Sammy’s parents contacted ABA Academy in the fall of 2006 because they could not attend church together and their son was unable to focus for more than a few seconds at a time. One of the parents always ended up “on call” because Sammy could not stay in the Sunday school classroom. Where ever Sammy was, he was a whirlwind, diving under the table, constantly bumping into other kids and hitting and kicking the peers. He hated music and screamed and hid in the bathroom when it was music time.

In November 2006, Sammy began attending ABA Academy a few hours a week. The first session was very difficult. His mom told me she cried when she met her husband afterwards. The realization of how much help Sammy needed was even more evident in the therapeutic surrounding. They were facing the fact that he probably wouldn’t go to kindergarten in the fall and they often found themselves exhausted. He screamed and cried when numbers or letters were talked about and he could not sit still or listen to the teachers. He refused to hold anything with which to write. A family history of autism and institutionalization was looming in their minds and hearts. We identified that Sammy could not listen to a simple sentence and then answer any questions about it, even though he had good expressive language skills.

Sammy attended therapy 3 times a week including both individual and group sessions. He made consistent progress in the structured environment at ABA Academy and by the following summer was ready to begin kindergarten in a charter school where his brother attended. He had learned all his letter sounds and names, could count and recognize numbers to 20 and knew a few sight words. He had also begun to blend sounds to make words and could write all of his letters and numbers. The biggest change for Sammy and his family has been his behavior. His kindergarten teacher says he is one of the brightest, most verbal and politest kids in the class! His parents are now able to work in the ESL ministry in their church because Sammy can now stay in the kids classes without hurting others. His parents often hear compliments for Sammy’s manners. He completed kindergarten in May of 2008. Congratulations to Sammy and his family for working together to learn new techniques to help him learn.