Our son Jackson was born at 25 weeks gestation, and was hospitalized for 4 months. We were told from the beginning that he would have developments delays and/or disorders, if he survived. He seemed to be developing fine for the first year and a half of his life. We would just “adjust his age” by 4 months and he seemed to be right on track – until he was almost 2 yrs old, and not walking.

A friend in the neighborhood recommended we seek help (she had had preemie twins years earlier). We did. It helped. BUT – after about 3 years of therapy (OT, PT, Speech, Play therapy, etc), Jackson was doing okay. We were told that he would always learn to just compensate, but that there was no cure for his problems (diagnosed PDD-NOS at 3 yrs old). My hope and prayer was that Jackson would not just learn to compensate, but that he would actually improve and “hold the changes”.

A few days before his 6th birthday, we had his first appointment with Kay Ness. That was 9 yrs ago (this week as I’m writing this testimony!). At the end of the evaluation, I asked her, as I had asked many of his therapists over the years – “But what is his prognosis?” I’ll never forget this – she looked up at me and said “Oh, he’ll drop his diagnosis”. I needed to hear something positive like that to motivate me to work, work, work. Yes, the ND program was hard work, because there were so many issues we were dealing with. Even after our first 4 month re-evaluation, we saw many improvements. The improvements, large and small, spurred me on to keep working at it. Therapy based on the ND method, along with a metabolic and discipline program, have been the most effective approach to preparing Jackson for his independence.

Looking back over the years, I thank God for leading me to Kay and for teaching me how wonderfully he has created us, and his purposes for us. All the work has helped Jackson to live up to his God-given potential. Is he perfect? No. But we are all a work in progress.