10 Steps to a Healthy Special Needs Kid

You may or may not know this already, but getting special needs kids in peak health is not at all the same as caring for their genetic condition.

Good health did not come easy for my son. When my little special needs boy arrived in the world, he couldn’t move. He was listless because of his low muscle tone.  Further, he did not convert whatever food energy we could get him to tolerate into active energy.

This remains a normal condition for people with his genetic syndrome (you can read more about that here). Infancy and early childhood were marked by a sad, dark season. My son had 11 doctors, mostly specialists, therapies, and hospitalizations. Natural and organic were not. even. on. my. mind.

The prognosis was grim and not one person told me my son would ever be healthy. He was truly sick all the time at first. We went through a few rounds of pneumonia, whooping cough, and frequent sinus, and respiratory infections and at one time he even ended up in Intermediate Care in the hospital with RSV.

He hit another wall when I just couldn’t get rid of his asthma and reflux medications. His constant congestion caused a problem with his health and wellness.  The food allergies and low muscle tone triggered bad reactions in his frail body. Because people with my son’s genetic syndrome, Prader-Willi, struggle to digest everything compounded into problem after problem. 

Slowly good health came.

As my son’s health improved, the sun seemed to come out again over our family. While my son did not crawl until he was nearly 2, nor did he walk until he was 3, he grew steadily.

He began to feed himself. Then, he learned to move and then run. My son became capable of using his arms and legs. Plus, his health turned around for the best when I identified some food allergies that had wreaked havoc on his little body. 

My active little angel became stronger and stronger, then healthier and healthier. Currently, he generally stays healthy and does not even fight much of a cold virus—when he gets one. 

Can you have good health with special needs?

Special needs does not mean sick, but the two can go hand in hand. Children with cancers and other illnesses are ill, but after our own food journey, I have wondered how many children could be healed with a change in diet.

Living a healthy lifestyle can happen for everyone, special needs, sick, and adults of all sorts. The results, of course, are left up to God. But, I think we all get so busy trying to just keep illness at bay that we forget we can really turn the ship around sometimes. 

I won’t toot false hope, but I know that special needs can be healthy if we just listen to our children’s bodies. How? Read and see what I learned.

Take baby steps.

If you are a special needs parent, you are driving the Titanic. Turning on a dime really doesn’t work well, so adding healthy natural, and organic foods into your life a bit at a time is best. In the end, you will get everyone on board, and they will cooperate.

Change where and how your purchase your food.

This goes hand in hand with baby steps. What I found immediately was that the fresh organic produce I wanted was not at the typical grocery store, at least not very much of it. The selection was poor and just really not all that great. I went to Whole Foods and well, I found that we just couldn’t really afford it. So, I ended up at a local health food store, which had most of what I needed.

Order bulk to afford the cost.

I really worked hard at cutting down the costs of eating natural and organic. I began shopping through Azure Standard, a co-op and trucking company that sells natural and organic produce for a really good price, and in bulk, delivering them once a month. You can also order everything else like a typical grocery store, so check it out to see if they truck to your area.  While they aren’t organic, they are farm fresh, and their hamburger is slime-free. Their chicken breasts are fresh and their ham is the best!

Really consider raising chickens.

You don’t have to live in the country for this one. Check into the zoning laws; you may be surprised. Our subdivision wouldn’t allow chickens, but they did allow them as a school project. Since we homeschool, it was an easy match.

We don’t have a rooster, and I won’t plan on it, but we do have a regular harvest of fresh eggs daily. The quality of fresh free-range eggs is much better than even store-bought organic or cage-free eggs. Your eggs are what you feed your chickens.

Get gardening

There are tons of options with this, and may even be more viable if chickens sound like too much for your family. When I garden, I use essential oils and make my own sprays.

Plus, having chickens to eat the bugs really makes a difference, but don’t let them just free-range in your garden, that is, unless you want to give them all of your vegetables! It will save you money if you start with your own organic seeds and use the right mix of compost and soil.

Essential oils are a help

The first time I stepped into essential oils was like I said in the garden and we began to use some of the citronella and peppermint as an insect repellant. My little fragile son developed whelps from mosquitoes, so I had to keep him covered in something.

I found that both of these oils worked quite well. In fact, peppermint is my favorite all-time essential oil for freshening the carpet and linens. Adding citrus drops to water refreshes and using tea tree treats all sorts of infections and bug problems.

Herbs really do work

Throw out all of those old ideas about herbs are just weeds. There are many that serve as great nutrition and provide some medicinal benefits as well. St. John’s Wort is even now recognized by many medical doctors as quite effective in mild to moderate depression.

I have used it both on myself and my special needs son. He did quite well with it for a while.

For small infections, oregano is a great antibacterial. Chamomile really does calm and soothe. And, elderberry is the must-have for cold and flu viruses.

Add supplements and vitamins

One of the things I learned pretty quickly is that when you remove a food from your diet, such as gluten, you may need to replace a nutrient you were receiving from it. Read here to find out how we used gluten-free to get healthy.

Whole wheat bread does supply some well-needed nutrients like niacin and folate. When you remove it and fail to replace it with something comparable (which is rather difficult) you will suffer.

I do like to make sure I take a B complex every day, and I give my special needs son extra vitamins for his health. Even trace minerals and sea salt are considered good healthy supplements to add to your daily smoothies or foods. And, don’t forget your probiotics! We make our own yogurt.

You have to cook

There. I said it. Yes, you cannot pull through the drive-through at the last minute (at least not all the time) and expect to change your family’s diet. Make sure you have a good stir-fry pan, and plenty of coconut and olive oils, and choose herbs and spices that fit your family’s palate.

My special needs son surprised me with his interest in a chicken asparagus stir-fry, made with Bragg’s Amino Acids, fresh ginger, and sea salt. We scooped it on a bed of cooked quinoa. It was easy and it didn’t take long.

Plan for things to go wrong

Yes. Things will not just go as planned. Some will not like the new food you are serving up. Others may have yet another food allergy underneath the first one you uncovered. You may have to eat grain-free.  

You may need to find a balance between what one person is allergic to, and another one isn’t, and how do we purchase food for the family. You may have that one child that seems allergic to everything and you can’t find out what is bothering him.

But, if you plan for something to go awry, then you are good. Things will work out a bit at a time and eventually, you will find the answer. Just keep peeling back the layers.

Good health is possible with special needs

Take the leap. It was the best thing I ever did for our family, and on the whole, we are healthier and stronger because of it. It really is possible to have health and wellness in special needs children and adults. I know it.  

Sick does not need to be our new normal, simply because we have a special needs child, and always have one foot in the medical community. But, natural and organic can go hand in hand with medicine and the benefits far outweigh going against living healthy and organic.

Sure, we go to the doctor for medical issues, but if we eat right, tune into food allergies and the symptoms they create, we go to the doctor less.