Omega supplements?
If you have done any research on apraxia, Omega supplements will probably come up. I have had my daughter on Barlean’s Omega Swirl for a little over a month now. Though there is no definitive proof that Omega’s help speech, I chose to try it for a few reasons.
1.) Omega supplements have been getting more attention for helping disorders of the brain. When I was researching bipolar disorder a few years back, one of the therapies included a good Omega supplement program in place of medication.
2.) Omega supplements are encouraged with prenatal care. Web MD says,
“DHA appears to be important for visual and neurological development in infants.” Since apraxia is a neurological motor planning disorder, it certainly couldn’t hurt to have her take the supplements.
3.) Testimonials from other mothers. I am part of an apraxia support group on facebook, and many mothers believe the supplements have caused great gains in their child’s speech development.
For these reasons, I decided to try it with Ashlynn. I have to say I have seen a jump in her speech development. She is now attempting to say 3-4 syllable words, one of which is vitamin..lol. Two days ago she tried to put a sentence together, “mommy..me…go…shoes” after I told her we were going to go shopping for shoes! This was very exciting!
She just started private speech therapy and has only had one session. Otherwise, nothing has changed in our routine.
I am still making her request items using a carrier phrase such as “I want” and “I see” modeling and expanding her utterances, and scripting our day for her.
Of course, I also saw a jump in her speech before supplementation when she finally started imitating sounds, which she wouldn’t even attempt before. So, in conclusion, have supplements helped her speech development? I can’t say conclusively that they have, but I also can’t say that they haven’t.