Our daughter, Whitney born March 2005, has Down syndrome and was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (mild autism) in October 2009 (age 4 ½ years).   Although we had been implementing some parts of a neurodevelopment program since the age of 16 months for Whitney, her progress in the way of cognitive development was very delayed and there were autistic issues to deal with. She was born in good health with no heart or thyroid issues, however her diet was very limited which was likely due to the autism.   We had alot of difficulty getting her to eat and drink right from birth.

 In July, 2009 we began with NutriChem’s MSBPlus vitamin formula that is specifically formulated for children and adults with Down syndrome. We saw some slight improvements with Whitney on MSBPlus . We finally did the Body Chemistry Balancing (blood and urine analysis) test with NutriChem in May 2010 http://bcdsc.org/metabolic-testing.html . This testing is very extensive and detailed.   In late June, we had a personal telephone consultation with Kent MacLeod (who is a Clinical Pharmacist) to review the results of the Body Chemistry Balancing (BCB) testing and he recommended a customized vitamin and amino acid formula for Whitney.

 We started 1/2 the recommended customized vitamin therapy from NutriChem on July 22, 2010 and increased to the full dose on Sept. 8, 2010. Believe it or not, we began seeing some differences in Whitney only 10 days after beginning 1/2 the protocol.

The big changes seemed to start about November (2 months after being on the full vitamin protocol). The main things have been her ability to put thoughts together better and by November 2010 we saw a definite jump in expressive language, which was non-existent until this time. She also quit throwing her food plate on the floor when done eating,instead she would hand us her plate or glass when done.

We started doing a consistent personalized Neurodevelopment (ND) program with Whitney in November, 2009. We had been doing ND with Whitney (not consistently) since July of 2006 and it was slow going, but it seemed as if the customized vitamin therapy "unlocked" her mind and all the input we had been giving her with ND is really showing itself, including what I was doing with her (not consistently) from July, 2006 - Nov. 2009.

The other direct benefit we've seen for Whitney with the customized vitamin therapy is a significant increase in energy throughout the day. In June 2010 she was getting quite tired by mid-day. When I'd pick her up from afternoon Montessori the aid would tell me quite often that Whitney was tired towards the end of class and frequently she would dose off or sleep on our drive home (25 minutes). As of September 2010 when she started back at Montessori, she was just full of energy all day. There have been no negative side effects, only positive.

Kent MacLeod recommends the Body Chemistry Balancing (BCB) testing be done once per year with adjustments to the customized formulas be made based on new test results.   At the end of March 2012 (almost two years later) we finally got the BCB testing done again. As mentioned we have seen significant improvements with Whitney since we began the customized vitamin formula, however, she still has a long way to go as far as her cognitive development. She fell behind significantly in this area due, I believe, to us not starting her on NutriChem’s MSBPlus when she was a baby and a customized formula by age 2.   Had we done this sooner, I believe the autistic tendencies may have disappeared faster and her ability to process input would have happened much sooner and at a critical age.

We are looking forward to speaking with Kent MacLeod again and seeing how we may adjust her customized formulas again for further improvements.

I'm sure every child's vitamin costs from NutriChem will be different as it will depend upon the results of the BCB testing and the size of the child. Whitney was 35 lbs. at the time of her testing in May 2010.

Written by Rosalie Newell-Wagner

Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Andy’s Behaviour Answer:  ABA

by

Liz Steele

Andy's Mother

Introduction

ABA, Andy's Behaviour Answer, also stands for Applied Behavioural Analysis. So, you ask, what the heck is that? Good question! In this article, I give a parent's view of ABA: what it is and how we use it in our family. I particularly hope to offer the knowledge of the ABA approach for behaviour management to parents of strong-willed children around the age of 3 or 4 because I wish we had known about the program when Andy was a pre-schooler. I think it would have helped us to avoid distress in elementary school.

How ABA Came Into Our Life

In the fall of 2002, Andy, our son with Down syndrome, was nine years old and had started Grade 4. Andy's lack of cooperation had always been an issue to one degree or another. It got very serious because he was getting bigger, and physical acting out was not safe. In October 2002, our only options to settle his behaviour were prescription drugs or ABA. The thought of having to feed Andy prescription drugs was sickening at best, traumatic at worst.

We (teacher, educational assistant, and parents) all believed that Andy was so very capable of being included and learning alongside his same-age peers without drugs. We learned of ABA through community connections to an autistic child who was also working on behaviour issues, especially cooperation. After only two weeks in the program, success for Andy was obvious. After only two months, Andy was happy in a full-day, integrated school program. ABA combined with the skills of a teacher experienced in special education created a Grade 4 year that was the inclusion experience we hoped school would be for Andy.

What is Applied Behavioural Analysis?

Definitions for ABA are plentiful. I like the one at the web site http://rsaffran.tripod.com/whatisaba.html

"Applied" means practice, rather than research or philosophy. "Behaviour analysis" may be read as "learning theory," that is, understanding what leads to (or doesn't lead to) new skills. (This is a simplification: ABA is just as much about maintaining and using skills as about learning.)

ABA is part of a psychologist's field of study. Two journals regularly publish information on the subject, the Applied Behavioral Science Review (Elsevier Science) and The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science (Sage Publications). When I was searching around, ABA references kept coming up with "for example, autism and Down syndrome." With references such as these, I do wonder why parents of children with Down syndrome are not notified about ABA as a matter of course. The particular ABA program we chose was developed in California by Dr. Ivar Lovaas and has been used in British Columbia by many families with an autistic child for early intervention therapy. Throughout this article, I refer to our ABA program as simply "ABA."

For us, ABA is (1) a way to define an individualized, successful learning framework for acquiring skills, (2) a behaviour management approach that makes sense for a cognitively delayed child, and (3) if necessary, to put (1) and (2) together to create programs that teach a child how to behave

   Click here 261.84 Kb to read the full paper (19 pages)

If you have had good success with utilizing ABA Therapy for your child with Down syndrome, we encourage you to comment on this blog. Please note, Liz Steele can also be contacted directly at the following email address: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

We are very pleased to present this seminar to the public

"Neurodevelopment and the Hidden Genius"

with Linda Kane and Sylvia Funk

ICAN Certified Neurodevelopmentalists

This seminar which is over two hours long has been divided up into 15 short videos using the YouTube format

Please visit this link on our website to view the videos and share with your friends and associates http://bcdsc.org/neurodevelopment.html

This blog has been created as a public forum for our families to post articles and papers about therapies and services that they have used successfully with their children with Down syndrome. Our website articles and information focuses on that which has been provided by professionals who work with children and adults with Down syndrome. This blog will allow the further sharing of information by non-professionals (ie. parents and caregivers).

We encourage further discussion on the posts through the comments section of each post.

Please submit any articles or topics you would like to see discussed on this blog to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

A private listserve is also available for parents and caregivers to join. Please see this link for more information about the BC Down Syndrome Connection listserve http://www.bcdsc.org/support/listserves.html