Jeremiah has begun his baseline assessments. This means that his parents and the FLIGHT Study team are busy collecting biosamples (blood, urine, stool, saliva) and also visiting a variety of local clinicians. Some of the clinical visits include a visit with a functional dentist, a developmental optometrist and a neurofeedback practitioner, among others.
What Is a Functional Dentist?
In the image above, Jeremiah is seen visiting his local functional dentist, Dr. Alex Bronson, where he evaluated his orofacial structure, and overall oral health.
Why see a functional dentist? Functional dentists understand the importance of facial and oral structure on the whole child’s health. Facial and oral bone structure that is not well developed can lead to problems with breathing, oxygenation, and can result in a whole host of downstream health problems. Soft oral tissue issues such as tongue tie or lip tie (tethered oral tissues) can result in problems with feeding, chewing, speaking and more. This is one of the reasons why every FLIGHT Study participant is evaluated by a functional dentist, as they understand the importance of dental and oral health in the context of whole child health.
Developmental Optometry
As part of the FLIGHT Study, Jeremiah is also seen by a developmental optometrist, Dr. Duc Nguyen. Few people know that there are specialized doctors trained to evaluate vision (not eyesight) in children from a developmental perspective.
Patricia Lemer, Ed.D, educator and developmental expert has said “vision plays a huge, generally ignored, role in development . . . and remediating visual issues frees up energy for immune system function, communication, and social interaction,” among other functions in the body.
Biofeedback and Neurofeedback
Below Jeremiah’s parents meet with the Clinical Director of a biofeedback and neurofeedback clinic to review the results of a recent qEEG or Quantitative Electroencephalogram. QEEG is a diagnostic tool that measures electrical activity in the form of brain wave patterns that provide information and insight about how a brain is communicating.
The data from a qEEG is run through sophisticated software that compares an individual’s data to a large database of age-matched high-functioning individuals free of difficulties, injury and disease. The result is a map of how an individual’s brain function differs from this high-functioning population.
Keep following along with the FLIGHT Study, and you will learn about:
- Different types of practitioners that help identify treatable underlying imbalances in the body
- Strategies for supporting health and healing
- Things you can do at home to identify “root causes”
About Beth Lambert
Beth Lambert is a former healthcare consultant and teacher. As a consultant, she worked with pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic and other health care companies to evaluate industry trends.
She is the author of A Compromised Generation: The Epidemic of Chronic Illness in America’s Children (Sentient Publications, 2010). She is also a co-author of Documenting Hope's Brain Under Attack: A Resource for Parents and Caregivers of Children with PANS, PANDAS, and Autoimmune Encephalitis. She is a co-author of Reversal of Autism Symptoms among Dizygotic Twins through a Personalized Lifestyle and Environmental Modification Approach: A Case Report and Review of the Literature, J. Pers. Med. 2024, 14(6), 641.
In 2009, Beth founded Documenting Hope and currently serves as Executive Director. Beth attended Oxford University, graduated from Williams College and holds a Masters Degree in American Studies from Fairfield University.
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