The funny bone really isn’t funny! We call it that because if you accidentally bump this area known as your ulnar nerve, a shock wave feeling travels across your epicondyle which is a rounded, bony projection on the side of the bone in the top of your arm which we know better as the humerus bone. Hence the title “funny” bone.

During birth, it can be quite common for an infant to break their clavicle bone as they travel through the birth canal. There is no need to panic though as the high rate of bone growth in babies fixes the break within days of birth. 

Our first vertebra is called an Atlas after the mythological Greek God who was forced to hold the world on his shoulders; the round globe was likened to a person’s head and so named.

The spinal column consists of 5 regions:

• Cervical vertebrae – The neck area.
• Thoracic vertebrae – The upper chest and rib cage.
• Lumbar vertebrae – Lower back.
• Sacrum – Basically our rounded rump part.
• Coccyx – What we fondly refer to as the “tail” bone.

As the vertebrae travel down the spine they become progressively larger and sturdier to bear the weight of the body.

Did you know that babies are born without kneecaps? The kneecap bones develop between the age of 2 and 6 years old. The Patella or kneecap can be prone to injury such as runner’s knee, housemaid’s knee, or dislocation.

The femur (the long bone in your thigh) joins the tibia (lower leg) and between them they support the weight of our bodies. The fibula, located next to the tibia is much thinner than the tibia but is just as important to hold us up.

From Infancy through puberty, new bone formation exceeds bone breakdown. During adulthood the daily formation of new bone equals the daily rate of bone breakdown. In old age, the problem becomes one of bone breakdown exceeding bone formation; hence the bones become fragile and prone to fracture. At all stages of life, formation of new bone is dependent on having enough calcium and phosphorus in the diet. Eat a balanced diet with plenty of leafy green veggies and lots of fruit, and most important keep exercising to ward off that brittle and fracture prone stage of life.

Make an adjustment: Stay healthy ~ Be Happy!
Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan with your bone and joint health questions.
303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

If you think there is any chance your child has a vision problem consult a trained pediatric optometrist. The optometrist will give careful consideration to your child’s emerging visual abilities. In the event that they evaluate your child’s vision as significantly different from their peer group, your optometrist will guide you through further testing and examinations and develop a plan on how best to proceed from the initial examination.

All children are recommended to see a vision specialist at 6 months, 2.5 years, beginning kindergarten and every year thereafter.  The Optometric Extension Program Foundation Inc. (OEP)is a non profit foundation for education and research in vision, and recommends the following: 

Vision tracking goes further than just testing what the eye is seeing. It also incorporates general motor and bilateral development. After all a child who can not see properly will likely have cordination issues as well, including problems with both fine and gross motor skills. The idea is to increase a child’s vision success by continually challenging both the visual and motor skill combinations as they develop. Starting from as young as a new-born infant, you can work with your babys visual skills. For a child 0-3 playfully move your baby’s arms and legs, separately at first, and then in various combinations. Raise and lower your child while you gaze in each other’s eyes.

Play with your baby every single chance you get, bounce them on your knee and enjoy a gentle massage with baby lotion to keep both a close connection with your baby and also to get familiar with how they move and how their bodies feel.

To encourage visual focusing place a picture of a face 20-40 cms from the baby’s eyes. The face should be approximately 18 cms in diameter and the eyes in the face should be about 2 cms in diameter. Place the face on one side of the bassinet and change sides regularly until the age of about two months. Then hang it from the middle of the bassinet. Make sure you place the face so that the baby has the opportunity of looking towards each side of their body. Provide multi-colored objects for your baby to look at.

Place them in various positions within baby’s view, giving opportunities to look in different directions. Make sure your baby doesn’t face one side of the bassinet or a wall, using one eye all the time. Change the position of your baby, or that of the bassinet occasionally.

Between 4 and 8 months keep up with training your baby’s vision progress. For general motor and bilateral development place a kickable mobile at the end of the bassinet. Also, place a plastic, non-sharp, mirror in a place where your baby will catch a view of themselves. Roll a ball backwards and forwards to your child, play games like peek-a-boo and hide a rattle under blankets and make it reappear. This is fun for your baby and good for their visual development at the same time.

Between 9-18 months play games such as creeping through, around, over and under a family furniture obstacle course, this will keep the general motor skills and bilateral development on track. Encourage them to make small jumps and hops over very low objects. Enjoy playing games like pat-a-cake and other simple clapping games, and make it easy for your child to develop his/her gross motor skills by climbing objects such as stairs and steps.

Encourage eye-hand coordination by playing with stacking cups, blocks and other objects that stack, or fit inside each other, including simple puzzles.

As your child reaches pre-school age start making regular appointments with a vision specialist once a year. Vision problems caught at an early age, like most developmental issues, can sometimes be resolved, even without surgery.

Make an adjustment: Stay healthy ~ Be happy.
Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

Fever in children can be frightening, especially as they usually occur later in the day or evening after the doctor’s office has closed. But not all fevers should be feared.

If your child has a fever of less than 100.2 there is usually no reason to worry, unless the child is younger than 3 months old. For children younger than 3 months it is advisable to call the doctor if the baby’s rectal temp is a few degrees higher than the 98.6 normal body temperature, as it may be an indication of an infection.

Why does our body generate a fever? The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating our temperatures and it’s thought that as our body is invaded by bacteria or a virus our body produces a fever in response.

So, why does the hypothalamus tell the body to change to a new temperature? Researchers believe turning up the heat is the body’s way of fighting the germs that cause infections and making the body a less comfortable place for them. It also usually means your body is fighting the infection on its own.

If your child is responding fairly well and acting normally despite the fever it is advisable to let whatever it might be run its course. Make your child comfortable with loose clothing, limit physical activity and feed plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration and your child should be fever free within 24 hours. If the fever lasts more than 3 days it would be prudent to call and check-in with their doctor.

When should you call the doctor for a fever?  Children whose temperatures are lower than 102° typically only require medication if they’re uncomfortable. There’s one important exception to this rule: If you have an infant 3 months or younger with a rectal temperature of 100.4° or higher, call your doctor or go to the emergency department immediately. Even a slight fever can be a sign of a potentially serious infection in very young infants. It is not adviseable to administer the ‘usual’ over-the-counter medications to children this young without first speaking with your doctor.

If your child is between 3 months and 3 years old and has a fever of 102.2° or more, call the doctor to see if he or she needs to see your child. For older kids, take behavior and activity level into account.

Watching how your child behaves will give you a pretty good idea whether a minor illness is the cause or if your child should be seen by a doctor. The illness is probably not serious if your child:

• is still interested in playing
• is eating and drinking well
• is alert and smiling at you
• has a normal skin color
• looks well when his or her temperature comes down

Don’t worry its quite normal if your child refuses to eat, lack of appetite is common in reaction to an infection that might cause the fever. Just watch how much fluids go in and out. Ideally your child will produce tears when crying and urinate about once every 4 to 6 hours.

Sadly, despite the severity of a fever it’s hard to judge exactly how sick your child might be. High fevers in the 102-104 range can be caused by anything from a simple cold to some other viral infection, but again this doesn’t necessarily indicate a serious problem. More problematic is that sometimes a serious infection may cause no fever or may even result in an abnormally low body temperature, especially in infants.

As your child’s fever rises and falls, they might experience chills as the body tries to generate additional heat as its temperature begins to rise. The child may sweat as the body releases extra heat when the temperature starts to drop. This is quite typical.

Children with a fever often breathe faster than usual and may seem to have a higher heart rate. You should place a call to your doctor if your child is having difficulty breathing, is breathing faster than normal, or continues to breathe fast, especially if it continues after the fever comes down.

Call your doctor immediately if your baby or young child has any of these warning signs that may indicate something more serious than just a common cold or viral infection.

• Breathing problems, including wheezing
• Consistent vomiting or diarrhea
• Dry mouth
• Earache or an indication of ear pain
• A fever of several days duration
• Abnormal crying (hysterical or high-pitched)
• Is easily irritated, or very irritable
• Pale
• Seizures
• Severe headache
• Skin rash
• Sore or swollen joints
• Sore throat
• Stiff neck
• Stomach pains
• Swelling of the fontanel
• Unresponsive and / or limp, lethargic
• Whimpering and in constant obvious pain

Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at Fontana Chiropractic 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com
Make an adjustment: Stay Healthy ~ Be Happy!

Now no-one wants to take the fun out of Halloween, it’s a spooky, cute tradition that my children adore. But, I absolutely refuse to let my little darlings turn into Mr. Hyde  after a hard night binging on colorful candy treats.

I don’t want to spoil the fun of trick or treating, or the joy of handing out treats to the other kids in the neigborhood, but I can limit what my children ingest. We live in a neighborhood that attracts several hundred children on Halloween night; it starts with a parade and finishes with kids going door to door to collect their treats.

Around 6:00 pm the little kids come by with little buckets or baskets, escorted by giggling parents holding cameras and snapping away furiously as their little bumble-bee or pea-pod climbs onto my porch and lisps “twick or tweat.”

Around 7 pm -ish we see the older kids about 8-12 years old, still polite, and dressed up but instead of the little bucket they come bearing a large pillow case, these kids are still quite happy for you to dispense one candy or treat into their carry alls.

Later, around 8 pm the big kids start to come by, and this is where I have one problem with Halloween night. Seriously shouldn’t one stop trick or treating at an age where stubble starts to show through the face paint, or when you are not actually wearing a costume but you are just looking scary with your girlfriends/ mother’s/ aunts eyeliner while toting a large black trash bag. Please don’t expect me to dish out my Newman’s Own candy treats, or even the little toys that I bought especially for tonight. Seriously do you really want or need a pirate yo-yo or a bouncy ball – I think not. Worse yet, these are the kids whose parents or older friends stay in the car, driving slowly down the street as their kids/friends troll door to door, scaring old ladies and making dogs bark in fright.

Remember little kids are cute; teens beyond puberty are just plain weird and scary.

Anyway my point being – handing out gluttonous amounts of nasty chemicals to kids dressed in weird outfits is just a tirade waiting to happen. This Halloween make a stand, get your kids to trade candy with the “Halloween Fairy” – switch their chemical laden chocolate and high fructose corn syrup concoctions and swop it for the good, old fashioned non-chemical variety. Yes it is out there, and making a come-back. Now I confess I do not hand out the ‘good’ candy to trick-or-treaters – it does tend to be more expensive, so instead  I buy little bouncy balls, kaleidoscopes, crayons, note pads and other trivial trashy fare (I am looking for the lesser of two evils obviously) and hand that out. By 8:00 pm I turn off my porch light, thereby avoiding the Mad Max teenagers looking for left-over candy.

So for my kids, A: They are limited to the amount of candy they can keep and B: They get to choose from my stash of gluten free, natural, non-preservative, chemical and additive free candy. And in return I don’t get two out-of-control, tummy aching, whiny, junk laden kids to deal with, well at least not because of the candy.

Where to get this candy? Some I buy online, some is purchased from our local supermarket, health food store, or the farmers market. See some of our favorites below:

Natural Candy Store: Gummy Bears, cotton candy and the Natural candy party mix. We can also get gluten/dairy free candy here.

Sunspire Drops - colorful M&M type candy.

Yummy Earth Lollipops and candy

Any of the Newman’s Own candy works as well, that seems to be readily available at most retail stores.

Pretty much we can replicate whatever the other kids are eating but in a natural healthy (!) way, or as healthy as candy can be, because as I am sure you will agree, I am pretty sure the apple won’t suffice on this occasion.

Have a safe, happy, and tolerant Halloween holiday.

For your entire chiropractic healthcare needs call

Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at Fontana Chiropractic 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

Make an adjustment: Stay Healthy ~ Be Happy!

• 1 in 6 children (school age) are learning delayed.
• 1 in 150 children has an autism spectrum disorder.
• 1 in 95 of boys has an autism spectrum disorder.
• 7% of children seen at psychiatric facilities fit bi-polar disorder.
• 15,000 children each year are diagnosed with juvenile diabetes: that’s 40 children per day.
• As many as 3 million Americans may have type 1 diabetes.
• Between 16-33% of children and adults are obese.
• Infertility affects 1 in 6 couples.

Learning delays encompass many different disorders including but not limited to: dyslexia, central auditory processing disorder, sensory processing disorders, ADD, ADHD, PDD, and other behavioral / learning disorders. The data for autism or ASD disorders is huge in regards to current trends.  In 2003 a federal study found that at least 425,000 American children under 18 had some form of autism, including 114,000 children under 5.  Talk About Curing Autism lists current data as an estimated 1 million in the US as having autism spectrum disorder, this figure does not include any of the letter disorders, JUST Autism. That’s a terrific jump in just 5 years. In California there are currently two new cases recognized every day!

Bipolar disorder is also becoming more and more common in young children. Recently Newsweek ran a great article about the increase of childhood bipolar disorder. In the article a 7 year old boy with the disorder discusses his unhappiness, the various suicide notes he has written, and one attempt to take his own life. His parents discuss how they deal with Max’s diagnosis. One of the challenges with bipolar disorder is getting a correct diagnosis; some MD’s still maintain that children do not suffer from this disorder – try telling that to Max. Children with bipolar present with irritability, hyperactivity and distractibility, similar symptoms as ADD, ADHD and PDD.  But the elated mood, grandiose ideas, hyper-sexuality, a decreased need for sleep and mania,  occur primarily in bipolar disorder. Watch for elated, hysterically, happy, laughing children when the hysterical laughter occurs for no reason. This can happen in church, at home or at school.  Grandiose behaviors such as children who act as if the rules are not for them, they tell teachers what to teach, other students what to learn or do, and complain about authority figures. Some children are convinced they can do superhuman deeds without pain i.e. flying out of windows playing Superman. Finally, topic switching or ‘flight of ideas’, and a decreased need for sleep. Many of these children only sleep 4-6 hours a day. Watch for these behaviors to cycle throughout the day. To learn more on bipolar disorder go to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Juvenile diabetes is also on the rise, and can be detected in up to 15,000 children per year by looking for the warning signs: extreme thirst, frequent urination, drowsiness or lethargy, increased appetite, sudden weight loss for no reason, sudden vision changes, sugar in urine, fruity odor on breath, heavy or labored breathing and stupor or unconsciousness.  All these symptoms may come suddenly: For more on Juvenile Diabetes.

We have to question what it is we are doing as a society when we are choosing to leave our children this legacy.  It has been said that this is the first generation that is seeing lower survival rates than its parents. Yes the FIRST! Let’s hope that this isn’t the first of many.  As national infertility increases, the question of what has gone wrong in our biological birth and nurture program has to be asked, and more importantly we have to recognize the problems and find resolutions NOW. 

If you suspect your child has any of these conditions please consult with their pediatrician as soon as possible.  Testing and therapies are available and the younger the child starts intervention, the better the prognosis.

Make an adjustment: Stay Healthy ~ Be Happy: Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan for your next chiropractic adjustment at 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com
 

The study, which was conducted in London, appears in the June issue of Lancet Neurology. One group of children had seizures reduced by half, and in five children seizures were reduced by more than 90 percent.

The Ketogenic Diet uses very high amounts of fat and must be precisely controlled to achieve benefits; parents receive training from the various centers around the world that use the diet.

While the Feingold Association applauds the parents and doctors who opt to follow this regimen, we believe that an initial trial of the much simpler Feingold Diet would be wise since we have had positive results addressing seizures. The Ketogenic Diet includes sythetic additives that are removed on the Feingold Program.

Reprinted from Pure Facts, the newsletter if the Feingold Association of the United States, Feingold

The Ketogenic Diet is not to be undertaken lightly, it is a strict eating program low in carbohydrates and high in good fats.  It can be stressful on the kidneys so should always be followed under a physician’s care. The amazing sucess rate (2 out of 3 children who try it, reduce or eliminte seizure activity) makes it worth while trying.  Many parents try it in conjunction with other therapies.  Often parents find a combination of therapies and diet work the best to control any seizure activity.

What to do during a seizure:

1. Stay calm and stay with your child.
2. Try to take note of what time the seizure starts and stops, and pay attention to which body parts are affected.
3. Try to lay the child on the floor making sure their head is stable, lay them over on their side in the recovery position, a soft pillow or object may be placed under their head to prevent injury.
4. Keep the child on their side, in case they vomit they should not be on their back to prevent choking.
5. Loosen tight clothing
6. Gently slide your child away from tables, chairs or other sharp, heavy objects that may cause injury.
7. Do not try to force anything between the teeth, or open the mouth. If there is mucous or food gently try to remove it.
8. Do not try to stop the movement.
9. Do not try to shake a child out of a seizure.

There may be subtle signs that your child is about to have a seizure, some children get a feeling before the seizure: Muscle twitching, irritability, headache, stomach upset or vision changes are all common things to watch for.

Call 911 if your child turns bluish or has trouble breathing, call your doctor or emergency services if the seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes, the child is not awake after 30 minutes, there is a change in frequency or type of seizure activity, the child has a fever with no obvious reason as to why.  Always call 911 if there is a medical emergency you do not feel you can deal with. 

Make an adjustment. Stay Healthy ~ Be Happy: Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at Fontana Chiropractic, Evergreen CO. 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

After being given the diagnosis of Autism many parents are bewildered and devastated, once the realization sets in it can be hard to really know where to go from that diagnosis.  The CARE center in our situation handed us a folder with lots of information on autism but no real guidelines on recovering from it, there were suggestions for all kinds of interventions but no real road map on what/why/where and how. We, like many families, could have been clueless as to where to start and what might work. Luckily, or unluckily whichever way you choose to spin it, we had been working on our son’s recovery for the previous 17 months, so we felt we were ahead of the game; he had been enrolled in occupational therapies and speech therapies for the same length of time.  I had also started to clean up his food and added supplements to his diet.  Actually, getting the autism diagnosis was a shock to us as we had believed all along that he was going to receive a PDD-NOS diagnosis. It just so happened that the day we went for the evaluation he was regressing somewhat, maybe his yeast was flaring or he was just having a bad week I don’t remember exactly, anyway that day he exhibited every behavior we had seen that brought us to this point. He had no imaginative play, limited eye contact, and that week he had also regressed back to echolalia which had really been dissipating. That day saw him repeating the random sentences (even with his funny, stilted speech you could hear the inflections mimicking theirs) that the care counselors said, while for the very first time, tip toeing around the room. I, and his Early Intervention Specialist who had accompanied me to the evaluation, explained that this was not typical for him; he NEVER walked on his toes, even when he was learning to toddle, but that day he toddled around tippy toed repeating sentences to no one in particular, it struck me as odd that this was the day he chose to put it all together and do that.  

Initially when we had been given an at-risk diagnosis when he was 19 months I had jumped on the internet to find the ‘cure’ that was going to fix him (thank goodness for Google!).  I spent hours on the internet, first finding the book “The Late Talker” recommended by our Pediatrician, and then onto websites; such as the defeat autism now (DAN!) site, to reading random papers on the subject, reading excerpts from books and, most importantly to me at that time and still now: other parents accounts listing symptoms, interventions and dietary changes they had tried in their efforts to help their children.

Eventually I came across the book, Children with Starving Brains, A medical Treatment Guide for Autism Spectrum Disorder, 2nd Edition, updated 2005. Jaquelyn McCandless, MD.    This book was first published in 2002, but updated in 2005. In the Introductory chapter the author writes: “I will explain more about ASD causation models in Chapter One to help parents understand the rationale behind the various treatments. Chapter Two discusses nutritional deficiency as a common denominator in almost all ASD children and emphasizes the importance of the gastrointestinal tract and its relationship with the immune system. Accumulation of toxins, especially heavy metals and the “autism/vaccination” controversy are discussed at length in Chapter Three on Impaired Detoxification, Toxic Accumulations, and Politics. Chapter Four is dedicated to diagnostic evaluations, including a description of laboratory tests that help guide treatment and monitor its progress. Chapters Five to Eight delineate the Biomedical Treatments for ASD that I use in my practice. These include Gastrointestinal Healing, Feeding the Starving Brain, and Chelation Therapy (Removing the Toxins) – based on the DAN! [Defeat Autism Now] Protocol – and Immunity, Autoimmunity and Viruses.” 

I had an epiphany – this was the first place I had found a list of how/why/which/ and when, the almost “how-to-guide” on recovering from autism.  Much of what I was reading in this book made so much sense to me.  It was – finally – a road map for us to use to help our son; best of all there are many suggestions on how parents can start the recovery process through diet and supplements themselves.

Dr. McCandless became interested in the treatments for ASD disorders after her Granddaughter was diagnosed with Autism in 1996.   This book is basically a handbook on treatment options and possible illnesses related to the autism diagnosis.  When we realized our son had developmental, sleep and gastrointestinal issues, we started to look outside of medical interventions to help find both the cause and the best treatment for his puzzling symptoms.  All his illnesses seemed to be separate but in my mind there was no doubt that something bigger was going on.  Looking at the whole picture: excessive tantrums, lack of eye contact, lack of interaction, speech and cognitive delays, sleep problems and gastrointestinal issues, it occurred to me that they might all be linked together. If we could just get to the underlying cause we could maybe resolve many of these issues altogether, I still believe this today, more than ever.  At any given time my son is on - an iron supplement for his periodic limb movement sleep disorder, pro and prebiotics for his gastrointestinal problems, black walnut to treat his parasite (we have moved beyond MD prescribed drugs that couldn’t resolve the parasite issue), Nystatin for a yeast problem, Taurine to help his moods and hyperactive tendencies, and more, the list goes on and on, each morning we line up the plethora of vitamin and mineral supplements, one of which, Brainchild Nutritionals, is targeted for children on the spectrum, and off we go about our day.

We have utilized the care and dedication of Developmental Pediatricians, General Pediatricians, DAN!  Doctors, Chiropractic care, Naturopaths and Homeopaths. Finally, we have met an amazing homeopath (thanks to another parent) who has taken my son beyond that which we had ever hoped, and its happening in a very short time. 

I firmly believe, every problem in life has a solution and there was a big problem looming ahead of us at one time, I am forever grateful that we began researching options for treatments. In our sons case, the use of the gluten free/casein free diet, the Feingold plan and some other key natural options, together with early intervention (which I believe is also key to his recovery) have been effective in helping him reach for his true potential. Our interventions both speech/OT and herbal/medical have been many; some have been pointless (one being pharmaceutical parasite treatments, parasites are notoriously hard to resolve) and some have worked amazingly well (his current homeopath). So we consider him well on the way to reaching that potential we know is possible. There are still areas we need to work with, after all the parasites are still there, causing untold problems in his gut, and he still has some speech and social delays but we can now say with confidence that he is well on his well to being a “typical” kindergartner. 

The question still remains: How did we even get here? The parasite is where I believe his problems started, it’s my thoughts that the ingestion of that bug caused a domino effect on his physiology, and the more we added to the gastrointestinal stress he was under from the parasite the further my son stepped into the autism diagnosis.  His gut was more and more overloaded and he became intolerant even to basic foods.  Had we realized the parasite was there, wreaking havoc, I feel sure if we could have cleaned that up before completing his onslaught of vaccines, we would have been giving him a chance to be a ‘typical’ toddler, instead of a kid being dragged from one intervention session to another, from one Doctor to the next, from one treatment … and the story goes on.

Dr. McCandless writes in Vaccination News

“As a clinician, my current belief which guides my practice with these children is that any child given the HepB vaccination at birth and subsequent boosters along with DPT has received unacceptable levels of neurotoxin in the form of the ethyl mercury in the thimerosal preservative used in the vaccine. In any child with a genetic immune susceptibility (probably about one in six) this sets off a series of events that injure the brain-gut-immune system. By the time they are ready to receive the MMR vaccination, their immune system is so impaired in a great number of these children that the triple vaccine cannot be handled by the now dysfunctional immune system and they begin their obvious descent into the autistic spectrum disorder.”

As parents, we all look forward to enjoying our toddlers, screaming tantrums and all, what you don’t expect is a spacey vacant child, a child who ignores your basic requests, a child who doesn’t want to be held, interact with you or even respond to his name.  We parents live for the interaction, the reciprocal emotions from our children and when that isn’t forthcoming it is both confusing and heart breaking.  I distinctly remember the very first time our son showed true, spontaneous affection (previously we needed to force hugs on this kid, you’d hug he’d squirm and wriggle until you released) this particular time he was two years and two months old, we had recently moved to a new house, in a new state and the transition was difficult to say the least.  We had finally got his bedroom and beloved crib back together and I think he was beginning to feel settled again, I was sat on the floor talking with my husband in the corner of the room, my son toddled over, reached around my neck very briefly and then toddled away, my husband and I looked at each other in astonishment. It took many more months for him to repeat that spontaneous interaction but I had seen it, and we knew it was just a matter of time before we could make it come back. Now, at 4 years old, finally, our son is affectionate (most of the time, when he forgets he is a 4 year old boy!!), it’s a joy to both feel and see him emerging from his little cocoon, the other night he told me “Mummy you rock my world, you are the most beautiful princess ever!” and that night I really felt I might be.

Make an adjustment, stay healthy ~ be happy: call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at 303.674.1500 or email

The survey included dozens of drugs, from Adderall to Zoloft and the tabulated results show if the child got worse, had no effect or got better.  Antifungals and seizure medicine showed mostly positive results, but ADHD medicine had more negative outcomes than positive. Most supplements showed a high percentage of improvement and generally small numbers of children whose behavior got worse.

The fewest negative effects were reported for the diets. Both the Feingold Diet and the Candida Diet helped 56%, the Gluten-Free/Casein-Free diet helped 66% and the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) helped 69%.  The SCD aids the digestive system in healing by limiting selected carbohydrates. A feature of most healing diets is the fact that they generally do not contain the synthetic additives excluded by the Feingold Diet, so children on other regimens are likely to also be on Stage two of our (Feingold) diet.

Survey results are found at form34qr

One mother has given a face and a family to the growing problem of manipulated food. Robyn O’Brien’s story has been the topic of TV interviews and articles in newspapers and amgazines. She quickly changed from a trusting consumer to an angry mother after her youngest child had a severe allergic reaction to food. Her web site offers innovative stickers, lunch bags and wristbands to help parents let others know of their child’s sensitivities.

Reprinted from Pure Facts, the newsletter of the Feingold Association of the United States, www.feingold.org

The diets mentioned above are not just for children with autism, they can help you too.  Too much yeast can make you tired, give you brain fogs, and make you more prone to viral infections. Yes these problems could all be due to too much yeast. It is also thought that gluten sensitivities now affect 1/10 people. This particular problem usually shows as constipation or diarrhea, but in severe cases it can even cause nausea or vomiting after eating a food containing gluten. Usually people discover this intolerance after suffering bouts of achy joints, tiredness, stomach problems, malaise and other symptoms similar to chronic fatigue syndrome. 

Any of these diets can be done as an elimination diet to see if it might help your health. When trying the gluten free diet for autism, it is suggested the diet be followed for a minimum of 6 months as most benefits will not be apparent until the 5th or 6th month.  Removing casein or dairy from your diet should show positive improvements within three to four weeks.

Ask Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan, if you suffering any of the above symptoms, as they can best advise you which diet or elimination to try first, they will also give advice on supplements to ensure optimum health during any yeast eradication diet or change of diet regime in general.

Make an adjustment, Stay healthy ~ Be happy: Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at 303.674.1500, or email office@fontanachiro.com

Autism is treatable. Children do not “outgrow” autism, but studies show that early diagnosis and intervention lead to significantly improved outcomes. Here are some signs to look for in the children in your life:
• Lack of or delay in spoken language
• Repetitive use of language and/or motor mannerisms (e.g., hand-flapping, twirling objects)
• Little or no eye contact
• Lack of interest in peer relationships
• Lack of spontaneous or make-believe play
• Persistent fixation on parts of objects

The March of Dimes has this list to help parents decide if they are actually seeing autism in their child or if it might be a normal developmental stage. Each child with autism is unique, but some common characteristics and behaviors may include (2, 3):

• Repeats words
• Doesn’t play “pretend” games
• Doesn’t point at objects or wave “bye-bye”
• Is overly active
• Has frequent temper tantrums
• Avoids eye contact
• Has difficulty starting or maintaining conversation
• Does not respond to being called by name
• Repeats actions again and again
• Focuses on single subject or activity
• Wants to be alone
• Is overly sensitive to the way things feel, sound, taste or smell
• Dislikes being held or cuddled
• Has sleep disturbances
• Lacks fear in risky situations
• Is aggressive
• Hurts himself
• Loses skills (for example, stops saying words he used to say)

Children with a mild autistic spectrum disorder called Asperger syndrome share some of the features of autism. However, children with Asperger syndrome have normal intelligence and learn to speak at the expected age.

When is autism diagnosed?    A child with autism usually does not look different from other children. The child may appear to develop normally for the first year or so of life. But during the second year of life, some children with autism begin to fall behind in social skills, fail to develop speech, or even lose skills that they had previously acquired. Autism is often diagnosed around age 3, though it can sometimes be diagnosed as early as 18 months (2).

Autsim Speaks has some excellent videos to view of children who already have the autism diagnosis.
I urge anyone and everyone to watch if they are at all concerened about thier child or are looking for help in finding assistance and resources for a child already diagnosed. If you have no real idea what autism is and what signs to look for with your child, this is a great place to start.

Other places you can go to research resources and information are as follows:

NIH

Autism Society

Talk About Curing Autism

Make an adjustment, stay healthy ~ be happy: Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

My son has autism; he is on the spectrum and also has a diagnosis of hyperactivity. He is what is considered a high functioning child; whatever that means to you, it probably means something else to another person.  For most people, their ideas about autism are based on the movie “Rain Man” – this was a movie staring Dustin Hoffman as an autistic savant and his brother played by Tom Cruise.  The movie was loosely based on a man by the name of Kim Parks who was a true savant. I urge you to click on Kim’s name to see who he really is.

What is a Savant? Autistic savant: A person with autism who is exceptionally gifted in a specialized field. That field may, for example, be mathematics. The autistic savant may be able to do rapid, complex mental calculations. Or the field may be music. The autistic savant may be able to perform an entire piece of music after hearing it only once. It is said that only 10% of people with Autism will be a Savant.

Autism is known as a Spectrum Disorder for a reason, as there is a wide range of what it means to have Autism. The definition of autism is as follows: Autism (sometimes called “classical autism”) is the most common condition in a group of developmental disorders known as the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).   Autism is characterized by impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and unusual, repetitive, or severely limited activities and interests.  Other ASDs include Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (usually referred to as PDD-NOS).  Experts estimate that three to six children out of every 1,000 will have autism.  Males are four times more likely to have autism than females.

What are some common signs of autism? There are three distinctive behaviors that characterize autism.    Autistic children have difficulties with social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors or narrow, obsessive interests.  These behaviors can range in impact from mild to disabling. The hallmark feature of autism is impaired social interaction.  Parents are usually the first to notice symptoms of autism in their child.  As early as infancy, a baby with autism may be unresponsive to people or focus intently on one item to the exclusion of others for long periods of time.  A child with autism may appear to develop normally and then withdraw and become indifferent to social engagement.  Children with autism may fail to respond to their name and often avoid eye contact with other people.  They have difficulty interpreting what others are thinking or feeling because they can’t understand social cues, such as tone of voice or facial expressions, and don’t watch other people’s faces for clues about appropriate behavior.  They lack empathy. 
Many children with autism engage in repetitive movements such as rocking and twirling, or in self-abusive behavior such as biting or head-banging.  They also tend to start speaking later than other children and may refer to themselves by name instead of “I” or “me.”  Children with autism don’t know how to play interactively with other children.  Some speak in a sing-song voice about a narrow range of favorite topics, with little regard for the interests of the person to whom they are speaking.  Many children with autism have a reduced sensitivity to pain, but are abnormally sensitive to sound, touch, or other sensory stimulation.  These unusual reactions may contribute to behavioral symptoms such as a resistance to being cuddled or hugged.    Children with autism appear to have a higher than normal risk for certain co-existing conditions, including fragile X syndrome (which causes mental retardation), tuberous sclerosis (in which tumors grow on the brain), epileptic seizures, Tourette syndrome, learning disabilities, and attention deficit disorder.  For reasons that are still unclear, about 20 to 30 percent of children with autism develop epilepsy by the time they reach adulthood.  While people with schizophrenia may show some autistic-like behavior, their symptoms usually do not appear until the late teens or early adulthood.  Most people with schizophrenia also have hallucinations and delusions, which are not found in autism”

As I mentioned in the first part of this article, people have a very definite idea of what a child with autism looks like, how they behave, even how they interact with other people.  Autism is a complex neurological disorder and no two children are alike, although all these children tend to share certain communalities.  Whenever it is said “he/she doesn’t look like they have autism” you have to ask the question “exactly what does autism look like?” Some children do resist all and any interaction with other people, other’s (see Kim Parks) enjoy interactions with other humans, they may not interact with the same social awareness or cues that a neuro-typical person does, but its often a misnomer to believe there is no communication or a desire to communicate. The internet is full of information on Autism, some great sites to visit are Autism Speaks, National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Autism Association.  Autism is affecting millions of children, be informed, become an advocate, help understand the challenges and abilities of these children.

Make an adjustment, stay healthy ~ be happy: Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at 303.674.1500 to schedule a consultation or email office@fontanachiro.com