EP. 29 | Discover Glow Pediatrics: Our Mission and Services.

Can early intervention in ADHD and autism truly revolutionize a child's development? In this episode, I passionately discuss the critical importance of timely evaluations and the comprehensive process my practice implements to support families. From filling out forms and submitting videos to engaging in virtual appointments, I unveil the detailed journey toward diagnosis. Following a diagnosis, what happens next? I break down the subsequent steps, including referrals to occupational therapy, speech therapy, and ABA therapy, and I address the frustrating reality of waitlists. To bridge these gaps, Glow Pediatrics is launching the Glow Circle, a support initiative designed to ensure children and families thrive during the waiting period.

But that's not all—discover how Glow Pediatrics is redefining pediatric care through integrative and holistic approaches. I explain how combining conventional treatments with evidence-based complementary therapies allows me to address the root causes of health issues. By evaluating a child's overall well-being, I emphasize the connections between brain health, gut health, environment, and emotional state. Specific testing and personalized care plans are crucial, particularly for conditions like ADHD and autism. Additionally, these Circles offer invaluable support to parents who are either awaiting services or not yet ready for membership, providing expert guidance and resources. Tune in to learn how Glow Pediatrics is committed to fostering health and well-being from the inside out.

Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform and check out the video version on our YouTube channel!

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If you want to schedule an ADHD/Autism appointment for your child, you may contact Glow Pediatrics:

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🌐 Website: www.glowpediatrics.com
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Episode Transcript

Dr. Hokehe Eko (00:00):
Hello, hello everyone.
How are you today?
It's me Dr Eko, your happybrain pediatrician, here to talk
to you today about GlowPediatrics.
So first of all, I want to saya big thank you to everyone who
sends messages.
Thank you for spreading ourmission around the world

(00:23):
literally.
Thank you for telling othersabout our big mission, which is
to help as many children as wecan get the support, get the
help that they need now, ratherthan in two years or in 27
months or depending on where youare and how long the wait list
is, because it's not just aboutthe child, it's about the entire

(00:45):
family, because once the child,once your child, is thriving,
that means your entire family isthriving, and that's our big
mission here at Glow Pediatrics.
So thank you again, and pleasekeep sharing with family and
friends and whoever needs tohear about the services that we
offer.
So I'm going to just dive intowhat we do at Glow Pediatrics.

(01:05):
So where does the name Glow comefrom?
Let's start from the beginning.
It comes from a play on my name, which means light of God.
So Hokehe means light of God,and so I wanted something to
describe that, and so I came upwith the name Glow, and so
really, our motto is that why wereally exist as a practice is

(01:28):
so that every child that we comein contact with can glow with
health from the inside out.
And we know for certain that ifchildren are glowing with
health from the inside out, theparents are as well, and the
community at large so, andthat's why we continue to do
what we do every day.
So what do we do?

(01:48):
Great question, and I'm gladyou asked.
So.
Glow Pediatrics has severalservices.
First one is that we offervirtual ADHD and autism
evaluations for children agedages 18 months all the way up to
10, maximum 12 years of age.
Right, and so what does thatentail?

(02:08):
It means that if your childneeds, if you suspect or your
pediatrician suspects that yourchild has ADHD or has autism,
you can contact us.
Currently, we are in the statesof Oklahoma, georgia, maryland
and Minnesota, and adding morestates as we speak, and so if

(02:30):
you're watching this and you'rein a state where you haven't
been able to get access to care,please leave us a message.
We'll be sure to work on addingyour state to our list so that
we can provide care for you,because that's really our big
mission is to provide care foryou, because that's really our
big mission is to provide carefor as many children as possible
, and thank you for helping usin that mission.

(02:50):
And so so that's the firstservice that we offer offer
evaluation services.
But we don't stop there, becausethat's that's the tip of the
iceberg, because the most commonquestion I get is so what's
next, doc?
Now you've told me my child haseither ADHD or autism, or both,
as sometimes we see, becauseADHD and autism occur a lot of

(03:15):
times together.
So what's next?
That's a great question, andthere's often a myriad of things
that parents have to navigatethrough, like where do they get
referrals from to go to whattherapist and what does their
child exactly need?
And often, so often, in myoffice I hear the question will

(03:36):
my child be able to perform wellin school?
Will my child be able to live afulfilling life?
And those are great big, whichI will address at the end, but
in the immediate time after wedo the evaluations.
So the first, the two-stepprocess, right?
So we, first of all, we sendyou forms, you fill those out,

(03:56):
you return those to us, we askfor some videos from you, we get
those back, we schedule yourappointment and we do the
evaluation, where we spend anhour, an hour and a half or
however long it takes to do likea complete evaluation so
meaning from when you werepregnant all the way to current
day for your child, and we getall of that done.

(04:26):
And then we have a second visitthat's also done virtually
where we discuss the results ofthe evaluation, right, and so at
that meeting we also will offeror we'll discuss what's the
next steps, right?
So what are the usual nextsteps that we see?
So a lot of children with ustalk about autism.
So a lot of children withautism may have things like this
.
So if your child is clumsy,falls a lot, if your child is

(04:49):
unable to tie their shoelacesaccording to whatever age they
are, if they're unable to useutensils to eat with, so things
like that, that may be anindication that your child
doesn't have enough motorstrength, which could indicate
that they need an occupationaltherapist right To help
strengthen their muscles andhelp teach them the skills that

(05:10):
they need.
And so that's one referral thatyou will possibly need, right?
Another referral could be speech.
Lots of children who have beendiagnosed with autism may or may
not be able to speak right, andso there's a need for speech
therapy.
There's also applied behavioranalysis therapy, which is also

(05:31):
called ABA therapy, and that'sspecific behavioral therapy
that's used for children withautism, and so that's another
kind of referral, right?
So that's three so far, andoften those referrals depending
on the state you're in you needyour pediatricians.
For the most part, you needyour pediatricians, or for the

(05:52):
most part, you need yourpediatricians, you need your
pediatrician to send a referralto those providers to get the
services you need, right?
But unfortunately, there'soften always a wait list too,
and that's where Glow Circlescomes in, right, because there
is such a wait list for serviceswe're creating Actually, we're

(06:15):
starting next week we'recreating what we call the Glow
Circle, which is while you waitfor the services that you need
for your children.
Wouldn't it be amazing?
Because I thought of this,because I kept hearing so many
parents say what's next?
What do I do while I'm waitingfor the speech therapy?
What do I do with my childwhile I'm waiting for the

(06:36):
occupational therapist?
What do I do with my childwhile I'm waiting to get on the
ABA wait list, right?
So we decided that we had asolution.
So what's the solution?
That we will bring in theexperts speech therapists, the
occupational therapists, the ABAtherapists bring them in in
front of you.
You show up to your small groupclass maximum 20 people in

(07:00):
there so you can ask all thequestions, and we're going to do
those sessions like on aregular basis, right, so that
the experts are in front of you,you can ask all the questions.
Experts are in front of you,you can ask all the questions.
They can show you strategiesand things that you can start
working on at home with yourchildren while you wait to get
into the speech therapist.
Now tell me in the comments ifyou think that that's an amazing

(07:23):
thing and you would like to bea part of that, because I would
like to know how many parentswould be interested in that.
Because I feel like if you cansit in front of somebody who
does this on a daily basis andyou can ask them your questions,
then that's a no-brainer right,and then that way you feel more
comfort and hope as a parent,because now you have an idea and

(07:45):
a sense of what to expect whenyou do get into speech therapy.
But then you've already startedworking on on things that hold
while you wait, right, so notime is wasted and really my
goal and my mission is to shrinkthe amount of wait time we have
right for between recognizingsymptoms and then getting a

(08:05):
diagnosis, and then afterdiagnosis, how do you get
support.
So my mission is to shrink thattime so that you're already in
front of the people that you mayneed their help, right, and you
can ask all the questions andyou can get help at home.
So again, leave it in thecomments if this is something
that you'd be interested in andwe will contact you.

(08:26):
So same thing for ADHD, withthe ADHD evaluation.
It's also a two-visit processwhere we ask all the questions
again, from pregnancy all theway to current day for the child
, and we're asking all theperson in question.
We'll give you some forms tofill out and then at the second
visit we will discuss what thediagnosis is and question how

(08:47):
long between first visit andsecond visit Right now it's
about a week so that we haveenough time to look over the
evaluations that have been doneand then we can follow up with
you.
So it's about a week betweenthe two and so we go over that,
over the results of theevaluation, and then also we
make a plan plan of action foryour child.

(09:09):
So that brings me to the secondmajor service that we offer at
Glow Pediatrics, which isintegrative or holistic medical
ongoing care, right?
So what does that mean?
Integrative care basicallymeans it's a combination of
conventional medical care andevidence-based which is key

(09:29):
complementary therapy.
So meaning I, the integrativepediatrician, looks at your
child from the inside out, yourwhole child.
I look at the brain health ofyour child.
I look at the gut health ofyour child.
I look at your child'senvironment physical, virtual,
what's going on at school.
I look at the emotional healthof your child.

(09:49):
So I'm looking at your entirechild, right?
So I'm not just saying, oh,here's a symptom, here's a
medicine.
I'm asking why?
Why do you not sleep?
Why are you so constipated?
Those are the questions.
That's the way I look at it.
I'm like a detective, askingthe why question so I can get to
the root cause and address it,of what creating the symptoms

(10:11):
that we see in your child, right?
So, for example, for a childthat doesn't sleep, the question
is not going to be oh, youdon't sleep, here's some sleep
medicine.
The question is going to be thequestions are going to be what
time do you put your child tobed?
What's your sleep routine?
How cool is the room or notcool?
Are there any devices in yourchild's room?

(10:31):
The light on in your child'sroom?
What does the child do beforebed?
How often does your child wakeup from sleep?
And on and on.
So it's just questions thathelp us figure out what we need
to change.
That often will change the waythe child is sleeping.
My goal is not I'm not againstmedication, let me say that

(10:54):
again I'm not againstmedications.
I just will not.
That's not the first thing Iwill do.
The first thing I will do isfigure out why, why we have the
symptoms we have and, ifpossible, address those symptoms
.
Because even if I gave youmedication and I don't address
those symptoms, I'm simplyputting a band-aid on what is
going on with your child and Irefuse to practice that way any

(11:16):
longer.
So now I know better, I dobetter, right?
So that's what we do.
We come up with a plan.
We ask all the questions, comeup with an ongoing plan for you,
the parent and the child.
We do do testing, specifictesting, especially around food
sensitivities, because in myexperience and my training I

(11:38):
have, we found that and lots ofresearch shows that we are
literally what we eat.
Gut health is critical to brainhealth.
Adhd and autism are bothbrain-based disorders, so it's
critical to investigate what'sgoing on with the child's brain,
what's going on with their gut,and often it starts with what's
going on with their gut,because there's so much research

(11:58):
to show that a lot of theunderlying issue with ADHD and
autoimmune inflammation andinflammation in the gut, that's
where it often starts.
So it makes sense to addressthat what's going on with the
gut health so that we canaddress the overall child as
well, the overall health of thechild.

(12:19):
So that's the way the processworks.
And then we have an ongoingmembership If you decide to work
with us, where we have expertsand you will get to see a
nutritionist and all of that,and just trying to provide whole
child care is what our missionand our goal is, and so there's

(12:43):
difference I mean.
So back to the glow circle.
So the glow circles are forparents who are waiting and may
not necessarily want to join themembership, but you have access
to the experts to get yourquestions answered while you
wait and while you decide whatit is you're going to do so, for
example, if we're not in yourstate yet, that would be a great

(13:04):
place to join so that you canget the answers and the help you
need while you wait.
So I hope this was helpful.
Please leave any questions andI will be sure to answer them,
and it was a pleasure talkingwith you.
I wish you an amazing rest ofyour day.
Take care everyone.