Biting lemons and the flu..

Sorry it's been a bit, but life's been busy. Ella's got the flu, and I seem to be coming down with it too.

As for the Lemons...

Last Weekend, Ella got together with JP and his mother. Among other things, we all went out to dinner at Applebees. While at dinner, JP was eating the lemon out of his mother's tea. Apparently he likes them, and is rather insistent upon having them if they're on the table...

So, I decided to try to give Ella a taste of mine.. lo and behold, she likes them too. She does make reel back and twisted faces right after biting it, but then she opens her mouth back up, leans forward and takes another bite.

However, in some of my recent reading, I found that giving a child strong-tasting foods, such as lemons, Tabasco sauce, etc , is actually a therapy method used in aiding children with speech delays. The idea is the alarming tastes cause them to focus on their mouth more, aiding oral motor development. This is, of course, presuming the child doesn't over-react to them.

So, shout-outs to JP's mom.. thanks for the free speech therapy :)

Omega-3's and dyspraxia..

Recently, there's been a lot of attention of how various omega-3 fatty acids, particularly DHA, affect autism. This has also spawned a lot of research into how various omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids affect other disorders, including dyspraxia.

Probably the best study on how fatty acids affect dyspraxia is the Oxford-Durham study from 2005. The study used 117 students with DCD, ages 5-12 in a double-blind random study (no crossover). For 3 months they were given a blend of fish oil (EPA and DHA in a 3:1 ratio) and evening primrose oil (provides GLA, which easily converts to ARA) or a placebo of olive oil. At the end of the study they found several improvements cognitive learning rate and behavior, but no motor improvements relative to the placebo group.

So, omega-3's aren't a magic arrow for the motor problems of DCD. That said, there are several DHA supplemented baby foods Ella still strongly enjoys, so her typical daily diet does contain 40mg of DHA and 8-40mg of EPA. (none of the products label their EPA content, but are fish oil based and there's always some EPA. How much varies with blending and processing.)

Dyspraxia/DCD links...

For those who haven't noticed yet, I added a few links to websites and articles on Developmental Dyspraxia and Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Both are nearly synonymous terms for the disorder that Ella appears to have. Dyspraxia is primarily a term used in the UK, and DCD in America, but there is some crossover.


As for the links, In general, I'd say:

If you want an easy to understand overview, read the NCLD article. For the most part it's very down to earth and practical.

If you want a bit more detailed and technical approach, read the wikipedia article.

If you're a medical professional, or want a lengthy discussion, you might find the DCD primer useful. It's primarily targeted at educating pediatricians, and is 5 1/2 pages of useful text. This article is a little on the older side, 1996, but it's still quite good information.

Teething pains...

Well, Ella's on another of her "how many teeth can come in at once" phases. Right now she's got 2 that have broken through the skin a little bit, another 2 that are swelling up to break, and 2 more that might be coming in, but it's hard to tell amidst the chaos.

So, Ella's got a good bit of the "teething grumpies", and it's been messing with her sleep. On Sunday and Monday she woke up for the morning at 4:30am and 4am, respectively.

For the most part it's been settling down a little, but she's still having bursts of "I want this, no that, no, wait, I want to stand and sit, and lay down all at once..." interspersed with sessions of "I want to sit on your lap and have you to read to me for 3 hours straight" and "I want you to walk me around the house in laps for 3 hours straight".

Fortunately, it's not really quite as bad as it sounds, but it's certainly bad enough that I feel sorry for my poor wife who has to try to keep her active and happy all day. (dear, you're the best!)

Ahh, the holidays have passed..

Yes, I know they passed a while ago, but it feels like they just ended recently because everything else has been so busy trying to "catch up".

In any event, Ella is doing well. Over the holidays her number of signs expanded to 3. She now does her own versions of "more" "finished" and "food/eat". Of course her versions are hardly ASL, but we've learned them.

Ella's independent walking continues to improve. She sometimes will shift directions mid-walk without trouble, and she can go up to 10 steps at a time (although usually it's more like 6) before she stumbles or won't try because it's too far. She's also gained enough confidence that she'll sometimes go to an inanimate object instead of another person. (she knows people will catch her if she falls, so she's more comfortable walking towards a person.)

In any event, I hope you all are doing well, and I hope to see all our local friends and family sometime soon.