Our daughter Sanjana was diagnosed with a rare chromosome disorder at five. At around two and half years she took her first steps, and her first words were only after she turned 5. Despite intensive Speech/ OT/ PT, her milestones came painfully slow.

In the following years, she went through inclusive schools; and by the time she was fifteen started attending a pre-vocational skills center. Her pace of progress was painfully slow, but steady, nevertheless.

She was still not reading or writing without substantial help. The snail-paced progress and constant repetition were tiring us both out. It also affected us emotionally, not just physically.

When she was around seventeen, a compassionate fellow mom shared with us about her experience with NACD. We promptly went online to read details and case studies, and with a lot of hope in our hearts, contacted the NACD team.

After the first evaluation, we realized we were working truly hard to teach her, and she was working very hard to learn—but her brain was not ready for any learning! Her processing was at an extremely low level, and it was as if we were simply barking up the wrong tree.

Then came the program. At that point, I was also running a full-fledged design studio and had my hands full. I kept thinking about how I was going to implement this with our already overflowing schedules. But hope is powerful. It makes you stretch and do things you may not think you could do otherwise. We started the program, and just then covid hit India. Suddenly I was at home all day, her Center went online, and I could see her learning and her struggles, and we could manage our time better.

After regular rhythmic work daily, we saw growth pace had picked up. We saw that the otherwise snail-paced progress changed to seeing significant change every 4 months. Her processing level went up substantially and so did her learning! Improving her processing and acing the math facts gave her a much-needed base to proceed further. The reading, which was an activity she would dread and despise because of her intense struggle to perform the activity, changed to her enjoying the process. She still needs help to read, but it is with less struggle, more willingness and joy.

I now realize the value of a home program and chose to sell my design studio to be more available for Sanjana. While she is progressing well on the academic path, what helped us most is NACD’s focus on chores, independence, and skills. She’s independently doing many chores at home, picking up most skills needed for independent living.

We honed her love for arts and crafts into being a soap artist. She makes lovely natural artisanal soaps which we help her sell through her website www.thebluelephant.in. She’s independent in making soap, inventory logging, and many other tasks around it.

However, her biggest love is coffee and food. She is now a trained barista who makes amazing coffees and is currently pursuing a baking course. Her coffees are popular in the neighborhood, and they often drop in or order her coffee on weekends. Her signature is Orange Coffee!

We are constantly looking for creative ways to build skills in the most normative ways possible. Towards this, Lyn, our coach, gave us a fabulous idea to implement a home economy system where we transact at home to buy food and coffee, etc. This is slowly building her confidence and literacy around money.

In recent times, everyone who meets Sanjana can’t help but notice the change in her confidence, communication, comprehension, and independence.

As parents, what boosts our morale the most is the increased pace of progress and her ability to manage emotional outbursts. There was a time when meltdowns were frequent and would turn violent along with crying and screaming. Now not only have they dramatically reduced in number, but they are also more manageable. She can communicate even through those difficult moments and self-regulate to an extent. It is such a huge relief that they are no longer moments of insanity.

Lyn, our coach, and the team have just been phenomenal. Her advice and motivation keep us going on the right path. We are blessed to have them in our lives. Blessed to have found this wonderful program—NACD. And blessed to be able to hold this wonderful dream for Sanjana’s future of her living an independent, dignified life.

            • Reprinted by permission NACD Newsletter, July 2023 ©NACD

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This month’s brag is dedicated to a family that I am so very proud of. When first coming to NACD, this young lad had quite a few challenges and because of those challenges, the family was having a pretty rough time. Putting the pieces together for Noah took a lot of work and dedication from his family and especially Mom. We have worked together through many rough spots including debilitating sensory addictions and obsessions, processing deficits, staying “present”, changes in school situations, and behavioral challenges. As time has progressed, program has evolved, and Noah has developed more and more of his true potential. His last evaluation was like getting to “exhale” a bit as Mom and I talked about all of the positive areas of his life. Noah is happy, more focused, accelerated in both his processing skills and academics, and on the road to becoming more and more of the wonderful young man his parents knew he could become. Rather than me going on with more details, I am letting the Mama that has worked so hard with her son fill you in on Noah’s journey with NACD.

Noah

By Emeigh Carper

When Noah was two years old, he was not very verbal. He used sign language to communicate his needs and wants but spoke very little. We simply thought it was a speech delay and received speech resources through our city’s Early Intervention Program. He regularly threw fits, but we just thought this was typical toddler behavior. However, once Noah turned three other issues started manifesting. He became obsessive-compulsive and would only play with the same toy over and over and would have a fit if anyone else played with it. His parallel play with other children and had little to no interaction with them or any desire to. He had triggers and if those occurred, his fits would last for hours, sometimes all day. He was minimally engaged in his environment and only seemed interested in TV. Potty training was a real challenge and we saw little progress in this area. We began looking for resources to address his needs. We went through numerous therapists (speech, OT, PT, etc.), pediatricians, professions, and holistic doctors. We did blood tests, gastrointestinal exams, metals testing, tried different vitamins and minerals, attempted various diets, tried different school programs and read multiple books trying to find a way to help our precious boy. Most specialists were impatient and quick to label him after meeting with or assessing him for a brief time. Most wanted to diagnose him with autism and presented it in such a way that if they could diagnose him as autistic he could qualify for more resources. After doing extensive research we never had peace about this diagnosis. Noah just didn’t fit. We didn’t want him to be labeled. We did not want him to be limited and told what he was and was not capable of. Most evaluations didn’t capture what I saw day in and day out. Each physician and therapist presented themselves as the expert not listening to what we had to say as his parents. By the time Noah was five I was frustrated, overwhelmed, scared and at a complete loss on how to help our son. After a particularly hard morning with Noah I was at the grocery store and ran into a friend. I knew her story. Her son was autistic, and I knew she was like me, driven to help him. When I saw her, I broke down and started to cry. I was exhausted and hopeless, and I told her I was lost, I didn’t know how to help him. She recommended NACD. She told me how much they had helped her and her son and recommended I look into it. I started researching it that day. I listened to the six-hour seminar and applied. I went through the interview process and we finally got our first appointment set up. We drove to Dallas to meet with Lyn. She took Noah into her office and evaluated him for about 30 to 45 minutes. After the evaluation Lyn met with us. She explained what she observed and even predicted what we were seeing at home, and she was correct! She explained the reasons Noah was demonstrating certain behaviors. She explained NACD believes the parent is the expert on their child and that NACD helps the parent help their child. She reinforced what the seminar said; they do not label and that NACD believes EVERY child has innate potential and NACDs goal was to partner with us to help Noah reach that potential. She explained every child is unique and no two children have the same program. It is specifically tailored to each child. How refreshing! Finally, someone who sees Noah for who he really is! Noah was in kindergarten by this time, so we did program early in the morning before he went to school. I had a three-year-old and a new baby at home, so I wasn’t confident I could homeschool. I finally arranged with the school to allow Noah to arrive later in the morning, so we had more time to complete program. By first grade it was apparent Noah was not thriving in the school setting. Since Noah’s main struggle was engagement, Lyn explained if we did program for two hours each morning but then he spent the rest of the day checked out, being unengaged would become easier and easier for him. We unenrolled him and began homeschooling. Our goal was to keep him 100% engaged to the best of our ability. That became a constant focus for us and still is. It is a challenge, having two younger kids, but we never lose sight of that goal.

From day one this journey hasn’t been easy! Each day brings new and different challenges. Noah’s program must be a constant priority for our family for it to get done and sometimes other things get put on hold, but it is worth it. Noah is almost ten and is thriving. God has truly blessed our efforts and persistence. Noah is more engaged, very high functioning, relates to his family and friends better, enjoys going to specials (i.e. PE, music, art,) at school with his friends, is independent and does numerous chores, makes himself meals, is responsible for his personal hygiene, is involved in Martial Arts and he is learning how to play piano. He is compassionate, sensitive, kind, smart, energetic, loves to laugh, loves the Lord, and is fun to be around. We still have a long way to go but we are confident we are on the right path. Lyn and Jennifer are always there when needed and I am so thankful for each of them. They are present to help us adjust when new concerns arise with Noah, but they are also available when I am struggling to keep going. When it just seems too hard, I reach out to them and they are there to encourage me and give guidance. A couple years ago we moved to open a family business. We moved further from Lyn. We now fly to see her vs drive, but we had to keep her. She understands us! She understands Noah and sees all the good in him. She understands me and our family dynamic. I truly have no words for my gratitude for NACD, Lyn and Jennifer, and to the Lord for His provision.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 31 No. 11, 2018 ©NACD

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Are you tired hearing us talk about tympanograms yet? We’re not tired of talking about them or recommending that you get them yet. Obviously we’re not afraid to admit that we’re pretty opinionated on the subject of how significantly middle ear fluid can affect a child’s development.

For years there has been conflicting information by researchers regarding a correlation between speech and language delays/disorders and history of middle ear fluid. Studies that support each side are criticized by the other side for having design flaws, and nobody can seem to decide if having transient hearing loss (sometimes very frequently or else ongoing) and hearing a distorted speech signal affects how a child develops communication skills and phonology (speech sound development). A little common sense and some consideration of anecdotal data go a long way here. Because we’ve been at this business of observing and assessing lots and lots of kids for a very long time, we have some opinions on the subject. And because of these opinions, we frequently recommend to parents that they take their child for a series of tympanograms to see what the trend is over time with the status of their middle ears.

In the following article, pediatric audiologist Jessica Messersmith comes to the same conclusion when her own daughter regresses in language development during a period of ear infections. (It’s a short article and worth reading.)
http://leader.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2432364&resultClick=3

As she mentions in the article, the American Academy of Pediatrics supports the recommendation of ear tubes if fluid persists for three months. To really be proactive and collect strong data, tympanograms every two weeks over a three-month period is your best course of action.

That being said, as objective as tympanograms appear to be, here are a few points of caution:

• The established “normal” range may not apply to everyone equally. Our own observations in children with Down syndrome (one of the populations for whom this whole subject is especially critical) has been that many children have a tymp reading with compliance scores at the lowest end of the established (for the typical population) “normal” range. Because of history and functional observations, there has been a high suspicion of fluid in many of these cases. Some have had fluid confirmed when they had tubes placed and fluid was found (in spite of the tymp measurement). It raises the question of whether different norms might apply in this population. Or, as will be discussed below, whether kids with Down syndrome simply need to be tested differently due to their structural differences.
• In their chapter on tympanometry in Handbook of Clinical Audiology, Shanks and Shohet suggest that what is “normal” may vary by age and also by race. So again, as above, the current normative standards may not be valid for every individual.
• Some studies discussed that typical testing with the 226 Hz probe tone may not be an accurate assessment in the Down syndrome population. There was discussion of whether the 1000 Hz probe may yield more valid results.

That is all to say that even with something as seemingly simple and straightforward as a tympanogram, sometimes and for some kids, results need to be interpreted with caution. If all signs point to fluid issues and the tympanogram doesn’t support it, don’t just assume that your observations are wrong. Find a practitioner who will work with you and who is open to discussion and critical thinking and assessment.

References:

Messersmith, J.J. (2015). Eardrum Perfs and Language Spurts. The ASHA Leader, 20(9), 72.

Shanks, J. & Shohet, J. (2009). Tympanometry in Clinical Practice. In J. Katz, L. Medwetshy, R. Burkhard & L. Hood (Eds), Handbook of Clinical Audiology (6^th ed., pp. 157-188). Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 28 No. 2, 2015 ©NACD

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“Can you hear me now?” “What did I say?” “Are you listening to me?” “Please just say ——-.” “Say dog/ horse.” “Read my lips.” At NACD we have been working on all of the pieces of the puzzle that help your children learn and develop. All of the pieces are not necessarily easy to test, identify, or treat. Most of those working within the field don’t worry about identifying what is actually broken; they just give it a label. “Sorry, your child has a central auditory processing disorder.” “Your child is apraxic.” “Sorry, your child is MR.” “Have you considered sign language?” At NACD we do not find a label t use as an excuse; we look for the cause of the problem and treat it; and historically, if a treatment doesn’t exist, we create one.

Some of the most difficult areas we have to address are those pieces involving hearing, the condition of the middle ear, tonal processing, auditory sequential processing, speech, oral motor function, and language. The first critical piece in this developmental chain is hearing. One would think that at this point in time testing and understanding hearing would be a simple thing. Not only is it not simple, but it often can’t be done, or at least can’t be done well. (Our team at NACD is presently working on some exciting new ways to actually see what a child hears and processes as part of our new TSI –Targeted Sound Intervention)

Without being able to obtain reliable, accurate data, we sometimes have to rely on what Bob refers to as the “Black Box Protocol.” The Black Box Protocol basically says that if we cannot measure or definitively know what is going in, we can surmise what is going in by looking at what is coming out. In a great movie, “Never Cry Wolf,” a scientist is sent to the Yukon to determine if the wolves are responsible for a decrease in the caribou herds. The scientist, unable to actually see what the wolves eat, examines the wolves’ scat and learns that the wolves are actually eating mice. This is the Black Box Protocol–look at what is coming out, and you can get a reasonable idea of what is going in. To determine what your children are hearing or processing, we don’t need to examine their scat. But we do need to look at their ability to understand and produce language. In the case of receptive and expressive language, if we have a problem with what is coming out, we likely have a problem with what is going in. So, how do we improve what is going in? One thing we can do is to improve the quality of the sound/speech that the child hears, as well as to control the extraneous sound that distorts and masks what we are hoping our children are taking in.

If your child has listening and auditory processing difficulties, your evaluator may have recommended or will be recommending an FM system on your program. FM systems (or “auditory trainers”) have historically been used in school classrooms for students who have difficulty hearing in the presence of background noise. The teacher speaks into a microphone, and the student hears her voice through headphones, blocking out the distracting sounds of the classroom.

In many instances we have found FM systems to be useful at home as well, as they provide direct input to a child’s ears during program activities or in daily communication. This eliminates the competing sounds of the environment and provides more intensive, appropriate input to your child. For a child with processing or hearing difficulties, the direct input can make a significant positive difference, making processing easier and program more effective.

The biggest obstacle we have had in recommending FM units to our families has been cost. Because they are usually sold to schools, systems are quite expensive, generally around $2000. For this reason NACD has put together a variety of systems that are now available to you. The systems contain wired and wireless mics, as well as wired or wireless headphones, along with all the necessary mixers, cables and instructions. We have managed to find components that all provide excellent sound quality at really affordable prices. The pieces of the system are high quality and should last well with frequent use.

We are excited to be able to provide these FM units and are anxious to start seeing the results. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call me at the National Office 801-621-8606.

Please contact the main office or see below for further information or to order:

Click here to view all FM Units currently available at the NACD Store

NACD Newsletter, Volume 1 Issue 9, 2005 ©NACD

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Dear Bob,

I am becoming very concerned with my two-year-old son and his lack of language development, he only says a few words and recently just put his first two words together “top it”. Should I be concerned and what should I do?

Thanks,
K

Dear K,

I’m glad you asked this question; it is a question many parents should be asking. There is a wide range of function that falls within “normal” limits, so you don’t need to panic or go looking for a label. In general, however, we would like to see children functioning at the upper end of the spectrum. At age two, your son should be using between 100 and 250 words and use many couplets (two-word phrases), so with having only a few words and one “almost couplet,” it would be good to give things a push.

In evaluating children’s development, when we see a problem with what is coming out, (in your son’s case language) we look for a problem with what is going in. When it comes to language development the concerns are tonal processing (the ability to hear the various tones utilized in speech) and auditory sequential processing (the brain’s ability to link sounds together as in syllables and words). Later, as we become more concerned with how clear the speech is, we look at oral-motor ability, which involves the actual mechanics of producing the sounds vocally.

To start the process of identifying possible causes for a speech delay, take your son to an ear, nose and throat doctor (ENT) for an evaluation. An ENT specialist will check your son’s hearing, which will help identify any actual hearing loss. The hearing test itself will not be able to identify a tonal processing problem, however. At this time, voice analysis is the closest thing we have to a test that identifies tonal processing problems. However, we know that fluid accumulation in the middle ear is the most frequent reason for lack of tonal processing development. And, although the ENT doctor cannot test your son’s tonal processing directly, he can check for fluid in the middle ear with a quick, painless test called a tympanogram. Our Medical Director generally recommends you get a series of tympanograms over several weeks to establish a baseline and make sure the ears are clear and staying clear.

If your doctor finds fluid is accumulating in the middle ear, this is called otitis media. When there is a problem with language development, aggressive treatment of the otitis media is recommended to clear the ears of fluid so that your child’s tonal processing can develop normally. Parents need to be aware that otitis media can exist without any external signs or symptoms, so your child could have a chronic problem and never complain. Our experience has shown that one of the major causes of otitis media appears to be consumption of dairy products because they tend to produce mucus. In many children, otitis media can be reduced or eliminated completely by avoiding dairy products in the diet. If otitis media remains a problem, ear tubes can be placed to drain the fluid on a constant basis to prevent it from building up and interfering with auditory development.

If we suspect a tonal processing problem exists, we initiate a home-based sound therapy program to help correct the problem. Nothing is going to really help, however, unless the ears are kept clear of fluid.

The second area to investigate is auditory sequential processing. At age two, your son should be able to process two-step directions well. You should be able to say to him, “Touch your nose and tummy,” or, “Get your pig and horse,” or, “Stand up and clap your hands.” He should be able to follow directions like these without having been taught the sequence and without visual cues. Sequential processing should develop at the rate of a piece per year for the first seven to nine years, which means that a typical two-year-old can process two pieces of sequential information (i.e., follow a two-step direction), a three-year-old can process three pieces of information (follow a three-step direction), a four-year-old four pieces, and so on. Lack of auditory sequential processing ability leads to labels such as Developmentally Delayed, ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Learning Disabled. To learn more about sequential processing go to www.nacd.org and click on “Free Memory Test.” [This test is no longer available at this time, but you can visit mysimplysmarter.com and take the test with your Free Trial.] (While you’re at it, check the processing levels of everyone in your family by participating in the Simply Smarter Project. This Project is part of NACD’s international effort to increase critical processing abilities in children and adults all over the world.)

If your son has clear ears and good tonal processing, and if he sequences two pieces of information well, then make sure he needs to speak. Try not to respond to gestures and grunts but rather encourage him to say a word or short phrase for what he wants. If he doesn’t come up with his own words at first, model the word or phrase and let him repeat it. Listen and respond to his talking, and make sure older siblings are not speaking for him but take time to let him speak for himself.

Best of luck,
Bob Doman

Reprinted from the Journal of The NACD Foundation (formerly The National Academy for Child Development)

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 20 No. 3, 2007 ©NACD

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by Kurt and Penny Anderson

Our son, Chad, was born in June of 1988. It was very obvious by the time he was three that his motor skills development was delayed and he was having trouble communicating, which frustrated him as much, or more than us.

We noticed early on that he liked structure; changes and new situations were hard for Chad. Although he learned his alphabet and how to count to 100 at an early age, conversations were a constant struggle.

Once school started the lack of knowing social norms, communication, and aversion to change became even more problematic. A typical example happened about a month after starting kindergarten. Normally a kitchen worker would hand the kindergarteners a napkin and fork before the kids picked up their tray and food. One day the worker was called away and Chad would not go through the line because someone was supposed to hand him the napkin and fork. The workers behind the counter encouraged him to go ahead and pick them up himself, but to Chad that was not what was supposed to happen. He was almost in tears before the school custodian saw what was happening and gave Chad the napkin and fork. (Thank God for compassionate, understanding people.)

Things continued like this, Chad would tell teachers when they were not following the schedule. If recess was supposed to be outside, outside Chad would go even if the location was changed to be the gym. Chad’s reaction to kids pestering was loud and not very subtle. The elementary school principle and teachers worked well with us but we still made many trips to the principal’s office for problems.

During this time we searched for the answer to helping Chad adjust to life and to help him improve his motor skills and ability to understand the social implications of his actions. Memorizing facts was easy, understanding a story he read was impossible. The pain, frustration and helplessness we as parents felt for our child was constant and seemed unending.

The pediatrician didn’t have a clue and more or less ignored the problem. No one we talked to knew any more than we did. We eventually stumbled on to an article about Asperger’s Syndrome and the pieces started falling into place. Chad had a problem with the right and left side of his brain being able to communicate normally. About this time we visited the community mental health people who thought they could help but it was a disaster; they knew less than we did.

We spent time with Chad teaching him to alter his responses to situations. “Let the teacher solve the problem with the other students. The teacher is in charge she can change the schedule. When someone says hi to you say hi back. When you meet someone look at their face and shake their hand.” Listening to a story on tape while reading the book seemed to help Chad make sense of the story. Still we wondered, is this all we can do?

Then we read a book about another parent’s search for help called “Too Wise to be Mistaken, Too Good to be Unkind” by Cathy Steere. At the end she mentioned NACD as a resource she found to be very good. We learned that not only could we change how Chad reacted in each specific situation, but there were ways to actually help his brain to start functioning so as to eliminate many of the problems we were seeing. A solution at the source of the problem was what we were looking for and finally found.

We followed up with a visit to the NACD web site and then made an appointment. What we have learned and the changes in Chad since then have been an answer to prayer. It has not been easy, but it has been worthwhile. Being consistent day after day helping Chad with his physical and mental exercises is a lot of work and takes a commitment to stick with it.

Chad started on the NACD program in February of 2001. At times we would think we saw some changes at other times we wondered. As time passed however, we would look back six months and remember how things were and could see definite improvements. Academically Chad’s biggest improvement has been his reading comprehension. It started really improving between year one and two of being on the program. The second year of the program, Chad’s reading comprehension improved by one full grade level every four months. He went from being a couple of years behind to being caught up in one year. This has really helped him since he is now in high school and needs to pick up more than facts when he reads.

Another area that Chad has shown improvement in is his flexibility when schedules change. Now Chad does not mind the changes in schedules or plans too much more than you or I would. He can carry on a conversation and most encouraging he starts conversations with others outside of the family. School has been going well. Benchmark tests from school used to be scattered from high to very low depending on the subject. Now all the low scores have come up to grade level while the high scores have remained high.

Chad still has progress to make, but we are confident that he is well on his way to being able to make a good life for himself in the future. Thank you NACD for making your knowledge and techniques available to us!

NACD Newsletter, Volume 5 Issue 5, 2012 ©NACD

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My pregnancy was normal, c-section delivery was normal, and we took home a normal, beautiful, black haired eight and a half pound baby boy. Marcus progressed normally with physical milestones, but we didn’t get the language development. Also, food issues arose. I couldn’t get him to eat regular baby food. When we took him off the bottle, he refused to drink milk from a cup. Only water. Finally, he would eat some organic baby food. We began to have behavior issues. Our pediatrician referred us to a rehabilitation center in town for evaluation when he was eighteen months old. We even went to an ear, nose, and throat specialist for tubes in case it was his hearing. Marcus began attending a language development preschool at the rehabilitation center when he was twenty-three months old. My mother called it “obedience school” and in many ways it was. He needed it. We were on a waiting list for private speech, and we even started occupational therapy. Marcus was a handful, but thankfully he was a good sleeper. Also, I was fortunate to have a good day care situation and the support and help of my wonderful mother. She would pick up Marcus and take him to preschool and the sitter so I could continue to teach.

At three our doctor sent us to the Meyer Center in Houston for a developmental evaluation. The news we received was devastating. Marcus was diagnosed with a communication disorder with autistic qualities. The term pervasive developmental delay was presented to us. Worse case scenario we were told was when he was sixteen he would be mentally eight years old. We were told to continue what we were doing and come back in a year for a re-evaluation. When we returned home, the preschool teacher and speech teacher vehemently disagreed with the worse case scenario, and did not want us to give up hope. Marcus was saying a few words and had some splinter skills. But, he hated change of any kind, loud noises made him shake all over, foods were a real issue, he wouldn’t look at you, and when eating out he might end up on the floor under the table. Haircuts were a real trip, but luckily I found a very patient barber. Cutting his fingernails and toenails required my husband holding him down with me doing the cutting. If something upset him, he would go to the floor and want to repeatedly bang his head. Toilet training was a major issue. I begin to pray, “God, if only we can get him toilet trained, I won’t ask for anything else.” The last thing I would think of when I was drifting off to sleep was “I have an autistic son. What am I going to do? The future looks horrible for him, my husband, older son, and me.” The first thing I would think of when I woke up was the same thing. A weighted pall hung over our household. I can see why couples who have special needs children many times will divorce because it takes such an emotional toll on the whole family. Oddly enough, our older son, who was ten years older than Marcus, was in the gifted and talented program at school and was an excellent athlete. We were operating at opposite ends of the spectrum. I learned to not think so far ahead because it frightened me so. It was at this point that Donna, our speech therapist, began to talk to us about NACD. She had a young deaf client who worked with NACD. She gave me some information, and my husband and I began to read. We were so encouraged by what we read, I called and talked to Lyn and ordered the tapes and the referral forms. My husband and I would listen to the tapes on the way to work in the mornings. That seemed the best time to have a few minutes with no distractions. I filled out the forms and sent them to Utah, and waited for an evaluation appointment with Bob. Marcus, my husband, and I flew to Utah for our evaluation. We were given specific things to do for Marcus. It was so exciting to actually have specific things we could do to help our son. It was hard, and Marcus didn’t like some of the things we did, but we persisted. We did a video evaluation at three months, and then flew back at six months to Utah. Our plane was delayed out of Dallas, so we needed to kill some time and eat. A Friday’s restaurant was at the airport terminal, and it was noisy. My husband and I looked at each other and said, “Well, do we try Marcus with the loud noise?” We actually walked in, the hostess seated us, we ordered, we ate, we paid our bill, and we walked out WITHOUT an incident. That was the first time. We had been on Somonas Sound therapy at that point for a while as well as program for six months. I will never forget that defining moment. We were thrilled to learn that a NACD regional office would be open in Texas. Working with NACD was something we most definitely wanted to continue.

That has been almost eight years ago. We’ve climbed many mountains, and we still have mountains to climb. Marcus is in the fifth grade and is and has been in the regular classroom along with special education classes since kindergarten. We refused for him to be in an autistic classroom. I told the twelve people in the first ARD meeting on Marcus in kindergarten that Marcus had to live with us in the real world, and if I had to drag him kicking and screaming into it, he would become a part of it. We requested and got a personal aide for him with the understanding that the goal was eventual independence. We were blessed with a wonderful aide who was with him from kindergarten through fourth grade. She continues to do private tutoring with him each week. She loves him, and he dearly loves her. Our work with NACD has also provided us another evaluative source to use with the school district. With a special needs child, it is always good to have your own sources outside of the school. My husband and I feel without NACD we would definitely not be where we are today.

Well, you ask, where are we today? Marcus is in the fifth grade at a large intermediate school in our city. I was a nervous wreck about the change to intermediate school. I laid a lot of groundwork with getting things worked out, but he has done pretty well. At the beginning of the year I moved him out of resource reading and into the regular classroom, and at semester I moved him out of resource language into the regular classroom. Those two classes were the last special education classes he was in. He has a wonderfully supportive regular education teacher in those classes. He is allowed some modifications and Content Mastery support as needed. Communication with his teachers is paramount, and I do not hesitate to ask things or make requests of his teachers. However, they know that I will do anything to help him be successful in their classroom and to help them help him. It is a partnership. He has played on a soccer team since he was five. He plays baseball and has even pitched an inning and gave up no runs and struck out one. Marcus takes piano lessons, and he has even played two memorized pieces in the school talent show. He has no qualms about performing in front of a group. Golf is probably his best sport, and it is one he shares with his father, brother, and mother. He can chip! Marcus takes art lessons, and has experienced some modest success. He won third place in our community art show in grade five. If you ask him if he wants to take a trip, he is ready to roll. He loves to travel, and being so visual he just soaks things in. He has been to twenty-five states and to one foreign country. He plans to collect all fifty states on his travels. He is a joy to travel with these days, unlike the first trip to Florida he spent on the floor of the plane in front of our seats kicking and screaming until he fell asleep. He even was elected to the student council in fourth grade. He ran in the fifth and lost, but he handled it beautifully. He acolytes at church and does it like a pro. He has had two large, successful birthday parties at a bowling alley. Our biggest problems to date are still language issues, social issues, and voice volume. These are challenge, but we are working on it. Plus, all are so much better than they were. Marcus is still a work in progress, but then all kids are. He is happy, moving forward, and we continue to stretch him as much as possible. Math is his strongest subject, but he loves history too. His reading is moving along, too. I am a firm disciplinarian. I mean what I say and I say what I mean. Marcus knows that I will deliver on consequences as well as rewards. I am very consistent in the discipline area. This has been very important to his progress. He wants to please and do well.

We’ve been blessed with wonderful people to help us in our journey with Marcus. He is truly a “village” project. NACD gave us the hope and tools to work with our son. Marcus’s baseball coach, who happens to be a psychologist that teaches at a university nearby and does consulting and evaluations of autistic children with some area school districts, has told us that Marcus does better than 85% of any of the autistic kids he has ever seen. It has been a journey, but a journey that isn’t over yet. We still have many mountains to climb, but I don’t think they are quite as high as where we have been.

Reprinted from the Journal of The NACD Foundation (formerly The National Academy for Child Development)

For an update on Marcus please go to: https://www.nacd.org/autism-spectrum-marcus-ten-years-later/

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 17 No. 2, 2004 ©NACD

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By the time Stephanie reached 4 years old, the public school system evaluated her. She received the classification of “developmentally delayed in the areas of speech and language”. The next few years found Stephanie involved in speech therapy with no noticeable mark of improvement. Her gaze drifted into outer space and efforts to stimulate her into reality proved useless. The school’s area of involvement was also non-productive. Their solution was to keep her in special ed for several years until progress could be made.

After several years of frustration on the mother’s part, the move to another state across the country opened the doors to a golden opportunity for young Stephanie. She had heard about NACD from her older sister and decided to try them out as a last resort. By now it was the summer of 1996 and Stephanie who had just turned 8 yrs. old, could barely pass the academic skills required of kindergarten.

Bob Doman’s findings revealed a whole new world about child development. Stephanie’s years of speech therapy, for all practical purposes, was inadequate as it did not remediate the underlying cause of her learning problems. Yes, parents, this is where the magic begins, where you can begin to find hope at the end of the rainbow, because a man named Bob developed the mysterious sequential steps that Almighty God endowed the human brain with to enable all human beings to receive, process, store and utilize every bit of data that crosses our path on this journey, we call “life”.

The concept is simple for anyone to understand. To obtain maximum output-just make sure that all the inside wiring (or in-put) has been completed in proper order. Think of your brain as one huge mainframe computer. One mishap in programming it and the whole system is inefficient. Unless you go back and repair all the steps in order, your system will never function at its highest level. Hence, the developmental profile was created to enable Bob and evaluators like him to glance at the various steps or components that comprise one’s neurological growth. (See NACD’s journals for further reference)

Stephanie’s first evaluation showed that her processing skills or memory level operated on a 3 year old for listening skills and that of a 4 year old for visual skills. (Digit Spans of 3 to 4 for a child of 8). Her proprioception was incomplete. This made perfect sense since as a toddler she always bumped into things and got “lost in space”. Bob also noticed that at the pons level in mobility, Stephanie did not pass as she could not crawl correctly in a cross-pattern manner. Here we laughed a bit, as this was our baby who always scooted around the floor on her back with no specific direction in mind. At the upper cortical level of the brain, it was noted that Stephanie leaned towards using her left eye and left ear, which did not coordinate with her right hand and right foot. This “mixed dominance” as Bob called it, contributed to her inability to handle any academics for her appropriate grade level. Written data and verbal information were deposited on both sides of her brain. Every bit of info that entered Stephanie’s brain through her eyes & ears floundered once inside her head, which made it impossible for her to retain anything. Remember, this is a little girl, who at the age of 8 could neither read nor write. She barely could identify the alphabet. It was easy to notice that Stephanie was struggling with a sense of failure after repeating kindergarten and 1st grade twice.

Bob designed a program to fix Stephanie’s disorganized brain. His ultimate goal was to establish complete brain organization which would enable Stephanie to achieve her maximum potential. We went home with a ray of hope in our hearts. Her program consisted that first year of physical activity-crawling, walking, skipping and jogging in a cross-pattern manner and academic therapy. We worked with flash cards, reading, digit spans, math skills and educational tapes. She patched her eye and plugged her ear and did various games to draw out her dominate eye. The hardest part in all of this was the daily discipline it took to cover all the necessary requirements that would ensure Stephanie’s success. Progress that first year was slow. By the spring of 1997, Stephanie’s evaluation with Bob showed minimal improvement. It was exciting to know that her digit spans moved up to 5, yet she still could not reach the norm. Her reading skills scored around mid 1st grade level and her Math skills managed to make it to 2nd grade. In an effort to give Stephanie some sense of stability, we had enrolled her in a private school in order to be with other children. She was 8 and a half years old and still struggling to pass 1st grade. We felt stressed in trying to meet her emotional needs of going to school like other normal children, and frustrated with “time demands” to consistently cover all the daily therapies required on her program.

There is an old saying that the prayer of a humble heart pierces the heavens and mothers know intuitively that God hears the silent prayers offered on behalf of the children of this world. An unexpected assistance came to Stephanie with the arrival of her aunt from Texas. Having had prior experience with children on various programs, her presence proved to be the missing spark to ignite the daily implementation of the program into a roaring flame.

That fall, the decision was made to pull Stephanie out of school and to follow the daily activities on the program to the letter. Accountability was implemented as well as rewards for positive behavior and daily accomplishments. The first few months were tough on Stephanie as she dealt with bouts of sadness at not being smart enough to go to school with her other sisters. The further knowledge of being so far behind academically complicated the issue at times. All through this period, we reiterated the concept that hard work does pay off in the end and sooner or later, her desire to “just be like everyone else” would happen.

By Nov. of 1997, several months after her 9th birthday, we felt that real progress was being made. With the past several months of hard work, Stephanie had jumped from struggling to remember her alphabet to the end of 2nd grade reading, her math skills moved from 2nd grade to the beginning of 4th grade. Her digit spans jumped to 7’s which is considered average, even for an adult. The lights were finally turning on as the various brain cells lit up and began to function properly. Her dominance barely moved, so we went home with greater enthusiasm to complete all the therapies surrounding her eye-patching and ear-plugging.

By Christmas vacation that year, Stephanie’s outward behavior and ability to communicate in normal conversation for a child of her age, caught the attention of her relatives and friends. It was a great time to give thanks to God for her “reawakening to normal life”. To reward her hard work, we allowed her to return to school in Jan 1998. She managed to skip 2nd grade to the amazement of all (this was the child who did not complete 1st grade in June 1997) and remained at the top of her 3rd grade class for the remainder of the school year. Since her program concentrated more on therapies to complete dominance, we were able to maintain the daily demands of school, plus complete her program requirements in the evening. By her March evaluation, Stephanie jumped another year in reading and increased her Math skills by half a year, along with increasing her digit spans to 8. IIcr dominance was 90 percent on the right. The huge learning gap was closing fast and we worked harder than ever to complete her hemispheric dominance.

The summer of 1998 passed quickly and once again Stephanie increased another year in her reading and math levels. Her dominance was just about complete. School began as usual in the fall with Stephanie passing all the demands of 4th grade. Our long awaited miracle arrived shortly before Christmas. The December evaluation showed that Stephanie had finally reached her goal. She graduated from NACD with a small maintenance program to assist her in achieving even greater potential. To Almighty God we offer our sincere gratitude for guiding us to Bob Doman and NACD. May the Lord continue to bless their dedicated work on behalf of all the children of this world.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 13 No. 3, 2000 ©NACD

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When Travis was 2 years old, I began to suspect that something was wrong. He wasn’t talking except for a few words û maybe a phrase now and then. I took him to a speech pathologist in the public school system who evaluated him at being 1 year behind in his language development. She called it a “mild delay.” At that point, we began therapy. However, at the end of each session the therapist would describe Travis’ problem in extremely negative terms. As I watched my son’s eyes drop in disappointment with himself, I knew I could not continue to subject him to this criticism.

At 3 I took Travis to a private speech pathologist. He was evaluated and given the label of central auditory dysfunction. His auditory comprehension was measured at the 18 month level. I was horrified. Travis began therapy, but his aggressive behavior and hyperactivity made it difficult. Soon it became impossible for him to continue.

Travis was 4 when I had him tested by another school system. He scored in the normal range on most of his tests, therefore, he did not qualify for any preschool therapy. (I was told by another professional in the same school system that he belonged in a “disability class.” Also, he was diagnosed with a “mild processing problem.” I could not believe it! A “mild” processing problem? It didn’t seem to matter that Travis could not understand a storybook or comprehend a movie or TV program. Some mothers don’t realize how lucky they are just to be able to read a book to their child or enjoy a movie together. Of course, we could do neither, especially because Travis avoided situations that required him to “listen.”

No longer trusting the professionals, I worried and waited for an answer. I really didn’t know where to look for information. I began doing research on hyperactivity and discovered the Feingold Association—a support organization for children with chemical sensitivities. Travis began the Feingold diet and after 4 days he was no longer hyperactive. This made it possible to enroll him in a Montessori preschool program.

After Travis was on the Feingold Program for 6 months, I read an article in their newsletter by Robert J. Doman, Jr. I couldn’t believe it û information on processing problems! Even more incredible—what to do about them!

I made an appointment with Bob at NACD but was worried. Would Travis cooperate with him? My fears were unfounded. Bob had no trouble testing Travis. I was touched when Bob talked to Travis in 2-word phrases. It was the first time I had ever seen someone talk to Travis where he actually understood what was being said. Finally, someone who really knew how to talk to him.

The program designed for Travis was very individualized. It was geared to meet his specific needs. It was wonderful to actually get answers to my questions instead of the usual “beating around the bush.” I knew, finally, that we were doing the right thing for our son.

After 3 months Travis went for his second evaluation. He had progressed 2 developmental years in his auditory comprehension. He was beginning to be interested in books and programs on TV. His language improved and he began using more appropriate words. He was using longer sentences and comprehending longer ones. At Travis’ third evaluation he was as Bob said “talking up a storm.”

How do I thank someone for fixing my child? A simple thank you is not enough. When I read bedtime stories to my son and I see the flicker of understanding in his eyes my world is complete. It is at these times û when I see he really “hears” me—that I feel I am touching him for the very first time.

I thank Bob Doman for his relentless dedication to children. He has done nothing short of saving my son’s life. Now he can have a life. He has been freed from a world of confusion and so have I.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 10 No. 10, 1996 ©NACD

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