Parenting a child with anxiety, inattention, or irritability can be challenging, but behavior always comes from somewhere. Understanding the roots of these behaviors is crucial so you can put an effective plan in place to help them. Genetics plays a significant role, but it's only part of the story. The interplay between genetic predispositions, environmental factors, life experiences, and nutrition is what shapes a child's mental health.   The Genetic Blueprint   Think of genetics as a blueprint; genes don't determine everything but they provide a base for potential outcomes. G ..read more

What Are Amino Acids?   Amino acids come from protein. When we eat protein, the body breaks it down into single amino acids and then uses those amino acids to build other things. In relation to a child's mood, behavior, and learning, amino acids play a pivotal role because they are the building blocks for neurotransmitters, the brain's chemical messengers that help us respond to the stress of everyday life.    Understanding the Brain's Chemical Messengers   Four key neurotransmitters to understand are: serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and GABA​​. All of them are ma ..read more

Lots of things influence a teen's mood but I want to introduce you to the COMT enzyme because it's one of them. What I write about here doesn't just apply to teens - it applies to all of us and all of our kids - but since the teen years are so tumultuous, and because COMT activity can be influenced by hormones, I think it's particularly helpful for parents to understand this during the teen years.    What is COMT?   COMT is short for Catechol-O-methyl-transferase. It's the main enzyme involved in regulating dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine - a group of ne ..read more

Kids do better when they feel better.    And they feel better when they do better. It's a feedback loop. This is a principle we hold at the core of our work with kids. It means that when your child isn't doing great -- if they're getting in trouble at school all the time, feeling lethargic and tired, feeling anxious and revved up, feeling angry and frustrated... whatever it is for them -- the question for a caring adult to ask is, "what's making them feel so uncomfortable?" So here's where you start...   Nutrition First, you make sure they're eating more real, whole f ..read more

There are two types of tests that can help you decide if it's worth your time and energy to cut out gluten - a genetic test, and an antibody test. They're very different, so let's go through some key points.   Celiac Predisposition Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disease triggered by gluten. The majority of people with diagnosed Celiac Disease possess one of two genetic markers: HLA-DQ2 or HLA-DQ8. Approximately 90-95% of celiac patients have HLA-DQ2, while the remainder have HLA-DQ8. Now, having one of these genes doesn't mean you WILL develop CD - about 30-40% of the general po ..read more

For years I harbored skepticism toward urinary neurotransmitter testing. My training taught me that urinary output doesn't mirror brain activity, and since I'm always cautious about having parents spend money on pricey testing, why bother with this one? While it is true that what comes out in the urine doesn't reflect neurotransmitter levels in the brain, my perspective has shifted and we now offer urinary neurotransmitter testing in our Roadmap and our NeuroCheck clinic packages.​ Why? Because urinary neurotransmitter testing isn't about measuring brain ..read more

It's that time of year again - the time when my inner growl starts to gnaw at me and the mom-anger starts to bubble up and twist and make me feel oh so uncomfortable.  Sugar Season.  You too? It's this time of year - every year it gets a little more intense - when I think "what the heck are we expecting??"  As global conflicts, climate change, viral pandemics, concern about indoor mold, stress, economic uncertainty, and all the things continue to spike... why celebrate with sugar?? Why do we insist on sabotaging ourselves and our kids with sugar? We have no nutritional ..read more

It's a good question, and if it's a diagnosis you want it's really one to discuss with a qualified therapist. I'm not a therapist, but I'm a mother and I've worked with kids for 30+ years. I think a more important question to ask is, "does my child have the resources to blossom to their fullest extent? Or are destructive thought patterns getting in their way?" You - as their parent who has known them from birth and who is connected to them in more ways than you know - are more than qualified to answer that. So here are some things to consider if you're wondering....   What Does ..read more

  Nourishing Happy Minds: How Neurotransmitters Impact A Child's Mood and Learning   Neurotransmitters are tiny but mighty chemical messengers in our brains that influence how we feel, think, and behave. Think of neurotransmitters as the conductors of a symphony - responding to the music of life and orchestrating our emotions, moods, and behaviors. There's more to a child's mood, behavior, and capacity to learn and pay attention than neurotransmitters, but when we understand how neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, GABA, and norepinephrine work to carry messages thro ..read more

I get asked this a lot... have you ever wondered? Is this just who my child is? Is this just how they’re wired? Is there anything I can do to help them feel better and be more successful? The answer isn’t a straightforward yes or no… Truth is, there may be genetic factors that influence your child's stress capacity. They may be "wired" to perceive stress differently than others. Their brain may be "wired" to work a little differently. For now. But the other truth is, the brain is flexible, and the research field of epigenetics has shown us that the expression of our wiring is highly ..read more