Omega 3 for speech and development

[imcountingtothree123]

My son is 3 and is behind in all areas of development but specifically speech and communication. We’re on the pathway for an assessment.

In the meantime I’ve been researching the effects of Omega 3. There seem to be some positive stories. Has anyone here tried it? Does anyone have any advice on which brand or whether any other vitamins/suppliments can support this?

Unless a clinician advised it, he shouldn't need Omega 3 supplements if he has a properly balanced diet. Oily fish, walnuts, flax/sunflower/chia/pumpkin seeds, rapeseed oil are all good sources.

He won’t eat any of those things which made me think it might be worth trying

MN actually did a product test on some a while back. I took part for my DS2 & we now give him the Omega 3 supplements recommended, Equazen. He is 14. I do believe I can see a difference when he has had these.

We give omega 3 also to both my preschoolers, it helps if you have ADHD in the family also. I looked at a lot of the studies and I think it’s one of the most essential supplements for children. We’ve used Equazen also, and now use one from Holland and Barrett that’s a gummy for children

Thanks. That sounds positive. I’ll have to try and the mumsnet trail, were the results shared @changedmyname24

I think so but I can't remember as it was a few years ago.

My son had a severe s&l delay and what helped was finding a specialist s&l therapist and paying for weekly sessions privately and reinforcing those sessions daily, it took two years, the NHS don't offer weekly sessions ongoing at least not in my area.

There was also a website called teachmetotalk.com by an American s&l therapist that I found really useful, a youtube cartoon channel (steve&maggie) designed to teach very young children English when it wasn't their first language - and from memory there used to be a local LEA programme called Portage for pre-schoolers which I think looked really useful, might be worth looking into your local LEA offering for SEND.

Thanks @AmplePlayerhe’s having private speech and language therapy.
how is your son now?

Eldest is now 15 but was non- verbal until 3. We gave him Eskimo oil and he literally started talking. Could have been a complete coincidence. Paediatrician said that when he used to work in Sweden his boss asked all parents to give omega 3 to kids while waiting for clinic appointment - was not surprised by our story. Eldest was diagnosed with ASD at 4 and still struggles a bit but is academically outstanding. What have you got to lose by trying? I now give my 7yo some sort of gel form of Eskimo oil as she shows signs of being ND. No idea if it’s had any effect…. Both kids super fussy about what they eat but would take the medication no problem

This.

If there was good evidence that a supplement was necessary for children, particularly those who have any soft or learning / cognitive difficulties the NHS would prescribe it, pharma companies would monetise it and it would be part of standard childhood care.

You sweet summer child, the NHS would not be prescribing it, the NHS can't afford to do that.

@Thinkingaddicthow long did it take for you to notice a difference? Was it mostly the speech delay it helped?

Think it would help teenagers or is it too late

He is good @imcountingtothree123 - he had his first very unclear words at 3.5 and now his s&l has totally caught up - when he 4.5 he was starting to speak in recognisable sentences - we delayed Reception by a term. If you search through the history on the special needs board you'll find threads about s&l delay, - I bet omega 3 has been mentioned before.

Actually if you do look on the teachmetotalk website there is a list of the pre-verbal skills that toddlers go through before they start talking, so you can see what they still need to develop e.g. usually pointing to show joint attention comes before words.

Thanks @AmplePlayer that’s really reassuring. How old is your son now? Was he ever diagnosed with anything like autism? My son doesn’t understand a lot of what I’m saying (although we’re slowly making progress with that). He doesn’t always respond to his name or point etc so we’re
wondering whether there’s more going on that just a speech delay.

Therapy is helping and I’ve noticed a small difference after two months of fortnightly sessions.

@AmplePlayer and thanks I’ll have a look at the teachmetotalk

@imcountingtothree123 he was assessed by MDA for autism including the ADOS test but was diagnosed with speech, language and social communication delay - not a disorder. The 'understanding' part is the language part of S&L .e.g comprehension. As I said it took my son two years of weekly sessions backed up by daily practise so it was a long journey for us. I found that google will always suggest autism but there are many kinds of s&l disorders/delays. Has your speech therapist said yet what he/she thinks the issue is?

I think my son pointed to show joint attention for the first time 6 months before his first words, so is worth checking out the list of pre-verbal skills, there's also example videos on that website of games you can play to practice/encourage the skill that needs to come next.

Also the Steve&Maggie videos on youtube were brilliant for us, very repetitive but engaging enough.

It was within a week and I am completely open to that being coincidence. He was also really good at language comprehension- just didn’t speak. We can’t remember any other benefits. I think this whole area is really complex and hard to diagnose. It might work for some and not for others. I can’t see why you wouldn’t try though (although they’re admittedly expensive so maybe just for 4-6 weeks). My son had had a year of quality NHS speech and language therapy at that point (we were very lucky) and it had made very little difference.

I take it. a psychologist told me a few years ago it’s good for brain memory etc I was going to her for ADHD

I have given my DD a multivitamin with omega 3 since she was little, shes 9 and still non so don't reckon it works for that but still very good for overall health if they won't eat the foods it naturally occurs in so I'd still give them.

No knowledge of speech and language issues, but surely there’s no harm in giving it a go. We give it to our kids along with their multivitamins in the mornings.

@Thinkingaddictwow that’s brilliant. Hoping to see it work but a bit doubtful too!