Victoria Finds Treatment at Drake
After reading your story, I feel compelled to share our experience with the Drake Institute. After going through extremely lengthy and thorough research, we placed our hopes for getting help for Tori (age 7 at the time) with the Drake Institute. We knew we did not want to go the route of medication as we had read about all of the bad side effects and we felt this “wild child” had enough problems to deal with.
We were never disappointed by any aspect of the Drake Institute. Tori improved throughout treatment and she continues to improve. We know this positive change is from the Drake as we were not implementing any other interventions at the time. The brainmapping (which if we had not done and used meds, they would have amplified her ADHD behaviors) Neurofeedback, and FastForWord, combined with behavior modification and therapy for the family changed our lives. During treatment we experienced a family trauma which put an extra emotional and financial burden on us. Drake went beyond the call of duty in making adjustments for our situation.
We will be forever grateful to Drake for helping Tori reach her true potential. She sits and reads, her behavior is markedly different in academic and social settings and we have a child with her true personality, not a “drugged” child. She has received the citizen of the month award, is invited to take part in plays, etc.
I am surprised by your comments about other people having the same negative experience at Drake. I often heard just the opposite when I was in the waiting room and have heard numerous positive comments from others who had been referred to Drake by friends, teachers, Doctors, etc., as we had been.
While people discuss the cost of the program, I don’t think you can compare the cost of taking medication (possibly for the rest of her life), potential side effects from medication (I have a friend whose son now has a tic from his meds) and when you compare the quality and quantity of the treatment program, it is much less costly than any other similar type of program. (But then there isn’t any program that even comes close so there really is no comparison.)
Perhaps our expectations were not the same as yours. We were told at the very beginning that most children will respond to treatment in a positive way – some will not. We knew it was not just up to Drake to help Tori – we must all work together. I give Drake an A + for their part.
We were never disappointed by any aspect of the Drake Institute. Tori improved throughout treatment and she continues to improve. We know this positive change is from the Drake as we were not implementing any other interventions at the time. The brainmapping (which if we had not done and used meds, they would have amplified her ADHD behaviors) Neurofeedback, and FastForWord, combined with behavior modification and therapy for the family changed our lives. During treatment we experienced a family trauma which put an extra emotional and financial burden on us. Drake went beyond the call of duty in making adjustments for our situation.
We will be forever grateful to Drake for helping Tori reach her true potential. She sits and reads, her behavior is markedly different in academic and social settings and we have a child with her true personality, not a “drugged” child. She has received the citizen of the month award, is invited to take part in plays, etc.
I am surprised by your comments about other people having the same negative experience at Drake. I often heard just the opposite when I was in the waiting room and have heard numerous positive comments from others who had been referred to Drake by friends, teachers, Doctors, etc., as we had been.
While people discuss the cost of the program, I don’t think you can compare the cost of taking medication (possibly for the rest of her life), potential side effects from medication (I have a friend whose son now has a tic from his meds) and when you compare the quality and quantity of the treatment program, it is much less costly than any other similar type of program. (But then there isn’t any program that even comes close so there really is no comparison.)
Perhaps our expectations were not the same as yours. We were told at the very beginning that most children will respond to treatment in a positive way – some will not. We knew it was not just up to Drake to help Tori – we must all work together. I give Drake an A + for their part.
