James

James was an 8th-grader who was struggling academically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally.  His life was miserable for him and those around him. He had conflict with his teachers, peers, and parents—especially his father.  He was doing poorly in school even though he had an IEP (individual education plan) which mandates specialized services for children with special needs.  He had a very short fuse and an anger that could go from 0 to 60 in just a few seconds and resulted in frightening and potentially dangerous outcomes (this I witnessed on several occasions).  Immediately upon his enrolling at Success Pointe, we began using the RARE approach with him.

Within six months, he was a changed young man.  It took a lot of work of course, but the results were worth the effort. He excelled academically. He completed all of his work and did a quality job, participated in class discussions and group activities, and actually became somewhat of a leader.  He made friends, and enjoyed positive social interactions at school—whether one-on-one, small group, or large social groups.  He also learned to not get angry so easily, and to deal with his anger in a more positive way when he did get mad.

Things also improved at home for James. He not only had less negative interactions with his parents, but he and his dad actually began to enjoy spending time with each other. And best of all, James’ attitude about himself, and his outlook on life in general took on a positive tone. His turnaround was a testament to the power of the RARE approach. See my website www.RAREfamilies.com for more information about RARE.

Laura

“Laura” came to Success Pointe because she had intense challenges with emotional flip-outs and shut-downs.  She would become hysterical— crying, hollering, running around, and so forth. When she first started at my ADHD Center, Success Pointe she easily got either overwhelmed, stressed-out, or upset.  She would run out of the room, hide behind the door, go under the coat rack and cover herself with coats, or go under the table or chairs. 

Laura also didn’t know how to socialize.  She couldn’t initiate interactions with others and couldn’t get along.  She thought things had to be a certain way, and would cry or melt if the other kids didn’t think the way she did. She also a had hard time with change. She would cry, flip out, or melt if things were different than what she thought they should be.

Although she was in 3rd grade at the time, she had minimal reading, writing, spelling, and math skills.  She would shut down when given worksheets or writing. 

Because of her challenges, we used a multi-faceted approach—an important component of RARE.  One of the first things we did was address the physical/chemical contributors to her emotional challenges.  We educated her parents regarding our non-drug approach. She was on several medications, including an anti-depressant. Because of this, we referred her parents to a local doctor who supported a natural treatment.  He gradually weaned her off her anti-depressant, while at the same time started her on liquid serotonin and other supplements we have found beneficial in working with ADHD and emotional/behavioral challenges.  We also addressed her sleep and eating.

Next, we addressed the triggers to Laura's flip-outs and shut-downs.  For instance, when she first started at Success Pointe, we couldn’t even mention the word writing.  So we started off just giving her a few lines that were each missing a word that she could select from a word bank and fill in the missing blank of each sentence. Then we had her add words without the help of a word bank.  We kept slowly increasing the challenge level until now she could write complete stories.

Another important component to Laura's success was teaching her the skills she needed to not have flip-outs or melt-downs.  The first was teaching how to adjust her paradigm where needed.  This helped her go from an, “I can’t do this.  This is too hard,” mind-set, to, “No, problem—and if there is, I can get help.”  The next skill we taught her was how to control her emotions and pull herself out of a flip-out or shut-down.  This was followed by teaching her how to not go into the flip-out or shut-down in the first place.

Although Laura will occasionally have an emotional backslide, they are much less frequent, less intense, and of shorter duration.  For the most part, she has happy days, filled with successfully finishing her academic work, having positive social interactions, and feeling good about herself and life.