The Thinking Center_Stories of Great Moments

JAKE'S STORY
“Because he isn’t flexible. His body is rigid. He seems uncomfortable with himself.”
The Bumpy and Unknown Journey to Success!

By Amy Falk Weinberger

Children from the same families take different journeys. There are many journeys that parents are familiar with and can easily go along for the ride. For example, when our daughter, Erin, was born eleven years ago, it was beautiful. Everything went right. She nursed easily, she liked to be cuddled and loved being with people. Being out and about was fun for her. Her transitions were easy; her milestones normal. She loved learning and it seemed easy for her to learn. When she walked into a room, she lit it up with her exuberance. It is because of her that her brother is as compassionate as he is. She has taught him patience, empathy and kindness, the gift of music and singing, tolerance for others, good school habits and a variety of other great things.

When our son Jake, was born ten years ago, it was also a beautiful experience. But his journey has been different and the ride a bit more bumpy and unknown. Yes, he was a healthy bouncing baby boy, thank Goodness, but something in my gut told me that there was something a bit off. I remember telling my husband right after the birth – please call the O.T. (occupational therapist). “Why?” he questioned. I replied, “Because he isn’t flexible. His body is rigid. He seems uncomfortable with himself.” Now, I know he was only a couple of minutes old and the whole birth experience is quite traumatic for a baby. I mean just trying to get out is some kind of magic!

What Jake needed was a developmental and behavioral pediatrician to evaluate and create a care plan, but I didn’t know about these kinds of pediatricians nine years ago. So, when Jake was three months old when we visited our occupational therapist, Nancy Marsh. It was true – Jake had sensory integration problems. Now this might not sound like a big deal; it might even sound made-up. Trust me – it’s real and it affects the dynamics of an entire family. Matter-of-fact, I would go as far to say it could be a predictor of attention problems down the road.

Jake had so many challenges standing in his way to be successful. First, his language system was delayed. Frustration took the form of intense, long and exhaustive tantrums. We wished we had taught him more sign language. Second, transitions and listening were impossible. Third, he couldn’t remember sequences like the alphabet; he had trouble word finding and remembering a friend’s name. He was dyslexic. Fourth, by 12:30 each day, his mental energy controls were spent. The fallout was traumatic. He had no memory of his tantrums either. That’s when I knew it was chemical and I had to do what I was avoiding – medication.

As a learning specialist and CEO of The Thinking Center, I have had just about every intervention at my disposable to use. Jake has had speech and cognitive training, sensory integration diets, dietary changes, controlled environments such as home schooling and adjusted schedules. He has participated in The Listening Program®, reading intervention and a variety of behavioral management plans. I even went as far to co-create Camp Arrow for kids like him. All these interventions did pay off and were in the best possible order, but there were still missing pieces like that developmental and behavioral pediatrician I mentioned before.

When Jake turned seven and entered kindergarten at Goldie Feldman Academy in Sarasota, Florida, his teacher, Shonna Brady, was reporting lots of the same learning and transition issues in the first two weeks of school. These were the same behaviors that my husband, myself and Dr.Horvat (his pediatrician) had documented. That was it. It was time for medical intervention. In September we started the journey of evaluation and then Ritalin with Dr. Kadison, a developmental and behavioral pediatrician. Yeah!.

I picked Jake up from school that day in kindergarten after he had experienced his first dose of medication that morning. He looked up at me and said, “Mom, I could focus today. I did it!” I really couldn’t believe he said that. I was hoping something would help him but I couldn’t believe he could notice so quickly. Soon after, we also decided to have one more doctor on our team. We added Dr. Rehmani to our list. We switched to Concerta because the fallout at the end of the day with the Ritalin was a sudden crash and old behaviors were unavoidable. Five weeks into Concerta, his teacher told me over the phone, “Jake can finally be the little boy he wants to be.”

So, now Jake is 8 and half years old and we added Dr. Robert Winegar to his team too. Jake is moving into his second grade year. So who is the real Jake? - Jake is an ingenious little boy. He always has a logical plan and a solution. He is charming, funny, and lovable and we are enjoying his journey so much more. So is his sister, Erin!

So, what is the lesson to all of this – always go with your gut feeling, gather the best people around you, read and train yourself to know information, get a plan, go outside of the box, get your child the help he needs.

Amy Falk Weinberger is the Founder & CEO of The Thinking Center, Florida’s Educational-Medical Success Center and The Gap School in Sarasota, Florida.