Soft Signs Evaluation

Hi Moms and Dads,

Before you make any changes, complete the soft sign evaluation before starting the program and again in 30 days to assess for soft signs. The assessment is printable, or you can mark it up right inside. Just be sure to save your work and keep it in a safe place until you take it again in 30 days.

Download the Soft Signs Assessment (PDF)

I also encourage you to take "before" photos of your child's symptoms before making any changes or starting the program. The "after" is a big treat when compared side by side, 30 days and six months after the program begins.

In the evaluation, you will rate each of the following symptoms based on your child's health for the past 30 days.

Point Scale

0 = Never
1 = Rarely, effect not severe
2 = Occasionally, effect not severe
3 = Occasionally, effect severe
4 = Frequently, effect not severe
5 = Frequently, effect severe

The higher the score, the greater the impact on the child.

0-15: Fair
16-25: Moderate
26-50: Major
Over 50: Severe

Does Your Child Have a Chronic Illness?

Could the symptoms of eczema, rashes, food allergies, seasonal allergies, environmental allergies, wheezing, or asthma actually be categorized as a chronic illness? Do any of these definitions of chronic childhood illness sound familiar?

A chronic illness or medical condition is a health problem that lasts three months or more, affects a child's normal activities, and requires frequent hospitalizations, home health care, and/or extensive medical care.
A chronic health condition in a child or adolescent is any physical, emotional, or mental condition that prevented him or her from attending school regularly, doing regular school work, or doing usual childhood activities, or that required frequent attention or treatment from a doctor or other health professional, regular use of any medication, or use of special equipment.
In general, chronic illnesses are characterized by at least three important features: they are prolonged in their duration, they do not resolve spontaneously, and they are rarely cured completely.

Although numbers vary depending on the methods and definitions used, the scope of the problem is enormous by any estimate. Epidemiological studies suggest that as many as 1 out of 4 children in the U.S., or 15 to 18 million children age 17 years and younger, suffer from a chronic health problem.

If your child exhibits any of the soft signs persistently, they may have underlying medical dysfunctions commonly seen in the new childhood epidemics. Occasional symptoms are perfectly normal, and healthy children may exhibit some of them. This is not a concern. All children exhibit occasional temper tantrums, toy hoarding, constipation, hyperactivity, and other of the aforementioned symptoms. However, it is not normal for children to exhibit these symptoms chronically or with particular intensity and severity, despite conventional treatment approaches (e.g., diet and behavioral modifications). These symptoms stem from underlying medical problems that most physicians typically do not recognize.

Although some of these symptoms may be strongly correlated with one particular underlying medical problem (e.g., red cheeks after eating is often associated with food allergies), many of these symptoms are "red flags" that there are multiple complex underlying biological disorders, such as:

Gut dysbiosis
Immune dysregulation
Mitochondrial dysfunction
Autoimmunity
Malabsorption

In other words, a child who experiences chronic constipation may have a food allergy, but may also be experiencing gut dysbiosis and mitochondrial dysfunction.

In another example, a child who experiences chronic constipation may have: