When our son was 13 and in year 10 in Secondary School, he was getting angry and frustrated and generally getting into trouble almost every day. I dreaded the 3.30pm phone call from the school about persistent low-level disruptive behaviour and our son’s over reactions to sanctions. We knew he was a good kid but he didn’t seem to be able to control his anger and he certainly couldn’t think before reacting.
We were at the end of our tether and went to the GP, yet again, for help with his emotional instability and mental health; we were really worried for his future.
Over the years we have been repeatedly to the GP asking for help with his anger and inability to cope with his emotions. We have seen CAMHS, private psychologist, councillors and social workers. We eventually got a diagnosis of Dyslexia, which explains some of our son’s frustrations at school.
Then we found Learning Breakthrough’s website (now Performance Breakthrough) and spoke to Susan Steele. Having had that initial conversation, we knew we had to try this exercise programme as it didn’t involve drugs and it sounded very promising.
After just 6 weeks Dan noticed a definite difference with his concentration levels at school and said he could stay focused for longer. Then around 3 months his reading ability increased by 2 years with more fluency and intonation. Best of all, he started making sense of what he was reading and it no longer sapped his energy levels to do his homework.
6 months later, Daniel is feeling calmer and more confident and is top of his class!
We are now at the 6-month stage and we are seeing vast improvements in Dan’s academic ability.
Dan wrote two lists of how he felt before starting the programme and how he feels now, 6 months later:-
Before (6 months ago) After (Now)
Felt angry all of the time Good reading
Badly behaved (school and home) More confident
Falling behind in school Positive comments from teachers
Unhappy (Home and school) I have a better vocabulary
Hated school and teachers Much better exam results
Bad spelling Spelling is easier
Didn’t really know times tables Much calmer (less meltdowns)
Reading was hard Can concentrate for longer
Couldn’t concentrate in school or at homework
He was top of the class in most subjects and English has gone up by two grades. He is still working on his school behaviour and gets into trouble with teachers (mostly talking back and reacting to sanctions when he feels he’s being blamed unfairly) but these are much less frequent than before starting the programme. At home his behaviour is noticeably better and we are getting on a lot better as a family – everyone’s stress levels have reduced and the house is calmer.
Dan also has some OCD tendencies and we are noticing that this programme is helping with these behaviours too.
We are continuing with the exercises every day for 15 minutes and we are very pleased with the progress so far. Dan has certainly benefited from the exercises and I am really grateful that he is calmer and more confident in his ability to read and do well at school. We can now see that he has a bright future and has generally got his anger and emotional meltdowns under control.
In the video below John shares some of Daniel’s successes. If you would like to read more our our Success Stories, visit Our Success page. To see which areas or traits our programme helps with, visit our Education page.
If you would like to find out how we can help you and your family, visit our Get in Touch page and either give us a call, or fill in the form and a member of our team will be in touch.
