I’m thrilled to announce that we are putting together an Event on March 25th, for parents of children of any age, and of any ability.

Want Healthier Children? is our first event which is NOT Special Needs focussed, but rather it will go over matters of concern for any parent in helping their children achieve their absolute best health in life – through both prevention and treatment.

Working together with Don Chisholm is an honour, as he has travelled the world lecturing and helping parents to help their own children – with fabulous results.

I’m especially thrilled to have been offered a totally gorgeous Yoga Studio for the event. Flavours of Yoga is owned by a friend of mine and it’s a wonderfully relaxed and stylish space. Because it’s not massive, we’re asking parents to bring their own cushion to sit on – just for something different!

Of course we’ll also provide a delicious organic fruit platter, tea and coffee in the breaks…

Click here for details!

~ kristen.

Dearest Kristen,
I want to thank you for such an amazing and inspiring read. I too work with babies with Down Syndrome and this allowed me to give a copy to my mums.
There are many other points and other therapies I now integrate {into my practise] because of your book – thank you so much. You are a wonder woman. Well done

Warm Wishes
Dr Andrea Parisio
Paediatric Chiropractor

It’s been a while since I blogged. It’s been busy, to say the least!

Apart from a whole lot of wonderful new projects on the go for this year, too early to announce, our Online Wholefoods Foodstore has started the year with a bang – as of today we have 80 Members, including some internationals! And the quiet January our family anticipated has evaporated before our eyes!

But in the scheme of things, we couldn’t be happier as more and more families are getting their Wholefoods and Organics through us.

Our new shopfront is also up and running and melbourne home deliveries of fresh produce are on the rise each week.

But I have to confess I am stunned (and not very happy!) to have just found out that the company which hosted the ebook edition of my book – Naturally Better -  went out of business over Xmas, and took my ebook with them! No email, no contact at all – just disappeared.

So, while I work towards republishing it – in a better format – I’ve just created a Coupon for people to buy the paperback edition of the book with a $10 discount. This means that if you live in Australia, you could buy the book for $22.95 including delivery.

The Coupon is valid until the end of March – just enter the code JanPBack at checkout.

Cheers to a brilliant New Year!

In the spirit of sharing their story to help other families, Lester Spears’ family has given us an update on his progress, and it’s quite something. Lianne Spears’ email was published yesterday on the Grow Foundation website:

Changes in Lester (22months)

We have seen a massive change in Lester in the last 6 months. It is hard to explain the exact change- it is like something has shifted in him cognitively, Lester’s Osteopath has noticed this too. He now understands simple requests and his problem solving and fine motor skills have improved dramatically.

I remember the day when I was making him his lunch and I heard his piggy bank toy singing away in the lounge room as Lester slipped the slim coins into the little slit with ease! Something Disability Services said was too advanced for Lester and maybe we should just put blocks in ice cream containers.

His communication has improved and whilst we are still having moments of yelling at dinner time he is starting to communicate more consistently, like saying ‘ta’ when we give him something, calling for mum and dad and signing for eat and drink, pointing at the dog and yelling ‘dog’. Every day he will surprised me with a new word.

Last week he read the word clap.

I have attached 2 hair results and a list of Lester’s supplements. (see below)

The first hair results (from March 2011) show the high Aluminium in Lester’s system. The bottom graph shows how many minerals have sky rocketed out of control. He also has really low (almost no) selenium and low zinc (this is very common in people with Down syndrome).

If the above results were left untreated it would (more than likely) mean Lester would face a life with the following problems:

Low immune system, frequent colds and flues, chest infections, allergies, itchy skin, disrupted sleep, memory loss, confusion, temper outbursts, pre-dinner tantrums, ear infections, gastroenteritis, low white cell count… what does that sound like? It sounds like Down syndrome to me.

We have been supplementing with the attached list and the results speak for themselves. The toxic elements have been decreased and the Zinc and the Selenium have  increased.

We still have a bit of work to do a tweak here and there but we are definitely on track to making Lester a HAPPIER and healthier child. I can’t tell you how much better he has been in the last 6 months. He only had one cold this winter, he hasn’t had any gastro issues in the last 6 months which he is prone to due to his Hirschsprungs.

Read the rest of this post and see the test results at the Grow Foundation website – click here.

As of November 1st, we will donate $5 to the Grow Foundation from the sale of every copy of this book.

This only applies to books purchased from this website or the Naturally Better Foods site, ie directly from us, not from third party stores.

Click here to purchase.

In the spirit of helping other parents to help their own kids, one parent sent me this email recently, explaining how she managed to get funding for a Brachiation Ladder for her daughter, who has Down syndrome. Thank you for sharing Helen x

HELEN WROTE:

It may be quite different here in NSW (compared to other parts of Australia), I don’t know, but here’s what I have discovered.

First there is the new $12,000 Better Start money that just came in for our kids from 1 July this year. You need to register for that and then you will get a client no. and can use the $$ at certain registered providers like physios etc. but they must be registered with the scheme – think most will become registered once they know about it but make sure you tell any providers you use to register.

It is my understanding that you can use $2100 per year x 2 years of that money for equipment or resources rather than services so that may be one way to get the brachiation ladder funded – you may need a provider recommendation first – I am not sure how they administer that – but I am sure most physios would see the benefit and write a letter for one.

Another way I can access money for things is through our respite provider – we have Northcott Disability Services right now and previously Sunnyfield – I am not sure if you have these same organisations in Vic as I do here – but you do probably have some kind of respite provider system – ours is coordinated by RIAP – respite intake allocation process and you make a request around Feb for services from July 1st later that year – not all requests for respite get filled but I think smaller kids have more priority – I have been approved later in the allocations and often people drop out along the way and then you may get a repsite package. Click here to read more.. »