Ok. I hardly ever respond to anything on these boards for lack of time, but I cannot keep silent regarding your question and the only reply you've gotten so far. My daughter could hardly read The Foot Book before vision therapy at age 10 yrs. She did vt for a whole year, and it was very demanding physical therapy for her eyes. If I had doubts about it, we would have given up. I saw huge improvement in her reading, her focus, and her attention by 10 weeks into therapy. She finished vt in the spring, and that summer read all Louisa May Alcott's books! I call that success. She also made huge gains in math (although she still struggles most in this subject). She can line up numbers now and hold things in her memory longer. Her visual memory is her strength, but it was non-existent before vt. I do wonder if one of the reasons vt may not be successful in some cases (besides the differences in doctors/therapists) is because it is so very demanding on both student and parent. I could see a lot of folks giving up. We stripped our schedule to the bare minimum that year of schooling. I had bought MFW and was very excited to use it, but had to postpone it until the next year. Motivating my daughter to keep persevering and doing the hard work of vt was plenty hard. We had to offer lots of incentives and rewards, along with just stating she HAD to finish it daily. We had to split the exercises up during the day. They were supposed to only take 15-20 min. a day, but it was more like 1/2 hour in the morning and 1/2 hour later in the afternoon. The headaches and tired eyes then required rest. But let me tell you, I would give my right arm to go through all the whining, crying, persuading, etc. again for such wonderful success. Her eyes and her brain are not the same. It was worth it.

We have been gluten and dairy free for about 13 years now. It is not only doable, but a wonderful adventure! However, I felt I needed to reply to this thread because of the sad news that rice has high arsenic content. If you google consumer's reports arsenic in rice, you will discover some vital information necessary if you are gfcf. It is recomended that children do NOT drink rice-milk at all and only have 1/4 cup rice per week! Adults can have 2 servings of 1/4 cup rice a week to be safe from the arsenic. It all came out in the news last September, but obviously many haven't heard about this disturbing expose. A lot of us, me included, did not want to even look at the info. We have been eating rice at more than 1/4 cup, three times a day for over a decade! But we have been seriously showing signs of arsenic poisoning, and felt that this info. coming to light has been a gift from God. After a bit of grief and some hopeless feelings, I have been replacing our rice based products with great success. I heartedly recommend the website www.elanaspantry.com which has wonderful recipes (including mock girl scout cookies) that are easy, low in sugar, paleo (uses coconut flour and almond flour), and best of all delicious. I'm trying to go more paleo, so I am using varieties of squashes, sweet potatoes, salads, etc. for side dishes to help fill us up at meals. We are not rich, so our baked goods tend to be limited. The good news is that coconut flour may be expensive, but recipes tend to call for 1/4 cup, and so it lasts. (Elana's poppy seed muffins are soooo delicious!) I also have been experimenting with other flours like amaranth, teff, and quinoa. They are more strong flavored so I use good spices (cinnamin, etc) in pancakes, waffles, etc. My three daughters all love to bake and have become creative and motivated to make their own treats. My 11yo. goes to Elana's website for fun and looks at the recipes to plot and plan. Also, I wanted to mention that I have found cashew milk (blend 1 cup cashews in 2 cups water 30 sec. to a minute, then slowly pour, while blender is going, another 2 cups water and blend for 2 min.) is wonderful in baked goods. It also makes a wonderful base for white sauce. In fact, I prefer it to milk, esp. in chicken pot pie, and dairy free mac and cheese. We don't drink it straight, but do make almond milk ourselves to drink, for smoothies etc. Making it at home tastes completely different than the store version, but you do have to strain almond milk. It's super good as chocolate milk or strawberry milk! Coconut milk is also wonderful and I use it in much baking and smoothies, too. We haven't been having pasta (which is our most grievious loss) because the rice used in gf pasta is usually from the south and has an exorbitant amount of arsenic. Look at the numbers for what is safe and what is in the food. I had to do some internet research to figure those numbers, but after doing that, I just couldn't ignore it any longer. I don't want to turn anyone off going gfcf, though, because it completely changed the personality of my three children, but my two cents is look at elana's website and other paleo websites for recipes and ideas right off the bat. You'll find yourself and your children loving their food and feeling better soon!

My dd, who is 17 now, began hand tremors around 4-5 years old. I took her to the doctor suspecting other things (she had asperger/autistic symptoms and gut problems). A blood test showed she had elevated antibodies to gluten, so I took her off gluten. Her tremors went away. She began sleeping better. Her personality changed, even. Then a year later we wanted an official diagnosis of celiac, which her pediatric gasterenterologist was fairly certain we'd get, considering her previous symptoms. However, during the 3 month challenge I was supposed to give her lots of gluten (the biopsy for the official diagnosis only detects damage). I gave her hardly any gluten, knowing how terrible it was for her. When the biopsy came back negative for celiac, the doctor warned us that sometimes people with celiac take a whole year of eating gluten before damage starts showing up again after going off gluten. (If I had known that before the surgery we never would have gone through it!) We were so happy and naive, thinking she was all better now, and started her back on gluten. I just forgot (denial) about the doctor saying if her symptoms come back take her off gluten again. She developed the tremors again. They got worse and worse and then she began to feel her whole body shake in bed at night. I took her to the family doctor and he only gave me a referral for a neurologist. I never went. I remembered then about the gluten, and despite not wanting to go back to a gluten free lifestyle, we did. I am sooo thankful! I have since found out that celiac sometimes hurts the nervous system. It is the immune system attacking the body. Mostly it just attacks the gut, but it can attack the nervous system, and other parts of the body like the pancreas (hence diabetes), etc. My dd's whole body tremors went away, but she still has mild hand tremors. Some of the damage was permenant. Her hand tremors do get much worse if she has a big exposure to gluten by accident, and so we know it is connected. We love being gluten free and have found out my husband has celiac. My two other daughters have never been diagnosed, but they had various symptoms that disapeared when we went gluten free. It is a lot easier to be gluten free now than it was all those years ago, and it is definately rewarding once you pass the grieving stage.

One thing I've learned with three kids with celiac is that it can affect kids in different ways. My oldest dd cannot do dairy; my middle became truly allergic to corn (which is the worst food of them all to try to avoid). My youngest has a lot of ADHD like symptoms, and they are extremely magnified when she eats food with artificial coloring. We have managed to make the best of all these food issues with practice and research. The most helpful thing of all, however, has been focusing on repairing their gut ecology. Many food sensitivities the girls had in the past (probably because of damage from celiac) have just gone away as we've poured in the probiotics, kefir, yogurt (oldest can't do those, so we've had her do kombucha and bought probiotics from various companies), limited sugary foods, etc. We changed to become healthier and healthier over time so it wasn't a shock. The website from the Weston Price Foundation has been helpful. Also, the internet is my cookbook/resource; any kind of substitute I'm looking for is out there. My kids feel so much better and cooperate graciously, but it's been an educational adventure for us all. They have even learned to cook, esp. since if they want to have goodies they have to make them. Cutting dairy has been a lifesaver for my oldest. She almost has similiar reactions to it as when she accidently gets gluten (lack of sleep, eczema, etc.). I also cut it for my other two when they were young for about two years. I reintroduced it to them, but only raw goat milk and organic cheeses, yogurt, and ice-cream. The oldest can't even do that, but the other two do great with those! I have heard that many who can't do regular milk do fine with raw milk because it has natural probiotics that help its digestion. My allergist said if I suspect a food for food sensitivity (this wouldn't be safe for a true allergy to something dangerous like peanut butter), then have the child avoid it (and all derivitives) for two weeks, then pig out on it for a day and note the results. That is how I knew to cut gluten and dairy for my two younger children without ever taking them in. No fits, calm house for two weeks, then worst fit of the century after eating dairy again. (We did that for the artificial colors, too.) Hope this helps!

My dd is almost 10, and I've struggled all these years trying to teach reading and math. We are not rich, able to throw money at tests (I wish so much we could). I did so much research and thought for sure she must have dsylexia. Using the tips and helps from the library and internet, she has greatly improved this year, but still, she cannot read for very long. I am extremely grateful (THANK YOU!) to the folks on this board for recommending COVD. Our insurance paid for the $195 vision comprehensive exam. Everything we have struggled with over the years was addressed by what the developmental optometrist saw. Even her behavior, which I thought was ADHD, was accounted for by her vision problems. We paid $425 for further testing and will consult this coming week. During her test, three parents came in to do VT. While they waited I quizzed them about effectiveness, and what was their experience. All were praising the results in their children. One mother talked about how her dd had amblyopia and two other eye doctors hadn't helped her--turns out the letters were "dancing on the page." One father was there with his dd (11), who had been tutored for reading problems for two years. One other homeschooling mom had her son dong OT, VT, and earobics... all were significantly helping him. Huge differences. I'm personally glad to begin with VT... I could have spent lots of money on other things, testing, curriculum, etc. but with her vision problems undiagnosed it would have been years of more struggle. I really wonder how many kids and adults out there with LD's have hidden vision problems. My dd may still have dyslexia, but I'm so glad I began here. I think I will put my trust in the parents' testimonials rather than those who are threatened by VT's success. Now, I sure hope this kid won't need braces... affording the $138 a week VT is going to be a challenge. Hopefully she won't need it for long. But thank you again to those who said they'd give their right arm to give their child VT. I'm going for it cuz of what you said! My opinion is that the world needs to hear more about this. Apologies to those who sadly disagree...

My oldest dd has celiac and it damaged her nervous system. I guess the immune system can attack other parts of the body, not just the intestines. She has tremors, and has issues with spacial intelligence. She also showed many aspergers/autistic symptoms as a youngster which went away completely, soon after going gluten and dairy free. However we did not just go GFCF. Like those who use the SCD and GAPS diets, we went on the offensive, trying to rebuild a good gut lining with healing broths, probiotics, omega 3 fish oil, coconut oil, veggies, etc., etc... and the Maker's Diet (GFCF altered). Her abillity to sleep at night came after her gut became healthy again. She basically became a different person. She's been GFCF for a decade and will graduate valedictorian this coming year. Her sister did not show the same sort of symptoms, but had the most tremendous fits (the eyes rolling back kind), so I focused on her gut as well. She's never been diagnosed as celiac, but lives like she is because, wow, her personality changed so dramatically. Whew! My youngest never had the chance. She's the one who has the most severe LD's (perhaps dyslexia, but we are going in for our VT consultation after testing this week), and she's been gluten free since birth, go figure! However, she has not shown any of the sensory issues the two oldest showed. Being gluten free was difficult to begin with, but it's second nature now. Our food is so much more yummy and healthy, we'd never want it different.

This is my first time posting on the Hive, after lurking on and off for years. Thank you for the recommendations on this thread! I just found a great workbook for OCD kids on Amazon that has been of help to my family. It's called What to Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck by Dawn Huebner. It is for kids ages 6-12, but my dd is 14, and it is helping her a lot. I did some research online about OCD recently because my dd's OCD seemed to have gotten worse with puberty. I read that cognitive psychology has a lot of success, and this workbook is very encouraging with a lot of hope. OCD can be cured very effectively, although it is hard, hard work. We both needed that inspiration. Also, I want to chime in with the diet recommendations. Husband also had OCD, and it's in his family. We found out our oldest dd was gluten intolerent when she was young. A few years later husband develop IBS, and the OCD got so much worse. He went gluten free after seeing such benefits in our dd. Now he and all three dd's are gluten free. It really has made such a difference. Husband is not OCD at all anymore. Kids sleep at night. Everyone is healthier physically and mentally. My husband also has a deep relationship with Jesus and has used Bible verses to overcome bad thoughts... which is a lot like cognitive therapy. My 14 dd is learning now to overcome her thoughts one by one and is having tremendous success. (We only started the wkbk a month ago); she's been gluten free for a decade. (So being gluten free hasn't cured her completely...) I would suggest (humbly) that a therapist who uses cognitive psychology would be most helpful if the OCD is too difficult to work on by yourselves, or using this workbook or other cognitive psy. with the treatment you seek. The other book recommendations sound great, too. My phil. is that our kids are so worth trying everything! I did learn from research to investigate PANDAS and any possible kind of nutritional problems. There have been studies that show mental health patients show a lot of improvement on a gluten free diet. I don't think it's just the diet, though. It is getting the gut flora healthy again, so one can absorb the nutrients needed for a healthy immune system and brain function. Did you know that candida yeast break down the seratonin produced by your gut? Diet certainly isn't the end all, but it is a significant factor that is worth the sacrifice of doing it right. Sometimes I think it's hard to eat this way, but then I think the alternative of drugged up kids (their uncle lives this way), and risking their futures is much worse than changing our palets. Besides, I always wanted to eat healthy, but didn't have the self-control. Now I am forced into it, and it is more wonderful way to eat than I ever imagined! After we got over the experimenting stage, it got to be much easier. I also like the way it teaches us self-control. Perhaps eating this way will be a help in my dd overcoming her OCD thoughts!