Tom’s Story

As I look back on the past two years of where my son was then, and where he is now – It absolutely amazes me! Tom was diagnosed at the age of 20 months old with mild to moderate autism. Now when we tell people he had an autism diagnosis, they don’t believe us! I remember before we got the diagnosis we had no idea what was wrong with him. Our pediatrician thought we were crazy and ECI wasn’t doing much to help him. They kept wanting to wait and see if he was a late bloomer. But when it took ECI a few months to just get him to clap and he wouldn’t say momma or daddy, screamed and cried all the time, and wouldn’t look at us – I knew I needed help.

The only problem was I did not know where to start. So one day I called United Way and asked for help. I told them something was wrong with my son and I thought he might have autism. I continued to tell her that he wasn’t meeting any of the milestones and I didn’t want to wait to help him before it was too late – I just had no idea where to go. She sent me to Child Study Center in Ft. Worth and that is where he was diagnosed. They told us that there was no cure and they sent us with pamphlets and a list of therapies for us to consider helping our son.

As I went home that day and called the numbers down the list, I remember just crying because they were either no longer in service or they were too expensive for us to even consider! I felt so hopeless and scared. As I got near the bottom of the list I called Brent Woodall Foundation. No words can express the feeling in my heart when I found out that they could get him in right away and that they were willing to do whatever it took to help my son.

They were sincere and precise and it made my husband and I feel so relieved that we weren’t crazy and that we finally got answers to all the questions we had wondered about. I can go on and on about what they achieved within a short amount of time. I knew we were in the right place when he came home talking, pointing, and knowing who we were. To be honest, I did not know what to expect, his first day I just sat in the car and cried because the ABA therapy was so intense….but two years later, my son is a completely different child. I knew I had to stick to the program.

I knew Tracy and her staff knew what they were doing and I had to let them do their job. Tom loved to go to “school” as he called it. He loved his therapists and loved to be there. He is in a regular pre-K program now and doing well. He loves to play with his friends, loves to ride his bike and loves Super Hero Squad and SpongeBob. It has been a long, hard road, but Tracy and her team have really helped us in bringing our son out of a world we didn’t know how to reach him in. Words cannot express the gratitude we have towards The Brent Woodall Foundation.

They have inspired us to help other families who are going through the same struggles as we did called Spectrum Ministries at http://kjnewton1.weebly.com – Thank you Tracy for all you have done! You are an inspiration to so many families.