ADHD/ADD, FOCUS & EMOTIONAL REGULATION

Common Symptoms of ADD/ ADHD, FOCUS & EMOTIONAL DYSREGULATION

Children with ADHD, focus challenges, and emotional dysregulation can look very different from one another. Some are constantly moving and impulsive. Others are distracted, anxious, forgetful, sensitive, or easily overwhelmed.

And symptoms can change from day to day. A child may do great one week and completely fall apart the next. We may see things become worse with poor sleep, illness, allergies, constipation, skipped meals, blood sugar swings, certain foods, or environmental exposures.

I pay attention to those changes because they give us clues.

The brain does not work separately from the rest of the body. It is responding to what is happening with the immune system, gut, nutrient deficiencies, blood sugar, sleep, histamine, inflammation, and the environment.

So rather than only focusing on the behavior, I want to understand what may be making it harder for your child to focus, regulate, transition, or tolerate the world around them.

That is the work we will sort through together.

  • Difficulty focusing

  • Easily distracted

  • Forgetfulness

  • Poor working memory

  • Trouble following directions

  • Difficulty completing tasks

  • Executive functioning challenges

  • Brain fog

  • Learning difficulties

  • Frequent meltdowns

  • Anxiety

  • Rage or explosive behavior

  • Mood swings

  • Low frustration tolerance

  • Difficulty with transitions

  • Rejection sensitivity

  • Difficulty calming after becoming upset

Every child is different. Our goal is to identify the unique combination of triggers and contributing factors affecting your child so that we can create a personalized path toward your child’s healing.

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We will make sense of what’s happening

In the work that I do, I often find that ADHD, ADD, Focus and Emotional Dysregulation have a deeper root cause than genetics.

  • There may be chronic or recurrent infections quietly keeping the immune system activated.

  • We may uncover nutrient deficiencies that make it harder for the brain to produce and regulate neurotransmitters.

  • Sometimes there are significant gut issues, poor absorption, blood sugar instability, histamine problems, or sleep and airway concerns adding stress to the system.

I also pay close attention to the environment. Mold exposure, chemical exposures, heavy metals, pesticides, and other toxic burdens can all matter when we are trying to understand why a child’s nervous system seems so reactive or why their symptoms have become more difficult over time.

We’ll sort through their history, symptoms, exposures, nutrition, labs, and timeline together so we can understand where the biggest stressors and how to support your child for quick and lasting results.

Common Patterns That We Evaluate In Clinic

  • The brain depends on a steady supply of glucose to function optimally. Even mild blood sugar swings can influence attention, mood, energy, and behavior.

    Common clues include:

    • Afternoon energy crashes

    • Irritability when hungry

    • Difficulty falling or staying asleep

    • Nighttime waking

    • Anxiety or shakiness between meals

    • Cravings for sugar or carbohydrates

    • Difficulty concentrating when meals are delayed

    • Waking up irritable and slow to get going

  • Healthy brain function begins with restorative sleep. Sleep-disordered breathing is more common than many people realize and can significantly impact attention, learning, memory, and emotional regulation.

    Common clues include:

    • Snoring

    • Mouth breathing

    • Restless sleep

    • Teeth grinding

    • Enlarged tonsils

    • Daytime fatigue

    • Difficulty waking in the morning

    • Hyperactivity despite appearing exhausted

  • The gut and brain are in constant communication. Digestive health influences nutrient absorption, immune function, neurotransmitter production, and inflammation throughout the body.

    Nutritional imbalances can influence brain development, neurotransmitter production, focus, and emotional regulation. We assess key nutrients, including zinc, copper balance, magnesium, iron, vitamin D, B vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids, along with kryptopyrrole testing when appropriate. This comprehensive approach helps us identify individual nutritional needs and develop targeted support for your child's brain health, attention, and emotional well-being.

  • Attention, learning, planning, memory, and emotional regulation are some of the brain's most energy-demanding jobs. When the body's ability to produce energy is compromised, the brain is often one of the first organs affected.

  • Environmental stressors can influence multiple systems simultaneously, including the gut, immune system, nervous system, and cellular energy production.

    Common considerations include:

    • Mold and Mycotoxin exposure

    • Tickborne illness 

    • Environmental toxins

    • Indoor air quality

    • Cumulative toxic burden, heavy metals, pesticide exposure, etc

  • Sensory processing and vestibular function play an important role in attention, coordination, learning, and emotional regulation. These patterns often provide additional clues about how the nervous system is functioning.

    Common observations include:

    • Constant movement or motion-seeking

    • Sensory sensitivities

    • Poor coordination or clumsiness

    • Vestibular challenges

    • Auditory processing difficulties - “what, what, what”! 

    • Inability to process complex demands “go to your room and pick out a sweater and your red ball”

    • Difficulty sitting still

    • Trouble tracking while reading

1 TEST
INCLUDED

Pediatric ADHD: Focus Program

A 5-month structured, personalized path for families and children who are struggling and want answers!

This program is for children with ADD or ADHD who are struggling with focus, impulsivity, emotional regulation, and related gut or immune concerns.

  • 𖡼 A Comprehensive 90-minute Initial Consultation

    𖡼 Thorough review of your child’s health history, symptom timeline, lifestyle, nutrition, environmental exposures, and previous testing

    𖡼 Unlimited test review appointments with personalized recommendations and protocol refinement

    𖡼 Monthly follow up appointments to review progress, answer questions, and thoughtfully refine your child’s care plan 

    𖡼 Unlimited secure access to chat messaging to support you in-between sessions via Practice Better (Monday–Friday)

    𖡼 Unlimited food journal reviews and personalized feedback

    𖡼 Access to your secure, HIPAA-compliant Practice Better Client Portal

    𖡼 Practitioner pricing on additional functional laboratory testing, when clinically appropriate

    𖡼 Exclusive savings on professional-grade supplements

  • This program is for children who are struggling with chronic health concerns that haven't been fully explained or resolved.

    Whether your child has chronic skin issues such as eczema or hives, always "sick”, behavioral challenges, anxiety, ADHD, PANS/PANDAS or ongoing digestive issues and tummy troubles, we'll move beyond the guesswork and discover the WHY behind your child’s symptoms and create a targeted path forward towards feeling better and lasting healing.

  • Functional lab testing that is included in this program

    𖡼 GI-MAP Comprehensive Stool Test (see a sample report here).

    Examples of additional functional lab testing that we might decide to look at for your child:

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Three young girls sitting on the grass, with two of them covering their eyes from sunlight or wind, in an outdoor setting near a body of water.
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TEST DON'T GUESS

TEST DON'T GUESS

We use gold standard testing that helps shine a spotlight on the root cause. 

Many of our functional labs can be done from the comfort of your home.

  • The GI-MAP is an advanced at-home stool test that helps us move beyond guesswork by uncovering what’s happening inside your child’s gut. It provides valuable insight into the gut microbiome, digestive function, immune health, inflammation, intestinal permeability, and potential bacterial, fungal or parasitic imbalances that may be contributing to symptoms. This test is one of the foundational tools I use to help identify the root causes behind eczema, digestive symptoms, food sensitivities, recurrent infections, and other gut and immune concerns

  • provides us with a deeper look at how your child's body is functioning on a cellular level. It provides valuable insight into gut bacteria and yeast overgrowth, mitochondrial function, nutrient deficiencies, detoxification pathways, neurotransmitter balance, oxalate metabolism, and markers of oxidative stress.

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • Many of the children I work with have been given diagnoses like ADD/ ADHD, anxiety, OCD, sensory processing disorder, autism, PANS/PANDAS, or emotional dysregulation.

    My goal is to investigate the biology behind your child's symptoms. I look at factors such as gut health, nutrient deficiencies,  hidden infections, mold exposure, immune dysfunction, inflammation and sleep/airway health to understand what may be driving the behaviors.

  • Not at all.

    Many families reach out before their child has ever been formally evaluated. Others have several diagnoses already. What matters most is whether your child is struggling with focus, emotional regulation, anxiety, impulsivity, sensory issues, learning challenges, or behavioral changes that are affecting daily life.

  • Medication decisions always belong to you and your prescribing physician.

    Some families come to me while their child is taking medication. Others hope to avoid medication entirely. My role is not to convince you one way or another. My focus is identifying and addressing the underlying contributors to your child's symptoms while supporting their overall health. Many of our families in result do not end up needing to use medication.

  • Most ADD/ADHD care focuses on managing symptoms.

    My work focuses on asking why those symptoms developed in the first place.

    Children don't suddenly wake up unable to focus. There is often an underlying story involving immune activation, inflammation, gut dysfunction, nutrient depletion, chronic infections, environmental exposures, sleep disruption, or nervous system imbalance.

    By understanding those pieces, we can create a personalized path towards healing

    What kinds of root causes do you look for?

    Every child is different, but we commonly investigate:

    • Gut health and the microbiome

    • Food sensitivities

    • Vitamin and mineral deficiencies

    • Iron, zinc, magnesium and B vitamin status

    • Mold exposure

    • Lyme disease and tick-borne infections

    • PANS/PANDAS

    • Chronic viral or bacterial infections

    • Histamine and mast cell activation

    • Blood sugar regulation

    • Sleep quality and airway concerns

    Rather than assuming one cause, we look at the whole picture.

    We've already tried everything. Can you still help?

    Many of my families arrive after years of therapy, medications, supplements, specialists, elimination diets, and countless appointments.

    While I can't promise specific outcomes, many families tell me this is the first time their child's history actually makes sense and many families notice improvements within the first couple of weeks of working together. 

  • Testing is individualized.

    Depending on your child's history, we may use comprehensive blood chemistry, stool testing, organic acid testing, urine mycotoxin testing, tick-borne illness testing, or other functional labs to help us understand what may be contributing to their symptoms.

  • Very common.

    Fluctuating symptoms often suggest that something in the body is changing—whether that's immune activity, inflammation, illness, food exposures, sleep, hormones, or environmental triggers.

    Those patterns are often incredibly helpful clues!

  • I work with children and adults of all ages! 

    Your care plan is individualized based on your child's age, symptoms, developmental stage, and medical history.

  • You're probably a good fit if you've found yourself saying things like:

    • "Everyone keeps telling me they'll grow out of it."

    • "Something feels off, but every test comes back normal."

    • "We've tried therapy, medications, diets, and supplements."

    • "I feel like we're missing something."

    • "I just want someone to connect all the dots."

  • Because the brain doesn't function independently from the rest of the body.

    Focus, behavior, learning, sleep, mood, and emotional regulation are all influenced by the immune system, nervous system, gut, hormones, nutrient status, and environment.