Will's Story
As told by his mother, Lisa
"The
teacher would put a piece of paper on the desk and tell the kids, 'Alright, do
these ten questions.' And he'd sit there after everyone else was done, still
looking at his page." Abington, Massachusetts mother Lisa Furness pauses a
moment, "It's hard to watch your child struggle through school."
In the second grade, Lisa's son Will was diagnosed with Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
He exhibited some of the classic symptoms for his diagnosis: reading, writing,
and comprehension performance significantly lower than his peers; poor
concentration and short-term memory; sometimes low self-esteem; clumsiness; and
hyperactivity. The symptoms are typically associated with a diagnosis of ADHD,
dyslexia, dyspraxia, and/or Asperger's syndrome.
Will is 15 now and a sophomore in high school. His symptoms were diagnosed when
he was in the 2nd grade. Lisa says that they went through "an evolution of
different strategies" to help her son overcome his learning difficulties before
finding a solution.
"We tried different rounds of medication that really didn't work. He'd get all
of the negative side effects without any of the good," says Lisa. After a year,
Lisa took Will off of all his medication for his ADHD.
Lisa notes that poor teaching was not the reason for her son's problems in
school. A flexible and responsive grade school helped Will. "We had him on an
'Ed' plan, called an IEP. They used different strategies and managed him well"
Lisa states. Homework presented a serious problem for Will. "I paid for
tutoring for years," says Lisa, "to get him through his homework."
Will's world fell apart in middle school. The tightly-scheduled program, with
seven different classes and different teachers, presented an organizational
nightmare for him. "To have him come home and not understand his homework
assignments created a nightly issue," Lisa recalls.
Unlike grade school, the middle school system was very difficult for children
with learning issues such as Will's. "They called ADHD kids lazy," Lisa
remembers, "and they just didn't seem to know how to handle kids with ADHD."
Lisa was preparing to secure an advocate to help Will. "Then," she says, "I was
driving in my car and heard an interview with someone from DORE Achievement
Centers. They were talking about ADHD in children. Daily exercises were
reversing the effects of ADHD." Lisa wrote down the 800 number, attended an
open house, followed up on references, and read everything she could about the
DORE Program.
In February 2004 Will began the DORE Program. He was in eighth grade.
"Every three years in Massachusetts, they do a reevaluation of the IEP," says
Lisa. "Around April or May of that year he was retested. And something
happened. They called me and said, 'Mrs. Furness, he does not need to be on an
Ed plan. We are not finding him with any special needs.'"
Lisa was amazed. "In the nonverbal testing, he typically fell in the lower than
average or 'needs improvement' area. This time, he tested in the high
proficient rank, which was a huge increase, unheard of, really. And this was
just three months into the program!"
When Lisa took the test results to Will's psychologist, he said that the results
"definitely had to do with the exercises." The school psychologist also thought
that attributing Will's improvement to the exercises was possible.
As the year went by, Lisa saw continual improvement. Will started high school.
"There was a big summer reading project," Lisa recalls, "and he procrastinated
as usual. But when he was put to the gun to read his book and write his essay,
he did it with the smallest effort I've ever seen. This was a kid that couldn't
write a paragraph in the seventh grade. And he wrote that paper in less than an
hour!"
While the word "exercise" may seem like drudgery, Lisa says it's no big deal.
"It's kind of fun in a way," she says. Around four minutes per session is
usually all it takes for Will to complete his exercises.
Lisa's six-year-old son is showing signs of ADHD and is currently being
evaluated. "Knowing what I know now, I will not put my six-year-old on Ritalin,
ever," she states.
Her son Will is all the proof in the DORE Program that Lisa needs. She says,
"He's able to handle school now for the first time, and I think it's because of
the DORE Program— I really do."