Before the birth of my child, I had received a degree in psychology and education, as well as a certificate in teaching. In the course of my life I have worked in both regular and special education, private and public schools, designed curriculum for Los Angeles Unified School District, was director at a private school, and home-schooled my own child.
Some children collect trading cards or marbles, my child collected labels, and the list of symptoms seemed endless at times. In addition, he was diagnosed with multiple medical conditions. Between the appointments with medical professionals and those working in the educational field we just didn’t have time for some of the stuff neurotypical children get to do. Besides time constraints we had to deal with sensory issues and meltdowns, which affected every area of my son’s life. Over stimulation from sound, light, touch, taste, and chemical sensitivity rendered us unable to have what some would call a ‘normal’ day.
We sought help through the public school system as well as private means. He worked with some wonderful professionals, but progressed slowly in most areas. Some of the professionals treated his different deficits like they were the only issue he had, while others tried to bridge their work to other areas of weakness. I will always be grateful to many of these professionals who worked with him. Yet there were always pieces that were missing in the work that was done. We had put together some pieces of the puzzle, but no one seemed to know where the rest of the pieces were.
Any kind of academic testing identified issues with recommendations for accommodations, but never identified the underlying cause, and more importantly did not tell us what could be done to effectively improve the situation.
Terms such as ADD and LD lump too many diverse children into one deceptively simple category. Labels are not particularly helpful and are often misleading. —Mel Levine, M.D., A Mind at a Time
As time passed, I knocked on every door, questioned every professional I could find, and continued to research and educate myself. I began to discover programs and therapies that were not available in the public school system or offered locally by private therapists. I trained and sought certifications in different areas of learning disabilities and therapeutic interventions. My son finally began to experience improvement with the introduction of new programs. I found that by integrating therapies in a developmental sequence allowed my son’s puzzle to finally start coming together.
Why did I really begin Hands On Learning Solutions?
Because my son turned to me one day and said, “Mom, you need to go help other children and their moms and dads, because you know what to do.”
Learning challenges can become learning successes.
There is hope and there is help! I will always have hope! Psalm 71:14