Omega-3 Fish Oil for Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Information and Resources

What are Omega-3 fatty acids?

Omega-3 fatty acids are molecules that are necessary for human health but cannot be produced by our bodies. They have to be obtained through our food. They are most commonly found in fish and some nuts. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to brain function and play an important role in growth and development. There are several types of Omega-3 fatty acids, but most research indicates that EPA and DHA have better established health benefits and these types are found in fish oil rather than in nut oils.

Here are a couple of web pages that discuss the general health benefits of Omega 3 fatty acids.

• Omega-3 fatty acids: This article defines Omega-3 fatty acids, discusses their health benefits, gives some dosing guidelines, and discusses precautions and interactions.
• Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Fact Sheet: This WebMD article discusses the basics, benefits, types, food sources, and supplements.

What does Omega-3 Fish Oil supplementation have to do with Childhood Apraxia of Speech?

Many parents of children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech first encounter the idea of supplementing with Omega-3 fatty acids in The Late Talker book. That book devotes an entire chapter to the topic. Most of the evidence is anecdotal. Some families have seen dramatic improvement after a plateau when adding Omega-3 fish oil supplementation was the only change. Given that there is evidence of general health benefits, few drawbacks, and the possibility of helping a child communicate better, many parents choose to try it.

There is some preliminary scientific evidence that Omega-3 supplementation does help with related disorders like dyspraxia (neurological motor planning disorder of the limbs) and autism.

Here are a few resources that discuss Omega-3 supplementation and Childhood Apraxia (or related conditions).

• Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and ADHD – Can Nutrition Help?: This article is in .pdf form. It nicely summarizes some of the actual research out there on fish oil supplementation and disorders. Note that none of these studies are actually about children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. These are studies with related disorders including dyspraxia.
• Therapeutic Use of Fish Oil for Apraxia, Autism and Other Communication Impairments: This article is structured like a FAQ covering topics like dosage, brand, and tips for getting your child to take the supplement among other topics.
• Syndrome of Allergy, Apraxia, and Malabsorption: Characterization of a Neurodevelopmental Phenotype that Responds to Omega 3 and Vitamin E Supplementation: This is a research article published in the Journal of Alternative Therapies in 2009 (also a .pdf). This study was conducted with children diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. However, this research study did not have a control group, so although as a parent I am encouraged and interested, as an SLP I am still not convinced.
• Scientists Characterizes New Syndrome of Allergy, Apraxia, Malabsorption : This is a science news article about the Journal of Alternative Therapies study. It summarizes and discusses the results of the study.
• The Omega Wave This is a pretty interesting BBC news article on fish oil supplementation and learning disabilities, but it is just a news article, not a research article.

Omega-3 Fish Oil Supplementation for Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Review of Product Purchase and Impressions

After carefully reading the chapter in the The Late Talker book and all of the articles referenced above we decided to purchase the Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega Liquid. The Nordic Naturals brand has a great reputation for quality and we wanted the product in the most concentrated form possible given that we weren’t sure how well our two year old daughter would take it. This product also has a blend of the different types of Omega-3 fatty acids and we wanted that as well in order to get the closest possible approximation to the therapeutic doses described in the book and articles.

The product is lemon flavored and does not smell or taste fishy at all. I have been very pleased with the quality of the product. I suppose you could try to give it to your child straight off a spoon or medicine dosing cup, but we’ve never tried that. If the product starts to smell or taste fishy, it has spoiled. After doing some research, we decided to store our bottle in the freezer to extend its shelf life.

We mix the Omega-3 supplement in with about two ounces of yogurt. At first we bought lemon yogurt, but when we ran out we tried random flavors and they all seem to work. We’ve also mixed it in with yogurt drinks and that has worked as well. I simply use a medicine dispenser I borrowed from an infant ibuprofen bottle to measure the right dosage and then squirt it into the yogurt. Stir and serve.

Is Omega-3 Supplementation working to help our daughter’s Childhood Apraxia of Speech?

To be honest, I cannot tell if the Omega-3 supplementation is helping for us. We started the supplementation and intensive therapy in the same week so it is impossible to tell if the improvement we have seen is due to the Omega-3 supplement, the therapy, or a combination of both. I can say that I have not really noticed any kind of regression when we miss her nightly dose several nights in a row for some reason. However, given the general health benefits and the possibility that it is helping in a subtle way I am certainly not going to stop using the product.

Are there other supplements that might help with Childhood Apraxia of Speech?

Many parents are anecdotally reporting improvement in their child's speech when using a meal replacement supplement called NutriiVeda. You can read my Information and Resources page on NutriiVeda for Childhood Apraxia of Speech here.

Testy Yet Trying: Childhood Apraxia of Speech Reference Posts

I am going to be working on something new over the next few days (or couple of weeks). I am going to re-work and add to some of my Childhood Apraxia reference articles and put them all in one place so they can be accessed easily. If you notice, there is a new link at the top of the page (or depending on when you’re reading this – there will be soon) to the reference posts.

I’ll be adding new ones as I finish polishing them. If you have a post that you would like to see added to the new page sooner rather than later, just leave a comment and I’ll put it at the beginning of my list of posts to work on. Please comment. I’d love to hear which posts you have found to be most useful.

As I finish each article, I will also post them on the main page so you can see the new content. I just wanted to let you know what was going on so you wouldn’t be confused by the return of some of these topics. I’m starting with the two supplementation posts: Omega-3 Fish Oils and Nutriiveda.

Therapy Progress - Steady Progress and Subtle Change

I was looking back at all of Ava’s progress reports and I realized that her progress has been very steady. Every 3 weeks or so, significant progress has been made. Here’s a quick summary.

• Beginning of January – Ava had only three “words” and very few consonants and vowels.  She couldn’t imitate.  She was starting to use gestures instead of even trying to communicate verbally.  We began therapy and Omega 3 supplementation in January.
• End of January -  At this point Ava would imitate when bribed with food.  She had learned several new consonant sounds and was using 15-20 words spontaneously.
• Middle of February - Ava was spontaneously trying to label things.  She had started two syllable words like “nanuh” for banana and “baby”.  She was making further progress on consonants and some progress on vowels.
• First Week of March - She started putting two words together make short phrases and sentences.  It was a huge step.  We were getting 3-4 syllables strung together at a time.  
• End of March -  Ava was continuing to practice multi-word utterances.  She was using them more frequently and would often use three word sentences.  Occasionally we would even hear a four word sentence.  We started using Nutriiveda.

 

At the moment, we’re trying to add a little clarity to Ava’s words.  Before, her words had no final consonants (“ha” for hat) and no medial consonants (“pu-ee” for puppy).  We’re using gestural cues to help her add those back in.  It’s working.  She’s occasionally doing it spontaneously (she’ll add the /t/ in the middle of turtle), but most of the time we have to remind her (using the cues).  When she’s imitating I’d say she’s successful about half the time.  It depends on the sound.  She does a great job with /t/ and /p/, but /d/, /b/, /n/ and /m/ are harder.  She doesn’t have /k/, /g/, /f/, or /v/ at all, so we aren’t even trying with those. 

All of these things are very concrete.  These are the kinds of things that speech pathologists choose as goals and can collect data on to track change.  I talk about this kind of progress because I am a speech pathologist and these changes make sense to me.  I’m proud of them.

There has also been a more subtle kind of change.  This is the change that my husband and parents notice.  It’s less about specific sounds, utterance length, and data and more about Ava as a person.  There’s been a change in her confidence.  She’s talking more.  She’s talking when she’s by herself in another room.  She’s chattering away in the back seat of the car.  She’s trying to sing, laugh, and make jokes.  She has conversations with her parents, grandparents, and brother.  She is no longer the baby who had to grab my hand and drag me to the refrigerator, pound on the door to get me to open it, and point to ask me for milk.  Now she can just ask, “Mi pea!” (Milk, please!)   It’s been a wonderful change to watch.

How do you measure progress in your little ones?