Speech Articulation and Nutritional Supplements

[emonline]

I know a lot of people use fish oil, but I am wondering -- has anyone noticed better articulation when their child is on fish oil or any other nutritional supplements? Thanks!

[redsquirrel]

my son has been on fish oil since he was 16 months old. He is now 5 years 10 months.

 

He has a speech delay. When he was 16 months old he had no words, just a sound "zhush" He has oral motor issues. well, he has motor issues in general.

 

He had been getting speech therapy for about one month when I started with the fish oil. I didn't tell the speech therapist what I was doing. I didn't think it was a big deal. After I had been giving it to him for about 8 weeks (so now it was 12 weeks therapy) she said "are you doing something with him? I have never seen a kid make so much progress in such a short time." I told her about the fish oil and she said she was going to mention it to other parents.

 

I read a lot about it..the LCP solution and a couple others.

 

I give him 1 tsp of oil every day. I buy Nordic Naturals peach flavor. I do NOT buy the strawberry 'kid' flavor because it is the same thing for more $$ per ounce. I stir the 1tsp into plain yogurt. I just use a couple spoonfuls of yogurt. I add a tsp of maple syrup or some jam. I don't buy flavored yogurt because I like to control the added sugar. The oil blends very well with yogurt. He doesn't know it is there. I only give him a bit of yogurt with the oil because I need to know it has all been eaten. I don't want to toss out half of whatever it is that has the oil.

 

I also give him omega eggs, I add flax seeds when I make bread and I sprinkle chia seeds on his food, when I think I can get away with it. Those are all sources of omega 3 oils. It is all about the omega 3s.

[emonline]

Thank you for responding! I truly appreciate the info!

[merry gardens]

If anyone's interested, I read a book that presents a lot of the recent research on Omega's 3 called "The Ultimate Omega-3 Diet" by Evenly Tribole, M.S., R.D. It was very interesting, and it discussed more than supplements. She includes information about dietary sources of Omega 3 and the balance between omega 3 with omega 6 and other fats in the diet.

...After I had been giving it to him for about 8 weeks (so now it was 12 weeks therapy)...

That's interesting. With the other thread recently discussing fish oils, I did some more reading about omega 3's, (including the book I mentioned above.) I decided to start supplementing my family here. We've been doing this for about a month. I haven't noticed a difference with speech or reading or anything really. At least not yet. Some of the fish oil studies that showed positive results were 12 weeks studies. Maybe my children haven't taken the supplements long enough to show any positive results.

 

An elderly woman I knew used to call fish "brain food". She lived a long, healthy life and remained quite sharp until her death at a very old age. Her comment comes to my mind almost every time I hear about the benefits of fish oils. I don't usually serve my family much fish, and I know our usual diet doesn't contain the recommended balance of omega fats. Even though I haven't noticed any miracle cure with the fish oil supplements, between the research and my elderly relative, I plan to continue with supplements and I'm making some switches in our diet. We're having salmon for dinner tonight. <><

[emonline]

Again, thanks for the info. I do think it is overall quite healthy for you.

[redsquirrel]

My interest in fish oil came from the book "the Late Talker" by Agin. She specifically recomends fish oil for speech delays. There was a yahoo group called 'speech diet' but it is long dead. No one really posted and it was mostly spam.

[EKS]

My son has stuttered off and on. It seems as though fish oil helps with the stuttering. (I realize that stuttering isn't an articulation issue, but it is a speech issue, so I figured I'd post it anyway).

[PeterPan]

There's lots of discussion about it with verbal apraxia. If you google apraxia and fish oil you'll pop up plenty to keep you busy. Those other books people mentioned are in the same vein. They might be at your local library.

[Crimson Wife]

FWIW, I took fish oil & flaxseed oil and incorporated a lot of fatty fish & ground flaxseed into my diet during pregnancy and BF with all 3 of my kids. I give them DHA/EPA supplements once they're toddlers. My oldest was an early talker, my 2nd had delayed speech with a primary diagnosis of articulation disorder, and my 3rd is showing signs of articulation disorder as well (though she won't be old enough for a formal diagnosis until she turns 2).

 

I think some kids may find it beneficial for speech & language issues (and certainly it is good for general brain development) but it's no automatic panacea.

[PeterPan]

Crimson, that's interesting! The stories I read on the apraxia list show people using large doses of the fish oils, which to me means there's an absorption or use problem, not just simply a dietary insufficiency. But I've never seen anything further in that vein. I've wondered about the connection between our hypotonia (which they say is connected to carnitine levels, carnine is involved in fat metabolism) and the apraxia.

 

Now my nutritionist, the one who has done really well by me all these years, is adamantly opposed to fish oil supplements, says they don't come with the enzymes from the fish to digest them, will log the liver, blah blah. I decided with ds2 to start with flax oil (barleans, strawberry smoothie flavor), since SUPPOSEDLY the flax can convert over to dha. But that again supposes all that absorption and stuff is working right. I really don't know. The flax DOES seem to have an effect on his talking, but it's not as dramatic as the stories other people give. On the other hand, those stories are usually with kids who are older and have had more therapy. The flax definitely makes a difference. On the days when he doesn't have it, the speech just doesn't come as readily. We give him 4 tsp. a day, all at once, generally in the morning. Once we took it much higher and he acted really out of sorts and fussy.

 

Interestingly, people on the apraxia list are all over the virtues of this nutritional supplement called Nutriveyda. I'm not feeding it to my ds, but am instead pursuing making our current food easier for him to eat and digest (since we already eat quite well). But the stories from it are quite remarkable.

[emonline]

Yes, I started this thread, wondering if anyone off that list was having the dramatic gains on fish oil or Nutriiveda. We've tried them both, and I never saw anything close to the dramatic improvement that I read about.

[PeterPan]

On the apraxia yahoo group I read on (don't really participate) there are stories of progress. However honestly to me the stories are from people whose kids aren't in the same position. Like one story was of a kid malnourished who started growing on Nutriveyda. Well duh, of course he would. But my boy eats anything, digests well, and is top of the charts on height. So my guess is it depends on where you start as to how dramatic the change would be, kwim? I also wasn't willing to just shoot in the dark and give him a huge multi-vitamin milkshake if he didn't NEED all that. That's why I decided to start more conservatively and do the things we know he needs. We know he is low tone in his mouth and not chewing well, meaning anything we grind is going to have a better chance. We know now why he seemed hungry all the time, because he really was and was just stopping due to fatigue. But the answer for us is changing the form of his food, not a milkshake.

 

I was greatly encouraged by the story from someone else here whose boy improved without all the oils and things.

[Sandra in FL]

My ds had apraxia and couldn't even babble when he was 3. We did intensive speech therapy from about 18 months and he speaks perfectly now (age 9) but at one time I thought he would never speak. Early therapy is key.

 

I've given him cod liver oil since birth. I don't know if it helped the speech in particular but it has helped his overall health. He is severely allergic to many things, has asthma but with cod liver oil & various supplements, he is able to be medication-free except when he has a cold. I have him on Xopenex when he has a cold/flu.

 

Fish oil is anti-inflammatory and so many of the foods we eat are inflammatory. Some would say that many health problems we have today are a result of inflammation in some part of the body. My entire family takes fish oil/cod liver oil daily.