Patricia A. Isringhaus
“I want to tell you what you have done to make me burst into a trillion sparkles! Both of my boys were born with multiple mental handicaps. They are Gregory David, now 27 and Blake who is 24. You have changed our world by taking two young boys and turned them into men.
Gregory had many disabilities with which he has faced. He was diagnosed with 14, (five of them at age 12) which included:
- Static encephalopathy; the inability to get information from the verbal to the written
- mania
- super impulsivity
- hoarders syndrome
- social disorders
- ADHD
- Asperser’s
- and depressive disorder to name just a few.
Unfortunately when Gregory was diagnosed at 12 they did not explain Static Encephalopathy. For him it acted like dementia. He would forget 5 minutes after being told to do something. If I understood better I would not have sent him out into the working world with such a broken brain. He wasn’t high functioning but he wasn’t like his brother Blake who was mildly mentally retarded educationally and in the class with the retarded children. I really did not understand it and assumed with special classes at grade school and high school, that when he graduated that he was prepared to work! Well, he did work but all came crashing down in June of 2007. He came to me to tell me he had been caught embezzling money from where he worked. As soon as he came home and told me what he had done I just knew it wasn’t really him. Not on purpose. He is very affectionate in fact he was sleeping with his Alvin the Chipmunk stuffed animal at age 26 and he was married. I think that tells you in a nutshell what I mean.
He was off the rector scale impulsive, but did not see it himself. I knew something was not right, but I was clueless as to what to do and how to help. I paid for the best lawyer for him. We traced down the best doctor in Philadelphia on Adult ADHD to help find out why he was this way and what was wrong. He diagnosed him and recommended medication. This all started June 6th of 2007.
By December I had been through the mental and emotional hell. My mom passed in July a little over a month after finding out about Gregory. My daughter broke her back that December and a week later my husband’s mother died. So in December I began to pray for Gregory’s brain to be healed. I KNEW IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE! But I prayed for the impossible.
When January rolled around it was time to go to Federal Court where we went for Gregory to plead guilty. When we were done at the court house I told Gregory, “If only we could get your brain scanned somehow just to SEE what’s wrong”.
About 3 days later, despite my severe emotional and physical fatigue, I decided to go to a Women Networking meeting. God I needed the business to pay all Gregory’s Doctor, Lawyer and personal bills. I had wanted to go to this women group networking monthly luncheon for about 2 years to help grow my printing business. Despite everything going on at the time I signed up to go to the lunch. I needed to get there at 11:00 to network with new business women and at 12:00 lunch would be served.
That morning I crawled out of bed and got ready. It was an hour drive there. Despite my best efforts, being emotional and physically distraught I got there an hour late…no networking for me this trip…I walked in just as they were serving lunch. About midway through the lunch meeting several women were raffling off some of their business items. My ears perked up when I heard ‘A FREE BRAIN ASSESSMENT’ I put my head down and prayed like I never prayed before. I was out of money and this at least may show what is wrong with Gregory and he is the way he is.
I did not win. So when this women Jude Davis who had done the raffle for the free brain assessment went back to her table, I crouched down to get to her table and give her my business card and asked her to please call me. After the luncheon I stuck around to try to do at least a little networking. Jude was still there also so I went over to Jude Davis and just told her just a tiny bit about Gregory and how he needed help. She pulled out an envelope and handed it to me. I asked “What is this”? She said “It is a free brain assessment for you”. I did not know what it really was, but I felt BLESSED. I didn’t even know what a brain assessment was, but I felt God was working. About a week later I found the card she had given me and called her and made an appointment for the brain assessment. She told me to go to the website to watch the videos about what the process involved. I gave that assignment to my son and husband. I juggle 2 jobs, Gregory’s lawyer stuff, my son Blake was getting married in March and I babysat my almost 2 year old granddaughter once or twice a week. I had no time. Jude is 50 miles away… one way!
I went for the first visit not really knowing ANYTHING OR WHAT TO EXPECT. I had a business meeting that day and had to leave for a couple hours. When I came back to pick Gregory up they were still in the room “doing something”! I sat quietly until Jude came out and said…she did the brain assessment and felt there was help for Gregory. I really and honestly had no clue what she was talking about. I just wanted to know if his brain showed up as broken. Help…what was that? You can’t fix this broken brain I thought. Maybe even a scam. She left and came back with Gregory about an hour later. She explained what was going on from the results of the brain assessment. NO COMMUNICATION FROM THE FRONT OF THE BRAIN TO BACK, NO COMMUNICATION FROM THE LEFT SIDE OF THE BRAIN TO RIGHT, and ALPHA REVERSALS. HUH?? WHAT’S THAT!!
She said come back for some brain training. I did not understand it but I said OK. We continued for a number of sessions and this is why I am writing you. When Gregory & I came home after about the 6th brain training session, Gregory and I were casually talking, but I noticed something different about him. For the first time in his 26 years…his eyes…his eyes were listening…they were actually acknowledging what we were talking about. Not his normal dead stare. Sure he would look at you when you were talking but you could tell he was just staring a hole right through you. This focus was something I knew he cannot fake!
Through Jude’s encouragement he made leaps and bounds. A young man who could not remember to shave or brush his teeth daily at 26 was now doing it without being told. His marriage, which was to say the least… A TRAIN WRECK!!! Was now calm and communicative as well as focused. He started communicating with his wife Michelle. They turned into Prince Charming and Cinderella. We were seeing changes left and right. The hoarder’s syndrome! OH MY GOSH his yard that had looked like Sanford and Sons junk yard was now cleaned up…not 50% not 80% but literally 100%. He was now able to understand and care for others. Before he said he felt everyone was his enemy and if someone died or got hurt…he felt nothing!!! Now he could “feel” for his family and others. He said to me “Mom you gave me birth, but Jude GAVE ME LIFE”!
He now was on a mission… He said to me, “Mom I have been in a steel vault my whole life. I want to help others. I need to help others who have what I have/had.”
Gregory was sentenced to 21 months at a prison camp. No bars, no fencing, no guards with guns, but none the less away from his family. Entering prison camp was so traumatizing, Gregory is struggling against his brain without the help he needs to survive day to day. But after 3 month’s there he has at least adjusted. Even when I spoke at Gregory’s sentencing and told the Judge about brain training. Judge Limbaugh (yes Rush Limbaughs relative) The judge actually stated on the record for Gregory to STAY ON THE BRAIN TRAINING. HE SAID HE UNDERSTOOD THESE DISABILTIES THAT HE HAD IT IN HIS FAMILY AS WELL. UNFORTUNATELY HE SAID HE DID NOT WANT TO SENTENCE GREGORY BUT HE HAD MANDATORY GUIDELINES HE HAD TO FOLLOW. THE JUDGE WAS SO COMPASSIONATE. HE WAS AMAZING.
Let me split off here a bit to show how the dominoes began to create life changes because of what happened to Gregory… after about Gregory’s 7th brain training session. I went to a Real Estate women’s council meeting that I had just joined the month before and I was telling a lady, Sandra, that I had met the previous month’s meeting about Gregory’s remarkable miracle. She told me she had a 6 year old child that has autism. She asked me if I thought brain training might work for him. I told her that I would definitely try it because it helped Gregory tremendously with his social anxiety and his Asperger’s symptoms (which was a form of Autism) and at that point Gregory was now able to talk to everyone and anyone AND PARTICIPATE IN THE CONVERSATION!! He would even come into a room without being coaxed and sit down with people and enjoy the conversations. Sandra took her 6 year old. That is another miracle story. But I will tell you what happened when I saw Sandra at the next monthly women’s council meeting. I went over to her table and asked how her 6 year old was doing. She started telling me in just 6 brain trainings he was now able to talk, really talk. In fact she said now she was looking for the off switch. She said that she was leaving for Florida the next day and had been worried about her 6 year old not being able to associate his name and phone number to himself. AND NOW HE COULD!! That he was now sitting and watching TV that he could not do before. Well her results after that would be awesome when we would talk at the monthly meetings. But after that first time we talked about her 6 year old and describing to me his remarkable changes and progress an idea sparked in me. MY OTHER SON Blake was diagnosed as Mildly Mentally Retarded Educationally and in the retarded children’s class through grade school and also had ADD, why not try it for him.
When I approached Blake about this he was having none of it!! There is nothing wrong with me I don’t need that stuff he told me. But believe me he was in the retarded class all through grade school and I home schooled him for the next 4 years to save him from bullies. It took me about 3000 times just to teach him to spell B L A K E when he was in 1st grade. The simplest things were not working on his learning. It took me 8 years to teach him multiplication. He resisted going, so I BRIBED HIM. That is what we parents do as a last resort right? Well I bribed him with a fishing trip to Branson, just him and me. He went to brain training but under duress, stress and crying. Gregory’s sentencing was coming up on April 15th and I put Blake right into brain training the week before. He told me after brain training #4 that HE WOULD NEVER PUT HIS CHILD THROUGH THIS!!!! He cried so hard I finally bribed him with a lawn mower…he loves lawn mowers.
IT WORKED. He settled down. After the 6th brain training we went to Branson. We were talking in the car, just killing time so we decided to play continuous free word association. Blake was never good at it but it would kill time. I say leaf, he has to answer an associated word. Whatever he answers I have to answer with an associated word to his word and so on. Guess what! When leaf went to Palm Tree, then Palm Tree to Florida, the US states were flying back and forth. He was beating me throwing out state after state and I was having trouble pulling them out of my head! I was struggling and he was just popping them off right and left. I thought “All the stuff he had been being taught and hearing all these years was processing”.
When we got down to Branson I volunteered to help power wash the resorts cabins for free. The resort owners were struggling and I love to help! Blake was helping me power wash, but not in his normal hap hazard way. He was now efficiently and methodically using the power wand on the vinyl siding not missing a spot!
When we were done I had brought the game Boggle along just in case it rained and we could not fish. That evening we started playing, it was dark and nothing to do. (Blake normally only do 3 maybe 4 letter words) But as we started playing he was now doing 5 letter words. CONSISTANTLY!!!!!!! Well, I thought I AM GOING TO KICK UP MY GAME!” It was now his turn and I was searching for my next word…Ahhh…there it was and it was a great word if I do say so myself. H A T T E R. I waited for Blake to go. He sat back and said… SHATTER… S H A T T E R. I about fell off my chair!!
Well about 2 month later Blake ended up with Spinal Meningitis or Encephalitis they are not sure which but his brain got fried from something. It took about a little over a month for recovery but I noticed after that he was even getting more focused. At our print shop he would normally stare off into space for 8 hours and if he did do something he would not stay on task. Now he was actually working. Doing his work and other things that were not on his list. Self motivated things.
Ok for the next surprise. Blake came to me about 3 months after brain training and said HEATHER (his wife with autism) HAS GOT GET BRAIN TRAINING. Was this the same child who said HE WOULD NEVER DO THIS TO HIS CHILDREN!! And now BLAKE is insisting that “she” goes for brain training. WHAT A BLESSING THAT THIS IS EVEN POSSIBLE. Blake can now see disabilities in others, that he COULD NOT see before. He understands them and knows how much brain training helped. I hope we have the opportunity to get this information out to as many people as possible. There are so many many changes in both boys that I could write a book. “The Journey Home” is what I would name it.
My boys are now OK and the changes are all 100% great. THE RESULTS I HAVE WITNESSED ARE MIND ALTERING. JUST WATCHING CHANGES I NEVER DREAMED WERE POSSIBLE FOR MY BOYS. Both my boys are now capable of real fulfilling FUTURES. They have the ability to do whatever they want with their lives. I THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART.”
trained by:
Jude Davis
Ultimate Brain Institute