Rescuing a Daughter From Despair
What do you do when someone you love has struggled for so long that she is spiraling into despair?
Desperate to find help for 16-year old Ariel, her family turned to ADD meds until the side effects became too debilitating. They also looked into tutoring. In the end, they chose brain training. Her dad says, "We needed something that would help Ariel with all facets of thinking, learning and life, and LearningRx was the only system that did that." Hear what Ariel has to say about it all (you'll love the smile on her face when she starts talking about her dreams for her future now!)
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Ariel's Story: Rescuing a Daughter From Despair
"How long has your daughter been missing?"
It was a father's nightmare. Even as I answered the officer's questions, my mind was racing. What else could I do to find her? I'd searched Ariel's school. I'd left messages with her friends. Best I could tell, my sixteen-year-old had disappeared between her last class and getting on the bus to come home.
This crisis was coming after a heartbreaking year or two, with Ariel hanging around with the wrong kids and making some poor choices. The problems began when she started high school. There hadn't been one big sign, just lots of little ones. Like how, on Sunday nights, if my wife or I mentioned school the next day, Ariel's demeanor would change and she'd say "I know," in a defeated voice. Or how I'd tell her about a book I thought she'd enjoy and, instead of getting excited like she used to, she'd frown and say, "No thanks, I don't like reading." Or the fact that she was spending hours doing homework every night and her grades were still dropping.
I remember looking at one report card and saying, "Honey, you have to get better grades than these." Her voice brimmed with frustration and defeat as she said, "Dad, I can't do it. I'm not smart enough."
A doctor put Ariel on ADD medication and, initially, it helped. Then the side effects kicked in: headaches, quick temper, loss of appetite, serious insomnia and depression. She woke up every morning looking drawn and exhausted. Ariel simply gave up—on education, on her future, on everything. She started skipping school. Getting in trouble. And now she had run away.
Late that night, we discovered her at a friend's house and brought her home. Ariel was safe—for the moment. But we had to find answers and fast. We started researching various learning centers and tutoring options. We spent hours talking with people from SylvanŽ and other centers. When we saw an ad for LearningRx, we began researching brain training, too. I knew we could go to a tutoring center and Ariel would perform better in math or English. But we needed something that would help her with all facets of thinking, learning, and life, and LearningRx was the only system that did that.
We signed up for brain training LearningRx and, just weeks into the program, we started seeing changes. Homework took less time and school started making more sense. She also got completely off ADD medications. The brain training exercises got a lot easier, too. We did the Partner program, where she did half her training at the center and half with me at home. The accomplishments were all hers, but it was something we did together, and it was a huge bonding experience for us.
Today Ariel says that LearningRx gave her confidence, hope and a future. She graduated from high school and is going to college. She's going to be a nurse. I watched my child go from having no hope and no thoughts of the future, to having dreams and hopes. I was losing my baby girl, and now I have her back.
—Danne Zeigler
If you would like to speak to a brain training professional, please contact your local LearningRx center.
