©Copyright 1998, Dianne Craft
"Ninety per cent of hyperactive
children studied gave a history of three
or more ear infections...", according to a study published
in the
May 1997 issue of Clinical Pediatrics.
In a 1987 article in
Parents Pediatric Report,
researchers stated, "Ear infections and
their effect on language development
are prominent topics in pediatric
literature. Hyperactivity
is another item of great interest... On
the surface they seem to be two unrelated entities. But could
there
be a connection between these two conditions? Very much so, says
a
study from the University of Colorado in Denver, and Yeshiva
University
in New York."
Early childhood ear infections, which plague many of our children,
often succeed in administering an effective, "one-two punch"
to a child. First, the subsequent, repeated use of antibiotics to
clear up the infection upsets the child's natural intestinal
ecology, resulting in an irritated nervous system. Second, the
infection and inflammation of the ear often causes some damage to
the "cilia" of the ear, the tiny hair-like structures
of the ear that help transmit sound, affecting both language
abilities and auditory processing. These effects can be felt
throughout a child's school career. However, once the cause is
established many natural things can be done to greatly reduce,
and eliminate these problems.
We are very grateful for the discovery of antibiotics. Their
timely use has saved many lives. However, the multiple use of
antibiotics, particularly the use of the broad spectrum
antibiotics such as Septra and Ceclor, sterilize a child's
intestines, eliminating the good bacteria, while feeding the
naturally occurring yeast in the intestines. This causes an upset
balance in the ecology that directly affects a child's nervous
system. Some books that explain this process in more detail are, Help
for Your Hyperactive Child by William Crook,
M.D. and Superimmunity
for Kids by Leo Galland, M.D.
Most often we see this upset ecology manifesting itself as
problems with learning or with behavior. The learning problems
associated with this condition are a poor memory, difficulty with
sustained attention (often seeming "spacey"), and
difficulty understanding new concepts. The behavior problems that
we see are hyperactivity, anger, moodiness, irritability, or
inappropriate behavior, often talking too loudly or invading
others' space regularly. In my experience working with bright but
struggling students in special education and regular education
programs I have seen many children exhibiting these symptoms.
Some of them are placed on the medication Ritalin. Others are
labeled with a learning disability, often with an auditory or
language processing dysfunction. A smaller group are placed in a
behavior lab program in the school, with an individual IEP
designed to modify their unsociable behavior. When I have studied
the files of this diverse group of children, however, I have
often found a common link. I found that many of them suffered
with many ear infections as a young child. I also found that even
more of the children have some type of allergy. As we know, when
yeast overgrowth is an issue, the child often develops a "leaky
gut", causing food allergies to develop. The most common
offending food, in the case of ear infections or bed wetting, is
milk and milk products. I have seen so many children's "learning
and behavior problems," respond to simple interventions such
as a trial elimination of dairy products, along with replacing
some of the missing good bacteria in the intestines. To replace
the good bacteria, a parent can simply buy a product in a health
food store that contains the good bacterial strains, acidophilus
and bifidus. Although this good bacteria is present in yogurt, it
is in very small amounts. When purchasing a more concentrated
form of this good bacteria as a supplement, buy a brand that is
refrigerated in the health food store, since this is a live
bacteria. It can be purchased in capsule or powder, and placed in
juice or cold food without altering its taste. The liquid and
chewable forms of this supplement are far less viable. Parents
report to me that giving their child this natural beneficial
bacteria two or three times a day often results in a reduction in
temper tantrums, less irritability, better concentration, and a
more cooperative child. Along with Acidophilus we have found Grapefruit
Seed Extract to be helpful. GSE is an
antifungal that reduces the colonies of yeast overgrowth thus
helping to restore the bodies natural balance between good
bacteria and yeast. We always suggest taking one supplement for
at least a week before adding another one. This helps you to
identify any adverse reaction your child may have.Reducing sugar
intake also makes a noticeable difference in behavior. There are
many more things that can be done to help a child whose nervous
system is upset due to the multiple use of antibiotics, but this
is a good beginning and almost always brings good results.
One of the results of multiple childhood ear infections can be
difficulty with language and auditory processing. These children
have difficulty distinguishing certain sounds. Sometimes this
difficulty with the discrimination of individual sounds can
present itself as a speech problem or in learning phonics. Both
their reading and their spelling are affected. It also affects
the way that they are able to listen. We frequently accuse our
children of having, "selective hearing", meaning that
they choose to listen to things other than their parents. This
can be the case of course, but because of the amount of energy
the process of listening and storing auditory information
requires, the child can do only so much listening, before he
tunes out because of the overload. At times these children are
inaccurately diagnosed as being ADD (attention deficit disorder),
when actually their attention is dependent on the amount of
auditory processing that is required for a situation. These
children often have difficulty sequencing, as represented by
repeating a story with the events in proper order. They also have
difficulty hearing their own internal voice, preferring to read
aloud to understand information. Tasks that require alphabetizing
are particularly onerous to them, as they have to repeat the
alphabet over and over to themselves in their head. They often do
anything to avoid this type of task. What are some things that we
can do to help our child with these kinds of problems resulting
from multiple ear infections? We can teach them in a more visual
manner, using pictures for clarification, teaching phonic sounds
(called phonemes) with the letter combination superimposed on a
picture that gives that sound. We can teach them right brain
strategies such as visualizing a word to more easily memorize its'
spelling. We can teach them math facts using funny stories and
pictures, using their right brain to store them, rather than the
rote learning that the left, auditory brain hemisphere enjoys.
And we can use natural vitamin supplements to help heal the
auditory system. As mentioned earlier, the "cilia" of
the ear is affected by multiple ear infections. In his book, Feed
Your Kids Right, by Lendon H. Smith, M.D.,
the famous "baby doctor," states that the highest
concentration of vitamin A in the whole body is in the cilia of
the ear. After multiple ear infections the store of this vitamin
is greatly depleted. Often these children hear noises in their
ear that are very distracting to them. Children I see often
describe the sound as a mosquito buzzing close to their ear, or
like the "whoosh" of wind in their ear. Knowing that a
deficiency of essential
fatty acids is often found in learning
disabilities, we can supplement them by using some orange
flavored cod liver oil, which is a good source of both vitamin A
and essential fatty acids. Flaxseed oil (not capsules) that also
contains borage oil is helpful in addition to the cod liver oil.
Of course you would always add some vitamin E in the form of
drops or capsules to keep the oil from oxidizing in the body.
Along with a good yeast-free multiple vitamin and separate
multiple mineral, a healing program would be started. For regular
readers of the CHEC Update, the information given in the last
issue on the use of lecithin to reduce auditory processing
problems, would help round out this important program. According
to the research, after four months, the child's information
processing should be much easier. Although the impact of multiple
childhood ear infections on a child's learning and behavior can
be large, it does not have to be permanent. There are many
natural approaches to correcting the influence of these ear
infections. Learning can become easier and a child's nervous
system can be calmed by using the natural supplements that God
has given us.
Dianne Craft is a former homeschool mom who has a Master's Degree
in Special Education. She is a consultant in her Denver based
company, Child Diagnostics, Inc. She helps parents determine the
learning and behavioral needs of their child, and creates a plan
to implement a program for succes that they can use at home. She
is a speaker at Homeschool Conferences on children and learning,
and has nationwide sales of her manual, Brain Integration for
Children. She can be reached at e-mailcraft@ecentral.com.
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