Gluten-free and still in pain?

If you have celiac disease/gluten-sensitivity, following a gluten-free diet prevents damage to your pancreas.

Are you still experience abdominal pain, gas, or diarrhea on a strict gluten-free diet?  Then, you may want to get evaluated for EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency).

The pancreas is an organ in the digestive system that functions as both an endocrine gland (secreting its products/hormones directly into the blood) and an exocrine gland (secreting its products through tube-like ducts).  The exocrine pancreas secretes the enzymes( lipase, protease, and amylase) needed for food digestion in the duodenum (first part of the small intestine), and bicarbonate to neutralize stomach acid.

The pancreas can become ineffective due to decreased production, stimulation, or delivery of its products.  Pancreatic diseases and conditions that can cause pancreatic damage severe enough to lead to insufficiency include:

• Celiac Disease/non-Celiac gluten intolerance
• Gastrointestinal surgery in which parts of the pancreas or stomach are removed;
• Crohn’s Disease, an inflammatory bowel disease that affects the lining of the digestive tract, causing the inability to absorb nutrients, and the pancreas to compensate;
• Diabetes
• Inflammation of the pancreas (chronic pancreatitis), which can result from chronic alcohol abuse or pancreatic disease;
• Cystic Fibrosis, a genetic disease that commonly begins in childhood, which can lead to exocrine pancreatic insufficiency by blocking the pancreas from secreting digestive enzymes;
• Autoimmune diseases, such as lupus.

There are a myriad of over-the-counter enzyme supplements.  However, the best path to healing is through the capable hands of your family doctor!

Good luck! Please, drop me a line to tell me how it works for you.

Congrats to our grads!

The moment she turned thirteen, my daughter became bored with school.  It was instant, just add a birthday!

Day in and day out was the same old story:  MOM, this is really boring stuff that I learned long, long, long ago… I finally had to do the unthinkable: test her.  For a child who hates testing, she did very well.  So well, that I had to reassess our whole approach to homeschooling.

Books, science kits and curriculum was ordered, shipped and dully received.  Then, school started at high school level: no ceremony, no graduation and no congratulation.

However, there was a very funny feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I had to do something “official” about her graduating eighth grade.

First of all, please accept my apologies for not believing you.  I just received this amazing commencement speech.  It says exactly what every grad needs to hear:

You can do it!

Are you a secret homeschooler?!!!!

So secret that even you don’t know about it.

My Mom homeschooled us through twelve years of public school.  And she never, ever heard the word homeschooling or SOCIALIZATION. What if you have been homeschooling your children?

Take the test and find out:

1. Do you set aside time to cuddle with your children and a good book?
2. Do you find yourself stepping over newly erected towns and/or mid-stream projects, or their ruins, when checking on your children?
3. Are extra-curriculum activities, like violin, skating, and soccer, dictating the flow of your schedule and/or budget?
4. Do you know, really know, your children’s friends and their parents?
5. Do you set aside time to get to know and support the teachers/tutors of your children (volunteers)?
6. Have you ever been surprised by how much you know about butterflies/cars/medieval knights (your son’s/daughter’s latest interest)?
7. Do you spend some of your weekends knee-deep in fractions (or whatever subject is baffling your child at the time)?
8. Have you spent the better part of a night listening to your teenager pouring his/her heart out?
9. Did you try to provide support for your child’s needs, in the form of therapist/tutors/doctors, before any problems become apparent to friends/neighbors?
10. Do you share your interests and thoughts with your children (according to their ages) and value their input?

If you answered “yes” to seven or more questions:

Congratulations, you are homeschooling.  Don’t be afraid!

Homeschooling has nothing to do with school or home.  It has everything to do with your vision for your child’s future and the methods you choose to accomplish those goals.  As a parent you have the right and duty to choose both, the vision and the methods.

My Grandma used to say that:

“God provides every baby with a loaf of bread and  a knife. It takes a parent to teach them how to use them safely!”

Go with the flow and don’t forget to stop and smell… the tulips!

Autism And The Real World

As a parent and tutor working with children on the autistic spectrum, I have been asked, many times, to provide parents with solutions to their daily struggles.  I have a very simple answer: start as you mean to go on.  This is what I mean: you are raising a future adult who happen to be small right now.  Keep your eyes on that goal, while celebrating each and every small victory.

On a more practical level, here are 10 tips for dealing with special needs children in general and autism in particular:

1. Focus.  One of the hallmarks of autism is obsessive and/or  repetitive behavior.  There is a tendency to discourage children from focusing exclusively on a narrow activity.  However, this same activity, like a deep interest in history or taking things apart, might be your child’s answer to a successful and fulfilling career.   For example, the child who, at 18 months old, is obsessively stacking cans might become a successful builder or architect.

   

   English: Subject: Quinn, an ~18 month old boy with autism, obsessively stacking cans. Date: Late 2002. Place: Walnut Creek, California. Photographer: Andwhatsnext. Scanned photograph. Credit: Copyright (c) 2003 by Nancy J Price (aka Mom). This is an edited version of Image:Autism-stacking-cans.jpg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2. Become a detective.  Observe your child’s minute reactions to change, social interactions and triggers.  As a parent, you are best suited in finding the thinks that make his life harder.  For example, bright days and loud environments add too much stimulation.  Have a pair of sunglasses for bright days and a safe hiding place (bedroom, closet or cardboard box) to use in case of over-stimulation.
3. Kinesthetic Learning.  Teaching children, as young as 18 months old, to work with their hands is paramount to their future development.  Order small size buckets, mops, brooms, dust pans and duster.  Boost his self-esteem  by showing him how  to be your “helper”.  Use a four step process to train your help: show, share, observe and check.  The hands-on approach will help with teaching math, in a couple of years.
4. Generalization.  Generalization is not an easy concept for children with autism.  For example, teaching a child to use a spoon for the ice cream might not help the same child in eating soup.  As frustrating as it sounds, keep calm and repeat the instructions.  If it does not work this time, back off, wait six months and try, try again!
5. Food Allergies.  Allergies,  like wheat/gluten, dairy, eggs, corn and soy, seem to be quite common in children with autism.  Work with an experienced allergist/nutritionist team to help detect and correct possible allergies.
6. Food Portions and Variety.  Food problems in autistic children mimic, at some extent, Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  They are very picky eaters  with delicate stomachs, a reduced menu and/or a skewed notion of portion size.  Replace dinner plates with small dessert plates to cut down on the amount of food consumed by an over-eater or to encouraged a child who has no interest in food.  Introduce new foods from the same botanic family to reduce the chances of allergic reactions.  Wait a week between trials to give the digestive system a chance to react and/or heal.
7. Sleep Deprivation.  I am not talking about the parent’s sleep deprivation, so prevalent in families dealing with special needs.  The inability to fall asleep and stay asleep is directly related to the successful production of Melatonin. Some  Melatonin is produced in the brain.  Five hundred times more Melatonin is produced in the intestine.  Therefore, an ill-functioning digestive system can’t produce the needed Melatonin for a restful night. Discuss with your family doctor the possibility of using small doses (1 mg) of Melatonin to alleviate some sleep problems.
8. Hearing Consonants.  Kids seem to hear everything, especially the things we don’t want them to hear.  Autistic children are no different with one exception: consonants.  An easy test for this problem is asking the child if he can hear water running or the sound made by an old-fashioned watch.  Most kids have problems with t, th, ng, z and v.  To help them hear better, try to lower your voice while pronouncing problem words.  If you have a high-pitched voice, like me, ask for help or use audiobooks read by a bass, baritone or alto.
9. Speech and Facial Expressions.  If you watch very closely, you’ll notice that kids with autism produce a “flat” speech (without any intonation).  Also, their facial expressions are unchanged.  Help them improve facial expressions by using exaggerated facial expressions to show the difference between happy, sad and angry, for example.  Start a daily reading time when enunciation and intonation are stressed to help a child modulate his speech.
10. Communication.  There is a very wide continuum in the autistic group when it comes to communication.  Some kids talk non-stop while others are non-verbal.  Non-verbal or very young children should be encouraged to communicate by using sign language.  The kids who are already talking should be taught to put their thoughts in order by narrating, with or without help, the events of the day.  This will set the stage for future success in reading and writing.

Good luck in your new adventure: discovering the gift of a different view!