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Hello everyone . It's Dr Eko

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, your Happy Brain Pediatrician . So

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today we're gonna talk about why

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is it so critical to have your

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child get an evaluation

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early , and when I say early , I mean in

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the first five years of life . So , moms

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and dads , I know it's the hardest thing in

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the world to have to go

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to see a doctor and or

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, even before you go see a doctor , to suspect

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that there might be something going on with

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your child that you didn't

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anticipate , you didn't imagine

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. You may see behaviors that are

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concerning . For example

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, you talk to your child , they may not respond

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like they should , like

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a child of that typical age . Should

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you find that they don't really make

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eye contact with you when you're talking

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to them , they may be delayed

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in their speech , and when I say

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delayed in speech , I mean if your

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child by the age of

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two isn't putting like

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one or two words together . That's

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something that you should bring

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up to your pediatrician when you go for a

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well visit . Things

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like they may not want to play with other kids

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and they often like to play by themselves

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. As parents , we know , we know

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innately , we know our children

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better than anybody else , and so

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it's so important

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not to deny that inner

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voice , the inner knowing that we have , that

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there might be something we know with your child . And

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why do I say it's so important for you

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to get a diagnosis

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or at least to discuss your

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concerns with your child's pediatrician

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or your child's healthcare giver

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is because , while we are

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thankful that the brain is able

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to heal itself and you're not stuck

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with the brain you have the very

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first five years of life is

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critical that if this change is

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going to be made in terms of if

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your child has a speech delay , like

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starting to work on their speech , if

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they have difficulty with motor skills

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, opening cans or tiny

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shoelaces , things like that that

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the work is started at

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an early age , before the

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age of five . Now , that's not

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to say , if your child hasn't gotten evaluated

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after the age of five , then all hope

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is lost . Not at all . But for those

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parents who have any suspicion

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of anything being wrong is always

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best to ask . I always tell my parents that

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I care for there is no such thing as a stupid

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question . It's always better to ask and

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bring up your concerns that you may have

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than to squish them and

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to hope that it's not because

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, in terms of autism

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, specifically right now that we are discussing

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, if you do get your child evaluated

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children can be evaluated from the age

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of 18 months , all the way

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and on and so

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if , by 18 months , you have concerns

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and you bring it up to your pediatrician and

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you're able to get an evaluation done

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, then support services

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can be put in place for you

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and your child can

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thrive so that things can get better . So

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if we start working on your child's

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speech , for example , at 18

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months , at two years of age , then

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they're more likely to make more progress

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than if we start working on their speech

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at age 6 , 7 , 8 , you

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understand . So that's why

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it's important to ask the questions

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early . And the other thing I like

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to talk about is ADHD . Right , in the

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United States , we often do

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the evaluation for ADHD at the age of 6

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. So if your child is 4

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years old and you're concerned about

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their behavior , about their hyperactivity

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, about running up and down and they can't

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seem to settle or focus on one thing

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at a time and we know that

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you have to wait till age 6 to get an

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actual diagnosis then

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in that case it would be important

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for you to seek out

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a pediatrician who is an integrative

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doctor , which means they're going to look at your

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child from the inside out , right ? They're

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going to look at all of the things

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that are affecting your child's

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behavior , not just the behavior

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. So , for example , what do I mean ? So

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I had a 4-year-old little one

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come to see me a few

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weeks ago and mom was concerned about ADHD

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. However , I told mom she's only

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4 , so we're not going to do an formal

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ADHD evaluation , right ? But because

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I'm an integrative pediatrician and

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with every child

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I'm evaluated for autism , for ADHD

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, I do a full evaluation . And

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what do I mean by full evaluation ? I'm asking

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questions about pregnancy

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when mom was pregnant with the child

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and when , and birth process and

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what happened when the baby was

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first born and was there any trauma

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that happened to mom when she was pregnant , all

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the way up to what's the child

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eating ? What are the child's eating

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habits ? How does the child sleep

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? Talking about if the child

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is constipated or not . Talking about

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the child's bowel , how the atomy functions , questions

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about family history of

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any illnesses . And

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so it's not . I don't focus just

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on the behaviors to make a diagnosis

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for autism . I'm looking at the entire child

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, because it's so critical to do

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that and not just focus on okay

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, these are the behaviors I'm looking at . That should

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give me this diagnosis , because there's

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sleep will affect the way

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your child behaves right , if your child is not

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getting enough sleep , if your child has

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difficulty falling asleep or staying awake

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all night , they will not behave

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well , I mean without even

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any other issues

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going on . Think about yourself

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as an adult when you don't sleep well , you don't function

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well . And it's the same thing with

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children when they don't

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sleep well , they don't act

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well . And I'm

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not saying that sleep causes autism , but

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I'm saying that it definitely plays

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a part in the

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way your child behaves . So it's so

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critical to address all these other

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underlying concerns , which is the

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way I practice as an integrated pediatrician

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and that's what I do

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in an evaluation . So that way I'm

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done with the evaluation . I may have a

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diagnosis of autism , but then I've also

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uncovered critical

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areas that we can address . So

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while we

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may have a diagnosis of autism , we also

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have things that we can work on , like

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improving sleep , improving nutrition

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, improving if there's anemia

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going on . Whatever we find that we can

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improve those things and for sure it

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does help

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your child live and be

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the best version of themselves . So we are addressing

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that overall health . So

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that's what Go Pediatrics does . We address

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the overall health , and so that's the

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story about the four year old , right ? So mom comes

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in , I see the child , I ask

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all my questions I'm observing

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the child as well and I make recommendations

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to mom and we start working on her

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sleep . It turns out the child doesn't sleep well

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at all , like it's hard

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for her to go to sleep . So

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of course , if she doesn't sleep well

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and goes to sleep at five AM

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in the morning and wakes up at eight AM and

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then goes to school , she's not gonna

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be the best behaving child

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in the class , that's for sure . So

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we worked on that . We also worked

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on what she was eating . She was chronically constipated

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as well , and all of those things research

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and show and all those things , all

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of those areas all

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impact the way the brain functions . And that's

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my angle . And that's why that's

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the angle Because if we don't care for the

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physical health of the organ , the

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brain , nothing really else

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works well , because

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all of these things lack of sleep , not

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eating the right food all of them impact

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the way the physical brain works

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. So if we address all of those

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things , then our brain will function

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better . And so that's the way

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I approach evaluations

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for children . That's the way I approach care for children

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is let's look out the factors we can

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to help this child's brain

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work better . And

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so I'm happy to say that , after

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we decided to tackle

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sleep first because it's a process , right , we

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don't want to overwhelm parents , and

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so we tackled sleep and

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made some changes in what goes

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on in her sleep routine at night . We

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also added

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in some things like magnesium to help

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her with her sleep , and a

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few weeks later she's sleeping better , her

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activity is contained or

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it's improved , rather , she's

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doing much better , and so now

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we can continue that and then address

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the next thing that she has on the list , which

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in her case is constipation . And so I

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just wanted to just come on here . I

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really encourage parents . There is

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hope . The diagnosis

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of autism doesn't mean that's

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the end for your child . It doesn't at all

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mean that your child will never improve or

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your child will never be the best version

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of ourselves . Our job as parents

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is and my job as a

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pediatrician is to walk beside you

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In this journey , partner

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with you so that you and your child

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, your entire family can do well

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, can thrive , and if the

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earlier we start , the better the

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outcomes . I have seen this over and

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over and over , and so I

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often talk to parents who say I

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just didn't want to face that there was an

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issue . And I'm here

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to tell you I hear you . It's hard

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to hear that about your child

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, who

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you had different thoughts about them , I mean

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before they were born . And

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just to encourage you , my job is to

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help , is to partner with you to find your

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child's strengths and so we can

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boost those strengths and so your child

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can be the best version of yourself . I

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don't dwell on the diagnosis . I dwell

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on how can we help this child live

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to be the best version of themselves

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, and so I want that for your

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children , and I'm here . If you have any

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further questions I can answer . I hope

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this was helpful . Please let me

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know if you're watching the replay hashtag

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replay and if questions

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I'll come back and respond to . Then please

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, if you're watching this on YouTube , please subscribe

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to our channel and like it and share it with

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families . More importantly , please share with

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families who need to hear

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this and know that there is hope

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. And again , as I always say

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, remember you're the best parent for your child

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and it's Valentine's month , right ? So

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again , here's my book Children's

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Love Letters A Pediatrician's Guide to how

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your Child Spells Love written for

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Parents . I'm a Mommy Myself

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, and you can find this on Amazon

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, so I hope you have an amazing day

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. I look forward to serving

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you . I have a good program for parents

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of children with ADHD and autism and

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we are accepting new parents

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in there and look forward to serving

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you and helping you and your family

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thrive and glow with

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health from the inside out . Have an amazing

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day .