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	ANDREA AND HER SON THOMAS SHARE THEIR STORY AFTER EXPERIENCING JENNY'S KIDS CODE™ PROCESS Hi, my name is Andrea. I hope in sharing my story with you, it may help you in some way deal with the frustration of having an autistic child. Some of you may feel trapped by autism given the limited options many of us feel that are available through conventional sources. I hope my story will help you gain sufficient inspiration and insight to free you from the boundaries that can sometimes limit us in our search for answers. My son Thomas was born in January 2000. He is now 5 years old. When Thomas was 6 months old we moved to Tokyo. By age two, we became seriously concerned with his lack of speech and delayed development. Despite living in Japan, Thomas had always been in an English speaking environment and had attended international playgroups and Pre-schools. From this point on we started to notice his delayed development in other areas. As you can imagine, a lack of speech can lead to many frustrations on both sides. Even though we were living in Tokyo, we flew to Melbourne Australia to have Thomas' condition investigated. Both a paediatrician and speech pathologist agreed that it was too early to detect any abnormality and diagnosed him as a late developer. Thomas' hearing was also found to be within normal range. Despite this diagnosis we had begun speech therapy when he turned 3. In November 2003, Thomas was diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum Disorder. He was 3 years and 10 months old. We were told that is was a life long incurable neurological malfunction. To hear this official diagnosis, using the international CARS scale among other scales and probes, we felt lost and confused as to how to handle this baffling condition. We first heard of Jenny by pure chance. My mother who saw the Current Affair programme on her work with difficult children. We made first contact with her whilst in Japan as we did with all forms of help we could access. Japan was the wrong place to have an Autistic western child - we couldn't use what was available to the Japanese due to the language barrier and the expat community didn't have any real knowledge of how to deal with this condition. So we were lost. Waiting for change, waiting for answers that didn't come. My husband's career offered us an opportunity to leave Tokyo and move to Perth. Western Australia was the centre of knowledge and support in the world of therapy for Autism, so we were told, oh and this Jenny Roberts person lived there also (although we were aware that she worked everywhere). The world of experts told us that early intervention was crucial - intensive ABA therapy, Autism associations, speech therapy. It all had to be called upon to give us any chance of managing what we were told was a lifelong incurable neurological malfunction. We prepared ourselves for the expected commitment - financially, in time and effort, and emotionally. The diagnostic process was undertaken and Thomas came out with his Autism label as I explained above. But meanwhile my follow up with Jenny continued. We had arrived in Perth, no family, no close friends, my husband away on business from the word go, two young children, one autistic the other fast becoming neurotic and myself going from one "Autism" appointment to the next. That's when I called Jenny - when I was a wreck and everything in life, including my relationship with my husband was in turmoil. Jenny, right from that first meeting, showed me what was happening. That we, (especially me), were wobbling and Thomas was falling. But she made us aware in the simple and commonsensical way she talked that it didn't have to be this way and that we had choices as to how our life could be. It didn't have to be full of effort and concern and it didn't have to be so busy. It's like she gave us permission to let it all go, to stop trying, to relax and to, for the first time, become truly aware. I called a client of hers, as much to hear another story of my own as anything else. And as this lady talked to me about her son, he calmly interrupted her and asked her if he could go swimming. Her son had once been diagnosed as well. That was it. I was in. Instead of being pushed into therapy that we didn't really believe in, we couldn't wait! We did Jenny's program and we changed our lives. And our son started doing things - more normal things like asking for things and playing with his sister, and sleeping and toileting better and being less afraid and etc. It was only the beginning and it still is. There are hiccups along the way. But that is where Jenny supports you - through the process of change. And when you wobble, or somebody in the family wobbles, as what happens in life, she takes you on through the journey and you go a little bit further. Thomas now goes to pre-primary/pre-school. He has an aid because he still wobbles at times but he's doing everything the other kids are doing and loving it. On reflection, I guess it can take courage to go against what society delivers us on a plate in terms of help for autistic children. If what you're trying is working, great! But if it's not, or you think there is more out there then I hope you are open and free enough to consider alternatives such as Jenny Roberts. I'm glad I was. Andrea Perth, Western Australia		CONTACT

ANDREA AND HER SON THOMAS SHARE THEIR STORY AFTER EXPERIENCING JENNY'S KIDS CODE™ PROCESS

Hi, my name is Andrea. I hope in sharing my story with you, it may help you in some way deal with the frustration of having an autistic child.

Some of you may feel trapped by autism given the limited options many of us feel that are available through conventional sources.

I hope my story will help you gain sufficient inspiration and insight to free you from the boundaries that can sometimes limit us in our search for answers.

My son Thomas was born in January 2000. He is now 5 years old. When Thomas was 6 months old we moved to Tokyo.

By age two, we became seriously concerned with his lack of speech and delayed development. Despite living in Japan, Thomas had always been in an English speaking environment and had attended international playgroups and Pre-schools.

From this point on we started to notice his delayed development in other areas. As you can imagine, a lack of speech can lead to many frustrations on both sides.

Even though we were living in Tokyo, we flew to Melbourne Australia to have Thomas' condition investigated. Both a paediatrician and speech pathologist agreed that it was too
early to detect any abnormality and diagnosed him as a late developer.

Thomas' hearing was also found to be within normal range. Despite this diagnosis we had begun speech therapy when he turned 3.

In November 2003, Thomas was diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum Disorder. He was 3 years and 10 months old.

We were told that is was a life long incurable neurological malfunction.

To hear this official diagnosis, using the international CARS scale among other scales and probes, we felt lost and confused as to how to handle this baffling condition.

We first heard of Jenny by pure chance.

My mother who saw the Current Affair programme on her work with difficult children. We made first contact with her whilst in Japan as we did with all forms of help we could access. Japan was the wrong place to have an Autistic western child - we couldn't use what was available to the Japanese due to the language barrier and the expat community didn't have any real knowledge of how to deal with this condition. So we were lost. Waiting for change,
waiting for answers that didn't come.

My husband's career offered us an opportunity to leave Tokyo and move to Perth. Western Australia was the centre of knowledge and support in the world of therapy for Autism, so we were told, oh and this Jenny Roberts person lived there also (although we were aware that she worked everywhere). The world of experts told us that early intervention was crucial - intensive ABA therapy, Autism associations, speech therapy. It all had to be called upon to give us any chance of managing what we were told was a lifelong incurable neurological malfunction. We prepared ourselves for the expected commitment - financially, in time and effort, and emotionally.

The diagnostic process was undertaken and Thomas came out with his Autism label as I explained above. But meanwhile my follow up with Jenny continued. We had arrived in Perth, no family, no close friends, my husband away on business from the word go, two young children, one autistic the other fast becoming neurotic and myself going from one
"Autism" appointment to the next. That's when I called Jenny - when I was a wreck and everything in life, including my relationship with my husband was in turmoil.

Jenny, right from that first meeting, showed me what was happening. That we, (especially me), were wobbling and Thomas was falling. But she made us aware in the simple and
commonsensical way she talked that it didn't have to be this way and that we had choices as to how our life could be. It didn't have to be full of effort and concern and it didn't have to be so busy. It's like she gave us permission to let it all go, to stop trying, to relax and to, for the first time, become truly aware.

I called a client of hers, as much to hear another story of my own as anything else. And as this lady talked to me about her son, he calmly interrupted her and asked her if he could go swimming. Her son had once been diagnosed as well. That was it. I was in. Instead of being pushed into therapy that we didn't really believe in, we couldn't wait!

We did Jenny's program and we changed our lives. And our son started doing things - more normal things like asking for things and playing with his sister, and sleeping and toileting better and being less afraid and etc. It was only the beginning and it still is.

There are hiccups along the way. But that is where Jenny supports you - through the process of change. And when you wobble, or somebody in the family wobbles, as what happens in life, she takes you on through the journey and you go a little bit further.

Thomas now goes to pre-primary/pre-school. He has an aid because he still wobbles at times but he's doing everything the other kids are doing and loving it.

On reflection, I guess it can take courage to go against what society delivers us on a plate in terms of help for autistic children.

If what you're trying is working, great!

But if it's not, or you think there is more out there then I hope you are open and free enough to consider alternatives such as Jenny Roberts. I'm glad I was.

Andrea
Perth, Western Australia

CONTACT

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