Fish Oil as Healing Brain Food

 

By Dianne Craft, MA, CNHP

 

Sometimes a subject comes up that is so wide reaching in its impact that it can’t be ignored. As a special educator for over thirty years, and a nutritionist, I am always on the lookout for ways to relieve suffering in kids who are struggling with learning or behavior. It has come to the point that evidence of the impact of fish oil on the brain and nervous system of these struggling children is so large that I think it deserves its own article.

Recent Trends        

The incidence of children diagnosed with food allergies (notice all the gluten-free and dairy-free items in grocery stores as of late?), asthma, autism, Asperger’s, Sensory Processing Dysfunction, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, and dysgraphia has increased greatly in the past five years. There is a disproportionate amount of boys in this increase. UCLA School of Medicine has found that boys have a three times higher need for DHAthan girls.1 Why is this occurring? Let’s explore this more.   (more…)

What Can I Do About Auditory Processing Problems?

Published with Permission
Written by Dianne Craft, MA, CNHP
www.TOSMagazine.com

 

“When my son reads, he struggles so much because he has to sound out the same word over and over again in the story.”

“When I give my son three simple directions, he only does one . . . if that! I’m sure he has an auditory processing problem.”

How the Brain Processes

What is happening when bright, hardworking kids and teenagers have to expend so much energy to process things auditorily? For all of us, the left auditory brain hemisphere is supposed to learn new material and then transfer it to the right visual hemisphere for long-term storage and easy retrieval. When a child or teenager is struggling in this area, the hemispheres are not communicating as they should, as if there is a “disconnect.”

What Are the Symptoms of an Auditory Processing Problem?

When a child is experiencing a significant auditory processing problem, the child/teenager almost always has difficulty with these areas of learning:   (more…)