Raising a child with a special need comes with multiple challenges,
usually almost always involving her health and well being. In such
situations, medical diet management can achieve plenty in terms of
positive results for both the child and her parents.
A child with a special need or a special child is one with a physical, mental, physiological, or developmental disorder, and owing to which has needs which are different from her or his peers.
These needs are termed special as they are essential to help
the child lead a (near) normal life e.g. A child born with a
dysfunctional heart may have special medical needs through his life,
which another child of the same age may not.
Similarly, a
child with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) has a
special need for a school environment which caters to his particular
challenge.
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| Image (c) Whizz Kidz, UK |
Special Needs is a vast field and includes conditions like autism,
Down syndrome, Intellectual Disability (ID), epilepsy, Cerebral palsy
(CP), spina bifida, deafness, visual defects, and physical impairments
including paralysis.
Medical Dietary Management for Special Needs
A medical diet consulting will not help cure a special need, but will
help manage the daily, and seemingly insurmountable dietary challenges
which are part of raising a special child. Certain benefits a parent or
caregiver can expect out of such a consult include...
- One of the biggest challenges with some special needs children is to help them get through a meal with minimum fuss, stress (to the child), wastage, and maximum consumption e.g. children with Intellectual Disability (formerly termed mental retardation) or dysphagia (swallowing difficulty). A medical diet consult helps the caregiver tackle this obstacle with knowledge backed meal management strategies.
- A diet and special need match, which ensures that the child's diet is 100% suitable for her special need is possible only under professional guidance e.g. infants diagnosed with the metabolic disorder phenylketonuria, need a diet which is low in the amino acid phenylalanine and have to be on such a diet for life.
- It's vital that any child's special need does not interfere with her getting adequate nutrition e.g. children with dysphagia are unable to eat enough to meet the nutrition requirement of their age group, owing to difficulty in swallowing, and a specialized diet consult will help prevent interference of special need with the child's daily nutrition requirement.
- A tailored medical diet can help palliate symptoms of some special needs, reducing dependence on prescription drugs meant for the same e.g. ketogenic diets help manage symptoms of refractive (drug resistant) pediatric epilepsy better. In other words, symptom alleviation.
In my own practice, I've consulted parents of children with
dysphagia, ADHD, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy, among others. Seeing
these tiny souls feel, act, and grow better, because they are eating
better, is a sublime experience.
Oh, and the little girl whose picture I've used in this post is nine
year old Robyn, physically disabled owing to achondroplasia, but as
sprightly as any child can get. Do read how Robyn and children like her
got back their wings with the help of mobility equipment from Whizz
Kidz, UK. http://www.whizz-kidz.org.uk/
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