A CHERAB Foundation Emergency Fact Finding Workshop on:
"Essential Fatty Acids and Verbal Apraxia: A Potential
New Therapeutic
Intervention"
July 23-24, 2001, Headquarters Plaza Hotel, Morristown, New Jersey
Host: CHERAB Foundation, Gillette, New Jersey
Background:
Ms. Lisa Geng, President and Founder, CHERAB Foundation has been
supplementing the regular diet of her son Tanner, diagnosed with verbal
apraxia, with a
nutritional supplement containing a mixture of essential fatty acids (EFAs)
containing omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. The results of the
supplementation have been remarkable in that Tanner started to talk and his
speech
improved rapidly. After sharing her experience with hundreds of parents
through the CHERAB Foundation, many have adopted the EFA supplementation
approach and reported improvements in their child's speech. Positive
results
have also been noted by Marilyn Agin, MD, a former speech pathologist, and
now a clinical developmental pediatrician, Medical Director of New York
City's Early Intervention Program, who has a number of EFA-supplemented
apraxic children under her supervision. CHERAB Foundation's resident speech
pathologist, Lori Roth, MA, CCC-SLP, who is also supervising apraxic
children, has reported similar progress.
Ms. Geng felt that supplementation as a potential therapeutic intervention
could spread in a somewhat random fashion leaving medical professionals
outside the loop. Since this would be an unwarranted development, she asked
Robert Katz, PhD, a Health Scientist Administrator with about 25 years of
research program management experience and currently president and
co-founder
of the Omega-3 Research Institute where he initiated and co-organized three
international workshops on physiologic effects of omega-3 fatty acids (in
the
brain, in diabetes and its cardiovascular complications and in cellular and
molecular aspects of cancer) to suggest possible approaches to achieving the
Foundation's goals. The emergency fact finding workshop described below
represents the strategy approved by the CHERAB Foundation.
Workshop Objective:
1. To discuss professional anecdotal case reports on positive
therapeutic
effects of Essential Fatty Acid (EFA) supplementation in children with
verbal
apraxia
2. To assess the need for and the timeliness of disseminating the
presented data to speech pathologists and therapists, pediatricians,
developmental pediatricians and pediatric neurologists so that they are
aware of this option
3. If justified, to plan and design clinical studies/trials in order to
assess the nature and the magnitude of the potential therapeutic effects
The Scope of the Workshop:
The emergency fact finding workshop will allow participants to discuss the
present views on the pathophysiology and diagnosis of verbal apraxia. These
discussions should lead to the design of a research protocol to include
speech and language assessment tools and behavior rating scales to measure
changes in speech output and intelligibility as well as behavior (i.e.
improved attention), from EFA supplementation. The possible role of the
brain speech center in verbal apraxia will be discussed in the context of
traditional therapeutic interventions in general and EFA supplementation in
particular. Current opinions regarding the involvement of the brain speech
center in developmental verbal apraxia will be presented and discussed in
the context of EFAs and their functions in the neuronal signal transduction
pathway. The evidence that a percentage of children on the autistic
spectrum are displaying signs of verbal apraxia will be discussed, with a
consideration of examining this population for the therapeutic effects of
EFAs entertained. Consideration will also be given to the possible
beneficial effect of EFA supplementation in ADHD. EFA supplementation in
newborns will be discussed as models for clinical trials in verbal apraxia.
Workshop participants will debate the professional anecdotal case reports
presented and if justified, the workshop will conclude with recommendations
on ways to alert the medical professionals involved with verbal apraxic
children of the existence of this new potential therapeutic intervention and
recommendations on the type and nature clinical studies/trials designed to
validate the reported effects.
In order to ensure a frank and open scientific discussion, attendance will
be by invitations only and the workshop will be closed to the general
public. No video taping or closed circuit TV viewing of the proceedings is
planned.
__________________________________
List of Scientific Panel Members
Scientific Organizers:
Marilyn Agin, M.D., Medical Director, Early Intervention, New York City, NY
Robert Katz, Ph.D., Managing Director, Consortium for Brain Fatty Acids
(CFBFA) Omega-3 Research Institute, Inc., Bethesda, MD
Other Speakers and Panelists (Confirmed):
Susan E. Carlson, Ph.D.
Professor, University of Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas
Member Consortium for Fatty Acids (CFBFA)
Joseph Hibbeln, M.D.
Chief, Outpatient Clinic
National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse
NIH, Bethesda, Maryland
Nancy Kaufman, M.A., CCC/SLP
Director, Kaufman Children's Center for
Speech Language and Sensory Disorders,
West Bloomfield, Michigan
Ann Moser,
Director, Peroxisomal Diseases
and Fatty Acid Profiles Clinical Laboratory,
Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
Jennifer Hill-Karrer, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor,
University of Kansas Medical Center,
Kansas City, Kansas
Lori Roth M.A., CCC/SLP,
Speech Pathologist, CHERAB Foundation
Andrew L. Stoll, MD
Director, Neuropsychopharmacology Laboratory
McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts and
Assistant Professor, Harvard University Medical School
Boston, MA
Andrew Zimmerman, M.D.
Professor, Johns Hopkins University and
Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
___________________________
A CHERAB FOUNDATION EMERGENCY FACT-FINDING WORKSHOP ON
ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS AND VERBAL APRAXIA: A POTENTIAL NEW THERAPEUTIC
INTERVENTION
July 23-24, 2001, Headquarters Plaza Hotel, Morristown, New Jersey
July 23, 2001
4:00 pm-7:00 pm Registration
6:00 pm-7:00 pm Opening Reception (open bar and hors d'oeuvres)
7:00 pm-8:30 pm Dinner
Dinner Speaker: Hugo W. Moser, MD,
Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
"Emerging Therapies for Neurologic Disorders"
(Scientific panel members will not attend)
Evening Session: Verbal Apraxia: Current Thoughts
Chair: Marilyn Agin, MD
8:30 pm-8:40 pm Opening and Welcoming Remarks
Marilyn
Agin, MD and Ms. Lisa Geng
8:40 pm-9:10 pm "Verbal Apraxia: The Perspective of a Developmental
Pediatrician"
Marilyn
Agin, MD
9:10 pm-9:40 pm "Verbal Apraxia: The Perspective of a Speech Therapist"
Nancy
Kaufman, MA, CCC-SLP
9:40 pm-10:10 pm Discussion
All
panelists
10:10 pm. Adjourn
July 24, 2001
7:00 am-8:00 am Registration
Morning Session: Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) and the Brain
Chairs: Susan E. Carlson, Ph.D. and Robert Katz, Ph.D.
8:00 am-8:30 am Welcome and Introduction: "What are EFAs, and how do they
get
into the brain?
Susan E. Carlson, PhD and Robert Katz, PhD
* Each presentation includes a 5-minute Question and Answer period.
8:30 am-9:00 am "Psychiatric Consequences of Omega-3 Fatty Acid
Insufficiency"
Joseph
Hibbeln, MD
9:00 am-9:30 am "Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Neuropsychiatric Disorders"
Andrew
L. Stoll, MD
9:30 am-9:50 am Coffee Break
9:50 am-10:20 am "EFA Supplementation Trials in Premature Babies
and
Infants"
Susan
E. Carlson, Ph.D.
10:20 am-10:50 am "Therapeutic Trials in Autism Spectrum Disorders"
Andrew
Zimmerman, MD
10:50 am-11:30 am "EFAs as Potential Therapeutic Agents in
Verbal
Apraxia: Analysis of Professional
Anecdotal
Case Reports"
Marilyn
Agin, MD, Lori Roth, MA, CCC-SLP and Robert Katz, PhD
11:30 am-12:15 pm Roundtable Discussion:
"Are
Clinical Studies/Trials of EFA Supplementation
in
Verbal Apraxia Timely and Justified?"
All
Panel Members
12:15 pm-1:00 pm Lunch
Afternoon Session Verbal Apraxia; Possible Clinical Studies/Trials
Chairs: Andrew Zimmerman, MD and Andrew L. Stoll, MD
1:00 pm-1:10 pm "Clinical Tools for the Assessment of the Apraxic
Child"
Lori
Roth, MA, CCC-SLP
1:10 pm-1:20 pm "Fatty Acid Profiles: Markers of EFA Status"
Ann
Moser
1:20 pm-1:30 pm "Neurobehavioral Markers"
Andrew
Zimmerman, MD
1:30 pm-1:40 pm "Neurophysiological Measures of Cognitive & Motorical
Development
During Early Infancy"
Jennifer
Hill-Karrer, PhD
1:40 pm-1:50 pm "EFA Oils for Clinical Trials in Verbal Apraxia"
Robert
Katz, PhD
1:50 pm-2:40 pm "Designing EFA Supplementation Studies/Trials for
Verbal
Apraxia"
All
Panel Members
2:40 pm-3:00 pm Coffee Break
Closing Session: Summary and Recommendations
Chairs: Andrew Zimmerman, MD, & Lori Roth, MA, CCC-SLP
3:00 pm-3:30 pm Discussion of the Planned Clinical Research,
Formulation
of Recommendations and Closing Remarks
All
Panel Members
3:30 pm- Adjourn
