Looking back I can't believe it has been over a year since I last posted an update. So starting chronologically, I asked TRex's pre-K5 teacher if she thought he could handle kindergarten at PCA.  She said no.  Luckily TRex still had his IEP from RISD.  After discussion with ACM, which is one block from the house, TRex was the first child to enroll for kindergarten starting August 2013.

With that decision made, I did not think that the private speech therapy was providing anything to TRex so I stopped it.  However, I had been intrigued by a different therapy that the ST talked to me about, "Social Therapy".  This lead me on a chase of who provides Social therapy.  Here in Dallas we are fortunate to have the Shelton school and the UTD Collier Center.  TRex started at the Collier  Center halfway through the spring 2013 session.  The therapists are amazing.  TRex understood the concepts and we continued there through the summer as well as picked up sessions at the Shelton school.  I cannot say enough about both providers. 

They introduced the concept of "Space Invader" - don't smother classmates.  They taught about bullying as well as how to start conversations, etc.  The Social Detective class material by Michelle Garcia Winner was very effective. 

The Collier Center introduced me to MERLD - Mixed Expressive Receptive Language Disorder.  I believe this is what TRex has.  He never fit the ASD/Autism description nor the ADHD description.  A great write-up on MERLD is available at MERLD World.   I have also found a wonderfully supportive online community of mothers who are going through the same experiences.


TRex continued showing progress with neurotherapy.  We went the Spring of 2013 as well as the summer and fall for 20 sessions each.  The composite QEEGs are shown below.

I am amazed at how closely his QEEG tracks to the behavior and symptoms TRex has shown.  The red in the center of the left most image on the second row corresponds with working memory.   The reds on the top row corresponds with short term memory.  I will post a layout of the brain map this week to show what all the areas correlate to.  I suspect we will be finished with neurotherapy by the summer.

I also started TRex on a nutritional supplement, called Attentive Child..  This has had am amazing impact on TRex's ability to focus.  We call it his smart pill.  The active ingredient is DMAE.  I take it too. :)

If I were to be asked by another mother with a child with MERLD, what would I recommend my answer would be: 1. QEEG guided neurotherapy, 2, Attentive Child, and 3. Social Therapy.