When you have a child, especially a firstborn, you anticipate every milestone. The first time he or she rolls over, the first step, the first word . . . But what if your child never says that first word or language in general comes to a grinding halt? When should you become concerned?
My son Anthony was born three months premature. Doctors and therapists all warned me that he would most likely be “delayed” with milestones, which is common. But month by month Anthony became stronger, and he caught up to where he needed to be. He took his first steps at 14 months old (11 months age-corrected). He started to babble a little bit at 15 months. He said “mama,” “ball,” and “da.” Everything seemed on track until, all of a sudden, progress stopped. And then, the next thing I knew, my son had become mute.
Anthony became incapable of saying any words. He could not even repeat sounds. The only noises he could make were grunts and mumbles. I always described them as the sounds you would hear if someone mouth were taped over or gagged.
Because Anthony was a micro-preemie, therapy was an easy option for doctors to turn to. They used his prematurity as an excuse for his inability to speak. I also heard the usual excuses – he was a boy and boys talk later, Einstein was a late talker – and one doctor even went as far as to blame me for Anthony’s inability to speak. He said that I must be anticipating his needs too much. I knew that none of these reasons explained what was truly going on.
At 18 months, Anthony began speech therapy. I was hopeful that he would catch up quickly, like he had with his previous milestones. But it soon became obvious, that speech was not going to be easy for Anthony. His therapist diagnosed him with childhood apraxia of speech.
It wasn’t too much later that occupational therapy was added on to Anthony’s schedule, as it became clear that Anthony had very poor control of his lips and tongue and fine motor functions. He would drool a lot when he became excited or overwhelmed. This had to do with sensory processing.
From the age of 18 months to 3 ½ years old, we did speech and occupational therapy multiple times a week, but Anthony only continued to regress more. He had no words, he still drooled, he dragged his head on the floor, pushed his body into objects, only grunted and mumbled to get our attention, and he started hoarding food in his mouth – which was scary because I was afraid he would choke. Therapy was not helping Anthony one bit. But I was clueless on where to turn.
Anthony hoarding food in his mouth
Thankfully one night, an online friend of mine told me about biomedical intervention. I told her how I felt so helpless and didn’t know where to turn, that the pediatrician we were seeing and the therapists had no other options for me, but I knew in my gut, that I was missing a piece of the puzzle. My friend told me all about the connection between gut dysbiosis and developmental problems, including speech delays, and said maybe I should look into putting him on a probiotic.
That was simple enough! The next morning I ran out to CVS and picked up a probiotic called Florastor, which only contained s. boulardii. What happened next I still consider a miracle. The first week I had Anthony on that probiotic, he spoke TEN WORDS! And for the first time ever, HE KEPT THEM! I had my proof and motivation to find a MAPS doctor after that.
Anthony was then diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. After many tests, we discovered Anthony had off-the-chart-high yeast levels. His BHMT (Betaine Homocysteine Methyl Transferase) methylation pathways were not functioning, and his neurotransmitter levels were off. We started him on a supplement called TMG, which is an amino acid that aids in methylation. A couple months on this supplement and Anthony was speaking in sentences. His therapist mentioned that she had never seen a child progress so quickly. Not only that, his sensory issues disappeared. He no longer drooled or dragged his head on the floor, and he stopped hoarding food in his mouth. At the age of 4 ½ years old, Anthony no longer qualified for therapy of any sort. To this day, he is therapy free!
Anthony at 7
If you have a child that whose speech is delayed or is not speaking at all, I consider this a RED FLAG for an underlying issue. These are my recommendations:
- Have your child evaluated for speech therapy, but also consider that therapy alone may not be enough.
- Have an Organic Acid Test (OAT) ran on your child.
- Have an IgG & IgE Allergy test run.
- Order the 23 and Me test, and find out if there are any impaired methylation pathways.
- Start your child on a good quality probiotic.
- Find a biomedical doctor (MAPS).
- Research Methyl-B12, Dimethylglycine (DMG), and Trimethylglycine (TMG) and bring these up at your doctor appointment.
~ Guru Girl
Could you tell me how much TMG you gave your son? My son is 4 speech delayed, sensory processing disorder, traumatic birth. He does have the MTHFR gene as well as my 2 year (who is only just speech delay nothing else). Did you give any supplements for the MTHFR gene?
Smarty pants gummies + coseva advanced trs is an amazing combo. Helps the body detox metals. Sensory issues gone.
Did your child get the mmr vaccine at a yr? If so, huge factor for autism. Watch vaxxed
Hello guru mama.my name is gaelle ï am from Canada.you are truly a great inspiration to me.I got a question do you think that yeast can cause drooling in austitic kid.because my 2 and half year son shows some signs of autism and he is also drooling a lot.but in my region we don’t have a DAN doctor.so ï do my own research for helping my baby.please tell me what can make a kid to drooling a lot and how to fix it.thanks you for being understanding.
I read your article and just ran out to try some Florastor on my 11 year old.
It is hard finding the exact probiotic that the child needs he has white spots all over his calves and if full with candida. Gave him first dose last night , 2 of the extra strength packets . I pray for results in next few weeks.
Thank you for sharing your experience so others like my son may benefit. God Bless you and your son. Thank God you did what you did.
Hi Guru girl, I am very interested in getting my child tested and will start my son on probiotics ASAP. Can you also please tell me what MAPS stand for so I can research a doctor near me please. Thank you so much for sharing your story.
Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs. http://www.tacanow.org/blog/treating-autism-maps-doctors-dan-doctors/
Thank you both, I don’t have an email for your guru girl. Do I just send it to the thinking moms email? I really appreciate all your help 🙂
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My ASD son is 4 year 5 months and at this point he is trying to express himself in a 2-3 word sentences that only I and his speech therapist can understand. Started with speech at 18 months, couple months later with OT and been GFCF for 2 years. Started with various supplements before he turned 3 and he is taking the ones mentioned above. My biggest worry is that I am missing something, since I don’t see the progress that I read the other parents are seeing. He was hitting all the milestones until his first birthday, when he just stopped progressing. Did you try increasing /decreasing the dosages of the different supplements, or maybe the question would be, how do you navigate the whole process? How long before you stop giving a certain one and add another?
Guru Girl here! I would look into the tests that I referred to in my posts. Testing is VERY important. You want to find out where your childs specific issues are coming from, and you will only find this out with the proper tests. Once you have the results, you will know which supplements will work best for your childs specific needs.
Kimberly =-)
This is so interesting to read. My first son has always been a little delayed. He was born at 37 weeks 5 days so he wasn’t considered premature but I feel like there was a reason he came earlier than my second who didn’t arrive until 40 weeks 6 days. My first son did not crawl until almost a year and did not walk until 16 months. His speech has always been hard for him. He is now almost 3 and is talking a lot better. I realized when reading this that his speech significantly improved when I started him on probiotics in the fall. He still has speech issues but now he can put sentences together. You can’t always understand him but it is a lot better than before. You can tell he wants to say something but can’t always get it out. He used to throw up a lot when eating, we realized that dairy was causing him to vomit. He has never been diagnosed with autism or anything but I feel like something is going on. We are new to the side of natural healing. If you have any other suggestions please feel free to contact me. I am looking at doing the genetic testing. Does that also test for the Mthfr everyone has been talking about? Thank you
Brittany, the fact that “you can tell he wants to say something but can’t always get it out” makes it sound like he may be at least a little apraxic. Apraxia is a speech planning disorder. The child understands what is said, knows what he or see wants to say, but can’t actually say it. For my son, the probiotics were very helpful, but there were two other things that helped a lot as well, high-dose fish oil (for the EPA and DHA) and digestive enzymes. To learn more about those things, check out Enzymes for Autism and Other Neurological Disorders, by Karen DeFelice, and The Late Talker, by Marilyn C. Agin and Lisa F. Geng.
Hi Brittney,
I’m Guru Girl =-) Feel free to send me an email or check out my website http://www.biomedheals.com I have a lot of info on there regarding Anthony’s speech and sensory processing issues and what we did to correct them. =-)
Can you tell me how often you provided the tmg and or probiotics a day?
Our dr had us giving once a day for each.