The Pediatrician Next Door - Simple Advice on Parenting and Family Health
Aug 19, 2026 · 28 min · 9 segments
Have you ever wondered if that trendy treatment everyone is talking about is legitimate? From leucovorin for autism and antihistamines for ADHD to magnesium, melatonin, red light therapy, and…
Wendy HunterHost
A few weeks ago, I heard through my underground pediatric network about a parent who didn't want to take her child to speech therapy, and instead she wanted to try Leucovorin because she heard it could improve speech.
I mean, how far has this misinformation gone? Leucovorin is not something you buy at a health food store.
Doctors use it to reduce the side effects of certain chemotherapy drugs to treat some kinds of folate deficiency and sometimes to make another chemotherapy drug called 5-fluorouracil work better against cancer.
So how did a medication that's used in cancer treatment end up in a conversation about speech delays? I dug around and I found the answer.
To understand why researchers became interested in leucovorin, first, we need to talk about autism because this is where it started.
One of the biggest misconceptions about autism is that it's one disease, and it's not.
We recognize the symptoms, runny nose, cough, sore throat, but there isn't one cold virus.
Rhinovirus, coronavirus, I mean, not that one, not COVID-19, adenovirus, RSV, lots of others.
Now, imagine a child comes in with a runny nose and cough, but instead of a virus, they actually have whooping cough or pertussis.
A few weeks ago, I heard through my underground pediatric network about a parent who didn't want to take her child to speech therapy, and instead she wanted to try Leucovorin because she heard it could improve speech.
I mean, how far has this misinformation gone? Leucovorin is not something you buy at a health food store.
Doctors use it to reduce the side effects of certain chemotherapy drugs to treat some kinds of folate deficiency and sometimes to make another chemotherapy drug called 5-fluorouracil work better against cancer.
So how did a medication that's used in cancer treatment end up in a conversation about speech delays? I dug around and I found the answer.
To understand why researchers became interested in leucovorin, first, we need to talk about autism because this is where it started.
One of the biggest misconceptions about autism is that it's one disease, and it's not.
We recognize the symptoms, runny nose, cough, sore throat, but there isn't one cold virus.
Rhinovirus, coronavirus, I mean, not that one, not COVID-19, adenovirus, RSV, lots of others.
Now, imagine a child comes in with a runny nose and cough, but instead of a virus, they actually have whooping cough or pertussis.
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