Daniel, our 11-year-old, was diagnosed around age 5 with Aspergers. He also has ADHD and Dyspraxia. He worked really hard in all of his therapies. There have also been lots of prayers prayed.

Before we left California, his Occupational Therapist had him doing an auditory listening program from Vital Sounds. After completing that program we noticed a dramatic improvement. His sensory issues were greatly diminished. His conversational skills, eye contact, sense of humor and affection all improved. He hasn’t had any therapy or seen any specialist in 2 years.

It is an amazing feeling to have him actually ask us at night to hug him two or three times when we tuck him in. I also can’t get enough of him telling me “I love you.” He is also playing football, something I never dreamed he would do, and he loves it.

As he has gotten older, he has also become more aware of these diagnoses and has asked if we could get the labels removed. After talking with a psychologist and his pediatrician, we decided to have a full battery of neuropsychological testing performed. He hasn’t had this type of in-depth testing done since he was about 4 years old.

Results are… He no longer fits the diagnostic criteria for Aspergers!

He does still have ADHD, inattentive type.

He has cognitive disorder NOS. This is due to the large variance between his verbal and nonverbal IQ scores. His verbal score is in the upper extreme and his nonverbal is average. There is a 24 point difference between the two, but his total composite (both verbal and nonverbal added together) is still above average. According to the psychologist, this wide variance indicates cognitive disorder. We will do brain exercises to help strengthen the nonverbal side if he wants.

He also has developmental coordination disorder. If he wants, we will get him back into occupational therapy to help him work on developing better coordination to enhance his athletic ability.

We are very thankful for all the therapists who helped him to achieve his successes. Lynda Boyd and Tina Blythe are especially dear to our hearts. Lynda was Daniel’s first ever occupational therapist and Tina was his last.

He is a special boy, and I am proud to call him my son!!!!