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Testimonial from The Tambare's A DREAM IN THE MAKING CLICK HERE to see the handwriting improvments. CLICK HERE to see the coloring improvments. During his first year of life, Javier behaved as a normal infant. He walked at 12 months exactly, and said his first words. At about 18 months, having received most of his vaccinations, Javier started acting strangely. He stopped talking, would not respond to parents. This behavior got progressively worse until he was 3 years old, at which time his parents put him in pre-school. Mother had to stay with him most of the time, because Javier was uncooperative, stood up, would not follow orders, yelled and acted like a wild child. His parents were told that he might be autistic, which was a shocker to them. The Tambare's took the child to the Magnolia School District in Orange County for testing. There, an assessment team determined that Javier was autistic. He was referred to Pediatrician Joseph Carella who confirmed the diagnosis and then sent to Dr. Ira Lot, USI's well-known autism specialist who reconfirmed the autism diagnosis. Javier was enrolled in Special-Ed classes in September '95 at Elementary School, at the Magnolia School District. He had a good year there and his behavior improved, thanks to an excellent teacher who also taught Javier's parents how to help him at home. They became full time coaches and advocates for Javier, attending all workshops and conferences they could regarding autism. During this period, Javier exhibited the classic symptoms of the autistic child - playing alone, repetitive behavior, little or no speech, pointing at things, getting easily frustrated, throwing tantrums, withdrawing, putting things obsessively in order, etc. During the second year of school as a kindergartner (1996-97, a new IEP was done of Javier and he was sent to Weaver Elementary in the Los Alamitos School District, to a special class for autistic children only. In this new setting there was a great lack of help, there was no participation in the classroom activities, and Javier actually regressed in the behavioral and academic areas that he had made so much progress before. He would not listen or obey the teacher, would throw himself on the floor and cried when he came home. Javier's parents demanded a new teacher and changes in the program and at last were able to have Javier moved to another school, Dickerson Elementary, on September '97, also in the Los Alamitos School District, where he started the first grade. He was blessed with a great teacher, Carolyn Guess, who is still his teacher to this day. Javier started to make improvement, learned to ask questions and control his tantrums. He was more happy and more cooperative. Javier did the second grade (1998-99) at the same school and was mainstreamed for part of the day, continuing to make progress. Nevertheless, he continued to exhibit the typical autistic behavior, such as withdrawing, limited speech, poor motor skills and occasional behavior problems (check account of teacher's daily reports to parents that is attached). PERSONAL OBSERVATION OF JAVIER TAMBARE'S PROGRESS August 17, 2000 My name is Pedro V. Da Costa and I have been a K-12 teacher in California since 1976. My work has been mostly at the primary level, where I have worked also with special education children, namely the autistic. I have also worked with children with mild to severe perceptual-motor disabilities, using alternative physical therapy. The following report is my personal testimony regarding the astonishing progress that I have witnessed take place in the life of seven year old Javier Tambare ever since he started using the bath unit. Javier's parents started using the bath unit every other day as of January 29, 2000. The results were instant. The first bath was given just before he received his daily session of occupational therapy at his house (it used to be 3 hours and is now two hours and going down). Javier was unusually calm and to the therapist's surprise, did every task with one hundred percent accuracy. He was cooperative, cheerful in contrast to his normal erratic, non-compliant, restless behavior. From that day on, Javier kept progressing with major achievements which I document in the attached report. Currently he is nearly 8 years old and will be entering third grade. He looks and acts like any other normal 8 year old, except for some speech impediments which are being corrected through his therapy and class work. Everyone who sees him, including the parents of other autistic children, cannot believe this is the same autistic child of a few months ago. Personally, having known Javier prior to January - a restless, stressed out, uncooperative child, I stand in awe of the child he has become - pleasant, bright, talkative, good humored, cooperative and alert. Aside from his speech that still requires improvement, and the fact that he is about one and half grades behind, Javier is pretty much like any other third grader and should be able to catch up with the rest of his classmates and live a normal life as a normal child within the next year. That is my humble prognosis as a teacher of 25 years, working with thousands of children in various school districts in California. My personal belief is that the baths have allowed Javier to calm down and concentrate on his tasks, allowing him to learn properly what he is taught. This has also led to a compounding effect, accelerating his progress in all academic areas as well as those of general-physical, emotional and social and development. Right after the first bath, Javier received his normal daily three hours of occupations therapy from the specialist who came to his home. She was startled with Javier's overnight change. He was calm, cooperative, cheerful, talkative and did every exercise with absolute accuracy. Normally, he was all over the place, was argumentative with therapist, stressed. This progress continued every day. His concentration increased, he started talking, asking questions, became spontaneous, his obsessive behavior decreased, started participating in games with his sister, would answer and even ask questions. As can be seen in the attached writing, math and art samples, Javier's skills in this area have changed dramatically. He is writing neatly, can copy down what is dictated to him, recognizes and can write simple Dolch words, excels in addition up to 100, can draw almost at his age level, participates well in class activities, can answer and ask questions and controls his behavior. Javier hardly ever brought "Good day" notes from his teacher. Since January, that happens almost on a daily basis. Prior to January, Javier had never brought home any awards or prizes for anything. Since then, his walls are being covered with a variety of certificates for citizenship, achievement, number books read, etc. One of Javier's dreams was to join the Boy Scouts and to play Karate. However, due to his condition, he was always turned down. In February 2000, Javier joined the Scouts and started his Karate classes. He is doing very well in both. KEY AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT Prior to January, 2000, Javier always ate the same foods, never tried a hot dog or any other different foods. He now eats just about everything, including hot dogs and requests his favorite foods by name. He eats properly and by himself and enjoys a variety of foods. Hygiene Before, Javier needed assistance to wash himself, brush his teeth, get dressed and undressed. He now can do that all by himself. He asks for his clothes, which he did not do before. Relationships Javier was very withdrawn and played alone. He now plays with other kids (he was the start at his recent birthday party which was videotaped). He has become the inseparable playmate of his sister, whom he treats with great love and kindness. Other things Javier can do now Can write his name legibly and neatly and know the names of his teacher, school and relatives. Knows his phone number and his dad's work number and actually dials them on his own, without assistance. Draws well and colors within the lines (did very large poster on dinosaurs for his room wall). Reads basic books, uses logic and inference, creative with legos and is building a clock tower (no one knows where he got the idea for the clock), made a car with ice cream sticks, known when his favorite TV shows are, plays Nintendo games, loves movies, plays baseball and is a pretty good hitter, bowls, knows basic karate moves, has great memory and connects past experiences with present ones (looks at Leo constellation in the sky and remembers the Lion King movie where the stars are seen), requests specific things (I want pizza but I want Pizza Hut), has a great sense of humor and like to tease relatives for fun, learned to swim in one day and can swim under water. Finally, Javier who does not speak Spanish, surprised his parents recently when he started singing in Spanish a song he heard on the radio. OTHER CASES Javier's parents, as can be expected, are thrilled and extremely happy with the progress that their son has made. However, they deserve great credit, because they have been dedicated and unrelenting in their efforts to help their son. Since they started working with Javier and the bath unit in January, they invited the parents of another four autistic children to their home. The parents were amazed with the immediate results and progress their children made. One of them, Stephen, would scream at any loud noise such as vacuum cleaners, blenders and after one bath, never screamed again. Others reporting increasing concentration and calming down of their children. Unfortunately, these parents lacked the persistence to continue in the treatment and are no longer coming. COMMENTS FROM JAVIER'S PARENTS Javier is an extremely happy and kind child. If someone does not know he is still labeled autistic, they will not notice anything unusual. To us, he is no longer autistic, he is our little boy again, normal, in spite of some speech impediments that will be corrected. He is very bright and persistent and is now insisting that he wants to go on a trip to Sacramento to visit his uncle, something he would have never done before. He is very cooperative and loves to be of service and when someone gives him a candy bar he asks for two, saying that the other one is for his sister. He is curious, creative and takes risks. He reasons quite well and is doing great in Math. He has become disciplined and obedient (especially if he is alone). MS. CAROLYN GUESS' DAILY COMMENTS REGARDING BEHAVIOR Note: From 9-7-99 to 1-28-2000 there were only six times when a 'good day' comment was sent home by his teacher. 2-7-2000 Javier is doing well on his touch doll addition.
He has been happy and talkative lately.
2-8-2000 Good day!
2-9 " "
2-10 " "
2-20 " "
2-24 " counted by 10's to 100's
3-2 " participated very well in 1st grade class today
3-6 "
3-9 "
3-13 "
3-14 "
3-15 " was cute at assembly ... marched down and said
"what are you looking at?"
3-16 " had a super field trip today
3-21 " asked for help "ah, come on Jane, help me!"
3-22 Good day, did well with addition
3-23 Did special art activity well
3-24 Did very well today
3-28 Happy and cooperative today
3-29 Good day, did well in addition
3-30 Good day
4-3 doing well in addition
4-4 did gardening
4-7 played bowling
4-10 Good day
4-11 Good day
4-12 did very well in addition
4-17 Good day
5-1 good day
5-2 good day
5-3 Participated well in language circle
5-8 Won prize for reading most books
5-16 He is beginning to sing mroe nad more
5-19 earned bookmark for walking 10 miles for fund
raiser (in one week)
5-23 good day
5-24 happy and cooperative
5-25 good day*
5-26 Javier talked up a storm today
5-27 good day
6-7 very cooperative
6-8 accurate work in math
6-14 social and talkative
SUMMER
7-1 wonderful field trip day. Did lots of activities.
7-10 We are glad to see Javier. He had a good day and
did his work well.
7-11 Javier did well on activity on naming ocean
animals. He is fascinated with sharks
7-18 Had wonderful day at fair. Rode lots of different
rides.
7-19 Good day at Discovery Center
7-20 another great day!
7-21 Another great day!
7-25 Great job in speech
8-2 GREAT DAY
8-3 Another great day
8-4 It's been a great summer. Javier has done a wonderful job!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This is the handwriting of a Javier who was classic autistic. His family had been doing all known at that time possibly assistances for him. The Q really made the difference… it was the only change during the following pictures. This image is his handwriting just prior (1/25/00) to the Q2 sessions he received every other day. 10. The image of his handwriting after less than 3 months! (4/11/00) |
and another image of his coloring less than 3 months after sessions (April 2000).
