They Are What You Feed Them: How Food Can Improve Your Child’s Behaviour, Mood and Learning

As with dyslexia, this syndrome is independent of general ability, and strengths often include good reasoning and creative problem-solving skills, including lateral and holistic thinking. Verbal abilities are usually superior to non-verbal abilities, with particular weaknesses in visuo-spatial and attentional processing. Spelling and copying from a board, as well as handwriting, are usually areas of difficulty, although reading itself may or may not be a problem.

‘Our son was always a cause for concern amongst his teachers. We cut additives like tartrazine from his diet, and that helped a lot, so he was no longer hyperactive. The other problems remained, though.

In the end, the new Special Needs teacher suggested he might have dyspraxia, which proved to be the case. Yes, it’s a label, but now that everyone understands, we have put strategies in place that will help him.

One of those strategies is changing his diet to follow the principles you outline. It’s early days yet, but I’m convinced we’re already seeing a difference.’ – Jan and Andrew

Because his verbal abilities may be very good, the discrepancy between these and his written work (particularly when under timed pressure) can lead others to think your dyspraxic child is just being lazy or careless, even when he’s trying very hard indeed. When time is not limited, his work may be outstanding, which can add to that impression. No surprises that he may be susceptible to stress and frustration, often appearing irritable and moody as a result. With respect to attention, ‘sensory overload’ (too much happening at once) is often a problem for the dyspraxic child—but once absorbed in something, he may have an unusual capacity to maintain his concentration, provided that the environment offers few distractions. While naming no names at all, I will say that in my experience dyspraxic tendencies are perhaps over-represented within academia, because in highly able individuals, dyspraxia often manifests as the ‘absent-minded professor’ syndrome!

Common Indicators of Dyspraxia or Developmental Coordination Disorder

Motor coordination skills substantially below the level expected from age, education and abilities in other areas

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Delays in achieving motor milestones such as crawling, sitting and walking

Difficulties with activities such as running, throwing and catching, tying laces, and handwriting (often using undue muscle tension in the efforts to compensate for poor coordination)

Coordination difficulties interfere with academic achievement or daily living. Attentional and organizational difficulties may compound these problems.

‘Intuitive’, holistic style of problem-solving, using lateral or divergent thinking rather than following a linear, step-by-step strategy

Verbal abilities usually superior to non-verbal abilities

Moving away from the core defining features, many dyspraxic children seem oversensitive to touch (complaining about ‘scratchy’ labels in clothes, or the fabric itself)—but like some children on the autistic spectrum, they may respond well to gentle physical pressure (liking tight hugs, and heavy bedclothes, for example). There are often general health issues, too, especially with respect to allergies or poor digestion—although these can affect many other children, too, of course.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

For their age, ADHD children are severely inattentive, or hyperactive and impulsive, or both. These difficulties must also be persistent over time and in different situations, and causing serious problems both at home and at school. If your child has ADHD, he probably has some other problems, too. ‘Conduct disorder’ and ‘oppositional defiant disorder’ (breaking rules and having problems with those in authority) are the most common ones, but anxiety, depression or other mood disorders are also linked with ADHD at both the individual and the family level, as are specific learning difficulties like dyslexia and dyspraxia. On the positive side, the energy of ADHD can be very productive when this is suitably channelled—and a willingness to take risks is part of most truly creative achievements in any domain.

Common Indicators of ADHD

In ADHD children, many of the following features or ‘symptoms’ occur much more than expected for the child’s age and developmental level. They also occur persistently, both over time and across different situations.

Attentional Problems

Makes careless mistakes in schoolwork and other activities, and doesn’t give close attention to detail.

Has difficulty organizing tasks and activities

Forgetful in day-to-day activities (often loses ‘tools’ for a job, e.g. pencils, ruler, homework diary)

Has difficulty sustaining attention in work or play. Even if instructions are understood, and intentions are good, they’re not followed through

Doesn’t like sustained mental effort and may try to avoid it

Often ‘daydreams’ (may appear to be ‘elsewhere’ when spoken to)

Is easily distracted from a task by other things that are going on

Hyperactivity/Impulsivity

Runs about or climbs when it’s not appropriate to do so

Fidgets, squirms or shows other signs of restlessness

Has difficulty sitting or playing quietly

Talks or chatters excessively

Interrupts questions, conversations or games, and has difficulty waiting for his turn

Shows impulsive behaviour in other ways: can’t restrain himself, and often acts without thinking (may appear unaware or careless of potential dangers)

The consensus is that full-blown ADHD affects around 1 child in every 20 (5 per cent), but in some parts of the US up to 20 per cent of children are medicated with stimulant drugs (such as Ritalin) for the condition. Diagnosing ADHD properly involves ruling out some other medical conditions that can mimic it, including some hormonal and metabolic disorders, infectious diseases, neurological disorders, blood diseases, metal intoxications, cancers, genetic disorders, and various other disorders! In reality, resources are scarce (and stimulant drugs are cheap), so I’m sorry to say that in my experience this kind of detailed examination and testing certainly does not usually happen.

The ‘ADHD’ label can cover a multitude of different things. Any co-existing conditions can make a big difference; and either hyperactivity-impulsivity without inattention, or attentional difficulties without hyperactivity both fall into this same diagnostic category. (There used to be a separate label for the latter—Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD.) This huge variability between different children who are given the ADHD label guarantees that no single management approach is going to ‘work’ with all of them. However, the first thing that’s usually offered to parents if a child receives this diagnosis is stimulant medication.

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I am not opposed to medication for ADHD, when it is clearly warranted—as I think it can be for some children—but I do think that it should always be the last resort, not the first.

We often hear that around 70 per cent of children with ADHD get at least some benefits from stimulant medications. That’s very impressive, but it still leaves 3 children in every 10 who gain nothing from this kind of treatment—and many parents are understandably worried about possible side-effects, which can include difficulties with appetite and sleep, stunted growth, undesirable mental symptoms and increased risks of certain physical disorders. Any ‘benefits’ are also limited to behaviour, as no advantages for academic achievement have ever been demonstrated from the use of stimulant medications. (If they behave better and concentrate better, why don’t they learn better?)

Most children can pay attention in at least some situations—it just depends on what these are, how motivated the child feels (what’s the pay-off for him?), and what the child’s perception is of the situation and his role in it (what demands does he feel under, and whom is he trying to impress?).

‘…all that was needed was to change the ‘‘pay-off’’ [in a test], so that the child who tried to rush through the test without even trying would pay a worse penalty than the one who spent time trying to work out the correct answer. This time, the computer would not move on to the next item until some time had elapsed (the time that most non-ADHD children would spend, on average, trying to solve the problem). For any child who just pressed the button early, their reward was to have to look at a blank screen for the rest of the time period. The next item would appear no sooner that it would have done in any case. Under these conditions, the well-known “deficits” of the ADHD children simply didn’t show up!’

What we don’t usually hear is that in certain subgroups the proportion who benefit from stimulant medications is much lower. For example, it may drop to 30 per cent for children with anxiety as well as ADHD (and some evidence suggests that negative side-effects may be more likely in these children).

(#litres_trial_promo) In other words, for 7 out of 10 of these anxious, often ‘moody’ ADHD children, stimulant drugs may be no use at all.

Before accepting any stimulant drugs for your ADHD child, or antidepressants, do make sure that ‘bipolar disorder’ has been ruled out. A large-scale survey of parents of bipolar children concluded that children with undiagnosed bipolar disorder can sometimes be ‘thrown into manic and psychotic states, become paranoid and violent…unstable and suicidal…’ if they are given these drugs before their mood has been stabilized.

(#litres_trial_promo) Worryingly, they suggest that one-third of all children diagnosed with ADHD in the US are actually suffering from early symptoms of bipolar disorder. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, ‘…a third of the 3.4 million children who first seem to be suffering with depression will go on to manifest the bipolar form of the disorder’. If medications are to be used, it’s worth making sure they’re the right ones.

Autism (ASD)

Autism is the most severe form of what is now recognized as a range of ‘autistic spectrum disorders’ (ASDs). Features include restricted or absent social and interpersonal skills; a preference for repetition and routine; and interest in objects over people. ASD is much more common in boys than girls (perhaps not surprisingly, given that autism has even been characterized as simply an extreme of the archetypal ‘male’ brain!).

If your child is autistic, he will show poor social interaction—in fact, this learned skill may be absent altogether. He’ll try to avoid interacting through conversation or cuddles, and may be viewed as aloof, withdrawn and ‘living in a world of his own’. Autistic individuals generally find objects easier to deal with than people—probably because the behaviour of objects is much easier for them to anticipate. A small percentage of autistic children have islets of high functioning-to-genius abilities and are known as Autistic Savants, but as with all the conditions considered here, ASD can occur in children with any level of general ability. In those with normal or high ability, areas of strength may include computing, engineering and any occupations where good ‘people skills’ are not essential.

The number of children diagnosed with ASD has increased dramatically in recent years. For example, in Scottish schools, diagnoses nearly trebled between 1998 and 2005. In the US, autism diagnoses in school-aged children rose from 5,400 in 1991-2 to a massive 97,800 in 2000-2001. Better recognition and diagnosis may account for some of this increase, but cannot explain it all away. Something else is going on. As I’ve emphasized, the autism label is purely descriptive, so looking for any single ‘cause’ is likely to be fruitless. The real causes are likely to be multiple, highly complex, and will vary between different children. In my view, the simplest broad-brush explanation is the combination of two things: on the one hand, increasing exposure to potential toxins (from synthetic chemicals, heavy metals and other environmental contaminants), and on the other, decreasing intake of many essential nutrients needed to ‘defuse’ and get rid of those toxins. For genetic reasons, some children may have less efficient ‘detoxification’ systems, and/or metabolic inefficiencies that increase their need for certain nutrients. It is interesting that the earliest reports of autism show that it was regarded as a metabolic disorder, and special diets were often recommended. (See the Resources chapter for some excellent books on this subject.)

Common Indicators of ASD

Autism is now recognized as having varying degrees of severity, captured by the term ‘autistic spectrum disorders’.