoms that are less extreme than autism and schizophrenia, yet are still very serious. Symptoms can vary widely. Here is a partial list: ADD/ADHD, depression, chronic headaches, migraine headache, chronic sinusitis, chronic indigestion or reflux, “irritable bowel syndrome”-abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea and/or constipation–canker sores, cold sores, asthma, bronchitis, eczema, psoriasis, recurrent ear or throat infection, swollen lymph glands, fatigue, failure to thrive, joint pain, restless leg syndrome, and bedwetting.

Both immediate and delayed type food allergies are becoming more and more common in children. No one is sure about the cause, but there is more and more evidence that food processing and handling may be a significant part of the problem. It is possible that the use of processing chemicals, additives, and dyes makes the foods more allergenic.

In the study of allergy and immunology, added items that make a food more likely to cause an allergic response are called “haptens.” My own current theory is that molds, antibiotics, pesticides, chemical additives and dyes may function as “haptens” for much of the food that is currently sold and consumed here in the United States, making it more allergenic.

For example, peanuts commonly have a type of toxic mold called aflatoxin mold, which is thought to increase their allergy potential, especially for children who are already allergic to molds. Non-organic dairy can contain residues of antibiotics fed to the cows-another allergy enhancer. Wheat is often sprayed with a chemical to retard growth of fungus, probably making it more allergenic. The commercial sugar refining process also uses chemicals. Many chemicals and allergens are hidden within prepared foods. Unfortunately, when a child’s system has begun to react violently to the food, there is generally “no going back.” For example, if a child has begun to react to peanuts, even if uncontaminated, organic peanuts, free from sugar, added hydrogenated oils and molds, were given to the child, there would still be a reaction, because the immune system has “learned” to respond allergically. That said, it is still important to feed children organic and unprocessed food as much as possible to prevent the onset of new allergies.

The most common allergenic foods are wheat, rye, barley (gluten containing grains), oats, soy, yeast, dairy, egg, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, citrus, chocolate, tomatoes and strawberries, and increasingly-cane sugar. The most common allergenic additives are aspartame, MSG, sulfites, and food dyes.

If you suspect that your child has delayed type reactions to foods, it is important to seek out a practitioner who has education and experience regarding this type of allergy and its symptoms. Remember that skin tests only show one type of response-the immediate, Type I allergy. Any allergist who says that the skin (“scratch”) tests are the final word on food allergy, and who insists that if these tests are negative the child is not allergic to foods, is obviously not well informed on this problem. Any allergist who dismisses delayed type allergies as “not real allergies” is disregarding what it says in his or her own medical textbooks about the four types of allergic response. It is important to find allergists and internists who have the clinical experience to help you with this problem. In addition, it’s important to read a lot, discuss things with other parents of allergic children, and to develop your own knowledge and expertise.

One of the best types of testing for delayed-type allergies is ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunoabsorbent Assay) testing. A good, reliable lab for this is Meridian Valley Lab in Kent, Washington. They can also help you find a practitioner in your area who uses ELISA testing. ELISA testing uses a tiny wand with a food sample on in, immerses it in a small sample of the patient’s blood, and counts the number of “hits” of IgG 4 antibody on the wand. Another form of testing is computer based, and uses responses read at acupuncture points to determine reactivity for foods. This form of testing is regarded as scientific in Germany, and is widely used by MD’s.

In the United States at the present time, the science behind this type of testing is not acknowledged. You may even find it mentioned on some web sites as a “worthless” or “quack” method. At best it must be currently classified as non medical and non diagnostic, no matter how much clinical evidence exists regarding its accuracy. Results of the testing are based on responses read at acupuncture points. However, the science behind the electronics of the body system upon which acupuncture is based has not yet been acknowledged. The preliminary scientific studies that best explain the electrical system of the body, were done by an MD, Robert O. Becker in the mid 1970′s. He was given an NIH grant to find out whether there was any scientific basis for acupuncture. When he found out that there was a scientific basis-a network of DC current that could be measured, at the exact locations of the traditionally identified acupuncture channels, he lost the last half of his grant money. In addition, his scientific results were buried in the 1976 journal of electrical engineering, because the medical journals at the time refused to publish his work. In my view, he is the Galileo of the “electric anatomy” of the body-a DC current network that the electrical testing taps to determine the body’s response to various foods and substances.

A good clinical example from our center, Wellness Associates of Chicago, is the case of a seven year old girl who came last year. She had been in “medical hell” for five years. It all began when she started to eat mainly solid foods, along with quite a lot of dairy, at the age of two. Her mother said she was at the doctor’s office two to four times a month for the whole five years, and sick all the time. When I first saw her, she had open sores all over her body from eczema, gum disease, recurrent ear infections, recurrent strep, and ADD. None of the practitioners who saw her suspected that the cause of her problems might be food allergies. She was given various prescriptions to address her symptoms. According to our testing, she was reactive to wheat, gluten, buckwheat, dairy, chocolate, peanut, shrimp, corn, rice, oat, egg, soy, honey, maple sugar, cane sugar, baker’s yeast, red potato; food dyes, MSG, aspartame, sulfites; weeds, grass, trees, mold, dust, cat and dog hair. She was taken off all the offending foods, dust allergy precautions were done in her home, and her parents purchased air filters. When I saw her about a month later for follow-up, she was about 80% better, not having infections, her skin was healing, and she was able to pay better attention.

After that the family didn’t return, and I wondered what had happened. A year later I heard from her mother who wanted to come in for testing too. They had carefully followed the diet for the little girl, and her mother said that she had been in perfect health all year. She had only seen the doctor once that year, when she hurt her hand on the playground. Her mother also said that they went to a large family reunion, and many of her relatives didn’t recognize her because she looked so different. The bottom line here is that if the testing had not been accurate, avoiding all the reactive items would not have relieved all her symptoms.

Of course, not all results are quite that spectacular, but we have seen hundreds of adults and children make significant improvements in their health over the last five years. The results of the computer testing have, in a number of cases, compared accurately with ELISA testing. Generally if both parents and child are willing to find a diet that is free from the tested allergens, there is at least a 75 to 80 percent improvement. If you suspect that your child has food allergies, it might be advisable to get some testing done that can reveal delayed as well as immediate type allergies, and serve as a guide to positive changes in your child’s health.

For more information about Food Allergies in Children, call 773-935-6377

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