Prevention and Risk Reduction of Childhood Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Prevention and Risk Reduction of Childhood Neurodevelopmental Disorders
With the increase in prevalence in some childhood neurodevelopmental disorders, parents have raised the question of what can be done to prevent or reduce the severity of a disorder or disability when deciding to have children.
The three things to look at that can lead to a diagnosis for your child are diet, exercise and lifestyle factors, your own brain weaknesses that are passed down, and genetics. As explained previously, Childhood Neurodevelopmental Disorders that plague our children mostly have an epigenetic component, not a hard-genetic component that drastically reduces neurological function such as Downs Syndrome. This means that the epigenetics (the expression of our genes) can change! And we can make these changes in children and adults!
For Soon-To-Be Parents
A childhood neurodevelopmental disorder rising in prevalence that parents are concerned about, is Autism. For Classic Autism there are known health risk factors that the parents may have before conception. This includes but is not limited to: Paternal age of forty or older, exposure to heavy metals, vitamin D deficiency, residing in areas of high altitudes, and a sedentary lifestyle. There is no gene that says your child will have Autism, there are 20-30 genes studied by national institutions but is not readily available to the public. Although we cannot do anything about maternal and paternal age, but we can address everything else.
The Doctors can provide diet and lifestyle advice, laboratory testing and any functional neurological rehabilitation to strengthen weak pathways in parent’s brains to prevent that expression from being passed down to their children.
For Parents
Dr’s Nelsons run comprehensive, in-depth neurological examinations of newborns, infants, toddlers and children of all ages to be sure they are hitting their developmental milestones. These consultations and examinations look the conception, pregnancy, infant, and toddlerhood history of the child with 50 or more different functions looked at.
If any lifestyle, diet, or neurological issues such as retained primitive reflexes are found, a plan will be devised with the family on how to address the issues to help prevent and reduce risk of it becoming a problem in the future.