Episode 276 — The Right Folinic Support Fuels Progress
Guest: Dr. Jared Skowron • Date: October 9, 2025
Episode Overview
Dr. Jared Skowron returns to the show to discuss why folate metabolism is a critical but often overlooked factor in supporting children with autism. With recent attention on Leucovorin as an FDA-approved treatment, parents need clarity on simpler and accessible options that can help unlock progress.
About Dr. Jared Skowron
Dr. Jared Skowron is an integrative pediatrician and the founder of Spectrum Awakening, a supplement line designed specifically for children on the spectrum. With over 20 years of clinical experience, he lectures internationally, hosts regular live Q&A sessions, and has authored resources for parents worldwide.
Learn more at SpectrumAwakening.com
You’ll Discover
Why Folate Metabolism Challenges Are So Common In Autism (6:16)
The Difference Between Folic Acid, Folinic Acid, And Methylfolate (10:09)
How To Know If Your Child May Benefit Without Over-Relying On Tests (18:03)
Why Dosage Matters And How To Find The “Goldilocks Zone” (24:11)
How Spectrum Awakening’s Powder Allows Flexible Dosing And Clean Delivery (26:13)
The Most Common Improvements Parents See — And Side Effects To Watch For (30:33)
Why Food And Nutrition Remain The Foundation For Lasting Progress (33:58)
Referenced in This Episode
Full Transcript
Len Arcuri (00:01.56)
Hello and welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets. Big news recently, Leucovorin was just approved as a treatment for autism. So that's encouraging, but parents need to know there's another option that can be simpler and even easier to use. And it all comes down to folate metabolism and why the right folinic support can unlock progress that otherwise gets delayed. So to dig deeper, I've invited back Dr. Jared Scouran,
He's the founder of Spectrum Awakening and a leading integrative pediatrician who spent decades helping families on the spectrum. He created super-phalamic acid powder, a clinically studied and parent-friendly way to address folate deficiency. Because if this issue isn't properly supported, a child's development can stall. But with the right support, you give them what their brain and body need.
to thrive. So the secret this week is the right phalenix support fuels progress. I'm really excited to welcome you back to the show, Dr. Jared.
Dr. Jared Skowron (01:11.049)
Thanks, I'm really excited to be here. I think this is our third time at least together. So thank you.
Len Arcuri (01:16.61)
Yeah, number three, and I know I've been on your podcast as well. So for so long, I've appreciate I've appreciated so much what you're doing for families, how you're super curious, wanting to learn more. And that's why even though this week this was the big news item, right, with the with the press conference. But clearly, this is not a new issue, right? This has been something that's been known for a while. And I know you've been focused on this in terms of, again, really making it easy or
let's just say easier for parents to, to, you know, to implement something that really might be super critical for their child. And no child, all kids are different in terms of where they are and what they might need, but this is at least has enough science behind it for it to even be approved. There's gotta be a lot of substance, a lot of science that says focusing in this area could be very beneficial for kids on the spectrum. So I'll hand it to you in terms of.
Whatever you think a parent who's listening who just heard this and is really curious now, what's this all about? Is it something that all kids can benefit from? How would they know whether their child's a candidate? Let me send it to your court to try to give the overview for parents. And I know you're presenting at the TACA conference and I'll be there with you. And I know this is a big topic that you'll be presenting on, correct?
Dr. Jared Skowron (02:41.939)
Yeah, I'm giving a couple lectures at Taka Conference. And if anyone is not familiar with Taka, please make yourself familiar with it. They are the largest family support group for families that have kids with autism, the largest support group in the US, if not the world. I think they're an amazing association. And every year they have a physical conference. They even made it through COVID, you know, and came out the other side. Not a lot of physical conferences anymore going on in the world. But...
every October south of LA, kind of outside of Irvine. And it's great. And it's great. I've been there for eight years at least. And, I love it. And I love it because one of the hardest things I'm sure as a parent is feeling like you're alone and you're the only one there and not knowing what to do. But to be at a hotel, to be at a conference where there is just room after room after room after room of hundreds, if not up to a thousand people who all
know what you're going through. Every single one of them knows what's going on because they've got a kid as well on the spectrum. So to be in a community where there's no doubt, to be in the communities where there's no dismissal, to be in a community where you are loved and accepted for everything that you're going through, that is a weekend that you cannot compare to anything else. It's awesome. So if anybody can make it, talk to October, again, just south of LA.
Len Arcuri (04:00.588)
Yeah, it-
Len Arcuri (04:05.71)
Yeah, and allow me just to add on to that. that's in Costa Mesa, California. There's not many parent conferences that are in person. There's a few and I tend to talk about those few. great that you can't underestimate the power of being in community with practitioners, with other parents. There's a lot of benefits to making that trip and not just doing conferences virtually. And Taka has been around for a while. Lisa Ackerman founded it.
long time ago, it used to be called Talk About Curing Autism. TACA was the brand and then they've shifted to where now it's more about the autism community in action. Because cure is kind of a term that some people relate to, others don't. But ultimately, it's all about supporting these kids the way that they uniquely need to be supported. And the TACA conference gives lots of perspectives.
lots of different options of even understanding what might be happening with your child so that you can meet their needs, which brings us to this topic of folate metabolism. So what do parents need to know, Dr. Jared?
Dr. Jared Skowron (05:15.861)
So again, one of my lectures coming up in a couple of weeks is going to be about all of this talk about folate and all this talk about folinic acid or methylfolate or leukovorin. of course, know, Robert Kennedy last week gave a press conference where he talked about two major things. He talked about the Tylenol and acetaminophen, which got most of the press, right? And a whole conversation on its own. The other thing he said was talking about
the drug, Leucovorin, and how that can help your child improve their language. Now, it's funny how overnight viral things tend to be overnight and viral after they've been around for 10 years. One of my physicians at med school said, an overnight success takes 10 years. So you've just got to be there. So it's not like Robert Kennedy just made this announcement out of thin air.
there has been research and research and research on what we can do to help our kids, how we can help their language. So there's at least 50 scientific research studies that have been peer reviewed and been published about how this vitamin can help your child with language. And so it's obviously got a whole new group of people who are now aware about it and interested in it. And so
We in the autism community, again, I've been an autism clinician for 22 years, we've been using this stuff for five, 10 years, okay? And we know what it can do. We know who it helps. We know it doesn't help everybody, but we know the amazingness of language improvement these kids can get. And so what I wanted to talk about is not just what is leukovorin, what is phalamic acid, but also how we can use it and
what we can do in addition to that because it's not going to be, it's not everything. It's not the smoking gun. It's not the cure all again. We don't use that word cure, but it's not just one thing and there you go. You're all done. You know, just wrap it up kind of thing. It's, it can be huge. It can be a huge factor in your child's improvement, but there's a lot more on top of that. So I kind of wanted to, to kind of step back and explain all the benefits of it, why it works, and then what we can do on top and just,
Dr. Jared Skowron (07:39.007)
things that you can do. If you've got a child with autism, if you've got a grandchild or you work with them, things that you can do after you listen to this podcast, things you can do right away to help them. So that's kind of our overarching.
Len Arcuri (07:51.276)
Yeah, well, let's go. mean, I'll just comment that, yes, I know I'm like all other parents who are listening. Everyone wants that silver bullet, that magic. And when you hear something like this mentioned in a press conference, you're like, this has to be it. And again, the key is this could be something that could be a major part of what's happening with your child. But it's unlikely that this is the one thing. And as you mentioned, there's a lot of ways that you can help.
again, not cure or it's all about just meeting your child's needs, supporting them as they uniquely need to be supported. And this issue could be very significant for some kids. Others, it may be kind of a more of a minor issue, but still part of that tapestry of how you can just, again, meet them where they are. So, and with that press conference, yeah, I think the headlines go more to something.
that people have heard that might be a cause, a contributing factor as to why we have that problem. So that's why the acetaminophen has gotten more attention. But you can argue that, hey, this is even more significant in the sense that what can you do now to help your child? And there's really nothing that's approved as a treatment for autism with this now being something that there's enough science that they can confidently say this is something you can consider.
Dr. Jared Skowron (09:13.471)
Yeah, exactly. it's, let me kind of, I want to kind of step back and explain it all from like how this came about. So again, the term that Robert Kennedy announced was Leucovorin. And Leucovorin is the name of a pharmaceutical, which is actually a vitamin. Now there's very few vitamins that can also be pharmaceuticals. It's kind of a gray area in the law. Like usually, usually pharmaceuticals are drugs and usually vitamins are vitamins that are over the counter.
Len Arcuri (09:22.872)
Please do.
Dr. Jared Skowron (09:42.902)
And there's usually no overlap, but phylinic acid is one of those rare few where the vitamin phylinic acid became an FDA approved medication, leukovorin. So what we're seeing is this unique circumstance where the same substance, it's a vitamin, the vitamin phylinic acid, which is a form of folate, a form of folic acid that was in your prenatals and your multis. This vitamin was approved back in the 1950s. So back in 1952,
this vitamin flenic acid became FDA approved as leukovorin to treat colon cancer. So it's currently an FDA approved medication to treat colon cancer, this vitamin, okay? Then it got FDA approval to treat side effects of other chemotherapy. it's used a lot and that was back in the 60s. So again, this has been used for over 70 years as a prescriptive vitamin that's also available over the counter in oncology to treat colon cancer, to reduce those side effects. Now,
Len Arcuri (10:38.488)
Right. And it's being used for that purpose uncontroversially, right? Like it's just a standard routine medication for that purpose.
Dr. Jared Skowron (10:41.769)
Yeah.
Dr. Jared Skowron (10:49.161)
Yes, think about this, it's been around longer than Tylenol. So yeah, it's been FDA approved longer than Tylenol. So no, it's just, hey, here's a vitamin, it works, we know this works, we've got 70 years worth of research and clinical experience, hands down, for...
Len Arcuri (11:05.016)
And can I just ask maybe an obvious question or not so obvious question? How can a vitamin be approved as a medication? So my guess is leukovorin is that vitamin with something else that enabled them to be able to patent it as a medication. Is that correct?
Dr. Jared Skowron (11:20.629)
Um, no, it was just, it just so, it's just the vitamin. I mean, when, when you turn phalamic acid into leukovirin, really you're just going to add whatever is necessary to make it into a tablet or make it into a liquid. So the form of it is going to have inactive ingredients. Yeah. So honestly, it's exactly the same. And it's just because I mean, the laws 70 years ago are not the laws that they are now. And there's a few of these vitamin
Len Arcuri (11:23.19)
It's just a vitamin.
Len Arcuri (11:39.192)
before I'm into potency. I got it. I got it.
Dr. Jared Skowron (11:49.888)
pharmaceutical crossovers that exist, but not many. And what we're seeing here with the phalic acid, leucovore, same stuff or same active ingredient, but one you get from your doctor and the other one you just buy over the counter. And so this is where a lot of families are now. They hear of, they heard about leucovore. Okay. They know that it's the same active ingredient as the over the counter phalic acid.
we, you know, again, all of this use over the past 70 years in oncology, we've also confirmed over those 70 years how safe it is because it's been used for so long with so many people. We know it's safe stuff as a vitamin. Now fast forward like the past 10 years, this is when the research has started to come up where phalamic acid is being used in autism. And what we're seeing is just huge amounts of language. And that's, that's the major thing that, that we're
we're noticing and we're trying to get. Now, from a clinical perspective, you're gonna get two different outcomes. And again, you read the research and you're like, wow, you and I brought some research to read, which is amazing. It talks about the improvements in speech and stereotopies and hyperactivity and improvements in behavior scales and ADAS scores. So the research shows it, but when you bring it down clinically, you're gonna get one or two responses, okay? Response number one.
One of three responses Response number one is just amazing like you you start to use this stuff Whether you're using lukewarm whether using phalamic acid again the same thing one's a script one's over-the-counter You're gonna see Amazing changes in language like within weeks your kid is just gonna just dump it out Okay, and it's just it's mind-boggling and this is some of the some of the before and after
Len Arcuri (13:39.244)
Hey, hey, hey, Dr. Jared, there's a lot of interference coming from the mic that you might have. If you could just maybe put a little bit more distance.
Dr. Jared Skowron (13:44.409)
You know what? That's all right. Let's try now. think I had some of my research papers on covering up the microphone. So hopefully it's better now.
Len Arcuri (13:55.586)
That sounds better. So if you don't mind just rewind a little bit, whatever a natural point, if you can remember.
Dr. Jared Skowron (14:00.713)
Yeah, sure.
Dr. Jared Skowron (14:08.501)
So a lot of parents are aware now that they have seen that there is all this copious amount of science that we have. You know, the science says better language, science says better behaviors, the science says less stimming. So, you know, from a science perspective, it's there. We know this stuff works, okay? Clinically, you're gonna see one of three changes, all right? Number one, the language is just gonna dump out. Like all of a sudden, like you've never seen before, it's just...
your child within weeks, just more words, more words, more words. It's amazing. Okay. On the other end of that, some kids just don't respond. Okay. That this is not the thing their brain needs. You know what? I'm glad you tried, but nothing, just no change, nothing better, nothing worse. Okay. Well, you tried it. And those kids I find are not the kids who had a regression, but the kids who were more slow developing from birth.
And these are kids, which I don't want to get into now just because of timing, but these are kids that are more born with genetic abnormalities that are causing their brain development versus the kids who had a normal first 12 months of development like, like other kids, but then had this huge regression. Okay. So like the 12, 18 month timeframe regression, those are the kids where the flenic acid seems to fit better. So, but again, that's, you know, you never know until you try. So you're either going to have huge improvements. You're going to have
improvements or what I see is there's this group in the middle. This group in the middle has some mild improvements. We got a few more words and a little bit more engagement and that's awesome. But those are the kids that kind of need more adjunctive support. So this is where we get into kind of why phalamic acid leukovorin are working and what they're doing biologically. And as you mentioned in beginning of the podcast this has to do with folate metabolism.
which sounds medical and science and a little bit more than my brain wants to handle on a Monday morning, but it's about brain chemistry. Okay. It is about we are what we eat. And this still amazes me today, even after 20 plus years of being a doc that every part of our body, okay. Everything, our skin, our bones, our thoughts, our heartbeats come from the foods we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. And that's pretty amazing stuff. So,
Dr. Jared Skowron (16:30.491)
Even when we think about our emotions, okay, these are partially involved in brain chemicals, things like serotonin, which most people have heard of keeps us happy and calm and relaxed, or things like dopamine that get us focused and encouraged and motivated. So all of these brain chemicals are made from food. And the majority of these brain chemicals come from folinic acid. They come from this form of folate and folic acid. That's a really important ingredient in making all these things. The other thing that
we use to make these brain chemicals besides phalamic acid are amino acids. So amino acids are things like tryptophan or 5-HTP or tyrosine that conjunctively work with phalamic acid and create all these brain chemicals. it's these brain chemicals that really help with the language development. They really help with the behavior. They really help with your mood. They really help with your sleep. So not only is this how Leucovorin
of phalonic acid are working, but it also shows us what else we can do in addition for those kids who are just mild responders. We're gonna be adding, you know, supplements of 5-HTP. We're gonna be adding supplements of tyrosine. Those are just the other nutrients that the brain needs with phalonic acid to create all this brain chemistry. And then we get the language and it just pours out, which is, it's incredible.
Len Arcuri (17:53.114)
And with that whole road that you just described, I'm assuming that you as a parent would be well-served by running some labs, seeing what levels are there that might give you some evidence to say to more confidently move down this road. Or are you saying, hey, you can always add these types of supplements, add flenic acid and see what happens, right? again, there's probably no real downside to just trying something, but otherwise,
Are there labs that you would recommend a parent have to just get a clearer picture that this is a road worth exploring?
Dr. Jared Skowron (18:29.065)
That's a great question. So let me give you the short answer. The short answer is try it. Just try it. There's no downsides. There are side effects. There are mild side effects, which the research reports happen in about 10 % of kids. And those side effects are all temporary behavioral changes. They're hyperactivity. You might have a bad night's sleep because flenic acid can be a stimulant. So if it's too much for the child or the dose is too high,
you're going to get these hyperactivity kind of side effects. These are the same side effects you'd get with leukovorone. Okay. Because again, flenic acid is leukovorone. These are the same side effects you get on B vitamins. So if you take your, give your kid B vitamins and they get hyperactive, we know why this happens. And these are, these are the mild behavioral side effects. If you stop it, you just stop the treatment. Those side effects will go back to where you, where you were before. Okay. So they'll just disappear in your child to be baseline right where you were. So,
A lot of my patients talk to me and say, I'm really interested in the leukocorporate. I'm really interested in the flenic acid. How can I test to know if my child needs it? Okay. Now here's the long answer. There is only one test that confirms that your child needs flenic acid. There's only one, and that is a spinal tap. Okay. You stick a needle, you know, in your spine, in your spinal canal, and you're going to sample what's in the brain. Okay. Because
What's in the brain is totally different than what's in our bloodstream. So, you know, you go to, you go to the lab and you draw your blood. That's not what's going on in the brain. So we are not going to be ordering spinal taps on kids. It is too invasive. The risk is too high. So, but that is the only way to know what's in the brain period. All right. So since that kind of testing is just too prohibitive, the answer is to just try it. Now there are other tests out there, but those other tests are not comprehensive.
And my concern with those tests is if you order those tests, and we'll talk about it in a second, if you order those tests and the test says, Hey, you need phalamic acid, then you'll go get it. You'll get, you know, you'll go get some phalamic acid over the counter. You'll get a prescription to leukovorin. Either way, the test says you should try it. So you try it. My concern is if the test says normal, then you won't try it because there are multiple reasons that the brain needs phalamic acid and no one test that analyzes all of them.
Dr. Jared Skowron (20:55.485)
And so one test might look normal, but another test would be abnormal saying you need it or another test or whatever. So my major concern is that you get a test that says normal and then you don't do the treatment, which could have helped. So those tests are you can measure your folate levels in your blood, just draw your blood and measure folate levels. Those levels are going to be high. If your brain needs, phalamic acid, those folate levels are going to be high because it's not getting into the brain. So it's just sitting around the bloodstream doing nothing. Okay.
Len Arcuri (21:23.234)
Okay.
Dr. Jared Skowron (21:24.703)
So a lot of people will get that. A lot of doctors will see that and like, your folate's fine. You don't need any Leucovore and I'm so sorry. Bye bye. So that's that. The other two tests are common. One is an MTHFR polymorphism test. Very common. You know, past 10, 15 years MTHFR gets a lot of press. And yes, if you are one of the 50 % of the world that has an MTHFR polymorphism, you may benefit from flenic acid. Right? So that's great.
But if your MTHFR is normal, you still could need it. So there's another test out there that's popular in the autism world called the frat test. So the frat test looks at our body's immune system attacking and destroying the way that phylinic acid gets from the bloodstream into the brain. So if our immune system's destroying that tunnel, that pathway, if you will, then our brain won't get it, okay?
Len Arcuri (22:03.715)
Yep.
Dr. Jared Skowron (22:22.291)
So again, you may come down and get that frat test and it's abnormal and say, okay, now I need some phylinic, now I need some leukovorin. But if that frat test is normal, my concern is, I'm not gonna give any. I'm not gonna give any phylinic acid. But what if your MTHFR was abnormal? Then you'd need it, even if your frat was abnormal or vice versa. Or there's so many reasons that, yes, these tests are available. And if these tests say you should take phylinic acid, then you should. But if they're normal,
It's just not, the tests are not comprehensive enough. I don't worry about throwing away the baby with a.
Len Arcuri (22:56.94)
Yeah. So, so what you're basically saying is those tests are out there. They could be very useful, but there's also the risk that they could be giving a false negative that then precludes you from maybe going down this road. And generally speaking, you want to avoid just trying something and seeing how it, how it helps. But this may be one of those exceptions where there's no real downside, again, in terms of like what you might see in terms of, side effects.
are pretty well known in minor and if you stop, then they go away. It's kind of like if a parent's trying to figure out, hey, should I go gluten-free? Let's just say as an example. And assuming your child doesn't have a true allergy, you can go gluten-free and see what happens and notice the impact on behaviors with relatively very minimal downside. Or you can pay for expensive tests that will help confirm and that might be worth the investment. But from your experience in this area, it is something where
If you feel, you have a parent has a sense that this might be useful for their child, they could move forward, you know, and just kind of go cautiously and see how things may shift. And when I say go cautiously, that brings me to another thing I know you're going to touch on, which is the, the lukewarm and this opportunity, the dosage is really important. And, you know, especially with Dr. Fry and his, the research he's done.
the levels that are needed are much higher than what most people may think. So if you do go down the road and only give a very small amount, it may not do anything, but that doesn't mean it's not going to be helpful. It just means you didn't get the dosage correct.
Dr. Jared Skowron (24:38.165)
Correct. Correct. So let me, let me walk through the dosing. and, yeah. And also touching back on what do we test for? What do we not test for? We don't test ourselves before we take a multivitamin. Okay. I'm not going to look at all the 20 different nutrients or whatever before I take a multi or a fish oil supplement. I'm not testing my fish oil levels before I go buy a fish oil product. So yeah, vitamins are safe. They're, they're vitamins. They're FDA regulated to be
that category because they are that safe. So yeah, this isn't a place where I think testing is necessary. This is a place where helping your child is necessary. So let's talk about that dosing. Now, most of the time we look at folinic acid dosing and you look at a regular multivitamin and a regular multivitamin is going to have about one half of a milligram of folate. Okay.
research that Dr. Fry has done and other scientists is working up to a dose of 50, five zero. Okay, so instead of taking a half a milligram, which is in a typical multi, you're going up to 50 milligrams. That's like a hundred times the dose. Now, what dose is best for your child? Okay, this is where this is where trial and error comes in. And this is medicine. Medicine is Goldilocks. All right, not too little, not too much, but just right.
And this is what I walk my patients through is let's start on a low dose and let's slowly increase till we find the dose that seems to help your child with language without the side effects. And that's where the too little too much comes in. We don't want too much. We want the hyperactivity side effects, but I don't want too little. So I'm not getting my language. So what's that sweet spot for your child? And this is where trial and error comes in. And this is
This is, this was one of my concerns about leucovore in the pharmaceutical, is why I started producing phylinic acid, the supplement. Now, phylinic, again, leucovore and phylinic acid are the same thing. but you can get phylinic acid over the counter. You know, you can go to Amazon, you can go to a drug store and you can buy it. But again, the doses are nowhere near what Dr. Fry is doing in his research. Okay. So again, his doses are topping out at 50, five zero milligrams.
Len Arcuri (26:40.664)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Jared Skowron (26:58.665)
you go over the counter, maybe you'll get one milligram. Okay. So you're not going to use a whole bottle. You're not going to buy a bottle that has 50 servings and just take that every day. It's just too much, That's just too much, too much money. So what I was trying to create for my patients was an alternative. Okay. Cause leukovorin is, is available and you know, you can get like seven and a half milligrams, 15 milligrams, 30 milligrams, 50 milligrams, pretty high dosing. But
some kids just need a little bit. They might just need two or three or four or five milligrams. So what I wanted to create was something where you can really titrate and experiment with different doses with your child, where leukovorin isn't going to give you that space or ability to trial different doses with your kid. What we have is a powder dust. this is really why I created our phalic acid supplement because A,
you can titrate and change doses to whatever you want, all right? And it's easy and it's a powder and it tastes sweet, so it's easy to get into our kids. We make it gluten-free, we make it dairy-free, which is one of my concerns of leukovorin. Different forms can have gluten, different forms can have dairy, and you don't know. And it's also available, the other great thing about this is I want it to make it available for everyone. So it's over the counter, okay?
Len Arcuri (28:12.398)
Thanks.
Dr. Jared Skowron (28:21.427)
And this is where the confusion comes. People are like, I want Leukovorin. And if you want Leukovorin, great. Okay. Because, Hey, maybe you can find a doctor to prescribe it. Maybe your insurance will pay for it. And if those things happen, awesome. Great. Try it. Use it. Okay. But there's a lot of people out there where they don't have a doc who will prescribe Leukovorin or their insurance doesn't cover. So I wanted to make sure we were creating an alternative for those families out there who want to try this stuff.
but don't have the inroads either. They don't have the inroads cause they don't have somebody prescribe it. They don't have the inroads cause they don't have the insurance that'll pay for it. So here is the same stuff that is, is easily changeable to dosing and to your experimentation, but it's available to everyone. And so this, this is why we've made this and it's, it's been amazing. I mean, it's, it's been amazing for thousands of families, which I love. I love the videos people send me the before and after stuff. It's
It's so awesome.
Len Arcuri (29:21.634)
That's great. Well, I think the idea of being able to take control and to titrate up that that's pretty powerful. And it sounds like this is, you know, it is a vitamin. so the delivery mechanism doesn't really matter as long as it's getting in. clearly you want to make sure it's not commingled with stuff that's not helpful, which is why, you know, if like you're saying, some of the Luca Voron on the market, if it has other ingredients in there that might be something that you're trying to avoid, that's definitely something to be mindful of.
Dr. Jared Skowron (29:50.464)
Yeah, no, it's important because a lot of times whatever you're getting, whether it's pharmaceuticals or certain foods, you don't know everything that's in there, and you assume. But yeah, if something isn't in its natural form, which is why I love making stuff as powders, if I don't have to turn a powder into a liquid or a gummy or a tablet, I'm not adding anything else, it's pure. And so that's the concern with the formulation of anything like that, whether it's pharmaceuticals, whether it's...
Len Arcuri (30:14.796)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Jared Skowron (30:20.327)
over-the-counter supplements. you're making tablets or liquids or gummies, there's other stuff. You you make a powder, it's clean. It is what it is.
Len Arcuri (30:29.176)
Great. All right. Well, so as in the parents are going down this road and they're trying the powder and I know you touched on a little bit before, but can you just give high level, what are some of the realistic things that a parent should look out for on a positive side? Like what have you seen from testimonials from other, and then what are some of the side effects that a parent may see? It'd be useful for them to go in knowing, hey, here's what this might look like. Cause as we always talk about progress for your child's never
always a straight line up. There's a lot of up and down. just going in more eyes wide open is important.
Dr. Jared Skowron (31:01.895)
It's a roller coaster. Yeah, it sure is a roller coaster. So here's, here's what I want you to do. Number one, start taking videos. Okay. Get your phone out and every week take like a 32nd video. All right. And if it's always in the same place, same time, it's going to help. This is a nice objective way for you to monitor these things. Okay. Cause I'm going to forget if you tell me, Hey, what happened March 3rd this year? No clue what happened March 3rd this year. Right? So
Start taking those videos just 30 seconds once a week. What I want you to look for is language, more words, bigger sentence structure. And that's number one. Number two is what I call engagement. And I don't think there's a good word in English for this, but it's the understanding that the person you're talking to or you're relating with is involved in your conversation, understands your conversation, and they're right there with you.
You know when people are distracted, you know when people are off thinking about something else. So that look for that with your child, look for that connection to improve. Yeah. Tuned in, tuned in is another great word for it. You know, there are, there can be improvements based on the research in the stimming, in the stereotopies and different type of hyperactivity type of things. But my patients mostly talk about the language in this, this in tune this. So,
Len Arcuri (32:08.526)
being tuned in, right?
Dr. Jared Skowron (32:27.669)
Again, the side effects, pretty minimal. You're looking at hyperactivity. You're looking at sleep problems because phalamic acid is, leukoborin is a stimulant. So if you've had issues with B vitamins before, very classic kind of just hyperbehaviors. That's really what you're looking at. And you stop it and again, it clears out next day.
Len Arcuri (32:48.622)
Great. That's very helpful. Would you mind just diving a little bit deeper in terms of answering the question, how does, right now, valenic acid, how does that, and adding that to what your child's taking, how does that mechanistically translate to better speech, improvements, can you talk a little bit about more, why is that connection happening?
Dr. Jared Skowron (33:15.719)
Yeah. And the primary part of that is the biological functioning of phylinic acid. And again, what it has to do is it's one of the important nutritional pieces for brain chemistry development. So that phylinic acid is going to combine with the proteins in your diet. They all glue together and they get in the brain and the brain glues them together and it makes serotonin. It glues them together and makes dopamine. Those chemicals change electrical activity in the brain. That's their job.
Okay. So all of a sudden they're changing electrical activity in different parts of the brain. And I don't know how it happens after that, but you stimulate a part of the brain with electricity and it starts to develop. So we need serotonin. Okay. We need serotonin for language development. So we get serotonin into that language center of the brain and I'm touching the side of my head because that's where it happens. So you get the serotonin in there and it happens and you get the dopamine in there and it helps with the stimming and the stereotopies and the
the mental focus and awareness, okay? Because again, it changes electrical activity in the frontal lobe. So that's kind of biologically how we're doing these things and how our food changes how we feel.
Len Arcuri (34:26.38)
Mm-hmm. Yep. And you've talked about it a few times, the importance of food, which again, we can have all kinds of conversations on a variety of interventions, but getting diet right in terms of having the essential building blocks for all kinds of functions, including speech, is critically important, which is why there's no one magic diet, but the concept of eating more nourishing foods with less poisons on them.
And again, and giving your child the building blocks to function in a variety of ways. You can't underestimate how important that is. And for every parent and family, that may look different, but wherever you are a parent in terms of food, is there an opportunity to upgrade in some way so that you're really kind of, again, going an extra mile and ensuring that your child has those right building blocks without creating even more stress because you're trying to do a super complicated, hard, special diet.
Sometimes it's easy for parents to get overwhelmed in food decisions. from my standpoint, about go from where you are to better take those steps. again, if you have more of a knowledge about what your child's needs are, then it makes it easier to figure out what food moves to make. But yeah, food keeps coming up for a reason.
Dr. Jared Skowron (35:46.429)
Exactly, that's what we're made of, so for sure.
Len Arcuri (35:49.742)
All right, fantastic. Anything else in terms of this topic? I know you give a lot of Facebook lives, you talk about this a lot. Is there any other big question that parents have around this topic that you want to share now? Is there something else that would be useful for parents to know?
Dr. Jared Skowron (36:05.203)
Yeah, I would say, I would say the other, I would say two things. Number one, if you haven't tried it yet, try it. Okay. Whether you get a prescription of leukoborin from your doc or whether you get phalamic acid over the counter, try it. Okay. Because the improvements could be amazing. The other big question parents have is dose. We're like, well, what, how much do I take? What dose is this? The science says I got to go like these, these big doses. What is my dose? So,
I've created an e-book that's on our website and the e-book is totally free. So you just get the e-book and you add it to your cart and you check out and it's free and you get it in your email and you download it. But it walks you through the dosing instructions. So dose is based on weight and or your max dose is based on your weight. And so I kind of walk through in the e-book you know start low slowly increase watch for those behavioral side effects. So we want to back down and then you know where do you hit your max dose.
And so you're going to be trying and changing and watching and analyzing to get the best result out of your kid. So it's make sure if you do try this stuff, get our free ebook on our website when you get the philineak and that'll really walk you through stuff.
Len Arcuri (37:17.23)
All right, great. I'll include in the show notes the links. SpectrumAwakening.com slash APS. You can go there, check out that ebook. And again, for you to start with that dosing, the key is to titrate up to find that right, like you were saying, Goldilocks zone. The thing you don't want to do is just start very low and stay there because again, the dosage does really matter, especially per the science. And if you have any questions, you can definitely come by and see Dr. Jared at
at the conference coming up. It's actually, this episode's gonna air that week. But again, anybody has any questions, go to Dr. Jared's site, check out his Facebook Lives, that happen weekly, always extremely useful. And I really appreciate you taking time this week, Dr. Jared, to share your knowledge on this very hot button topic right now.
Dr. Jared Skowron (37:51.637)
Thanks.
Dr. Jared Skowron (38:08.597)
Thanks, Len. I appreciate it. It is hot and I hope everybody takes advantage of this and tries it while everybody's talking about
Len Arcuri (38:17.186)
Fantastic.
Dr. Jared Skowron (38:18.166)
So all right, well, thank you again for having me online. I appreciate it. All right, bye.
Len Arcuri (38:21.164)
You bet. Thank you, Dr. Jerk.
