Dietary Supplements

The boys' current supplements - some they've been taking for a long time, some are new.

multivitamin - chewable for DS1, gummy for DS2
fish oil - capsule for DS1, new liquid for DS2
digestive enzymes - new chewable for both (one with each meal)
probiotic - new powder for both (once a day)
melatonin - tablet for DS1 most nights at his request (really helps him fall asleep)

DS2 can't swallow pills yet, so I have to find chewable and gummy things for him.  He was taking a gummy fish oil, but it wasn't that great of a product.  This new liquid one is excellent - it's berry flavored and he got used to taking it after the first few times.

Sarge mentioned possibly doing targeted amino acid therapy with the boys in a few months once their digestion is improved.  He recommends continuing to cut out dairy while adding in digestive enzymes and probiotics.  The amino acid therapy looks interesting, I need to read up more on that.  The enzymes and probiotics are an easy addition and I'm curious if we will see any difference.

If you want to learn more about melatonin (good stuff!) you can read more about it on the melatonin wikipedia page.

Sarge's article: Neurological Reorganization for Brain Injury

Neurological Reorganization for Brain Injury by Sargent L. Goodchild, Jr.

What is Neurological Reorganization?

The more I read about NR, the more fascinated (and hopeful) I become.  It seems to me that many kids can benefit from this type of work and I'd like to help more people learn about it.  I can't personally vouch for it yet since we're just beginning our program, but it makes so much sense.

Here is one description from the Neurodevelopmental Solutions website:


Neurological reorganization addresses a spectrum of emotional, behavioral, academic, and physical challenges that arise as a result of disrupted early childhood development. There is a specific developmental sequence babies complete in utero and during the first year of life that triggers healthy brain function. If a child is not given the opportunity to complete the developmental sequence or experiences a traumatic event, functional deficits occur that can affect the rest of their lives.

Neurological reorganization is a process that replicates the normal movement, reflex and sensory experiences that occur during a child’s first year to stimulate the brain’s ability to repair it’s self without the use of medications.

No sit-ups

Sarge said he doesn't want the boys doing sit-ups or crunches in gym class or karate.  I don't think the gym teacher believed DS1 and asked for a note.  This is Sarge's letter:

DS1 has recently begun care at Active Healing, Inc. to address factors believed to be at the root of his challenges with focus and attention. During a thorough evaluation of his developmental profile it was determined he has yet to establish a sophisticated patterns in regard to either his tummy crawling or his hands and knees creeping. Furthermore, it was also determined he has not inhibited several primitive reflexes of which one is the Moro.

The ability to crawl is a functional skill derived from the pons level of the brain. The pons, among other responsibilities, signals production of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is known as the “happy” neurotransmitter and helps calm us and relieve anxiety. A lack of sophistication at the level of the pons as demonstrated by DS1 usually coincides with a higher level of anxiety.

The Moro reflex is a startle reflex that should be inhibited by 5 months of age. When it persists in a child as old as DS1 it raises their level of anxiety by lowering their startle threshold. These children typically like a set routine, become controlling and have difficulty with transitions.

Having identified these factors within DS1 and discussed them with his parents it has been decided to work on these aspects of his developmental profile. Of course, it is everyone’s hope that by giving him mastery in these and other areas he will progress into the future unencumbered by these factors.

It is important during this process to make certain accommodations and adjustments to our expectations of DS1. At this point in time and until further notice he should be excused from doing anything that approximates a Moro response. This includes crunches and sit-ups.

Please contact me if you have any questions or need further details about DS1's case.

Seems strange that such a simple movement could be so powerful.  Yet another interesting element of the program for me to ponder...

2 Weeks In...

So we're just over two weeks into the program and so far, so good.  We've been good about getting at least one session each day, even though the program calls for 2 (and even 3 of a few things).  It's just hard to fit it all in - nothing can get done before school (I can barely get them together and onto the bus by 7:35am) and doing some after school means we're doing another session just a couple of hours later.  Anyway, we're doing pretty darn good.

We also cut milk out of their diets.  It almost caused a full scale revolt since DS1 drinks at least a gallon of chocolate milk a week and DS2 drinks the same amount of white milk.  We have substituted Gatorade for now (I'm not a huge fan of it, but my MIL buys it for them and they like it).  Baby steps.  It's been almost 2 weeks off milk (I haven't tackled the rest of dairy like cheese and yogurt yet) and suddenly in the last few days DS1's appetite has totally picked up.  It is so exciting because he is such a picky eater and has been eating less and less food and is getting scrawny.  He's one of the littlest kids in his grade.  He eats no fruits or vegetables, much to my dismay and I have a lot of trouble just finding half-decent things he'll eat.

I also dropped his concerta dose from 27mg back to 18mg which may have helped his appetite, too.  I don't really notice any decline in the effect of the concerta so we'll stay at 18 and see how it goes.  Ultimately, it would be so amazing to be able to discontinue any adhd meds as we progress through the program.

I have some video clips I put together and plan to continue taking videos of their progress as we go along.

This is during the initial evaluation appointment before starting the program.  DS2 had a very strong response to the spinal galant test where you can see he kept his head down and started crying.  Sarge said he's never had a kid react like that.  You can also see their crawling and creeping patterns and a little skipping and hopping.  evaluation highlights

This is DS1 about 10 days into the program.  This is DS2 about 10 days into the program.

Today, Saturday 10/16, DS2 had such an amazing therapy session I actually had tears in my eyes.  He had beautiful form on his patterns, didn't whine and get distracted and just did a fantastic job.  I was so proud of him and really played it up with him giving him huge hugs and hi 5's and made a big deal about it.  He was really tickled and hopefully will keep up the good work.  Both boys were actually very well behaved today and I praised them a lot for it.

Sarge is also a big proponent of chiropractic care and the boys and I have been seeing the chiropractor that originally told me about him for about a month now.  I like her a lot, she thoroughly evaluated the boys and sees the boys weekly (twice a week for the first few weeks).  They seem to like going to her, but I always feel stressed when we go because the boys are all over the place there.  They're pulling delicate things off the shelves to play with, fighting with each other, messing around with the adjustments on the tables, asking for animal crackers or just generally being pains in the asses.  Sometimes I feel like taking them places is like trying to herd cats.  Today at the chiropractors, they were very well behaved and easy going.

Is today's success the beginning of progress from the new program (exercises, no dairy, extra vitamins, chiropractic care) or just a good day?  We'll see, but it's still good  :)

Getting started

Once we decided to go ahead with the program, the next steps were to go up for a full evaluation that took all afternoon and go up the following week for an afternoon of Sarge training us how to start the programs.

We decided to focus more on DS2 because his needs are greater, but DS1 will be doing most of the same work, plus a few things of his own.  It's just me and the boys during the week because my husband works long hours, so the boys would be together doing the work anyway.

On the day of the evaluation I didn't give DS1 his adhd medication (concerta) because I am getting very concerned about his lack of appetite and because I thought it might be helpful for Sarge to see him without it.  He was so impulsive and all over the place it was disheartening.  DS2 wasn't much better with the influence of his big brother and the stress of being asked to do things that are hard for him.  I was aggravated and frazzled (when am I not?  sigh...)

Sarge has this chart "The Ontogeny of Human Neurologic Functions" which starts at birth and goes thru 12 stages to around age 6 and covers the categories of vision, auditory, tactile, mobility, language, manual.  By going over each skill and stage, he measures whether the kids are functional, need work or are lacking in each area.  As we go along he will periodically retest and we will be able to measurably see the progress the boys make.

We will go up to see Sarge every 2 months or so with a full reevaluation at 4 month intervals.

How I learned about Active Healing, Inc.

My husband started seeing a new chiropractor a few months ago and really likes her.  She and I got together to talk about me coming to work for her part-time (I'm a massage therapist).  As the conversation meandered, we started talking about my boys and their issues.

She mentioned her friend & associate Sargent Goodchild at Active Healing in Magnolia, MA.  (There's an interesting name!)  She had a lot of positive things to say and suggested I contact him for a free screening.  I did and brought the boys up to see him in August.  He picked up on enough stuff in the brief free screening (no surprise to me) that he thought he could help them.

My husband and I went back to see him to learn more about him and what they do there and ask him lots of questions.  My husband and I talked it over and thought long and hard about the cost of the program and the potential benefits if it works like Sarge says it will.

Many of the things Sarge talks about make sense to me based on other things I have read and researched.  Some of the things are more 'out there' and I'm not entirely sure about yet.

We decided to give it a go.  To imagine that in 12-18 months my son's developmental delays can be integrated and he can catch up with his peers is very exciting.  Honestly, what better thing in the world can we spend our money on?  I keep thinking that we are taking a leap of faith.