Supplements for Children with Apraxia of Speech
We have seen AMAZING progress in our son Thatcher, who has severe apraxia, ever since we began giving him supplements 10 months ago. Many people have asked me what supplements we give him. I am posting about it here for anyone else who may be looking for information on supplements for children with apraxia.
We decided to use supplements after reading “What’s Eating Your Child,” by Kelly Dorfman (a friend recommended it to me) and attending a seminar Kelly Dormfan gave. She has a new edition of the same book called, “Cure Your Child With Food.”
Kelly Dorfman is a genius and understands the chemical reactions in the brain better then anyone I have ever met.
In her book, Kelly Dorfman explains the reason why all three supplements need to taken together.
In short, it is because the pathways for motor planning need strengthened. And it takes all three supplements to do it properly. One of the supplements acts like the support beams you need when building a house, one is like the doors and windows and the other is like the calk and nails. All three are important to have a sturdy structure. All three supplements are important in strengthening the motor planning pathways in the brain.
So here is the deal, you need:
You need to check how much epa and dha it has in each dose. The back of the bottle will say something like epa-275 mg and dha 725 mg. You want the combined number of the two to be at least 1000. We give Thatcher 1 tsp of the Nordic Naturals a day and that is well over the 1000 mark.
There are a couple different options you can do for the fish oil. We started out with the Speak Smooth. Speak Smooth combines the Omega-3s and vitamin E together. We later switched to the Nordic Naturals Liquid and added our own vitamin e to it by squeezing it out of a capsule.
Right now he takes the Nordic Naturals, swallows or chews a vitamin e and chokes down liquid phoscol.
The phoscol is disgusting. We have been fortunate that Thatcher will take it without having to hide it in anything. We tell him it is important and it will help him keep getting better and better at his good talking.
He LOVED the taste of the Speak Smooth (It taste sort of like an orange creamsicle) but Thatcher is a big boy (90 lb 5 year old) and the amount of Speak he needed everyday was an extra 100+ calories that we didn’t think we could justify when he could get the same supplement (just not as tasty) with the liquid strawberry flavored Nordic Naturals, which has very few calories.
I have pictures below of the exact supplements we have used and had success with. It is a little pricey (especially Speak Smooth) but it has been so worth it to us.
(Also, when I told people we were using Speak, I got mixed reactions. Some people told me we shouldn’t use it because it isn’t FDA approved. Others sent me articles on how the people who created it are just doing it to get gain. I used it anyway. The people who created it did so because they themselves had children with special needs and knew these supplements would help them, but couldn’t get them to take them because they were so gross. They figured out how to make it taste decent. I say good for them. As far as the FDA comments, what I found was that it was non-FDA reviewed or approved, which for some reason doesn’t scare me that bad. I read the ingredients and felt okay abut giving it to him. I feel like it really helped my son. You have to make decisions based on what you feel good about. And of course consult with your pediatrician.)
(10/05/15 update about Speak Smooth: Three weeks ago I received a $28.00 check as form of settlement from a lawsuit brought against the Speak Smooth Company. I was unaware of the lawsuit until I received the check. The lawsuit was brought against them because they claimed that their product could help kids with Speech Disorders and this could not be proven. Even with this turn of events, I still have no regrets of giving this product to my son. We saw a tremendous improvement in his speech when he was taking this product paired with the phoscol.)
It took about four or five weeks for us to start seeing what a difference the supplements were making, so if you don’t see it right at first don’t give up! (when we really noticed a difference is when we forgot it on a extended vacation….his words became fewer and there was a noticeable difference in his articulation and speech.)
With the suppliments he went from very chop-y speech. To filling in more of the blanks. Here is an example.”Ma, me, drink,” to “Mom, me want drink.” Once we started getting more words in the sentences we could focus on articulation and grammar.
If you have any questions, please e-mail me or leave a comment.
I hope this can be as big of help to you and your child as it has been for us!
Keep it Real!
Maria
I am in no way affiliated with any of these companies or people mentioned in this post. I am strictly showing what we use/have used and where we purchased them.
Thanks Maria, we will be for sure trying this on Ethan 🙂
How is it going since 2013? did it work? tx
He is doing awesome! I feel like the supplements have been one of the best things we have done to help him.
Hi Maria, I recently checked on Amazon and the phoschol is $99 for a bottle. Do you know of any other sources? Any Non-gmo sources as this one is derived from gmo soy lecithin. We noticed a huge difference with speech by adding vitamin e. Thanks!
I don’t, I’m so sorry. Good luck!
Seeking Health has an Optimal PC product that is sunflower based. Good luck!
hi Maria iam planning to start this protocol for my 10 year old son weight around 50 kg,my fish oil shows EPA 1460 and DHA 1010 and omega-3s 370mg.how much dose shud I give to my son
Hi Nousheen, I wish I could give you a dosage, but I am not a physician. If it were my son, I would check with our doctor for their opinion first and if that wasn’t possible I would start out with 1 tsp for a week to see how he reacts to it. Some kids get diahrea and then I would add another tsp if he was handling it well.
Hi,
Can we get in touch through whats app.
Hey. I like your article. My dd is 22 months and just says about 2 words. I would like to try the Nordic Naturals fish oil with her. Can i use the NN complete, ultimate or PRO EFA. There are so many different products in the NN its confusing. Can you recommend which is the best with the correct dosage of EPA and DHA
Hi,
I read your article about Apraxia/Dysapraxia for children and about speak smooth supplement. I am 54 year old man having a stroke 4 years ago. I have Dyspraxia since then. I have dyspraxia of speech and I can not write perfectly as I was writing before.
Do you have any suggestion about which supplements I have to take? Is it ok to take 3 supplements (PhosChol, Omega 3 and vitamin E) or any other additional supplements I have to take? Because I am 54 year old.
Please give me your suggestions as I am trying many supplements since last 4 years and nothing has worked.
Hope you will reply.
I am so sorry to hear that you had a stroke. I am not a doctor so of course he best thing to do would be to check with your doctor, but if it were me I would take fish oil, phoscol and vitamin e, making sure that the fish oil had high epa and dha omega 3’s. This won’t necessarily heal you but it will give your brain everything it needs to form new pathways as you do your therapy and work on your speech. Good Luck.
Hi there…I have a 6-year-old with global apraxia. I’m a dietitian and interested in alternative health practices. Question? Does the Phoscol give dosage for kiddos?
No, the book I read called, “How to heal your child with food” had suggestions. I gave my son 1 tsp.
Mam,my son is 13 years,ASD,non verbal. he have some sounds pa,ba,ma ,ka only.pl suggest which supplement/quantity we should give him
I’m sorry I can’t make that kind of suggestion. You’ll need to ask a doctor.
Try Agape liquid vitamin especially for Autism kids. Balanced essentials liquid vitamins is also good . But along with these diet GFCF and therapies can be home based therapies and massages will surely help. Swimming is one of the best exercise for them.
Hi there,
I want to give supplements to my son because his diet isn’t the best and he has a delay in speech. He does say words but leaves off sounds from the beginning or end. He was said things like “ar nder tee” meaning car under tree, he is turning three and I want to help him catch up. When you say consult pediatrician are you referring to dosage? And use of vitamins in general? This is not the first place I’ve read about how this combo is a game changer and I want to start them as soon as possible.
It’s always best to consult a pediatrician when starting a new regimen of supplements. I am not a doctor so the things in this post are just meant to inform other parents of what helped my son and can hopefully help their child. I hope that you are able to give these supplements a try and that it will make a big difference for your son.
Is this worth a try seriously
I’ve tried a few supplements with my daughter, as well as a GFCF diet. They didn’t seem to help. I’m going to see if I can get her to take this combo.
Hi Robin,
I really can’t believe the improvement we have seen. The combo has an amazing strengthening affect on the motor planning pathways. Kelly describes it very clearly in her book. I loved it!
Good Luck! I wish you all the best, from one mommy’s heart to another!
Hi,
My son is 27 months. Diagnosed apraxia/dyspraxia of speech. He’s in speech therapy. I am really excited about your tip. But I have a hard time giving my son anything out of the norm, and he’s an incredibly picky eater. He notices anything that is not the usual. Any tips for giving it to him? Do you do this once per day?
Yes, I give it to him once a day, but when I did the Speak Nutrients I broke the dose in half and gave it to him twice a day until he was more used to it. Some people I have talked to have had success putting it in a spoon of yogurt or ice cream. If he is really adverse to taking new things I would try the speak nutrients because its flavor is so much better then the others, My son is to the point where he asks for it now, even though it is gross, it’s like his body knows he needs it or something. I wish I had better tips. Good Luck!
Hey sorry to bother you but how did you give your son the vitamin e .
Hi, I just had him chew on a vitamin e gelcap. Or I would snip it and squeeze it out on a spoon.
What would the dosages be for child that weighs 95 lbs? Do I just follow the directions on the bottles?? Tia!!!!
My son weighs 90 lbs and I give him about 1/2 to 3/4 tsp of the Phoscol and 1 1/2 tsp of the Nordic Naturals strawberry flavored fish oil, but I started with 1 tsp of the fish oil and added on the other 1/2 tsp over a period of two weeks…gradually adding 1/4 tsp. Does that make sense?
Hi Maria,
Thanks for sharing this. I just bought it for my niece. She had epilepsy. Do you know if taking this combo will affect her eplipesy negatively?
Thanks a lot.
Hi Alex. I am not sure if it will affect epilepsy negatively, I would check with her doctor before giving it to her.
Hello maria !
My younger sis was an epilepsy patient due to some physical trauma in her childhood but she has recovered now,but now she is about 14 years old but she can not speak properly (Haa’Raa )etc she can not not these word in such a proper way she has adopted some of her own word for differnt things now she is unable to give upp those childish words …plz suggest me will these suppliments good for her,
Your thankfull
Hi there,
The supplements I suggest in the post are great for helping with speech but because of her other health concerns you will definitely want to consult with her doctor before starting any supplements.
Thanks, Maria. I will be using capsules. Should I just follow directions on bottle for dosing?tia!!!’
The dosage is really dependent on the amount of dha and epa per capsule. Kelly recommends that you try to have the two amounts equal 1000 mg. It will really depend on the capsule you have chosen. If it would mean giving your child 2-3 capsules you may want to run it by your pediatrician.
Does this mean that I can use the speak smooth alone for my son? Or do I need it in addition to the other three supplements as well? Thank you!!
The speak smooth has the vitamin e and the dha and epa. It does not have phoscol in it. You will need to purchase that separately.
I just received my PhosCol PPC capsules..says 2-3 per day …did you give your son a tsp once a day ith vit e, dha??? Wondering if I should give the 2-3 phoscol caps in one dose ?
Yes I have always given him the phoscol with his other supplements in the morning. However, when we first started the supplements I gave him half of his dose of fish oil (We were using Speak Smooth at the time) in the morning half in the afternoon for a few weeks per the instructions that came with the Speak Smooth.
Thanks,,Maria. I have to give in the evening so it doesn’t interfere with his medication. I will let you know how it goes : )
We’ve been using the Nordic Naturals/Vita E combo. My son (with severe apraxia) has made good gains, but still seems ‘stuck’. I’m excited to add the phoscol to see if it helps.
We use a medicine syringe to ‘inject’ his supplements into a Kiju Orange/Mango juice box. The mango really helps cover the fishy taste in the omegas, and he guzzles it right up!
Thank you for posting this. Its hard to ‘go public’ with the supplements we give our kids, and this is so helpful to read. 🙂
What a genius idea with the juice box. 🙂 I hope the phoscol helps your son!
Hi Maria,
Please guide me about the dosage of those three supplements. My kid is 3.7 years old and weighs around 31 pounds. I already startedgivibg him Nordic naturals cod liver oil 1000mg. Not sure about phoscol and vitamin e how much to be given. Requesting to please guide me with the dosage.
Thanks
Hi Una, Because I am not a doctor I can’t give you advice on dosage. I can tell you what I gave my son, 1 tsp of phoscol and 1 vitamin e capsule squeezed out and 1 1/2 tsp of fish oil. You will need to make your own decisions about the amount to give your son and I would suggest asking his doctor.
Hello how much of vitamin E you Guev yo your son… just for me to have and idea (i will tallk to his pedirritian) My son (3) has speech delay, i give him dha omega (Nordic) and thanks God is working…
please dear answer me as soon as u can..
Best Wishes from Peru 😄😄😄😄
Hi Maria,
My son was just diagnosed with apraxia around his 2nd birthday and I’ve just started reading up on DHA & EPA and it’s effects. Jenivere mentioned how she put the supplements in a juice box, but was she diluting it with the juice? There’s no way I’ll be able to get my son to take this willingly but I’m wondering how much would be too diluting. He loves his 3oz liquid smoothies but would that be diluting it too much?
Thank you so much for this article!
As long as he ate the entire smoothie it should be fine. His body will still absorb the needed nutrients no matter what you use to hide it as long as he eats it in it’s entirety. Good Luck!
I am having trouble finding correct dosage recommendations for the phos chol. Also, I was under the impression 400 iu’s of bit. E was way too much for a child? Can you clarify the dosages you are giving for me?
My apraxic son is 5, and 37 lbs.
Thank you.
My son is also 5 but he weighs 90 lbs. The information I go off for dosage is what I read in Kelly’s book and heard from her at the seminar I attended. I have not personally read anything that 400 iu’s can be dangerous for kids, but that doesn’t mean it may not be. I use 1/2 tsp of the phoscol with my son. If you are worried about dosage being dangerous you may want to cut his to 1/4 tsp where he is only 37 lbs. I understand it can be hard to know what to do when it seems like everything you read has different do’s and do not’s. I have felt that struggle often in this whole process, but What it comes down to for me, is that this combination of supplements is really helping him, and these years where his brain is still growing and forming are really important. If we can help strengthen those pathways right now with these supplements, the chance that their may be some associated risk is something we have chosen to accept.
I read it too, i found puritan’s pride vitamin “e” 100 Ui. Hope it helps you…
Where did u purchase the phoscol? I have read kelly dorfmans book and have thus started my 3 year old daughter with speech apraxia and SPD on Nordic naturals fish oil pills but I am thinking of switching to speak smooth. I would like to try the phoscol too but I am worried about the awful taste kelly mentions in her book. Where did u attend a seminar?
The seminar I attended was in Bethesda, MD. I ordered the Phoscol from pureformulas.com. It is nasty, but my son doesn’t even flinch anymore. I hope there is something you can find to hide it in that will work for her.
hi
I was wondering if you have heard of melaleuca vitality cream . it is a omega 3 . 1 tsp oil con 1200mg epa 220mg dha 140 mg . do this sound about the same as the dha one that you are recommending .
also it has the vitamin e of 2iu 5%. .
is this a good dosage .
Hi Jeannette, I haven not heard of melaleuca vitality cream. I try to heat 1000mg of combined dha and epa for my son and I give him 400 iu of vitamin e.
Hi Maria
This is very helpful. am looking through your previous comments — How much vitamin E do you give your child? I am also purchasing the phoscol supplement too! thank you!!!
Liz
When we first started the supplements we were using speak which had the vitamin e in it already. When we switched to the Nordic naturals fish oil I started giving him one vitamin e capsule with his other supplements 400 IU. Good luck I hope you see great results like we have.
What dosage and supplements would you recommend for a 2 year old?
I wouldn’t dare make a guess. We didn’t know about the benefits of these supplements and start them with our son until he was four. I would check with a doctor or pharmacist and get their opinion.
Dear Maria ,
My son is 10 years old and we had started him on omega speak when he was 6. His speech came in with in a few weeks. Ian still giving it to him but am worried about the high vitamin e content. I am also thinking of adding phos col. What gains should I see with it.
Thanks
Afsheen
Hi Afsheen,
The phos col is just one more element that strengthens the pathways in the brain. Putting it with the vitamin e and fish oil, strengthens the effect of the fish oil. You can learn more by reading Kelly Dorfman’s book. If you are concerned about the High Vitamin e you may want to talk to your pediatrician or switch to using separate fish oil and vitamin e instead of the speak smooth.
Hi Maria –
So wonderful to hear about your son! My son has severe apraxia as well, and we have yet to see improvements with other supplements, so I am looking to start this combo you mention. How long does a child have to be on this combo? Is it indefinite?
Thank you for any insight/advice you can provide!
Warm Regards,
Hema
It is the most helpful when taken before age six. I keep my son on it, but I am not sure if it is really necessary now. He is 7
I’ve just purchased the book and are waiting for it to arrive, but curious as to whether the fish oil needs to be higher in EPA than DHA or vice versa. Or doesn’t it matter which is higher as long as the total is over 1000??
Thanks – can’t wait to read the book!!
I started giving my son the omega 3 gummies (2 per day) 82mg and and it said EPA &dha 68mg for two… I am confuse according with that I will need to give him at least 30 per day something is wrong with my math will order the book!
Most of the tummies and things have very little in them, I found we had to order liquid to get the amounts in a smaller dose. Good luck. The book is very interesting.
Do you have any tips for getting young children to swallow Vitamin E capsules, or do you just empty the contents yourself.
I just have my kids chew them. They don’t have any flavor and then they spit out the casing.
Hi my son is 2 and quite underweight for his age. I believe Nordic Naturals already has vitamin E in it should I just give him Nordic Naturals and Phoscol?
Just check and make sure there is for sure vitamin e in it and you should be good to go.
Also am giving kirkmans super nu thera which has 15 iu of vit E – which is 50% of the daily allowance. Thanks
Hi Maria, can you please email me? I am buying today the product and would love to talk to you about it when you get a moment tx
So sorry, I somehow missed seeing this, I hope you got what you needed.
Thank you very much for this information! I am eager to try this with our 3 year old son. I am wondering if he will need to take these supplements for the rest of his life?
Hi maria I saw the article my son also 5 with speech apraixa. I just purchase the phoschol , is it safe to give it to him , what are the symptom that mat occured? When did u see change in your son how long did it take? My waits 55lbs and his doctor suggested to start with 2.5ml first . Tell me more about it please thanks.
Yes, it is safe. My son didn’t have any side-effects at all. It taste gross though so it can be hard to get them to take it. When we combined it with the fish oil and vitamin e we saw results with in two to three weeks. Before he would say. “Me wa-er” when he needed a drink. After a few weeks on the stuff he was adding more words to his sentences and would say. Me want wa-er peese” We couldn’t believe the improvement.
Thank you so much for sharing this! Can you give an example of your son’s speech before and after the supplements?
Hi Carolyn,
The year that he started the supplement he had very few words and most were approximations. And it was very cave man style. His speech picked up immediately. He went from saying things like ‘me, foo’ for “me food” to ‘I want food’ It helped him add more words and fill in blanks. It was amazing. We also had him in gymnastics and music therapy at the time which was also incredibly helpful. He made immeasurable progress that year.
Good Luck! Maria
I know this is an old post and not sure if you are still answering questions or not, but I just had to ask. The Phoscol is about $100 for the 8 oz. bottle which is pretty expensive for a one salary family (or any family, really 🙂 , so how long does one bottle last for you?
Hi Sheena, We are a one income family too, so I know it is painful to spend that much on one supplement. I wish it wasn’t so expensive. The 8 ounce bottle typically lasted at least 3 months for us or longer.
Maria,
From these posts it seems you have been giving your child supplements for several years. My daughter was diagnosised with Apraxia 9 months ago. She is almost 6 years old. We have been using EPA and DHA for several months and I think it has helped a lot. We are about to start vitamin E. I will also add Phoscol soon. I am a bit concerned about the high levels of supplements. My online research hasn’t provided any solid answers and my child’s doctor knows very little about these supplements. Have you gotten any firm answers from a physician about the levels of supplements you’ve given your child?
Thanks for all the info!
Amanda
Hi Amanda, Yes we have been doing supplements for almost three years now. I too have occasionally felt worried about high levels of supplements, but I feel like the benefit outweighs the risk in his case. He is also a large child, 7 years old and about 110 lbs) so I feel like his body can handle it. If you are really concerned you could cut the amount by half or a fourth. My physician is also not savvy on supplements, but I attended a seminar with Kelly Dorfman, a pediatric internationalist and she is the one who recommended the supplements, I figure if anyone would know the risks it is someone like her and she recommended them for children like ours.
Hope that helps, good luck!
Maria
Thank you! How is your son?
You’re welcome! He is doing great. We still have work to do on articulation and grammar, but he is speaking incredibly well. I really can’t believe how far he has come. Apraxia is a tricky beast, some times it feels like you are taking one step forward and two steps back, regressing, but once you get down the road a ways you can see that you really were moving forward even when it felt like you weren’t. It just takes time, lots of time and you have to keep doing things even when it looks like it isn’t working. For example, teaching him his abc’s was painstaking, I never thought he was going to get it and then all of the sudden one day he got it. Same thing with math facts right now. It’s killing me to work with him on these, but I know in a few months or a year he will all of the sudden have it if we keep it up even though it seems pointless right now.
I thought my daughter would never learn her ABCs! I began to think it was hopeless but then (like you said) it just happened. Everything seemed to stick and she had it. We are working on speaking in complete sentences now. It seems like she cannot speak in complete sentences, always leaving out words like the or a. She has trouble with word order as well. People always says it’s a marathon not a sprint. That is so true.
Hi Maria we had been giving our son speak for the last 6 years. He did well initially but was extremely echolaic. Because of the high but e content we stopped it a month ago. However I feel he is stuttering a lot. We decided to give him two proefa and one epa from Nordic naturals. Someone suggested this combination. Do you think we should only give the pro epa (2 gels have epa 850 and Dha 200.should we add the vit e separately. Last year we had added the phos chol 1 tsp with the speak for a month but saw no gains. Our son is a big boy. He is 12 and weighs about 130lbs.
Hi Afsheen, I am not a nutritionalist and can’t say exactly what will be best for your son, I can only share what has worked for me. I have always tried to hit around 1000 total of epa and dha with whatever fish oil we use.
The nordic naturals kids DHA in the pic has well below 1000 DHA/EPA?
I gave him double the suggested amount.
Hi Maria, My Son 5yrs have sever apraxia. We have started Speak Smooth (1ts – 15ml) per day and Phoscol (1/2 ts – 2.5ml) per day , since a week back. We are seeing loss of gain in speak, receptiveness. He started to be in his own world. My son was taking 4 ts (total 60 ml) Nordic Omega 3 fish oil per day uptp last week. So he was on high dosage for fish oil. So in all he was taking 3000mg EPA, 2200mg DHA, other Omega 3 1200mg per day. Now with 1 ts Speak oil, gets only 725mg EPA and 275mg DHA. Do you have any suggestions for it? Shall we increase the dose of Speak Smooth?
I am sorry Sachin, I am not a doctor, this post is meant to tell people what helped us and hope that it might help them. I can not reccomend a dosage. Good luck to you, I hope that your son will see an increase as you continue the supplements.
No problem…Thanks
I have found this post so helpful and easy to understand! My son is on speak and we have seen gains. 3 months ago if you asked him to say mama, he would scream at you in the face in frustration. Since then, he has learned his ABC’s, numbers, colors, shapes, animals, (he is supplementing with other things also). He is saying daddy now and tries to say the whole alphabet (in his own way) …A, ba, ca, D, E…when he tries to say heart or horse, he says Haaaa. Everything else is pretty much a BABA, but i will take it lol….oh he’s come such a long way in just 3 months. I see a lot of negative feedback about SPEAK, but i think i just decided to keep him on it. Question for you though, I get the EPA and DHA – but i see a lot of people writing elsewhere about EFA and cod liver oil, I wonder how impt those are as part of the fish oil frenzy? I dont think i see Kelly Dorfman saying those are impt anywhere? Just want to make sure im not missing something. I’m going to buy him the Phoscol today, I have not introduced that yet! Hopefully we just keep on trucking along! Thanks for this post and thanks for continually responding and sharing the progress you have had with your son. Its means alot to a momma of a 2.5 year old boy with suspected dyspraxia :o)
So happy you are seeing good results with the added epa and dha. I haven’t heard anything about efa helping apraxia, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t. Keep trucking along. You will keep seeing progress. Hugs to you and your special boy!
Hi,
I have a Late Talker with Apraxia and SPD and I’ve been giving Omega 3’s (Nordic Naturals EPA/EFA’s) and Magnesium, a probiotic and a multi-vitamin. I am slowing going to introduce vitamin e (starting with 200 IU) and Phoscol over the next few weeks and I am excited to see how this improves his speech.
How is your little one doing now? Has he caught up? Are you still giving the supplements?
Thatcher is doing great! He still struggles with articulation. But for the most part people can understand about 80 percent of what he says. He is 9 now and doing much better then I could have imagined those first couple years after his diagnosis.
Hi Maria, Thank you so much for sharing this. My son is 6 years old diagnosed with apraxia he weigh 41 lbs should I follow directions on the bottle for dosing?
Hi Moira, Sorry for the late reply! That’s what I did.
My 4 year old has spd/dyspraxia/oral and verbal apraxia and moderate sensory neural hearing loss. He got his hearing aids a few months ago. I started him on the proepa/proefa combination suggested by the cherab foundation and we have seen gains. I have added vitamin e and phoscol within the last week after reading your blog and Kelly’s book and it is as if his brain has lit up. He has never before tried to have a conversation with us but he now is. I am so happy about the progress and hope we will see more gains within the coming months. How is Thatcher doing now?
This is AMAZING Nicholette, and makes my heart smile so big! Thatcher is doing well. He is nine now and has come so far. He still has struggles with articulation, but people can understand about 80 percent of what he says. I could never have imagined how well he would be doing at this age during those first couple years of his diagnosis. I am so proud of him!
hi there!! i was wondering.about Speak Smooth what does it have in it? and whats the reason you switched to the other stuff likw vitamin e etc?? one last question how do.u give ur son the vitamin e? do.u mix it with the fish oil ?Thank.you
I don’t know the exact ingredients in the speak smooth. The important things that it has in it are the Omegas and the Vitamin e. I stopped giving it to my son, because he is really big for his age and with the large does I was worried about the extra calories he was getting from it. I just squish the vitamin e into his spoon of fish oil or into applesauce. As he got older i would just give it to him to chew or swallow since the flavor wasn’t bad.
Hi Maria,
My daughter is 3 years old and she has been going to speech toraphy, but recently I have noticed she might be have apraxia . I was wondering how l make sure what is my daughter problem because petialogist never talk to me about this matter but when l searching internet l simulized her talking problem with others and for me it seems she has apraxia.
Is your son getting better from the beginning after using this supplement .
Thank you so much
Combined with speech therapy the supplements made a big difference for our son. The supplements strengthen the pathways in the brain so the therapy can stick better….does that make sense. I really believe it was the best thing we could have done for him at the time.
Hi!! Thank you for your amazing post!! My kiddo has been on Speak Smooth and PPC for a few weeks now and doing great! I just wanted to ask, when you began giving your son a second dose of the Speak in the afternoon, did you also give him another teaspoon of the PPC? We are doing 1 tablespoon of Speak with 1 teaspoon of PPC in the morning, but I wanted to add another tablespoon of Speak in the afternoon but wasn’t sure if I should do the PPC again in the afternoon as well. Just wondering what others have done. Thank you and bless you!!!
So glad you are seeing some improvements. I did not add a second does of PPC. It was recommended to me to only do the one dose.
Hi Maria,
My name is Deborah and I have a 15 years old son that has Perisylvian Syndrome. His Speech is highly impacted. We use the DHA. I have used the Vitam E before and I am interested in adding it again. How much of the Vitaminn E and Pholcol do you give your son and how often? We treated with Kelly and she really is awesome!
Hi Deborah,
I give my son one capsule of the vitamin e pictured on this post. And I give him one tsp or one and a half of the phoscol each day. I pour it onto a teaspoon so it fluctuates. Isn’t she the best! Such a Genius!
Hi Maria, I came across your articles and found they are very helpful. I have one question regarding to the PPC. Is there any differences between PPC and PC (Phosphatidyl Choline)? In Kelly’s book, she did mention the benefit for taking PC for improving speech delay so I just wonder is PPC a pure form of PC?
Hi Sophie, The one that I have pictured in the post is the one that Kelly recommended to me when I met her at a seminar. I am not sure if there is a difference between PC and PCC?
Thank you for the reply Maria. It is great to know that it is one of Kelly’s recommendations. I will certain get one and helpfully it will has a greater effect on my little one. 🙂
Your welcome Sophie! Good luck!
If your child has apraxia they need the individualized treatment of a speech language pathologist, someone who has studied the condition and knows what will actually address the deficit and be successful in treatment. Our field is built on evidence based practice for a reason.
Hi Annalise, I’m sorry if this post came across sounding like I don’t think kids need a trained Speech Language Pathologist. Couldn’t be farther from my belief. We have been blessed and incredibly grateful for the Speech Therapists that have worked with our son. The amazing thing I wanted to share about supplements is that it seems the work he did with his speech therapist had a greater effect and “stuck” because the pathways in his brain were getting the nutrients they needed. I would never not have him in Speech, but I do believe he has had more success because of the combined treatment of supplements.
Hi Maria,
My son is 8. He has severe speech apraxia on top of autism, OCD, ADHD. We’ve been doing clean diet for the past 7 years plus B12 with Folinic acid, DHA, vitamin D, probiotics. Nothing has changed or have gotten better. We have done tons of testing and everything looks pretty darn good. He eats well, sleeps well, very well behaved. No speech. We’re doing tons of ABA, Neurofeedback, Speech and OT next to school. Today I found your post and went ahead with these three supplements. Once we start them, should I continue with the rest of our supplements? Did you give anything else to your son on the side?
I, also, have a 10 daughter with autism and language processing issues. Would this combo help her in any way?
Thanks you so much for sharing your story in detail!
Rasita
Hi Rasita, I don’t feel qualified to tell you whether or not you should continue or discontinue what you are already doing. I can only say that these have helped with speech, but epa and dha have many benefits, it may be good to speak with your doctor or a pediatric nutritionist to make decisions for your other daughter or for what to keep or discontinue for your son.
How do you determine dosages on these suppliments? Any risk of overdosing or toxicity with these suppliments? My daughter is only 25 lbs (age 3)
You will need to ask your doctor.
Lisa Geng of the Cherub Foundation says the ratio of of omegas should be 695 epa and 280 dha. Her group also recommends a small amount of omega 6 (GLA) – 70mg. This is also the same ratio used by the Lifetrients.com in their Speak formula. See more at http://pursuitofresearch.org/2016/09/13/dosage-of-fish-oil-for-children/
Thanks for the information Maria. Your blog led me to the lifetrients.com website . They do use a specific ratio of epa/dha – 700/300. Lisa Geng of the cherub foundation also uses this ratio. Instead of just vitamin E, the speak formula uses Gamma E . NOW , Source Naturals, and other vitamin companies sell it Amazon,PuritansPride, etc. I also think it is cheaper to source the items yourself.
For people looking for more information on Vitamin E/Gamma E – check out the following – http://treatautism.ca/2017/10/15/vitamin-e/
Thanks again for the info.
Hi Maria,
My grandson has a speech delay. He is two and has a hard time putting words together to make a phrase or a sentence. He does not have apraxia of speech. Do you think this could help with his speech delay? Just wondering if this can also help with mild autism. He has not been diagnosed with autism.
Thank you for your support.
I think these can help any child with a speech disorder. They have really helped both of my sons.
Hi Maria…. I would like to find out how long did you give Fish Oil +vitamin E +ppc supplement or you are still giving it..if you have stopped until what age did you stop .. please advise me as I cant any answer/articles about how long should I continue the protocol..thanks
I still give my son vitamin e, phoscol and fish oil everyday as part of his vitamin routine.
Hi Maria,
I just saw this blog. How is your son speech now? Costco’s Kirkland Vitamin E is Dl-alpha which is synthetic. I am wondering if Vitamin E D-alpha ( Natural Vitamin E ) is also ok? Thank you.
Hi Patrick,
My son’s speech is much better, he still struggles with some articulation issues. I’m not sure, but as long as it is a complete vitamin e it should be fine. It would be best to check with a nutritionist.
Hi Maria,
What was your vitamin E and PPC doses back then and now?
We have been giving Vitamin E (400iu) (4 types of Tocopherols) and Cod Liver Oil 1000mg (Nordic Naturals).
Thanks
Does this work from 13 year old boy who has only few words?
Hey! How much phoscol did you start with ? And build up to. My son is 80 lbs
Same question for vit E