Dr. Elizabeth Adele Finley-Belgrad, M.D.

Yes. If he is getting a good effect there is no reason to withhold the benefit. We have a lot of experience with long-term use very successfully. After a year of use often worth a trial off (assuming it is a reasonable time in his life, family and environment) typically 2 trials off resulting in continued need suggests long-term use indicated.

Any child with speech difficulty deserves to get help to optimize their communication ability. For anxious children not a bad choice to have a speech and language evaluation with any suspicion of suboptimal speech, smart kids are good problem solvers so picking up a problem can be hard without a specific evaluation and any speech and language difficulty could certainly contribute to a child anxiety or difficulty resolving anxiety. Really no down side unless it is not covered by coverage, then I would generally say it is probably worth the investment in your kid. Best Wishes!!

Remove additives, and hormone disruptors from diet and environment. She may really benefit from removing inflammatory foods (dairy, grains, sugar). She would probably benefit from an medication to increase serotonin levels-such as prozac, 5HTP( a serotonin precursor) beginning with 50mg moving to 100mg, might be helpful. Probably 4-6 weeks would be worth using and it would take that long to see any benefit. St Johns Wort also can help in the same way that prozac would, the benefit of using a pharmaceutical rather than the natural St John's Wort is that meds are standardized. We know exactly what we are using, natural products have no standardization, each brand is a bit different.

Best Wishes!!

She definitely might benefit from medical help if this is getting in the way of her optimal function. Good exercise routine, remove additives and hormone disruptors from her diet and environment. Consider removal of inflammatory foods from her diet (dairy, grains, sugar) or she might do better on the Feingold Diet - find it on the internet-removes salicylates. More details would be necessary before I would be prepared to make any further recommendations

Could be either. One helpful approach might be to help him get involved with activities he is interested in that are part of, done with or associated with groups (ie stamp, robotics or chess club). He would be more likely to make friends with people who share his interests. He may be advanced in areas so peers are not commonly having the same interests, then it would take more caregiver effort to identify appropriate others to share interests with - would be worth the effort.

Lots of those are normal fears for kids at that age as they become aware of the range of things that happen in the world and may benefit from reassurance, (maybe a lot of reassurance - I recommend providing what ever level he needs for anxiety relief). If that does not help much or enough I would begin by cleaning up his diet-remove additives and hormone disruptors from diet and environment, consider removal of inflammatory foods (dairy, grains, sugar). I would begin with counseling, a caring adult to help him better understand his worries and things that he can do to better understand or develop/find reassurance) It is important to carefully monitor things kids are exposed to. It is not hard nowadays for them to be exposed to things that are really too scary and this can be the result. If these things do not help, consideration of medication is something to think about to be able to move him back to adaptive function - we do not want to leave him "too scared".

He may be finding that the work is becoming harder for him than it should be as he progresses. This suggests he may have a learning issue, this happens for kids with learning issues or disabilities as they move into an area that for the first time require things that are harder for them than they should be. Requesting testing through the school is a good first choice, if they are not cooperative, an educational advocate may be helpful to get them to be more cooperative and supportive. An individually administered IQ test would be a good choice either through the school. some insurances will cover that, or there may be a good Psychology practice or hospital Psychology department that would offer that. the school or any major hospital should be able to give you a referral for a good testing place, though in some areas it can be challenging to find an appropriate place. I would expect any child neurologist or child psychiatrist should know of an appropriate testing place. If kids have intact abilities development should normally push them ahead with their success with decent effort. if things don't work right then it is very frustrating for kids and they give up, they have really no idea that they might need help in certain areas, all they have is their own experience normally. Some kids with such issues are aware that it seems easier for other kids so I would ask him what he is noticing (wide rang of normal responses-he may or may not have an opinion at that age). Best Wishes!!

Yoga is a very good choice. Any sort of body movement martial arts or Tai chi as well.