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Last Updated: Jul 2nd, 2008 - 21:15:22 |
(NUI) - As a nationally known brain scientist, Cheri Florance had the skills and training to help her patients overcome information processing difficulties. But she was not completely prepared to encounter her toughest challenge - her own son, Whitney.
From birth, Whitney appeared unable to hear, seemed incapable of making any sounds and was indifferent to those around him.
Whitney was diagnosed with severe autism, deafness and mental retardation - a diagnosis that usually means a lifelong existence of sterile institutions and medication.
Although the diagnosis of autism seemed to fit, Florance could not accept the life that such a condition predicted for Whitney. She recognized something in him that no one else saw - a boy desperate to connect, skilled at building models and solving problems that reflected a highly visual intelligence, yet trapped by his inability to communicate.
For the first two years of his life, Whitney did not interact with anyone or anything, except for unrolling a roll of toilet paper. When he reached age 2, he showed a strong interest in mechanical toys, but doctors told his mother that he should be isolated from other children because of his autism.
Florance disagreed. She fought to keep him in mainstream classes. She redesigned her life and career so that she could be with Whitney and supervise his development.
In Florance's intense search for answers, she discovered that Whitney's visual intelligence was well-developed. But it was
working so hard that it was shutting out his ability to learn or create language.
Relying on her nearly 30 years of experience as a scientist, Florance devised experimental treatments to tap into this section of his brain and encourage these highly functioning areas to help his nonfunctioning auditory system develop. Single-handedly, she discovered how to teach her unresponsive and unfeeling son language and learning.
Whitney fought his way through each year of school, but slowly, his communication skills improved. By ninth grade, he was excelling in wrestling and football and receiving good grades without special services. In 10th grade, he was taking college classes and in 11th grade, he sang and danced in the musical "Carousel."
In her book "Maverick Mind," Florance tells the inspirational story of how she released her son from the stigma and constraints that come with the diagnosis of autism, and how her resolve led to the discovery of an unexplored disorder and the development of a controversial new treatment.
The re-engineering of Whitney's brain now serves as a model for children and adults with highly visual brains. This new knowledge has helped struggling medical students, as well as children and business leaders. Whitney's story also brings new understanding to visual thinkers and opens opportunities for true exceptional genius.
For more information about Florance, log on to www.drflo rance.com.
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