While we've all been overwhelmed with the 2020 pandemic and its startling aftermath, very few of us are comfortable enough to speak up against, or even perhaps become aware, of the pandemic that's been sabotaging our children for decades. And that's chronic diseases. So hold on before you say, Ah, that doesn't affect me. I challenge you to listen to this episode, to open your mind to the basic statistics that I share, that we are actually taught just to accept it. And because you're in the middle of it, you get to decide which path will you take and how will you lead your family. Hello, and welcome to Talking Toddlers, where I share more than just tips and tricks on how to reduce tantrums or build your toddler's vocabulary. We're going to cover all of that, but here, our goal is to develop clarity. Because in this modern world, it's truly overwhelming. This podcast is about empowering moms to know the difference between fact and fiction, to never give up, to tap into everyday activities so your child stays on track. He's not falling behind. He's thriving through your guidance. We know that true learning starts at home. So let's get started. we don't know what we don't know. Plain and simple. That's just a fact. I want to shine some light on that to help new moms, just like you. Recognize that you are in charge that you do know more than you think you know And you are open to learning. The truth is Most developmental challenges can be alleviated, mitigated, and or avoided all together. my perspective for 35 years has watched this unfold before my very eyes. And what that means is yes, there are true. diagnosis, true diagnosable problems, whether they're neurological or physiological, emotional, all of that is true. Yet I'm here to shine a light on the fact that perhaps maybe our modern environment, our modern lifestyle is exacerbating those issues. Or making vulnerable kids kind of crumble before our very eyes, whether they're one or two or five or six. It used to be. 30 years ago, 50 years ago that all of these developmental issues or childhood problems. We're a one-off we're. We're at an actual anomaly. And considered rare in both practice and in the community. What I like to look at is that as these numbers have skyrocketed continue to climb through the last three, four or five decades, but especially my lifetime, these last three and a half decades. And you're probably thinking as a 30 something year old, because that's the average age that new moms come to me or that new moms. Start looking on the internet, like, Hmm. How can I help my toddler? Right. That was when I started practice. So you were a born or a toddler yourself. When I started working on the floor and playing on the floor and reading and. And trying to put all of these pieces together. And you're probably right now looking at your baby or your toddler or thinking of him and saying, Hmm, they're just fine. We're doing okay. We're or find enough. This is a messy time. This is just a season. We'll get through this. And what I want to bring to the forefront, what I want to really report. Is the truth. That we're not fine. We as a community, you as a family. Our kids are getting sicker and sicker. Let me share a little history, right? One in eight kids had a chronic disease back in 1994. So perhaps about 30 years ago when you were first born or a toddler or your mom and dad were thinking about having kids, right. Just your lifespan. One in eight kids had a chronic disease. Currently it's one in three, or I take that back in 2015, the CDC reported. One in three kids had a chronic disease. Currently in 2023. It's one in two. That means 50%. It's actually 54%. Of kids under 10 in the United States have a chronic disease. How'd that happen in 30 years and 35 years. We as a human beings, we really haven't changed our biology, our neurology, our DNA. Our cell. Reproduction all of that. Pretty much the same. What's changed the environment. How you and I spend our time. How we live each day, what we put inside of our body, how we rest, do we go outside? Do we play, do we socialize? Do we engage? All of that has changed. You might not see it as a 30 something year old, new mom. Because you grew up in this technology and it's great. And I'm not negating any of that. It's all wonderful. I'm here talking to you on YouTube. You know, S broadcasting. My thoughts, my feelings openly. And that's, that's pretty spectacular, right? I love technology, but we have to learn how to live in it. Without hurting ourselves. So here's some more statistics. one in five kids are diagnosed with eczema. Back in 1970, when I was a kid, it was one in 15. So that means it's three times as much. Currently one in 10 children are diagnosed with ADHD and now a lot of adults are being diagnosed with ADHD. And that's a whole different conversation. Where, where and how is that? Coming to light, right. Currently. One in 36 kids, one in 36. Our classified on the autism spectrum. Disorder, right. Autism spectrum. The. ASD. Back. In 2020. It was one in 59. In 2010. It was one in 88. That's a big jump. From 2010. To 13 years later in 2023. But. Let me dig deeper and share my perspective because in 1990, when I was starting my practice, it was one in 1000. And when I was a kid in 1970. It was one in 10,000. So when my lifetime. It went from one in 10,000. To one in 36. Now I know. Therapies have gotten better. Diagnostic skills have gotten better. And, and services have certainly gotten better. Intervention has gotten better. And yet we're looking at kids younger and younger. We're supposedly have all kinds of medical and social systems. To help. And yet the kids. Don't present so healthy. And they're having more and more challenges. And honestly, I can look back in the 1970s and you may or may not have heard this before, but where did all those kids come from? I or where did all of those kids go? If, if the ratio is about the same. And your, your class and my class should be about the same. Where were those one in 36? Kids on the spectrum. I knew nobody. And the truth is when I went to graduate school. We didn't even study autism. Maybe it was mentioned in one paragraph. And I've shared in my podcast last year. That my very first. Child who was diagnosed with autism was when I worked in a clinical psychiatric hospital. And it was, this child was very, very severe. And hospitalized. And it was rare and I'm like, okay, great. I'll learn on the job. I'll figure this out. So currently let's get back to more statistics. One in five. Of our children today. Out there in America. Are overweight. One in six are diagnosed with a mental behavioral or a developmental disorder. One in 13 have food allergies. That means two kids per class have a food allergy. I never heard of. Uh, kids with food allergies when I was growing up. One in 13, have asthma. Again, that was pretty dang rare. And one in six currently today. Of children in America. Have diabetes, one in six. Type two diabetes. That means four children per class. Our diabetic. And again, I want to give perspective here because. This is why. I am. Broadening my reach and going on YouTube and making a podcast and creating. Uh, community where we can get together and ask some of these questions because in 1990, again, when I started my practice, Type two diabetes was near zero with children. And I can personally relate to this because when I went to graduate school, I worked. For the VNA, the visiting nurses association, every state has that. Which primarily works with geriatric population. And I learned diagnostic codes. And at that time, back in the early 1980s, It was called adult onset diabetes. And it was only with adults. And it was typically when they were older, 65 and older, they had other health problems. Sometimes it was the chicken or the egg. But that's when adult. Onset diabetes or type two diabetes. Was diagnosed. Children never had type two diabetes. Again, that's a 35 year span. Just giving you perspective. So you might be thinking, Hmm. Why is this speech language pathologist? Who specializes in early child development. Talking about health problems. How does that connect? Again, I'm here to try to help us connect the dots. I say this, I bring this to the forefront because. When a child has chronic stomach issues because of food allergies or. Itchy skin because of eczema, a stuffy head stuffing nose because of allergies, brain fog. Because he's eating food that is not being digested or does not serve him. Or they have chronic fatigue because of the congestion. They've become an open mouth breather and open mouth breather means that they're not. Breathing naturally through their nose and get, and building all kinds of wonderful, healthy. Chemical effects, but they're also breathing through their mouth during the night and having intermittent sleep apnea. They're snoring. And so they have disruptive sleep. So of course they wake up cranky and still stuffy. They're not able to clear themselves. And then many of our kids. Because of their fatigue or because of their overweight, they can't run and play freely outside. And I've talked a lot about. the freedom of play outside of running and climbing and jumping and rolling and getting dirty. And, but if you're short of breath, if you're uncomfortable in your own body, When you're three or five or eight. But when they have these chronic daily health issues. One, they don't know what a healthy body feels like. I've shared with you before, you know, in the beginning of my practice, I was fairly stunned when I would meet a three-year-old who had chronic constipation. They don't know what healthy. Digestive system feels like. So they are expected. We are expecting them. To learn and grow and develop and, and interface with the world. They're not available to learn. Because. They're on a fight or flight state. They're on survival mode when you're you're a body. Is not processing well. And you can't breathe through your nose and you can't have good sleep and you, you have low muscle tone because you're not engaging with this world readily. And those first three years and five years in six years. Of course, they're going to have trouble in school. Of course they're gonna have social problems. Of course, they're going to have self-regulation issues. All of these diagnoses that we use readily. We have to start peeling back the layers. And that's what I started to do in the 1990s. when I first started working with occupational therapists and I'm saying, huh? Well, it's hard to teach a child, speak to language, how to listen, how to speak better. If they physically can't hold themselves up in the chair and they keep falling off. So they, the occupational therapist then started teaching me about sensory integration. And we work together for the next 10, 15 years. But as the two thousands approach, our kids got sicker and sicker and sicker. Eczema asthma. Really a lot of stomach issues and the whole brain gut connection. We now, now, you know, in the last, I'd say what four or five, six years that study. Of how the, how the gut is really the second brain. And that they have to be in health. Together in order to grow and learn and attend. It affects us as adults. Of course, it's affecting our children. So I want to step back and say, look, I'm not here to talk about the scary facts. I'm not here to focus on the negative or overwhelm you. With, you know, what could go wrong. I'm I'm laying down the truth. I'm being honest. I don't want to worry you because I know what's possible. I know. W what we can do together. As, you know, I can share with you what I've learned through my clinical practice and my self exploration. And I can bring on colleagues, allied health professionals, other parents. Just like you. Who have lived through it and navigated this modern world, we can do it. But we have to talk about it. We have to bring it to the forefront. We have to be honest and real. And it's okay. We just have to face it. And I know there are many really good researchers. There's a man named, um, James Dawson out in university of Arizona who studies autism. And, you know, he is always said that at least half of these kids. Our treatable. And it's not that the diagnosis of autism doesn't exist and it doesn't mean that that. Is. Is not valid or important. But there are a lot of kids that present like that because they have underlying issues, underlying health problems that are impacting. They're neurological growth and development and their social development and their social communication. And that's a hallmark of kids who fall on the spectrum. They do exist, but the numbers don't have to be so bloody huge. So I know when we hear a bunch of statistics or a bunch of information, we then begin to feel this decision fatigue, right. Data comes at us. And I think that that happens a lot on YouTube. We do, we do a little Google search and we get some good information. But it's hard to digest. It's hard to sort through and you're getting different opinions. And so I always want to be honest. I want to be really, really clear. That. You know, that whole decision fatigue happened to me and it started happening before the pandemic. Honestly, and in 2018, 2019. I started looking at how can I broaden my scope? Right. At that time I was living in Vermont. I had a small practice. I saw the kids come. With more and more complexities. I saw the parents sort of giving up before they even put in a lot of effort. And part of it is. They weren't actually giving up by choice. But they were getting information for the medical system and the educational system. And I think the community at large. That. This is the new normal. This is how it is you. You know, just ended up in this group and that that's just the way it is. And so before the pandemic. I started really looking at. Oh my gosh, what else can I do? How can I reach? A broader audience. Not necessarily to treat one-on-one anymore because that became ineffective in my opinion. And I always thought that I was a pretty darn good therapist. But there were so many parts to the puzzle. That getting, treatment one hour a week or maybe two hours a week. If you're lucky, didn't negate or counterbalance the other, you know, 22 hours in the day. And the school systems were overloaded and became overloaded. And that was before the pandemic. And now the, after. Now we're on the other side, but we're still recovering. And maybe some of you who's listening and watching this. I'm speaking to you mostly because you had a child in the middle of this horrific. Nightmare. And I've heard over and over again. Ah, she's a late talker cause she's a pandemic baby. Or, uh, he, he doesn't have very good social skills because he's a pandemic baby. I don't even know how to respond to that. Why are we accepting that I'm not accepting that. And I know. A lot of parents will that's. Okay. That's your choice. I'm saying, if you want to think. It through and think it differently. Then. We can. But that's a personal choice. And I've shared again. With a lot of people over the years, but last year in particular through my, my audio podcast. That part of the strongest benefits of being in private practice was that I had full autonomy, that I could work with a child with a mild problem. I could work with a child with a severe issue. I could lay down my best recommendations, my best impressions, and the parents had free choice of whether to work with me or not. To wait and see, or not, there was no judgment. And that's how it is here. I want to just. At least. Voice my opinions to a larger audience, because I know. There are many moms and dads and grandparents. That know that we can do it differently. No, that we can do it better. And truth is I, I can't stay quiet anymore. Even after all of these years, And I've I worked in my, in my private practice and that I, I kind of stayed under the radar. Right. I, it was always word of mouth. But I can't do that anymore. That's wrong of me. To hold back. Right to play small. And there are a lot of people that might be hearing this and saying you're full of crap lady. You know, This diagnosis is real. Yep. Okay, that's fine. And I'm saying. If you're interested. In doing it differently, doing it with more purpose and clarity. And going back to the basics, actually knowing that we're living in a modern day, right. We have technology we have inside living. Right. W with all the, the artificial lights and everything. But. We still need nature. We still need to go outside. We still need all of these natural elements in order to grow and learn and be healthy. And so. Part of my shift after a year being on the audio is doing YouTube. Bringing on guests. Like I said, I'm not a nutritionist. I'm not an occupational therapist. I'm not a psychologist or a natural path. But I've worked with them. I've learned from them. And I know. How I can bring them together as a community and we can talk and get some of your questions answered. We can, we can share what we all know. And what we've all kind of compartmentalized and bring it together in the forefront. And I know one of the hardest things about all of this talking about you as a parent and your baby and your families that it's so. It's so personal. And it's really, really sensitive. And I think. If, you know, like, like I shared a few minutes ago, there's no judgment. If you're not ready for this, that's fine. You can share it, maybe with some of your friends or you can come back at a later time where you feel more comfortable in your own space. I want to reach the people who were thinking Hmm. There's there's too many kids who are not necessarily happy. You know when they're five or 10. And this pandemic certainly exacerbated everything. Tenfold. Now what. Right. Do I do I? How much clout do I have? How much weight do I matter in my child's early, early development. And I want to put this all together by looking at. We've all been deceived slowly but surely over the last. You know, three and a half, four or five decades. My lifetime. We've been deceived by these systems, whether it was on purpose or it just kind of snowballed and got out of hand. But when I look at, you know, big ag, right, big agriculture, our food system. Yikes. Right. When I look at, you know, the sugar that's in the food that we're, we've been convinced is okay. Pop tarts, or sugary cereals for breakfast. Hm. You know, the chemicals, the dyes. Where in the world. Did we ever think that that was food, that that was nutritious. But we have been to sieved and it's not, I'm not blaming anyone. There's no judgment like I've said. if you look on the commercials, first of all right, and then you go to the grocery store, 90% of it. Isn't real food, unless you shop on the. Peripheral edge and you know how to stay there. Right. But. They're so clever. The food industry and the advertisers. That even when we started realizing that. You know, we're not all feeling really healthy all the time and maybe this gluten stuff. Isn't so good for us. Guess what. They started making highly processed ultra processed. Gluten-free foods. It's all over the place. You and I eat it all the time. Right. And then they moved on to low carbs or keto friendly or whole 30. You see all of those little symbols on any box. What I've said for the last, I don't know, 15 years to all of my families, anything in a box or a bag, try to avoid. If it didn't grow in the ground or didn't come from an animal that God designed. Try. Try to stay away from it. But it's hard because with. Every time that we, the general population gets a little wiser. And starts thinking. Hmm. Maybe this highly, highly, highly processed wheat is making my stomach feel crappy. Which has put me into a brain fog would just make my kid crumpy. And so I'm going to pull away from gluten and wheat and what do they do? They come up with highly processed food using other flowers or other products, right. At the end of the day. They still make their billions. And you and I, our families, our neighbors. Our colleagues. Continue. To suffer. To get another diagnosis. And then on top of the food industry, Then we have big pharma. Hm. I think 87% of commercials are pharmaceutical. Yikes. Talk about brainwashing, right? That they're convincing you, that you have these symptoms and or if you want to be happy and lighthearted for you want to have a family that, you know, Eats together and plays together. Then, you know, you need this product or you need this prescription or you need this pill. Convincing us. And I want to tell you a little quick backstory about. How these advertisers work. So in 2018, I went to a conference and meeting a whole bunch of old colleagues and friends that I hadn't seen in awhile. And, um, we're having dinner and there's a bunch of us. There's probably 20 of us. And there's this one neuroscientist that we've all known for. Ian's I knew him for 25 years. And he's talking about his new position. You know, he got out of the, the clinical lab, right? He, uh, I think worked at red cards for eons and then, um, moved to San Francisco and, and whatnot. But, um, I won't disclose any names or privacy or any of that, but he was sharing how these large corporations hire him and his team. There's a. You know, tons of them, probably hundreds. That, um, would help with their marketing strategy, right? Because he knew neuroscience. He knew how the brain changes. He knew that the, what the positive. Um, reward system, right. That dopamine hit and how to get, how to get people. Um, triggered in a positive way and how to change their behavior. And, and their impression of what they need or what they want more off. And so that's what he did. And he was bragging. You know that he would study different music, you know, music in the elevator music in the store. Uh, smells different colors and flavors. And to make the brain behave in certain ways and want something more or what works to convince us that this is a better way. And I sat there that evening. And I thought, wow. At sad. Here's this bright man. You know, he kind of walked over to the dark side. But it, it opened my mind. It opened my thought about how. How these large corporations, advertisements, big pharma, big food companies. Convince us that one, we need this, or this is how everybody does it. And you want to be like everybody you want to fit in. You don't want. To, you know, go against the grain. Sorta speak. Because that's a hard way to live. And at the same time. The other systems, the medical system and the educational model are convincing us that these new norms that I shared with you in the beginning, one out of 36 kids are on the autism spectrum. And one out of 54 or 54% of the kids have a chronic disease. That that's. Normal. It's anything but normal, anything but healthy, anything, but. Anything, but. So. My goal here. Is to help you, the new moms, dads and grandparents caretakers, even the new, daycare centers, people and preschools. If, if you haven't really bought into the system, Then you're still open. Right. And I'm not going to be for everyone. I know that that's totally fine. But I know that there's a movement out there. There, there are people. Some, some great people who are going from Western medicine to more functional medicine. Realizing that they kind of became just a legal drug pusher. They're just pushing medication. Oh, you got a problem. Let's see if I have a pill for that. Let's see if I can. You know, if your sin symptoms are consistent with this box and I can give you a diagnosis and then I can classify you XYZ. All right. But if you are thinking that that model. Won't serve you. Then. You need to come aboard. You need to, to embrace your power, embrace your parenthood. And realize that you can do it differently. And it's a process you'll learn on the job. Just like anything else. But the first thing is to kind of open your heart, open your mind and recognize. You know, sometimes mother nature knows best. Sometimes going back to the basics. Is healthier for us. And at the same time learn, how do I navigate? You know, screen time or indoor play time, or, you know, any or food. How do I navigate that? And that's why. As I opened this channel. It'll fall under these three pillars. Of eat. Talk. And play. Because that is my scope. Right? I am an oral motor therapist. I know how the mouth develops physiologically. I know how we attach that to our speech and to our language. Right. And, and how play is the medium in which the human being learns and grows and thrives. And that we can start with really simple play where your baby is, mouthing everything to, you know, social play and games and team sports and card games. And. And play in the art room and play with scooters, all kinds of things. And, but it all fits together. Again, I assure you, I am not indicating that I'm a nutritionist or an occupational therapist or a doctor or a psychologist. I know those folks they're coming. We're going to have open conversations. You can share questions. But I want to cover all the basis. because. Traditional therapy or in these compartments, right. We've you know, you had speech and OT and you had your reading specialist and you had your psychotherapist over here. And the whole child. I used to think that that was kind of a funny phrase, right? But now i understand That how the mind body and spirit of both your toddler and yourself Are important And we can always change and that's You know where the 1990s, where neuroscience Really kind of came out of his infancy and i was there where technology and neuroscience kind of married And it was very very exciting to watch and look at the potential and yet at the same time i saw the school systems Pushes so hard away push it away And we can talk about that that's another story but i want to take the best of both worlds right And i'm excited to live with the electricity and technology and you know modern medicine when i really need it But for the most part We our bodies know how to grow and thrive all on its own And so these chronic diseases we don't have to settle for them There are people out there that can help you Navigate and build a home that's rich and thriving And i want to be Part of that navigation We've all been influenced by the outside world every single one of us And with that we've lowered our standards we've even lowered our developmental expectations because those charts have been modified over the last couple of years And it did start before the pandemic but it's even worse now right And so i want to reassure you that we can all do better We can feel better we can Love better we can learn better we can grow better we can parent better we can share Thanks again for spending your precious time with me. If you're finding benefit, don't hesitate to leave a positive review because that's how our modern world works. I need your help to expand my reach. If this information, these messages resonate with you, please share. And if you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out to me. Contact me directly. I'm here for any questions. There's no time to waste. Your baby. Your toddler. They're counting on you. They're counting on us. So God bless. See you next week.