Thank you!! I'm going to get the book tommorow.
No... I did go the bio feedback Route. No real help there. I don't really see how CAER can work.Hi Constance,
You're right on the money about it being hard work. I think a lot of people are skeptical because they think you walk in there one day and come out 3 days later with a perfect little angel. It seems like it is a miracle, which in some ways it is, but it doesn't come without a ton of work on the parents part. The sessions can be grueling mentally, but you have to be willing to open up and be honest about everything, including your own demons if you have them. Otherwise, you will be wasting your money. It's not just the child being treated, it's the whole family unit.
I haven't been in any ADHD forums in years, but a couple families were inquiring about my experience with the Doc. I looked up Dr. Weather's website just out of curiosity, to see if he had changed anything. Same horrible website I must say. I just happen to stumble upon this forum while looking him up. I was also hesistant to post because I don't want to be accused of spamming either and I saw how S mom had been treated.
Everybody's situation is different. I'm sure not every child can be helped by this, but it's an option to look into. Do the homework and weigh the pros and cons. It is expensive, but it was priceless as far as what we got out of it.
texastango39477.4467824074Thanks for taking the time to share all of the positive feedback. I really
Can you give me an idea of how much the treatment cost? I want to know if it is out of our reach or not.
Thanks!
[QUOTE=hissmom]Can you give me an idea of how much the treatment cost? I want to know if it is out of our reach or not.
Thanks!
[/QUOTE]
I went back and found all my old correspondence with Dr Weathers. It was 0 per person per day for us. This was 4 years ago though. He will give you forms for insurance, in case your insurance will pay for all or part of the treatment. If your insurance pays for psychotherapy, I think it would be covered.
BTW, just found out his new book is entitled: ADHD: Drug Free and Doin' Fine. It's release date is 2/28.
texastango39488.7866319444Anyway, enough of my rant. My soon has no ADD or ADHD diagnosis. He has been described as PDD-NOS like. My wife is a former OT who worked with autistic children prior to my son's birth; how ironic that we would have a kid with issues...In my own head it has been a curse and a blessing. Since my son was 13 months old (he just turned 7), we have been on quite a journey, and thanks in due part to my wife the mad researcher, as I have come to call her. We have taken our son to every type of therapy you can imagine, from ABA, Speech, PT, Sensory Learning out in Colorado, all different forms of energy medicine, to the Center for IMT in CT. We now participate in RDI therapy at home which is ongoing. Anyway, my point is that no one program has been the magic pill and what I have come to learn is that this process is a marathon, not a sprint. Also, the early you can address these issues, the better chance your kids have of becoming more mainstream in school, as well as having lasting relationships with friends.
Anyway, my son was tagged as having some Asbergers qualities last year, by the school psychologist. He is a very loveable kid that tends to focus on the mundane details rather than going with the flow. He also talks incessantly, to the point where we have a real issue. Needless to say, we have made huge strides with him, but aren't there yet. As such, I started researching alternative treatments to asbergers issues and stumbled upon Dr. Weathers. He has a blurb on his site that certainly hit home, saying that the issues my son has are the types his program addresses.
At this point in time, we are scheduled to see Dr. Weathers next week. I don't know what to expect, but I can say he appears to be our last hope to give our son the boost he needs. At this point in his life, he is in mainstream class room that has an assistant teacher to help guide him if needed, but he hasn't gotten the socialization part down yet.
All in all, this site and the parents he suggested we speak with have reassured our decision to try it out. Is it pricey? Of course it is (we are flying from Florida to see him). But what kind of price do you place on keeping your family together and helping your child to live independently and possibly have long lasting personal relationships???
I will post when we return as to where we are on this, but I personally wanted to thank the parents that posted here that have given their experiences with CAER, as our family is the one that decided to do it because of their posts. I am keeping my fingers cross...stay tuned...
Luvmykids0239706.8648032407I have not been getting updates on this...
Dear S Mom (and everyone else)
Thanks for the kind words. Am no more amazing than all of you parents who are fighting so hard for a better life for you kids.
I was going to wait a bit more until I posted just to give this time, but I will give my initial thoughts. I think the problem is very good. While I think my wife and I set our expectations sky high, the results with our son have been good, just not great. We were told we don't have a child on the spectrum and all in all our parenting has contributed or been the root of all of this. Dr. Weathers was very complimentary of how "normal" our son is and was less than complementary on us (but we needed that). Our son acted like a complete gentlemen, a good little man while there, which proves Weathers theory that many of these kids can do it, we just feed into it with our nervousness, over parenting, etc. The machines I believe helped all of us and my son was doing more activities on his own such as pretend play and playing with toys while we were in between session. Our son really never has done stuff like that tin the past so that was alarming to us, as you can imagine. One poignant moment after the second day was when we were at dinner and the waiter gave my son crayons and a paper to color. In the past he wouldn't do anything with this and protest if we asked him to color. One this night he took the stuff and used it appropriately without us saying anything...we were amazed.
Since we have come home, he has been better in his day to day things than before we left. We have considered ourselves in the tweaking stage a this point anyway, so these kinds of things we are trying to perfect with him are much harder to accomplish than the basic things were years ago when we started down this path. What has been helpful is the webcaer so we can do at home with moments of anxiety if they arise.
Overall, I am satisfied with this entire program and would recommend to others if they can afford. What was equally important were the techniques Dr. Weathers gave us to be better parents. We were definitely playing into a lot of the behaviors we were seeing and were being taken advantage of. That alone made the trip worthwhile. We have started to employ these philosophies with our youngest one as she has worked us right out of the gate. Being a psychology major from college, I was/am well aware of some of the theories Dr. Weathers conyed and he was/is right. It is just so much harder to employ them when you are in the situation. It seems a bit of tough love, but in the end it is so much better for these kids. If we are constantly portraying them as special and different and do not employ sound parenting strategies to allow them independence, they won't get there.
So, at this point, I would say the combo of the program and the techniques he suggested are as sound of a plan as I have seen in years. I have to agree with the other parents that state you have to be willing to deal with your own demons in this program or it won't work. His theory suggests we as parents are the most to blame for what is happening with behavior at this point. As much as I hated to admit that, it is true; especially when he explains the theories to you, gives you examples and you catch yourself doing the old habits that don't work. Again, this is a commitment and a wake up call for us as parents. If you aren't willing to go in with an open mind, take responsibility and change what you do as parents, then this would be a waste of your time. You have to take what the says and run with it, personal hurt feelings aside.
I don't believe though, in our situation, that the 3 day treatment was it. We most likely will be doing webcaer daily for a while for all of us. I'll give this some time and post our progress in the future. Regards to all and good luck on your journey wherever it takes you....
Dear Phinzfan,
After reading this website, talking to S Mom, and doing our own research, we have decided to give Dr. Weathers a try. We leave tomorrow for Spokane, and will meet with Dr. Weathers on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
We are bringing all 3 of our children, 11, 10 and 6, even though it is our 10 year old son who has the ADHD diagnosis. We feel this impacts our family, and hopefully by bringing everyone we'll get great results.
I will plan on posting our results when we return - good or bad.
Cool! I will watch anxiously for updates!!!
Well, I am finally back to talk about our experience with Dr. Weathers. It did not go as we had hoped. I waited to post, because I really kept hoping we could make it work. But, we have finally admitted to ourselves that it didn’t help our son, and we have put him back on his medication. In fact, his situation is now worse at school for being off of his medication. I just hope that now that he is back on his medication that he can get back on course at school and with his friends.