Link Between Celiac And Learning Disabilities?

[Virgie]

It is interesting that dysgraphia has been brought up. My son (now 18 & Senior in HS) does not have Celiac but does have an Inflammatory Bowel Disease so his digestion is still affected. I have always felt that my son has dysgraphia. He has never been able to write well. He was tested in 3rd grade and did have some occupational therapy for awhile but he still has difficulty with handwriting. He holds his pencil very awkardly and has trouble composing a paragraph. He would run sentences together and often they would not make sense. It was like his brain went faster than what he could write. His younger sister (age 13) just recently was dx with Celiac. He has been tested for Celiac but it was negative. He also has IBS & Eosinophilic Esophagitis. I wonder if a gluten free diet would be of help to him. Interesting things to think about.

Virginia

This is what I know.

Dyslexia is caused by not enough folic acid while pregnant. During the 17th week of pregnacy the white and gray matter mix in the brain of the fetus and also it can cause sinal byfida and club feet. Both my sister and I have dyslexia and my sister also have sinal byfida and club feet. What causes low folic acid. I believe that my mom has celiacs and she still has low folic acid even when she is on folic acid pills. My middle dd is showing signs of having dyslexia now. The quetion is did celiacs cause this or not having the right nurtition for the growing baby cause it.

Jodele

[Cam's Mom]

Hi!

I had wondered for some time if there is a connection between Celiac and LD but have had trouble convincing others (mainly teachers). My daughter was diagnosed in kindergarten. Her reading rapidly disintegrated. About 6 months after diagnosis we noticed that she could not read a little beginner book that she had pretty easily read a year before. What would cause her to slide backwards. Then with a little reading recovery (and I mean very little - like a week) the kid flies past grade level in first grade and is reading like a champ. Coincindentally at the same time we really get the gluten thing under control. During that time she also stops her "mirror writing". The teachers all assume she's just "grown out of it". Things progess nicely for the remainder of first grade. Then this year she started second grade. Reading reasonably on par and writing adorable little one page stories. Then all of a sudden she gets badly glutened and starts bringing home papers written completely backwards, can't distinguish numbers like 2 vs. 5 and is all mixed up and frustrated. I know in my heart this is a brain fog gluten issue.

My son on the other hand (does not have celiac disease) has issues with muscle tone and fine motor skills. He has pretty poor handwriting but the teachers just dismiss it and say, oh he's going to really love to type (oh that's helpful!). But we did have some amazing overall improvement in motor skills with some OT. I would highly recommend it for anyone having trouble. One tip I remember for writing is to put the paper on top of a slanted surface (like a 3 ring binder with spine at top - angling down). This helps put the arm and hand in the proper position for writing and should help stave off the fatigue a bit. There are also fun therapies like getting a product called thera-putty (like silly putty) that comes in different stiffnesses. You can mold it around various treasures like coins or "jewels" and let the kids pick out the treasures with their fingers. This is excellent excercise for those fingers and doesn't make them feel like they are just doing more painful and monotonous writing. There are many other fun excercises using the hands - wicky sticks, rug hooking, forming letters out of model magic or working on writing with one finger on a plate of sand or shaving cream. This lets kids focus on letter formation without focusing as much on the actual muscle involvement. My son totally loved OT and made wonderful progress. Now, he's happy for the moment because he recently broke his right arm and is being allowed to use the computer to do his work (2nd grade). I think we may be seeing a rash of broken arms with this kid!

Good luck!

Barb

[Fiddle-Faddle]

It is interesting that dysgraphia has been brought up. My son (now 18 & Senior in HS) does not have Celiac but does have an Inflammatory Bowel Disease so his digestion is still affected.

Virginia

My understanding is that Inflammatory Bowel Disease (which is usually called Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome, as it is NOT an independent disease, but a Syndrome--a collection of symptoms with no clearly understood cause)is almost ALWAYS celiac/gluten intolerance. Also, easily broken bones might point to a malabsorbtion problem. Is it possible your son was misdiagnosed? Tests not run or read incorrectly? You wouldn't believe the number of us who were told by doctors that we had no problem with gluten!

Is he gluten-free?

[Fiddle-Faddle]

T

My teacher was teaching the Suzuki method, that's what they use for violin lessons in that music studio. My book is book one of the Suzuki method. Which I like, because it goes one step at a time. Together with the celiac disease you sent me, it is perfect.

I have a nice shoulder rest. The problem was exhaustion more than anything, due to adrenal problems.

Actually, if your teacher did not give you a copy of the celiac disease and insist that you listen to it EVERY DAY, then they are NOT teaching the Suzuki method, they are only using the book. The method is based on learning to produce the sounds by ear--the idea is that you are supposed to listen to the professional on the celiac disease playing whatever song you are practicing for more minutes than you spend hearing yourself play.

The Suzuki book IS fantastic--but so much more effective when taught as Suzuki designed it (with celiac disease). And the teacher is supposed to help with technical things, like having the third finger "hop" from A string to E string in "Song of the Wind."

I don't mean to be Snob here--it's just that I have so many students who were told that their teacher was teaching the Suzuki method--and that teacher wasn't teaching anything of the kind, he or she was just using the books.

And I can always tell when my students are or are not listening to their CDs every day. When they are, they play in tune with really nice sound. When they are not, they play ever-so-slightly out of tune, they make rhythm mistakes and play wrong notes and don't notice, and they bow all over the fingerboard instead of "on the highway" (because they were concentrating on reading the music instead of watching their bows and listening to their sound--it's almost impossible to do listen to your sound AND read music at the same time, especially as a beginner).

The two big problems with some Suzuki method teachers are 1) Some of them do not know how to teach how to read music and 2) some of them are under the WRONG impression that you can only teach true Suzuki method to a very small child.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread! We now return you to your normal programme....

[Virgie]

Hi! I'm sorry! I probably should have made this more clear - My son does have an Inflammatory Bowel Disease which is called Ulcerative Colitis. He has had 4 colonoscopies which have showed pancolitis (meaning his whole colon was affected). He has also had the endosopy done which showed Eosinophilic Esophagitis. At which time he went through a battery of food testing and nothing showed up. So we now think the EE is a result of airborne allergies. Which could be possible as he has been having a terrible fall what with all the harvest work going on. I do still wonder if a gluten free diet would help him though. But I know he would not want to go gluten free as there is so much that he already shouldn't & can't eat because of the UC.

Thanks for your thoughts. And luckily he has not broken any bones which I do worry about. Especially when he was on Prednisone which after being on it for awhile (he was on for over a year) can cause bones to become more easily able to break.

Virginia

My understanding is that Inflammatory Bowel Disease (which is usually called Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome, as it is NOT an independent disease, but a Syndrome--a collection of symptoms with no clearly understood cause)is almost ALWAYS celiac/gluten intolerance. Also, easily broken bones might point to a malabsorbtion problem. Is it possible your son was misdiagnosed? Tests not run or read incorrectly? You wouldn't believe the number of us who were told by doctors that we had no problem with gluten!

Is he gluten-free?

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Whoops, sorry I misunderstood!

I would still try the gluten-free diet, as gluten problems rarely show up in food testing. I do recall reading posts from people who were diagnosed with IBD--and all their symptoms were caused by gluten. But, of course, that doesn't guarantee that the same would be true of your son.Still, it is entirely possible that your son might be able to eat other foods currently off limits if gluten--and the resulting problems--were removed from his diet. for example, many of us could not tolerate dairy products--until our guts healed from the gluten damage. Also, my GERD got WAY better off gluten, and I can now have things like orange juice and tomato sauce which I couldn't possibly eat without reflux before going off gluten. I understand that that is common.

[Cam's Mom]

It was my son with the broken bone . . . and it didn't come all that easily - he had to take a really agressive nose dive from the monkey bars to earn that one!

Was merely pointing out that he can conveniently maneuver a spoon full of ice cream to his mouth with casted arm but of course can not grip a pen or pencil - I'm thinking he is milking it just a bit and it is not going to have a positive effect on his already poor handwriting skills!

b.