I was invited to a free screening with the NNTC for my son who was 4 years old at the time. He had been asked to leave two daycare centers due to his lack of social skills, attention span and lack of understanding boundaries. I felt very inadequate, defeated, frustrated and embarrassed as a mother. People kept telling me I needed stronger parenting skills, more playgroup time for social skills or medication. I was leery of medication as I had known other children on it and they seemed “medicated” and that is not what I wanted for my son.

When I went to the screening, Northwest Neurodevelopmental Training Center's staff were very sincere and encouraging in the fact that they understood his issues. During the evaluation they tested him for different skill development – looking for synchronization while crawling on his hands and knees, or checking his eyes to see if they traveled together at the same time, or his “touch” perception.

As his evaluation was completed, I had a huge sense of relief and joy in the fact that now I understood his “brain manager” was lazy…which meant for him, that he absorbed all kinds of information but was unable to process it in a coherent manner so his actions would come out correctly. Usually this would end up in him becoming very frustrated, as he was not able to explain what he wanted or needed. His perception of pain was very limited so when he would hit other children he could not understand why it hurt them. They also stressed that there were alternative methods to “help organize his brain manager” rather than just medications, which was a great relief.

Through the program we have seen a remarkable change in his behavior and social skills. He is able to focus more on one project at a time rather than running from one thing to another all day.
As with any program, it is a commitment, but the time and energy put in is so little compared to the outcome of sheer joy and happiness when I see my little guy out playing with his friends and having fun. This is one of the best things I have ever done for him, to give him a long and happy life.

I’d like to thank the staff at Northwest Neurodevelopmental Training Center for all their caring and support given us.