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By Beverly Farr Giroux
©iStockphoto.com/RichVintage
and Aldo Murillo
As the mother of three children who had
various diagnoses of ADHD, Autism, Aspergers and speech delay, I frequently
meet other parents who have children with similar difficulties. I
hear “my son is autistic” or “my daughter has ADHD”
in tones that imply that those labels are fixed and immoveable.
From my own experience, I know that
those labels, and the debilitating symptoms of ADHD and autism do
not have to be permanent.
The cure is not easy, but it is possible.
For many weary parents who have exhausted different therapies or
treatments with little success, it sounds too good to be true. But
it is true, and here is my story.
ADHD runs rampant through my family,
so I wasn’t surprised when my first daughter Melissa showed
signs of distractibility and high energy. She was a happy, intelligent
girl, and I wasn’t worried. Various members of my family had
taken ADHD medications. The rest had learned to use day planners
to deal with their distractibility or became engineers and computer
programmers to appease their desire for order and to take advantage
of their talent for hyper focus.
But when Melissa was in kindergarten,
she cried a lot and told me, “I just can’t pay attention
like the other kids.” I devised various charts and schedules
to help her, and made her diet healthier, but she still struggled.
She would get a 100% or a zero on papers. I decided to homeschool
her in second grade and she often said, “I can’t THINK
when the air conditioner is on.” She also had the typical
ADHD mood swings, reacting emotionally to things that should be
logical.
A Second Challenge
At about this time, I realized that
my second daughter, Celeste, age 3, was not progressing normally.
She often acted deaf, refusing to respond to others’ comments.
She sang songs or repeated dialogue from Barney shows rather than
creating her own appropriate speech (I later learned that this was
echolalia).
When she graduated from Nursery into
the Sunbeams class at Primary, she screamed every week for half
an hour to an hour. I took her to the public school to be evaluated.
Celeste refused to follow any directions and huddled under a table.
The evaluator told me to start reading books about autism, and my
stomach sank with dread. Celeste later received a diagnosis of mild
autism.
Mild? It didn’t seem mild to
me. At four years of age, she screamed for hours at a time, only
answered one question in ten, avoided eye contact, and zoned out
with shiny things or reflections, often wanting to lick people's
jewelry.
She frequently stressed out in public
places, getting loud and sometimes violent. She refused to go into
the post office (possibly because of the florescent lights?) and
often had meltdowns in department stores. But I was fortunate that
she could talk — a little — and it was clear she loved
her family, so compared to many non-verbal, head-banging autistic
children completely lost in their own world, her difficulties
could be considered mild.
After learning that Celeste was autistic,
I was frantic. I did everything I could to find help. I spent hours
reading library books and researching articles on the Internet.
I tried various dietary changes, behavior modification techniques
(ABA), speech therapy, and enrolled Celeste in a preschool program
for children with language delays. She made some improvements, but
they were slight. I spent the next eighteen months asking every
parent of an autistic child I could find, "What are you doing
that works?"
Finding Help
Finally I found a mom who told me about NACD, National
Association for Child Development. NACD is a non-profit organization,
with national headquarters in Ogden, Utah. They help children with
many different challenges, including autism.
Basically, NACD does a neuro-developmental
assessment or evaluation of the child and then teaches parents the
activities or tasks that can help get rid of the developmental gaps
or delays that are holding their children back. Some of the activities
on Celeste's program were similar to physical therapy and helped
with her mobility and coordination.
Other activities were similar to sensory
integration exercises and helped her overcome sensory issues, particularly
her hyper-sensitivity to various sounds. (She used the Listening
Program; see www.advancedbrain.com.)
NACD also taught me how to improve her auditory and visual processing,
and how to build her working memory. They showed me how to accelerate
her academics and gave me exercises to develop conceptual thinking
skills, which are key to social interactions and emotional maturity.
When she began her NACD program, at
age 5½, Celeste could not talk about future or past events
or have a four-step conversation. Within six months, she asked a
“why” question for the first time in her life, and after
12 months she answered a “why” question for the first
time. She started sleeping through the night instead of waking for
two to four hours around 2 a.m. every morning. She also stopped
screaming every time I combed her hair.
To me, it was a miracle. (To read the
description of her progress in her first year of program, click
here.)
Treating ADHD
In the beginning, helping Celeste was
my highest priority. Her NACD program took two to three hours a
day to complete — in five and ten minute segments throughout
the day. But I was also concerned about Melissa, with her ADHD symptoms,
so I did a very simple NACD program (about half an hour a day) with
her. Melissa’s progress was rapid, and in nine months, she
had no more symptoms of ADHD.
Later, I also realized that my youngest
child, Joseph, two years younger than Celeste, had developmental
delays as well. When he was three, we could understand less than
ten percent of what he said. He received medical diagnoses of Aspergers,
ADHD and speech delay.
Needless to say, for several years
I was a very busy Mom. Some days I wore a timer around my neck to
be able to get all the therapy done. But it was worth it, and now
I am reaping the harvest of those years of work.
Success Story
So where are they now?
At 16, Melissa is a very calm, capable
young woman with no symptoms of ADHD. She received her Young Women
Medallion at age 15. She attends early morning seminary and received
100% attendance this past year. She is homeschooled with an independent
correspondence course for high school and will start attending a
local junior college in the fall. She knits, plays the piano, is
teaching herself French and plans to start Spanish soon. She often
helps young mothers in the ward, helping them clean their houses
or taking care of their children.
At 13, Celeste is a bright, active young lady. She is kind and has
a good sense of humor. She likes to read and is writing a time-travel
novel. She is on grade level or above for almost all her classes.
She knits baby hats for a local hospital, takes piano lessons, and
is learning how to cook. She is eager to participate in church and
social activities. She sets goals for herself.
She often sits beside me on the couch
and says, "Mom, we need to talk." Those words are music
to my ears after the years of her avoiding conversation. Celeste
isn’t "finished" yet. Her behavior is 98% in the
normal range. Sometimes she is still socially and verbally awkward,
but it looks more like ADD than autism. People who didn't know her
seven years ago find it difficult to believe that she was autistic.
I believe that in time, her awkwardness will disappear, too.
The author's children, Celeste (13),
Melissa (16), and Joseph (11)
At 11, my son Joseph is an eager Boy
Scout. He reads at a post high school level and is on the brink
of starting algebra. He edits a humorous family newsletter. His
NACD program took about two years of work (about two hours a day)
to get rid of his Aspergers and ADHD symptoms. Several years ago,
he used to stress out at Cub Scout and Primary activities, crying
and having meltdowns. Now, he handles the rowdy basketball games
like a pro.
Other Successes
My children are not the only ones that
I have seen progress through an NACD program. My good friend Vickie
Oehring, who was in my ward, saw Celeste’s progress and took
her son Jason to NACD. Jason was verbally adept, but he couldn’t
read and couldn’t deal with crowds and many social situations.
When he was six, he used to crawl under the chairs and cry during
Sharing Time at Primary.
Now he reads for enjoyment and can
handle the day-to-day changes in schedule calmly and goes to classes
with different teachers without problems. Recently he bore his testimony
in sacrament meeting, a milestone achievement for him.
A few years ago, one of my friends
(who was a Primary president in another ward) was struggling with
a 4-year-old Sunbeam with autism who had no concept of language.
He could not follow a one-step direction and he would hit children
or babies who were crying — the sound was too distressing
to him. My friend asked me if I’d speak to his mother, Heather
Somoza. Heather is now one of my good friends. After two years with
NACD, her son Jacob follows two- and three-step directions, can
read more than 600 words, and is using spontaneous speech (some
phrases and sentences). Since starting the NACD program, he has
learned to show affection and is interacting with other children.
Sometimes I want to stand on the street
corners and shout, letting people know that there is hope, and that
ADHD and autism do not have to be forever.
I know that NACD may not be the answer
for every child, but I would encourage parents to go to the website
(www.nacd.org)
read the articles and seek inspiration. There is a wealth of information
that would be helpful, even if parents decide not to use NACD’s
services. For me, it was the answer to months of fasting and prayer.
Those who wish to learn more about my journey can email me privately
at dgiroux@sbcglobal.net.
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