Our Parents & Students Experience
These are just some of our 3,000+ success stories at ARN.
In Parent's words
“He was completely non-verbal when he came to us.”
Andy was 20 months old when he started ABA-VB therapy at ARN. He had speech delay and was completely non-verbal. He could neither imitate nor produce any sound. However, after just a month of ABA-VB therapy, he started to imitate sounds. After two months, he was able to independently reproduce those sounds that he learnt by imitation. By the sixth month of therapy, he was able to articulate words clearly. His child development paediatrician advised his parents to put him in regular school as he had reached the normal stage of speech development for his age.
“She was not speaking …”
Samantha started with us when she was only two years old. Her parents were worried as she was still not speaking at that point. Her speech was unintelligible and marked by inappropriate and incoherent sounds that confused her parents. After three months of intensive ABA-VB therapy, she started articulating words accurately. Since then, she has greatly expanded her vocabulary and is adept at speaking to her parents, teachers and peers. She is now four years old and able to construct and say whole sentences. She enjoys playing with her peers and engages in conversations with them spontaneously. Her old habit of making inappropriate sounds has also gone away in the course of therapy.
“He had major behavioural problems …”
When Evan started ABA-VB therapy with us, he was already six years old. This was a rather late age for intervention. He had major behavioural problems, such as crying hysterically whenever he did not get what he wanted, becoming violent when he was upset, frequently throwing tantrums and refusing to cooperate even for simple requests. We started ‘mand-training’ with him, which helped him learn how to request for things he wanted using words and sentences. After one week, he was able to use simple words such as ‘open’ to ask his therapist to open the container for him to get his snack and ‘go out’ when he wanted to go and play. Now, at the age of seven, he is able to tell his therapist what he wants in almost complete sentences such as “Teacher Mary, I want to play puzzle”. He is also able to greet and bid goodbye to therapists and his parents with ease. His undesirable behaviour has also diminished; he no longer displays disruptive behaviour in class and group sessions.
“Carla’s journey with ARN has been amazing!”
Once, she was terrified of loud noises and was unable to express her emotions. With ARN’s award-winning ABA/VB programme, Carla is now able to verbally express herself and show her emotions appropriately, bringing her family closer together.
“When Andrew came to ARN, he wasn’t just shy; he was non-verbal, very hyper, and always stimming.”
He struggled with his communication skills, behaviour control and emotions. After coming to ARN, thanks to our hard work, dedication and passion from our therapists and the parents' cooperation, Andrew is in a mainstream school and is doing very well. Our award-winning ABA/VB programme helped him to manage these areas.
“All of a sudden, we had a plan rather than aimlessly doing the best you can…”
I think for 5 or 6 year old kids, they are able to do something like 300 tasks. When Joe was analysed, he probably had 60 boxes ticked. And over the years, he fill the boxes. He could talk more and more, till now I will struggle to keep him quiet sometimes. (laughs)
“To me it is essential to help a child because these are critical interventions.”
To be honest, it never occurred to me that my son is able to cope with the mainstream curriculum. When he was much younger, I would never have dreamed that he could cope and would be able to understand. But today when I look back through all these interventions, we do see the results - that he’s still able to understand and cope.
I will remain eternally grateful for the immense progress that the boys have made in the last 15 months. Compared to Feb 2021, when they were not evening speaking, now they are on the verge of reading and writing. From the bottom my heart I thank you, Christina, Tr. Bel, Thivya and Shalini. The boys and I owe you a lot 🙏🙏🙏
Pls inform Ms Bel that Eric is poo trained too using her technique ( I improvised slightly ). That's amazing. What seemed improbable 1.5 months back has been achieved 👍👍
Hi Dino, forget to mention, it is really good to see the books collection about autism at your centre. It really points the quality and commitment you have towards helping kids with autism. highly appreciate.
Thank you! She has improved since day 1 and we are seeing gains from intensive trainings. Month by month we see her having more knowledge 😊
Letters From Parents
Dear ARN,
We would like to take the chance to tell you thank you for everything you have done for us and it’s clear that this progress we just made will not be possible without you. This journey has not been easy and especially when we don’t know the answers to many questions in our minds. Meanwhile, the different techniques suggested to attack this special need continue to fight for the financial resources from the parents and few do what is right. Your experience has contributed to our son’s development. During the long hours of conversations we had with you over the phone or at home, we realised that your expertise in autism was beyond any limit and it was at our reach and we did imagine why someone like you will do what is right. Help, hope and handling are what better describe you. Because you did open limitlessly all your experience and knowledge for a greater good.
So because of you:
- We have reached a point we never expect to reach at so short a distance.
- We have reached emotions we were not able to feel long ago.
- We have seen the light at the end of the tunnel
Thank you for everything, ARN!
I want to express my deepest gratitude to ARN.
Thank you for the kindness, thank you for all the efforts, thank you for the time, thank you for everything that you have done for my son. I can only imagine how much time and effort you have put in to make this possible for Andrew. You are not obliged to go to this extent to help Andrew, but because of your generosity and kindness, Andrew managed to have access to all these valuable resources. The help you have extended is totally beyond what I would have expected. I am emotionally overwhelmed by the genuine care, concern and kindness that you have extended to Andrew and me. Please also help me send my deepest gratitude to Dr Partington for his detailed assessment of Andrew today. No words could describe my deepest gratitude to Dr Partington who has spared time amidst his busy schedule to take a look at Andrew. His kindness and generosity are held closely to my heart and besides “thank you”, I really couldn’t think of a better word to express my immense gratitude that I am feeling from the bottom of my heart. Please kindly pass this message to Dr Partington on my behalf.
Once again, a big “thank you” to both of you from the bottom of my heart. Both of you have touched the lives of many people, and I am very grateful that Andrew is one of the blessed kids.
To my friend Dino and the great ARN team! Thank you
ABA works! Thanks to all your intervention, my boy went from almost completely nonvocal to speaking more and more every passing day. His daily improvement is now just amazing to watch! Thanks for giving us back hope and recovery from something we never thought possible.
Theo owes you all!
Amazing work by ARN!
Due to the amazing work of Dino Trakakis’s therapists, Alvin actually recovered and lost his Autism diagnosis. This is a total validation of ARN’s ABA/VB therapy. Today April 12, 2016, after a gruelling selection process, he was accepted into the Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, the number one high school in the United States. It certainly did not look possible when Alvin first sought Dino for help in early 2005. No-one can doubt what ARN can accomplish.
Dear Autism Recovery Network
My name is Jasper. I’d like to express my gratitude toward your excellent job in taking care and nurturing my son, Oscar. Back in 2015, he was diagnosed with Medium level Autism in Melbourne, Australia.
There is no perfect word to describe how we feel as parents to see our fallen son, rise up high beyond our expectations a few years ago. There is no perfect word to say how we are very appreciated and delighted with ARN’s professional skills and passion. Thank you and thank you very much MN. Keep up the good work. Thank you for saving our futures.
