Parent of an adolescent with Sensory Processing Disorder

by Sandy
(CT)

I wanted to share my story because I feel like it would benefit many others who were in similar situations. My son Joe has always had difficulty in school since kindergarten.He always had trouble learning, he couldn't retain any new info, and his behavior well thats a whole another story in itself. His behavior was manageable until he hit puberty and that's when things started going south really quick. He was a very confused teenager with SPD. We were at each others throats constantly everyday was a battlefield at home. To the point where I was becoming depressed, angry, and of course this effected my daughter as well.

I was watching the news one day and came across The Reynolds Clinic in CT and their nuerofeedback program. I was desperate and nothing Ive tried has ever worked, whether its medicine, doctors, teachers, helping my son at home with homework. The program was expensive, $5600dollars. At that point I didnt have the money due to me collecting and i was in the middle of nursing school.

June 2011 I started my son in the program. Trust me when I say I sacrificed alot to come up with the money. The sessions were 10weeks long 3times a week. How it worked was they put an electrode on the side of the brain they are working on and one on his ear. He sits in front a screen with a game (like pacman, they have some others too) and he has to make the game work thru his brain. There is no controller his brain is the controller. To him its just a game but what's actually happening is he is activating the parts of the brain that is dormant with kids with SPD, ADHD, and numerous other disorders.

Well now it's 4mths later and if it wasn't for neurofeedback I wouldn't even know where we would be at now. I was at the end of my rope. He is like a whole different person. He retains info, since he has started school this year I have not received one letter at home saying he got in trouble. This is the first time ever. I just got his progress report and his teachers say he is pleasant in class. I am still taking time to get used to the shock. Im making sure he has a routine and I'm on top of him with his homework, he actually understands his homework. Before he would read a sentence and maybe understand some of it. We don't argue back and forth like we use to. Our home is less tense and everyone is at peace for the first time since I can't remember when.

I came back on this sight to share my story and hopefully this will help others open up a new option for them. I just want to to say i was very skeptical about the program initially I did alot of research before I started my son in this. It's real and the results are real. The best thing is that it doesn't hurt ur child in any way, no side effects from it or anything negative.

Sandy
sandy74sc@yahoo.com