This week we chat with Joya Van Der Laan, a functional medicine family nurse practitioner whose curiosity and her own daughter's autism diagnosis lead her down the biomedical path. We learn how she has used her personal and professional experience to create videos to teach parents how to create their own autism game plan, focused on helping parents address common symptoms and challenges associated with an autism diagnosis. Her videos cover everything from sleep, meltdowns, constipation and seizures to PANS and PANDAS. Tune in to learn about Joya and how her website could help your family!
We talk about:
- How overwhelming it was to face an autism diagnosis even as a medical professional
- Feeling the pressure to "fix" her child
- Using functional medicine to find the root cause of symptoms
- Deciphering between "voodoo" and science
- Creating a resource to quell the overwhelm and ease the burden on parents
- Testing to determine deficiencies and starting with basics like diet
- The importance of sleep for everyone!
- Healing is an artform not an end game
- Watching other children improve while her daughter struggled which led to learning
- How the desperation to help our kids can sometimes cloud our judgement with interventions
- Being methodical with trying new things to determine what's working and what's not
- How functional medicine can help parents too!
Joya's Website
Your Autism Game Plan
Books
How to End the Autism Epidemic
The Explosive Child
The Autism Revolution
Healing the New Childhood Epidemics - Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies
Nutrient Power
Doctors to follow
Dr. Mark Hyman
Dr. Jeffrey Bland
