11/04/04

Susie,

Our son’s progress has been extremely encouraging after his sessions at Therapy Learning Center. A bit of back ground on L: he is autistic, diagnosed at 19 months, and he is non-verbal. We started ABA therapy about 4 weeks before we started at Therapy Learning Center and have been using homeopathic medicines on him for 2 years, as well as heavy metal chelating; the dairy free/gluten free/wheat free/sugar free diets, and neurotransmitter support. We were lucky in the fact that prior to the therapy sessions he already had a nice sleeping pattern, which is not typical for many Autistic children. His sleeping habits didn not change. During the sessions we did not notice much change in L, except for the fact that he really liked going to them. His mouthing of objects decreased and his interest in new foods increased. The main changes started to occur when he returned to ABA therapy. We noticed he was able to learn the concepts faster, indicating that the sessions accelerated his learning cycle. He started imitating a few sounds and actions. He is also now able to pinch things and use his fingers. This was a big OT break through for him. He can now thread small frog beads on a string with no help and the really neat part about it is his level of concentration while doing it. He gets very focused. He is also now using several signs to tell us what he wants, which is very nice since he did not like PECS. L is also starting to learn fear. Now, instead of jumping off things or throwing himself around, he stops and considers his actions before acting and is aware of his surroundings. My wife and I are really thankful for being able to go through the sessions and see the changes within our son.

Thank you,

J.P.