Dr. Charlene Messenger is back this week to educate us on how she distinguishes sensory symptoms from other symptoms or conditions, and the type of recommendations she often provides to parents as helpful resources.

One of the challenges of identifying sensory processing problems in children is that many symptoms can overlap with other conditions. Common symptoms that are reported to Dr. Messenger in her line of work often include but are certainly not limited to: increased sensory sensitivities (i.e.- overly sensitive to sounds, touch, movement, smells, etc…); very high or low activity levels; attention or impulse control difficulties; self-control or self-calming challenges; transition difficulties; issues with having a poor self concept, and language or academic delays. She has to pull apart these symptoms and figure out the root issues, which at times may be related to other conditions such as a learning disability, anxiety or depression. She explains in this episode how conditions often overlap like a Venn diagram (a picture of multiple circles overlapping to different extents), where anxiety is a common condition that runs in families and a child may present with these symptoms as well as sensory processing difficulties. Anticipatory anxiety is also common in children and their families.

Dr. Messenger’s goal once she gets through her initial testing is to help families determine what needs to happen so that each child can make improvements. She stresses the importance of using a very practical approach in her office to help families make positive changes. Dr. Messenger often recommends strategies for parents, sensory activities for children to complete at home, and/or modifications that can be made within the school environment. Her recommendations vary for each child, but can include fun activities such as: allowing a child play time with tactile stimulating activities; getting dirty; having manipulatives; petting/playing with animals; visual activities such as flashlight tag; blowing bubbles & playing musical instruments.

She also talks about school plans that can be set in place to help children who need additional support services of any kind. This refers to AIPs which are “Academic Improvement Plans”, 504 Plans for children who have medical needs, and IEP plans which are “Individual Education Plans” for children who are already in special education programs. There is also a new nationwide program that Dr. Messenger introduced which is called an RTI, this stands for a “Response to Intervention”. This is a program that allows accommodations such as: rearranging a child’s desk placement in a classroom; giving more time for certain kids to complete their assignments; or giving parents materials to preview with their child at home before a new lesson or concept is taught in class. You can refer to Dr. Messenger’s website for more on this topic. All states are currently implementing some form of this program and Florida is considered to be in a transition period with the RTI program at this time.

I encourage you all to look at Dr. Messenger’s website for more information or clarification on topics that were brought up in this episode or episode #34, you can find many additional resources here as well: www.brighterpathways.com

Thank you again Dr. Messenger, it’s always a pleasure talking to you, we are grateful for your time and expertise…and stay tuned parents, I’ve twisted her arm to come back one more week and: explain how psychologists can do different types of testing for children, provide some activities that can be done to improve your child’s memory; share some success stories from within her office; provide tips for parents that are struggling to find answers; and provide resources to help parents in general.

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Dr. Charlene Messenger was so gracious to come on the show this week and explain to us in layman’s terms what’s involved in having a child complete psychoeducational testing and how this can be beneficial for many struggling children.  She does a lot of psychoeducational testing in her private psychology practice and works with children of all ages and their families, in various capacities.  She has an extensive background of working in the school system for 13 years and now in private practice for 18 years. I really encourage you to visit her amazing website:  www.brighterpathways.com to find out more about her and all the services she provides, and to get a wealth of helpful information on common questions such as: testing options for gifted and learning difficulties; common disorders that can be diagnosed and treated; and how to address emotional issues (just to name a few).  Dr. Messenger is no stranger to children with sensory processing difficulties, so our main focus on this episode is related to unraveling the complexity of Psychoeducational testing for children who may have sensory and/or other learning or behavioral difficulties.

Assessments:  Dr. Messenger offers a comprehensive battery of testing to provide families and schools with the most information on each child.  This she calls “an 8×10 glossy picture of your child”.  She also offers a mini-assessment which she considers more of a “Polaroid picture of your child’s strengths and weaknesses”.  This is a new and cost effective way to figure out what is going on for a child in order to provide useful tips and strategies for them to be more successful in all environments.  Dr. Messenger always observes a child when completing testing in order to report on behaviors and interactions noted when on a one-to-one basis, in a casual environment.  It is also important for her to receive additional information on each child she’s assessing to get the overall picture of the child’s performance.  This often includes additional documentation such as teacher checklists, parent checklists, standardized testing results from other professionals and reports from other professionals that have assessed the child.

She primarily tests children in the pre-K to adolescent age range and occasionally assesses college students with known learning difficulties, and toddlers, with 2 year olds being the youngest, if parents have concerns at this age.  There is so much that is changing quickly (developmentally) at this age, that she focuses her assessments on “general patterns” of strengths and weaknesses as a child’s skills may appear to be “uneven” when looking at all areas of development.

Intervention:  Dr. Messenger provides the following types of services to children and their families once testing has identified the key areas of concern:

• Behavioral management and discipline strategies appropriate for each child
• Remediation plans for processing problems (i.e.- memory difficulties or the processing difficulties associated with attention deficit disorders or sensory symptoms)
• Parent and school staff education
• Counseling which includes talk therapy and play therapy
• Parent counseling to teach strategies to help their children
• Social skills training (individual sessions and sometimes group sessions)

Of particular interest to me during this interview is the Play Therapy that Dr. Messenger offers.  For those unfamiliar on how much fun this sounds, let me share!  She does a lot of art therapy with paintings, sand play & puppet shows to set up scenes with dolls, figurines and/or animals which are used to depersonalize the characters involved (like the child, the family or the school environment).  This technique can help children feel comfortable in expressing how they feel and help to make breakthroughs in their progress sometimes 3 times faster than other methods of intervention.

Dr. Messenger is also a firm believer in coaching the parents as she models techniques she would like them to continue to work on at home since parents do need to set the tone and be a good example at home.  Dr. Messenger is a kid at heart and a barrel of fun!  She is great at tuning-into these kids in a fun and playful way.  She has an excellent book out called Secrets of the 3rd Little Pig and is working on some new self-help materials/games for parents and kids to use at home.  Stay tuned to her website for upcoming info!  www.brighterpathways.com

Thank you so much Dr. Messenger, we look forward to having you back next week to go into further detail on some of the specific areas that are tested during a Psychoeducational evaluation.

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Often times parents struggle to figure out the pieces of the puzzle for their child, when he or she is having difficulty in an academic environment. Some challenges overlap and may require several different approaches or types of therapies to be completed in order to fully address the child’s challenges. I will outline in this blog for you the benefits and reasons of why you may want to have your child work with one of the following types of professionals. Please listen to this full episode for more details of how these programs nicely compliment each other and can ultimately help your wonderful, but struggling child be more confident and successful in a comprehensive way.

Occupational Therapy: These services can help you identify the reasons why children have a hard time sitting still, paying attention, focusing on their work, initiating school assignments, keeping their desk space organized, holding their pencil properly, writing within the spaces provided on blank or lined paper, having neat handwriting, following directions/sequencing, and getting along with others (i.e.- not playing too rough, feeling uncoordinated and/or needing to be in control). These problems can be related to having low muscle endurance (despite the fact that their muscles may appear to be very strong). Low muscle strength or endurance means the eyes, hands and postural muscles may tire out very quickly, causing a child to be wiggly in his or her seat, and/or appear to be inattentive. Often times when children have sensory processing difficulties, they appear to have behavioral problems, like the problem list mentioned above. These children need to be moving often, using their muscles and/or touching objects, or even having their own work space, to avoid upsets and negative interactions with the other students.

Speech Therapy: Speech therapy would be an excellent service for your child if his or her expressive and/or receptive language skills are delayed. This is a very common concern that is tested by Speech Therapists. This information tells the parent whether or not a child understands what is said or asked of him (receptive) and then how well the child can communicate his wants or needs with others (expressive).  This is the foundation for all communication and expectations to be established. Speech therapists also assess and treat their articulation skills, eating/feeding, and social skills, just to name a few.  They would be the best therapist to work with your child if he or she needs help sounding out words, blending words, articulating all sounds, making sense of directions given, understanding basic language concepts (on, over, under), and staying on topic when having conversations with others (without causing the other person to be confused or less interested when compared to other peers). When completing writing assignments, Speech Therapists are needed to help children gather and organize their thoughts in order to get it on paper.

Psychoeducational Testing:: Psychoeducational Testing is more comprehensive testing of the child’s overall development which is completed by a licensed school psychologist. This service is provided in public elementary school settings, or privately at a psychologist’s office.  This testing addresses all aspects of learning in terms of long and short term memory, attention, reading, writing, language concepts, visual motor skills, etc… This is the most comprehensive testing you can have done to help determine your child’s academic strengths and weaknesses, in order to find the best ways for him or her to learn and retain information. These professionals often recommend OT services for fine motor skills, attention and/or sensory processing and ST services if there are language delays, language processing difficulties, frequently missed social cues, and/or oral motor difficulties.

So what’s the great news? Well, all three of these disciplines all tend to compliment each other nicely. If you are still feeling unsure, my recommendation is to talk to your child’s teacher, administrator and/or guidance counselor and see what the primary concerns are, and then ask for guidance on the side or a team meeting. Teachers see your kids every day and can quite easily compare them to their peer group and let the parents as well as the other professionals know when something is developmentally not achieved or if there are any concerns that may require professional attention.

As a concerned parent, you should also be able to contact the individual therapists who provide these services and ask if your list of concerns are most commonly addressed by them, or if you should be looking for another type of service.

Please post any comments or questions that you have, if you are still feeling torn on which way to go for the best interest of your child. Please keep in mind that early identification of academic problems and remediation is key! The longer you wait on these concerns/struggles, the more challenging it can be to address.

Best Wishes!

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This show is dedicated to teaching you the details of how gluten can destroy the gut and cause a myriad of problems in our sensory kids, as well as the general population, so don’t think this episode is just for children, it may be for you too! I will explain what gluten is, how it affects children when “leaky gut” syndrome is suspected, explain the difference between a gluten sensitivity, a gluten allergy, and having Celiac Disease, give you a list of foods that have gluten in them, and a list of gluten-free foods, and then share some websites with you so you can continue to learn about this topic.

Gluten is the sticky protein that comes from many starchy foods.  It holds bread and pastry products together, like pasta, cakes, crackers, and dressings and sauces that have a thickness to them (more than an oil and vinegar-based consistency).

Leaky Gut Syndrome is a condition that has been scientifically validated mostly by alternative doctors in this country.  This term refers to very tiny perforations or tears of the lining of the intestines, which reportedly lead to excessive absorption of microbial toxins and allergens from food proteins that haven’t been broken down or digested properly.  This can result in toxic overload. It’s not yet known if this is a genetic disorder, if it’s present at birth, if it’s due to environmental factors, the overuse of antibiotics (resulting in a yeast overgrowth in the intestines), or related to immunizations or other unknown factors.

When foods are not properly and fully broken down in the intestine, they get absorbed through the intestine wall and then identified as a toxin in our blood stream.  This travels to every part of our body and can therefore cause interruptions in many different bodily functions and processes.  It is thought that untreated yeast overgrowth can cause this damage to the colon and turn into candida.  Candida is a barbed, toxic fungus that is very difficult to kill completely, as it pokes itself into the wall of the intestines.  Some medications and treatment remedies for candida can decrease the overall load of candida in the digestive tract, but it’s hard to kill off the roots that have imbedded themselves into the lining of the gut.

When gluten is not broken down & digested properly in the colon it can present itself as a gliadomorphin, which has been shown to have an opiate-like affect on the body and brain, often affecting areas of the brain such as the temporal lobes, involving speech and auditory integration.  These opiates are a type of narcotic often craved by people who react in this way to gluten. Opiates are like morphine and heroin, they reduce pain and induce pleasure, and are hence reasons why people may feel addicted to gluten-based foods and appear to be drugged, in a fog, or zoned out.

An allergist can test for a gluten allergy, or in the most extreme case, they diagnose Celiac Disease. This is a condition in where the body has an extreme allergic reaction to the smallest amounts of gluten, causing damage to the intestines.  In these cases, gluten needs to be avoided at all costs.  IgG and IgE blood tests can provide more information to identify a gluten sensitivity, as they look at immediate reactions and delayed response reactions.  It has been said by various professionals that it takes up to 3-12 months to completely get rid of all traces of gluten that are currently present in the body, while others have said it takes a few weeks to a few months.  This is an example of how scientific data varies, and each client’s body is different.  Pediatricians and primary care doctors should be able to write a prescription for a urine peptide test now that can tell if you have improperly broken down proteins in the urine causing this leaky gut response.

Gluten sensitivities may result in frequent diarrhea, poor mental functioning, thyroid diseases, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, Grave’s disease, depression, anemia, early bone disease, Downs Syndrome, eczema and infertility, etc…

Gluten is often hidden in:
Bread crumbs found in your peanut butter/jelly jar and/or toaster, frozen French fries, ketchup, laxatives, ice cream, mayonnaise, caramel flavoring or coloring, soups, stamps, play dough, toothpaste, mouthwash, wallpaper paste, dextrin, maltodextrin, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, lactic acid, modified food starch, natural flavorings or ingredients, artificial flavorings, wheat products, rice syrup, soy sauce, malt vinegar, barley, white flour, bulgar wheat, cake flour, cereal, croutons, farina, graham crackers, hydrolyzed oats and vegetable proteins, kamut, malt, milk, pasta, rice syrup, rye, sauce mixes (as a slight thickeners), soba noodles, and many vitamins & medicines.

Some Gluten-free foods are:
Fish, chicken, beef (all meats), vegetables, fresh fruit, and nuts, as well as cornmeal, corn, brown rice, white rice, millet, buckwheat, soy flour, beans, flaxseed, tapioca flour, quinoa, applesauce, corn flakes, corn chips, potato chips, and cheese.  All packaged food should have a proper warning label if they have any top allergic ingredients in their products (look in the organic section if they have one).  More and more grocery stores are carrying organic and gluten free products on their shelves.  Any time breads, crackers, pastries, sauces and/or dressings are desired, you will need to make sure the package has a “gluten free” label on the front or back. Corn, soy and milk are replacement ingredients which may have their own separate reactions, depending on the person and his or her nervous system.

Here are just a few common websites to teach and guide you toward having greater knowledge on gluten, as chances are, if you found this podcast you are already pretty savvy on the computer in order to do further searches:

www.gfcfdiet.com

www.gluten.net

www.autismdiet.com

www.celiac.org

Best of health!

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Thanks Jen for coming back this week to share more about your struggles to help your son Ben, and to provide the listeners with tips and recommendations you can offer, after all that you have gone through in your great attempts to raise Ben. His greatest challenges have been related to getting through the school year without his processing difficulties being understood or validated, and his social challenges have been another great challenge for him in and out of the school environment.

Jen shared with us how she and her husband found services for Ben over the past few years and what they have done to help him get through his kindergarten school year, so he could gain public funding through the McKay scholarship to help pay for private schooling of the family’s choice for the following school year. Jen emphasized the fact that Ben’s needs change and their personal funding changes each year, so they seek community resources that are the best match for them at the time. They are currently receiving Occupational Therapy to address his eye contact when speaking to others, to help him control his behaviors and emotional outbursts, and to help him and his parents understand sensory processing and activities they can do at home to help him process and function better on a day-to-day basis. He also has received behavioral therapy, and is currently enrolled in music therapy and takes a dance class, both which he loves!

Next year is will be attended a private school that has very small class sizes with teachers who have extensive background training in Autism and behavioral interventions and a sensory therapist on staff who works with every child on campus, on a weekly basis.

Jen offered great recommendations on this podcast for teachers in order to be better equipped to handle children with sensory-based difficulties, like Ben. Her recommendations included:

1. Be aware of how fast things are changing around you (i.e.- research, & the prevalence of children with varying needs and difficulties, etc. ..)

2. Don’t be afraid to take little steps toward trying something new to help a child, even if you haven’t done such a thing before.

3. You are encouraged as the teachers of today to not necessarily go off of what you may think about a child from past experiences (as no two children are the same), but to look at each child’s individual needs.

For all parents out there, Jen strongly feels that if you keep your problems a secret, then you can’t get help. She encourages everyone to speak up and share their difficulties with others, so others can learn and be helpful. Jen’s job to help Ben: be his best; have a good day at school; learn how to socialize with friends successfully; and control his emotions is a job that is very exhausting and emotionally draining. She encourages parents out there to be partners with each other, work together as a team, spend their own time with each child, and then to learn to ask for help from others, and then take it when it’s offered!

Jen feels that life is a marathon, not a sprint, and the “people” she and her husband have found to help them are more valuable than the specific treatment that each professional has provided. So parents out there, connect yourselves with great people that you feel confident with, and make sure to keep yourselves surrounded by supportive people, not just the nice people, but the nice ones who are great at helping your child make steady gains. Thanks again Jen, your stories and feedback are invaluable!

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