Remember- Mother’s Outrank Everyone!
If you have a child with epilepsy and the drugs simply are not working, you are likely searching for answers. However, answers can be difficult to come by and that is why Arlene Martell wrote a book for mother’s who are dealing with this specific challenge. Her E-book, Getting Adam Back, is an uplifting story that instills hope through her rendition about hers and her son’s own personal triumph over epilepsy and autism.
Getting Adam Back provides the answers that Arlene wishes she had when her son was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 2. By 4, his seizures were uncontrollable and he was barely functioning in the world. With medical professionals telling her that her only option was to put a helmet on him and send him to a home, this determined mother with the love for her son searched for alternative and complimentary treatments for her son Adam. She is not a doctor, but a mother who is constantly driven by the dreams for her son. Her son is now 21 years old and thriving. Click Here to learn more about her inspiring story about Getting Adam Back.
Introducing Dr. Paul Swingle, Ph.D., F.C.P.A., R. Pysch
Dr. Swingle is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association.
He is also a Registered Psychologist in British Columbia and is Board Certified in Biofeedback and Neurotherapy.
Here are some of his prior accomplishments in the fields of medicine and academics:
- Professor of Psychology at the University of Ottawa from 1972-1997
- A lecturer in Psychology at the Harvard Medical School from 1991-1998
- An Associate Attending Psychologist at McLean Hospital (Boston) where he was Head of the Clinical Psychophysiology Service- 1991-1998
- Clinical Supervisor at the University of Ottawa from 1987-1997
- Chairman of the Faculty of Child Psychology from 1972-1977 with the University of Ottawa
A Message from Dr. Swingle
I wrote to Dr. Swingle and asked him to comment on the treatments he did on Adam. Here is what he had to say:
JUST SAY “NO WAY” – by Dr. Paul Swingle
I often tell mothers of my child clients “remember, mothers outrank everyone!” The reason I remind mothers of this is so they feel confident to reject the nonsense they are told by some arrogant and woefully uninformed health professionals who mistreat their children. Adam was lucky! His mother had a robust skepticism and tenacity to reject damaging therapies and equally damaging recommendations to “accept and cope” with her son’s condition.
One of the therapies that Arlene pursued for Adam was Neurotherapy. Neurotherapy, in the year 2000 when she first brought Adam for assessment, already had an impressive track record for treating drug resistant seizure disorders. The neurotherapeutic treatment for autism spectrum disorders and Asperger’s, on the other hand, was in its’ infancy. A few of us (neurotherapists) around North America had treated children with these disorders, often with remarkably good success.
The principle of Neurotherapy is simple. Find areas of inefficiency in the manner in which the brain is functioning and then fix them. The health professionals’ resistance to Neurotherapy is a direct result of things we were taught in our professional training that were just wrong. The brain, we now know, is a markedly plastic organ capable of profound change. Neurotherapy normalizes brain functioning by harnessing the brain’s capacity for change. In one form of Neurotherapy we have the child play a video game with his brain. When the brain is doing what we want, PacMan moves across the screen eating up the dots. This process nudges the brain toward normalization by focusing the child’s self-regulatory attention on the specific brain functions that move PacMan.
When Arlene brought Adam for his intake brain map he could not read nor write, he had seizures, obsessive and compulsive behaviors and autistic rituals. We did about 40 sessions, as Arlene relates in this book, and Adam responded with marked changes in the neurological indicators and with correlated profound behavioral changes as well.
I always try to joke with children with autistic spectrum disorders when they are in treatment. A major indicator of successful progress is when they “get it” and joke back. Adam and I had great fun after about 20 or so sessions when Adam caught on to my joking and would try to joke in return. Another major turning point was captured in a message left on my voice mail August 2, 2000 “Hi Dr. Swingle, this is Arlene Martell calling. I’ve been bringing my son Adam to see you now since March and I just wanted to pass on some good news… We went for an EEG yesterday and for the very first time in eight years OUR EEG actually showed quite significant improvement…he’s always had a bad EEG and now he is getting a good EEG and an excellent report from the psychologist as well…just wanted to pass on the good news…”
Not only do mothers outrank everyone, they share their child’s EEG! A remarkable journey of a courageous mother and her child.
Dr. Swingle’s letter and his stance on epilepsy treatments gives hope to parents who are struggling with options to help their children with epilepsy. What doctors are telling you and what they are not telling you can steer you around an endless circle of treatments that may possibly be causing more damage than benefit for your child suffering from epilepsy.
If you wouldlike to learn more about how these alternative treatment options can help turn your life and the life of your child around, you must read Getting Adam Back.
- Seebook review
- Seebook foreword
- See table of contents
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