I have a wonderful son, who also happens to have Autism, ADD and ODD...

Funny story about the lovely pic there - looks like we're happy, meanwhile just a half hour later I was dragging my son in full meltdown mode out from the back of Disneyland, needing to cross the water from Tom Sawyer Island to the other side and make our way through scores of people to the front of the park - him screaming the entire way because he could not spend all day turning the turnstile round and round...like I said, I'M A MOM JUST LIKE YOU...and while my son is now 18, that was him at age 6--anxious, perseverative, oppositional, unable to focus, and constantly having meltdowns. 

 

Sound familiar???  My son received, since age 1, occupational therapy, speech therapy, feeding therapy, physical therapy, special ed, and parent training (for me).  He did not talk until 5 and then he just had echolalia for almost two straight years (repeating everything we said).  He did not look at me since birth, nor call my name, he could not grasp things, could not walk, not talk or gesture--but if you met him now, you would never know it! He used to bike himself back and forth 20 minutes each way every day to typical HS which he attended without an aide, in a HS Engineering Academy--he graduated in June 2021, now has a part time job he drives himself to every day, has a girlfriend of over a year plus friends, and is also now in pilot school, close to completing his private pilot's license on his way to becoming a commercial pilot!  I was a teacher/tutor before I had him, but my MS in Elementary Ed did not prepare me for real life with a special needs child!  Parent trainers taught me well--behavior therapy was not paid for back then by insurance so I had to learn to help him on my own--and I had a library of books on how to help my son before I even went back to school to earn a Continuing Ed degree in Applied Behavioral Analysis, worked 5yrs as a behavioral therapist/supervisor, and became a BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst, in Nov 2020).

 

Along the way, I've been tutoring special needs children/adults so I now have 25 years experience, including homeschooling my own son one year when he crashed out of 5th grade.  I also have 5+yrs experience as a behavioral therapist and  have my BCBA so I can do behavioral therapy including parent training, 1:1 Ethical ABA, and social skills, and I have worked with ages 2 up to 72 (in residential group homes).  I'm especially great working with ADHD children--I taught one 6yr old to read while we were jumping up and down together, and I taught a 3rd grader the times tables as he scootered around a table!  I seem to be able to work with children other teachers/therapists cannot--and I LOVE IT! I understand completely that children learn in different ways--and that it IS possible for a child to learn while bouncing, jumping, scootering (etc!).  However a child needs to be/act in order to learn is OK with me...and because the child feels 100% accepted, CONFIDENCE GROWS, and LEARNING TAKES OFF!!!  It is my passion and a great privilege to be able to help not just these children, but their families too (as a parent trainer), as EVERYONE is happier when our children succeed...If you'd like to hear more, or tell me YOUR story, and let me begin to help your child...Contact me now for a FREE 1hr CONSULTATION!