Testimonials

Southeast JourneysI am very pleased to submit this letter of recommendation for the Southeast Journeys Academic Semesters Program at Talisman for Teens with Asperger's Syndrome.

In my private practice I have treated children with Asperger's Syndrome for the past 18 years. In addition, I have a child of my own with Asperger's.

As a professional I have worked with many families trying to find resources in the local private schools, the public schools and the community for their children. Unfortunately, it is always "too little too late".

With my own child, one public school system actually hired a teacher specifically to teach her. That was the best experience we ever had with the public school system and it only lasted until she was eight.

I have spent countless hours emotionally desperate. All my time was taken up with transporting her to various therapies. The resulting changes were minimal.

The different therapies included Speech three times a week since the age of three, Social Skills group twice a week, Therapeutic Dance twice a week, private tutoring every day after school, Play Therapy and Parent Group Therapy to learn how to handle things at home. None of it made a dent in her overall functioning.

At home I was exhausted keeping behavioral-reward charts. My child would lose interest in a few days as there was no peer pressure – she had no friends and there really wasn't anything she wanted as a reward except constant T.V. Though the teachers tried, they did not fully understand her problem or they wouldn't have sent her home with four hours of homework a night.

There were also school conferences in which the school administration pressured me to put her in the Mental Retardation class and classify her as MR. They did this because she couldn't pass a paper and pencil test so her scores bought down the school average. At the same time, all her classroom teachers told me she was bright, but just "couldn't express her knowledge on the standardized tests".

The last straw broke when my child came home form school calling herself "stupid". She was able to see how easy the work was for her peers and how difficult it was for her. She knew the other kids did not want her for a friend and only came around when they could tale advantage of her. She couldn't figure out the reason for this so her conclusion was she was stupid.

I searched the Web for schools that might address her specific problems. Several schools told that if she was not a behavioral problem they could not address her needs.

Finally, I found the Southeast Journeys program at Talisman. I had given up hope that she would ever be able to live and care for herself independently. Miracles can happen. At Talisman, she was in a class of eight other teens just like her! She was not I classes with teens who were retarded or who had conduct problems. They were all working on similar problems. She found a solid, positive peer group and was able to achieve.

Her grades now are superior. Most importantly, she has new confidence about herself, and is learning to organize. There is hope that she will be able to lead a happy, independent life.

The staff at Southeast Journeys at Talisman is unique. They understand and tune into the teen's problems. Not only do they teach the kids using non-traditional "hands on" techniques, but they also truly understand how to deal with the social and developmental issues. They treat the "whole" person.

School achievement is only part of the process. Southeast Journeys addresses organizational issues, appropriate interactive issues, personal grooming issues and, indeed, any issue no matter how odd it may seem.

My daughter is safe and well-cared for at Southeast Journeys. She is learning to be productive and is proud of herself. I am no longer afraid that she will spend her life in front of the T.V. set, unhappy and miserable. What I want for my daughter, as well as for my patients, is a chance at being a whole and functional adult. What more could any of us ask for our children?

I cannot endorse a program more highly than I do the Southeast Journeys academic semester at Talisman for Teens and Asperger's. I recommend it not only as a parent, but also as a professional who really know through education and through personal experience.

Sincerely,
Denise M. Perone, M.D.