Mar 18, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
It is a simple fact that the brain is directly affected by the food we eat, the air we breathe and how we treat our bodies. The way the brain is affected can be seen in our behaviour – and children who struggle with learning tasks or behaving appropriately are showing that their brains are not functionally optimally.
Too many such children are labelled with supposed disorders which are then treated with prescribed medications. Too often the labels are inaccurate and the medications unnecessary. Many practitioners working with these children believe that a less harsh approach, one that will not do damage to a child’s nervous system, is wiser. It is also sometimes more helpful than the overused starting place of having a serious, mind-altering drug given to a child as though it held no more risks than a Smartie.
For example, many children with learning problems suffer from allergies. Not all allergies present as a rash. A child will often experience headaches, leg pains, digestive disorders, muscle spasms or bedwetting. Dark circles under the eyes are also a telltale sign – and not always the result of a late night. Wheat, milk, eggs, sugar, peanuts, oranges and chocolate are common allergen foods. Very often, the child will crave the foods to which he or she has an allergy.
You can try a simple method to recognise allergens by taking a child’s pulse before and ten minutes after eating a suspected food. An elevation of 10 or more counts per minute in pulse reflects a probable allergen.
Parasites or bacteria are sometimes the culprits that may increase allergies. Candida Albicans (a yeast overgrowth in the gut) is often indicated when the child shows general ill-health and listlessness accompanied by disinterest in and aversion to sitting down and getting on with schoolwork.
Such children may be more sensitive to pollutants, food additives and preservatives, food colouring and dyes. These environmental offenders put the respiratory system in distress and the lack of proper oxygen to the brain can manifest as hyperactivity and unmanageable behaviours.
It may take some time to investigate the underlying causes of learning challenges but it is critical to do so. Once the source is discovered and addressed, the body has a marvellous ability to create balance and heal. The brain is plastic enough to be able to restore function and the reward is seeing a child achieve a calmness, purpose and a growing sense of confidence in himself.
Image supplied by Freepik.
Mar 11, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
The world, although still a beautiful place, is fraught with man-made conflicts. Violent events, both globally and locally, dominate our news channels. As a result, we are seeing increasing amounts of youngsters with symptoms of stress.
Stress, with accompanying anxiety, is one of the causes underlying the development of tics and twitches. These include eye-blinking, throat clearing, small, repetitive movements of arms and legs, face pulling and sniffing. Some children may also make sounds. Other causes for the appearance of tics include the presence of toxins in the body and allergies.
While these signs can be alarming, remember that about 20% of children develop tics and show twitches at some point during the primary school years. Most of them will disappear as the child grows older.
Most children are not bothered by their tics and in these cases, parents shouldn’t bother either. It is important to remember that the child cannot easily control the tics and twitches so it doesn’t help to tell them to do so. The best is to ignore the tics and while waiting and watching, try no interventions. It will, however, be necessary to support the child if you suspect that stress brought about by the pandemic may be a reason. Anxieties and the symptoms of stress can be helped through counselling or play therapy – and always, a parent on hand to listen carefully to fears and help talk through them.
On the other hand, if the tics become severe, persist longer than a year, threaten to disrupt the child’s social relationships or perhaps invoke self-injury, then you need to look for appropriate treatment.
The most severe form of a tic disorder is known as Tourette’s Syndrome. This is possibly (but not always necessarily) a genetic condition and is often accompanied by co-occurring problems, such as difficulties paying attention, obsessive behaviours and anxiety.
Tourette’s Syndrome needs treatment which takes the form of either or both medications to reduce tics and also behavioural therapy. Care needs to be taken that the child is not diagnosed and treated simply on the presence of motor and/or vocal tics. There are some neurodevelopmental issues that can present as an underlying cause and that need to be addressed along with the tics. For this, it might be wise to consult a professional who will take an holistic view of the child and his or her development.
Image supplied by Freepik
Mar 4, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
At the end of each term comes the report from your child’s school. Now, as parents, you have to read what one or more other human beings think of your child. This can be a pleasure but can also cause confusion and even concern. How seriously should you take the schools’ verdict on your child’s performance, behaviour, growing personality and abilities?
Obviously teachers are trained professionals and can be very helpful in identifying areas needing help or areas of great potential. But as a parent, you are equipped with knowledge and understanding of your child that no other person can hope to equal. For this reason, my message today is that you should learn to trust in your ‘gut feelings’ concerning your child – especially if they conflict with the opinions of others.
Over many years of dealing with families whose children show one or other need, I’ve come to value the opinions of parents. Very often conversations with them are prefaced with “I’m only his/her parent so I’m probably wrong, but ……”. Then the parent goes on to present me with a description of the child that, after thorough evaluation, is found to be highly accurate and insightful, but sometimes contradicts the teacher’s findings.
I’ve known many parents who instinctively felt that their child wasn’t really ready to learn, yet felt intimidated enough by officialdom to send them into formal schooling. Sometime down the line, they are referred for help with problems caused not by any lack of intelligence but instead a slower rate of neurodevelopment. Others may instinctively know that their young child is ready for school but are told to keep them back. These children may end up being frustrated and bored at school and have to possibly take the unwise step in being accelerated into a higher grade somewhere along the line.
This doesn’t mean that parents don’t ever make mistakes. Plenty of parents are guilty of pushing their children too fast and too far before they are ready; they are over-ambitious for children to succeed; some neglect children unintentionally due to work and lifestyle pressures, some refuse to recognise a needy area in the child, and so on. That, however, is not the message intended here.
I could write screeds about the occasions when parents were spot on in their analysis of the causes of their child’s behaviour, in contrast with that of the school. I recall a parent desperately sharing her feeling that her young son’s undesirable, hyperactive, non-compliant behaviour during the Grade 0 school day was due to his disinterest in classroom events. This was not accepted by the teacher, who saw the symptoms as being signs of anti-social tendencies, mental disorders, impulsivity, disobedience and more. The mother persevered with her belief and did not seek any intervention. The following year saw a drastic change in behaviour and when challenged, the youngster offered, “School is better now. We’re learning proper stuff.”
Something else to be taken into consideration is that what you want to teach your child is not necessarily what others want to teach theirs. What your child needs to be taught depends on the society into which he is being raised and in which he will have to cope. That means that others may not understand the culture of your family and have unrealistic expectations of your child – and your way of raising him.
When you feel that something is not right with your child, with the school situation, with health issues, with friendships, you don’t need to apologise for being ‘only’ a parent. You don’t always need to rush off for professional confirmation or intervention. It is helpful to have an impartial outsider confirm your beliefs and in some cases might be wise, but this isn’t always essential. The chances are that you’ll have your child’s best interests at heart and your decisions and actions will be based on the most intimate and complete knowledge of the child possible. Added to that, you know the child’s origins – you understand the gene pool that created him or her. Trust your feelings.
Image supplied by Freepik.
Feb 26, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
Children’s board games often involve moving pieces along a straight numbered path (like snakes and ladders, for example). These games can significantly strengthen children’s maths skills, according Joe Golfen, in a report published by the University of Oregon.
Even better, the report found just a few short, 10-minute sessions of game play may have lasting benefits.
The findings are from a meta-analysis, or systematic review, of 18 studies looking at number board games and early maths skills in children from preschool through second grade.
“We selected this topic because early math skills are a powerful predictor of children’s later success in school, and number board games are easy to use and affordable,”
“This review shows that brief play sessions with linear-number board games can meaningfully improve foundational early math skills like counting, number recognition and understanding quantity,” said Gena Nelson, associate research professor at the Center on Teaching and Learning at the UO’s College of Education.
Image supplied by Freepik.
Feb 18, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
The body isn’t just there to serve as a vehicle for our large heads and heavy brains. Instead, the body has huge impact on the brain’s development. In fact, without having a body that moves, we would have very inefficient brain function because the all-important connections between brain cells wouldn’t form. We would be about as intelligent as a rooted plant. We need movement to reach our human potential.
In spite of what we know, too many people still believe that learning happens in the brain and the body doesn’t play a role. See how teachers insist that children sit still without any fidgeting with any part of the body when in the classroom.
In the past, children could make up for this body neglect by using their bodies in all kinds of activities after school hours. They used to climb, run, tumble, dig, fall into ditches and fall out of trees. The change isn’t all due to TV and screen time but also because today’s families live in small homes without access to open play areas. Long hours are spent in commuting to and from school. The streets have become dangerous places. It’s been estimated that children are spending 25% less time on free play than they did in their grandparents’ time.
The reality is that the brain needs the body’s movement in order to create the neural pathways that make ease of learning possible. You can’t make a child learning ready with workbooks, i-pad games or computer programmes. It develops as children’s brains mature along with experiences occurring as a result of bodily sensation and movement.
Important movements are the early reflexes, followed by large body movements such as climbing, jumping, swimming, playing hopscotch, catching and throwing balls, riding bicycles, running, skipping, sweeping and digging. Smaller body movements develop fine motor skills, such as cutting vegetables, drawing, building with blocks, moving to music and learning rhythm through clapping, singing and so on. Movements that need crossing the midline help build the pathways connecting the two brain hemispheres and are crucial for learning to read, write and understand maths.
Children love to move; they need to move. If their bodies are given the chance needed to move in play, they will develop to a stage of learning readiness. Perhaps not all of them will reach this stage at exactly the same time but we do have the genetic potential to be wired to learn.
So limit sedentary time. Push your children out of doors. Make sure you spend quality time in play parks or open spaces over the weekends. Buy body healthy toys like trampolines, skipping ropes and balance boards rather than the latest hi-tech toy. Go back to basics if you really want your child to reach his or her potential at school
Image supplied by Freepik.
Feb 4, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
Is bread really the staff of life for all people? The answer is almost certainly that it might have been once but in our modern times, the preservatives that are used to keep it fresh for longer might be underlying the difficult behaviours associated with ADHD in some children.
These days there is a lot written about how diet affects learning and behaviour. Some families try to avoid certain foods – sugar and highly coloured foods are examples. But if you have a child who is struggling with really challenging mood swings, fatigue, defiant attitudes, eczema, asthma, poor progress at school, perhaps you need to look more closely at bread.
One of the major preservatives in bread is Proprionate. If you take this post seriously and read the labels on the breads your family eats daily, you’ll see that it is added to virtually all commercially available bread and rolls. The official name is Calcium Proprionate and it is a mould inhibitor, also found in various cheeses. The food scientists claim that it is harmless and they base this opinion on the fact that it occurs naturally in the human body. That may be so, but there is limited evidence as to how much is tolerated by our body and how high doses may affect the body.
Many South African families rely on bread for meals and snacks throughout the day. Breakfast, school lunches and afternoon snacks are often based on bread. It is an easy, relatively cheap and quick hunger satisfier. But this high intake of bread is accompanied by a high intake of proprionate.
One person who realised the link between proprionate and a myriad of mental and health problems is Sue Dengate. She is an Australian researcher and writer who spent years trying to understand the underlying reasons for her own children’s extreme behaviour and learning challenges. Her efforts have resulted in her founding the FAILSAFE eating approach which is widely followed in Australia and elsewhere. Her website is a font of knowledge about how intolerances to food and food additives – including proprionate – affect both brain and body.
For example, she mentions how some breastfed babies stopped their constant screaming when their mothers switched to preservative-free bread; how children were able to first reduce and then stop their ADHD medication after giving up preserved bread, even how high-functioning adults suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome regained their energy after excluding certain breads.
Bread preservative may not be the only additive causing problems but this post focuses on it because it is probably the additive eaten most often by people who think they are eating a healthy diet. So many of us can cope with preservatives, colourants and flavourants but that isn’t an argument for closing our minds to the possibility that the challenging ADHD-type behaviours that we struggle with daily might be caused by or at least worsened by modern foods. The children that we’re focusing on are more vulnerable to many of the potential offenders found in our environment, including foods. The fact that other children are not affected by these things is not an excuse to ignore the possibility that one or many more potential offenders are affecting the brain, immune system and other bodily systems in an ‘ADHD’ child.
So what bread can be eaten? I don’t have a list of breads free of Calcium Proprionate but recently found a brand at Pick ‘n Pay that was free of it. Otherwise, ciabatta is a bread that is proprionate free. The reason is that the preservative would kill the micro-organisms that produce the gas that form the holes in the bread. Artisanal breads available at the increasingly popular farmer’s markets may also be free of preservatives but you would be wise to check on this before buying. Investing in a bread making machine would be another option.
For more information about Sue Dengate’s amazing work, and full instructions as to how to follow her FAILSAFE diet, visit her website at www.fedup.com.au.
Image supplied by Freepik.
