Success Stories:
Intellectual & Developmental Delays

Relationship Building

Forming relationships is an essential step in relational growth for us all. Jacob's Ladder fosters nurturing relationships between our students and their teachers, their peers, and the many beautiful living things found on our campuses.

Intellectual & Developmental Delays

Student Name: James
Age: 13
Diagnosis: Learning Delay

Functional Challenges: James entered Jacob's Ladder exhibiting frequent dysregulation in the form of uncontrollable laughter, along with frequent non-compliant behavior. He also had difficulty retaining symbols/words.

Our comprehensive evaluation process includes QEEG brain mapping, which identified and measured areas of James’ brain where communication flow was lacking (hypo-coherence) or where communication flow was locked and/or was overly used (hyper-coherence).

His individual model of care was designed to normalize the connections between the top 10 regions of his brain that displayed hypo coherence and the top 10 regions that displayed hyper coherence. His primary emotional-behavioral goals:

Goal #1: Engage in appropriate peer relationships utilizing perspective-taking

Goal #2: Minimize perseverative thoughts

Goal #3: Manage attention problems

Goal #4: Develop awareness of mind-body connection during cognitive endeavors in order to maintain homeostasis.

"He can trust people again. It’s not just an education, it is dealing and facing emotions and shortcomings, accepting them, talking out loud about them with other kids in his school.”

- James' Parents

James' Program and Functional Gains

Over 14 months, James participated in his individualized program, engaging in therapies, and learning to use tools through the Zones of Regulation curriculum. He began to develop more flexibility and maturity in social tasks. His academic performance improved as he better understood expectations and applied himself to tasks. In an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard, his teachers supported his growth and encouraged progress daily.

Starting at Jacob's Ladder (2011)

Frequent dysregulation in the form of uncontrollable laughter
Frequent bouts of non-compliance
Difficulty with retaining the name of visual symbols and identifying words

Re-evaluation in 2019

Demonstrates overall maturity and flexibility within social interactions
Commits to tasks and follows through on expectations
Increase in overall academic performance

James' Brain Improvement

James experienced great gains in his emotional, behavioral, and relational functioning as he developed proper connections between areas in his brain. Below are examples of neural connections improvements he achieved, as shown through QEEG measurements.

Communication flow between James' Prefrontal Areas was lacking by -4.95 standard deviations from a normalized connection.

Through James' individualized model of care, activities were implemented that improved his communication flow to -1.86 standard deviations from a normalized connection.

Communication flow between James' Primary Motor Cortex and Parahippocampal Gyrus was locked and/or overly-used by +3.76 standard deviations from a normalized connection.

Through James' individualized model of care, activities were implemented that improved his communication flow to +2.37 standard deviations from a normalized connection.