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 clients, providers, peers, and the many beautiful living things 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 and 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 was locked and overly used (hyper-coherence).

His 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 included:

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 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 providers 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 names of visual symbols and identifying words

Re-evaluation in 2019

Demonstrated increased maturity and flexibility within social interactions
Committed to tasks and followed through with expectations
Increased abilities in overall academic performance

James' Brain Improvement

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

The communication flow between the Prefrontal Areas was lacking by -4.95 standard deviations from a normalized connection.

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

The communication flow between the Primary Motor Cortex and the Parahippocampal Gyrus was locked and overly used by +3.76 standard deviations from a normalized connection.

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