Let’s discuss a little about the benefits of cod liver oil. Cod liver oil has become a very important remedy in the Autism community for many years. Many children show positive benefits with the use of this oil. It has essential fats that help the brain develop like EPA and DHA. This is also rich in natural vitamin A which is very important for eye health as well.

Dr. Megson is a researcher who found many years ago that many children with Autism seem to have problems with visual stimming. This could include side glancing, flicking their fingers in front of their eyes, or other things from a visual standpoint. Many of these children found benefits in as little as a teaspoon or two per day of cod liver oil and had a reduction in visual stims. The natural vitamin A in the oil was benefiting the receptors in the retina. So this oil provided support and influenced the way visual information was being transmitted from the eye to visual cortex in the brain.

This theory has been proven correct many, many times over the years as well. Now cod liver oil is a very common supplement for children with Autism who have many of these visual issues like stimming or side glancing. It can be used as a remedy for some of those visual behaviors and is usually included in many supplement programs. Often times you will see recommendations for a basic multi-vitamin and multi-mineral, a probiotic, maybe zinc and cod liver oil.

You may want to consider cod liver oil as a support for your child to aid in visual issues like stimming and side glancing. The abundant essential fats and vitamin A found in this oil make it a very nice supplement to add and it is generally easy to give to your child. New Beginnings Nutritionals carries a couple of versions of cod liver oil. I believe that you will find cod liver oil to be a very helpful remedy for your child.

Inflammation is known to be a big problem in chronic illness. Inflammation is always a problem in degenerative conditions we see in our country like diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, autoimmune disorders, and cancer, and it is even more problematic when the inflammation is chronic. We also see a problem with inflammation in Autism, especially neurological inflammation. There are several markers that can indicate inflammation that may be impacting these kids neurologically, tumor necrosis factor and interferon gamma are two.

Many children with Autism can have an issue with digestive inflammation and particularly, inflammatory bowel disease. But any type of inflammation whether it is in the gut, the blood stream, whether it is from a virus or a vaccine reaction or food sensitivities, it can negatively impact the brain. Inflammation in the brain can affect kids both globally and locally too, and can be particularly impactful on the temporal lobes. The temporal lobes are found on the side of the head and the left side is where some of the language areas are. When you have inflammation in those areas, blood flow can be decreased which hampers the ability for the blood to deliver oxygen. You can see that can be very problematic.

But the good news is there are many remedies that have been implemented that can have a positive change on neurological inflammation. Actos is a medication that have been used on individuals with Autism with fairly good success to help reduce neurological inflammation. Actos was originally a medication to control blood sugar for diabetics and then it was discovered that it could positively impact the way the cells in the body produce inflammation. Spironolactone is another medication to aid in controlling inflammation, also used at first to treat other conditions. It can be used to treat hirsutism which is an overproduction of testosterone in women and can regulate potassium and sodium which is useful in edema or swelling, especially of the lower extremities. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is also an effective treatment for inflammation in Autism and it helps in two different ways. It increases blood flow and thereby oxygenation to the brain but the pressure of the chamber also seems to be helpful in treating inflammation as well. Turmeric is a very interesting herbal remedy for inflammation. It is an Indian spice with the active ingredient called curcumin. It is showing good results in children with Autism for both gut and neurological inflammation. As you do more research you will certainly hear more about inflammation, not only as a big problem in chronic illness today but also in the Autism community. But, as discussed in this article, there are remedies that can help.

One of the most common problems of children at school is bullying. Bullying can lead to many other problems. For instance, your children may want to start skipping school because of fear and anxiety. Bullying can lower your children’s self esteem. Some victims of bullies may feel depressed. Other victims develop aggressive behaviors toward other children. Bullying can range from verbally teasing to physically hitting.

Unfortunately, approximately ten percent of children are the victims of bullies. Children who are quiet, anxious, sensitive, or small are more vulnerable for bulling. Believe it or not, most victims of bullies will not seek help from the teacher or parents, because they may fear the bullies. Therefore, it is important for the parents to learn how to recognize the signs of the problem. For instance, some children constantly complain about being teased at school. Other children may tell you that they are sick all the time to avoid the school.

If you know that your children are bullied at school, what should you do? Although, parents in many movies encourage their children to fight back, it is not the best thing to do. Your children can get hurt, and they can be in trouble for fighting back. You should teach your children to walk away, and they should tell the bully to stop. The bullies need to understand that their behavior will not be tolerated. Tell you children to talk to teacher to help. If it still does not work, you should schedule a meeting with the other parents and teacher.

Question – We are having increasing difficulty dealing with curfews in our home. Our teenagers want to stay out later and later and it’s hard for us to trust them. What can we do?

Answer – Isn’t it amazing how kids believe that they can have fun only after a certain time of evening (or early morning)?

Curfew ripe for power struggles

Curfew can be an area ripe for power struggles, conflict and frustration. When the subject of curfew comes up, many parents hear the same old refrains:

“Everyone else’s parents let them stay out as long as they want.” (check it out, it’s probably not accurate)

“When I get to be a parent, I’m going to let my kids stay out as late as they want.” (right)

If not handled properly, curfew can become a battleground with the parents playing warden to the teenage inmates, and kids sneaking out and/ or not coming home in order to “prove” their independence.

Control vs. management

Curfew can also be an area that can illustrate a useful model for managaging the teenage years.

Many times when parents phone me about a teenager, they say something like, “I can’t seem to control my kid.”

The problem here is one of control vs. management. Trying to control a teenager is like trying to make a gorilla wear pants:

It’s only going to frustrate you and make the gorilla angry.