Does your child have ADHD or an autism spectrum disorder?  Have your child's symptoms only been partially helped by traditional interventions such as special education, therapies or medication?  If so, this presentation is for you.  

Dr. Compart is a board-certified developmental pediatrician who combines both traditional and integrative medicine approaches in the treatment of a variety of behavioral and developmental disorders in children.  She has over 30 years of pediatric experience and has spent the last 20 years incorporating integrative and functional medicine approaches to treatment.   

This presentation will focus on a "functional medicine" approach to treatment of ADHD and autism.  This is a holistic approach that considers underlying imbalanced biochemistry that may be resulting in problematic symptoms.  For children with behavioral and developmental challenges, this approach involves asking and answering two basic questions: 

1.  Is this child's body/brain getting everything they need to function optimally?  (e.g., vitamins, minerals, protein, etc.) 

2.  Is something getting into this child's body/brain which is interfering with their ability to function optimally? (e.g., toxins, histamine from allergies, etc.) Functional medicine treatments involve giving what is needed and decreasing or eliminating what may be interfering.  The questions are simple but the answers may be complex.  

This talk will address common underlying factors that can affect brain function and that are potentially treatable.  Topics to be covered include basic healthy nutrition, the role of environmental allergies and brain function, the gut-brain connection, food sensitivities, inflammation and more.  There will be adequate time for a question and answer period at the end of the one-hour presentation.  

There is no cost for this presentation.  Donations to the Howard County Autism Society in memory/honor of Madhu Thibaudeau will be gratefully accepted.