In this webinar, Beth Lambert, Maria Rickert Hong, Shandy Laskey, and three parents in the trenches of their own children’s healing journey participated in a live Q&A session. You can watch the replay below. Please note that you will be asked to provide your email address at the 30-minute mark to continue viewing the replay.
Parents in the Trenches
Complex medical conditions such as autism, autoimmune conditions, Sensory Processing Disorder, Lyme disease and PANS/PANDAS often have multiple root causes. Because of this, many of these conditions are not well suited to being treated with pharmaceuticals alone. Parents in the trenches are often left struggling to improve their child’s health and going from specialist to specialist to get the answers they need.
Because parents often aren’t seeing improved health in their children from following the traditional Western medicine approach, they’ve realized that they must take the lead. Many of them do tremendous research about health-promoting actions such as following a healing diet, optimizing blood sugar, lowering stress, reducing the total load of stressors and looking into various therapies. These parents are often rewarded with improvements in their child’s health.
In This Webinar
In this webinar, we discussed the following:
- Which diagnosis(es) does your child have?
- What has been most helpful for improving your child’s health?
- What are your highest highs?
- What are your lowest lows?
- What are some resources people can use to help their child heal?
- How has our community site, Healing Together, helped you with your child’s healing journey?
- What can parents do to help their child heal?
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.
About Maria Rickert Hong CHHC
Maria Rickert Hong is a Co-Founder of, and the Education and Media Director for, Documenting Hope.
She is a former sell-side Wall Street equity research analyst who covered the oil services sector at Salomon Smith Barney and Lehman Brothers under Institutional Investor #1 ranked analysts.
Later, she covered the gaming, lodging & leisure sector at Jefferies & Co. and Calyon Securities. She quit working on Wall Street when her first son was born.

Prior to working on Wall Street, she was a marketing specialist for Halliburton in New Orleans, where she also received her MBA in Finance & Strategy from Tulane University.
She is the author of the bestselling book Almost Autism: Recovering Children from Sensory Processing Disorder and the co-author of 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.
Maria is also a Certified Holistic Health Counselor. Her work can be found on DocumentingHope.com, Healing.DocumentingHope.com, Conference.DocumentingHope.com and MariaRickertHong.com
About Shandy Laskey MA CCC-SLP FNTP
Shandy is an integrative speech-language pathologist and pediatric feeding specialist, as well as a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, and Documenting Hope Health Coach. She is a fierce nutrition advocate for children impacted by complex picky eating, neurodevelopmental disorders, and special needs. She is continuously advancing her knowledge in functional and bio-individual nutrition therapies for these specific demographics of children.
Shandy is the founder and CEO of Speaking of Health & Wellness, LLC. Through her own health and wellness journey, she learned the profound impact of nutrition and lifestyle on cognition and overall well-being first hand. Shandy has an intense passion for integrating holistic nutrition and lifestyle strategies into her work with families.

She provides virtual and local parent coaching to guide families on identifying ways to address the underlying causes of their child’s condition and/or related symptoms, while also teaching integrative strategies for learning, behavior, communication and mealtimes.
Shandy is the Director of Community Development at Documenting Hope. Read more about Shandy’s story and work at: SpeakingOfHealthAndWellness.com
Disclaimer
This webinar is not a substitute for medical advice, treatment, diagnosis, or consultation with a medical professional. It is intended for general informational purposes only and should not be relied on to make determinations related to treatment of a medical condition. Documenting Hope has not verified and does not guaranty the accuracy of the information provided in this webinar.
Still Looking for Answers?
Visit the Documenting Hope Practitioner Directory to find a practitioner near you.
Join us inside our online membership community for parents, Healing Together, where you’ll find even more healing resources, expert guidance, and a community to support you every step of your child’s healing journey.