I am a mother of two children, and like every mother, I dreamed of hearing my daughter call me “Mom” and tell me how she felt.
My daughter was born healthy and reached all of her developmental milestones on time. She played, smiled, understood what we were saying, made good eye contact, and enjoyed being around other children. But there was one thing she could not do—she could not speak.
She never said “Mom” or “Dad.”
As parents, this was heartbreaking.
My husband and I never lost faith. We believed that God had a plan, and we were determined to do everything possible to help our daughter. We spent years searching for answers. We took her to speech therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and many other intervention programs. We attended private clinics and government services. Every day, from early morning until evening, we traveled from one specialist to another, hoping to find something that would help.
We invested countless hours, endless energy, and significant financial resources trying to give our daughter the best opportunity to communicate.
Eventually, she received a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, deep inside, I felt there was something different about her case. She understood language, maintained excellent eye contact, played well with other children, followed social rules, and did not display many of the behaviors commonly associated with autism.
Her biggest challenge was simple: she could not express herself through speech.
One day, a friend told me about Tarkeez Neuro Center and how Neurofeedback had helped her own child.
We decided to visit Dr. Jamil Babli and complete a qEEG brain mapping assessment. The assessment revealed abnormal activity in the brain regions involved in communication between language understanding and language expression. For the first time, the findings seemed to match exactly what we were seeing in our daughter.
She understood language, but she struggled to express it.
After discussing treatment options, medication was considered. However, because she was still very young, we decided to begin with Neurofeedback training and monitor her progress through follow-up brain mapping assessments.
After the first 20 sessions, we began to notice meaningful changes. She became more engaged, more responsive, and her communication started improving. Follow-up assessments showed positive changes in the brain activity patterns that had initially been identified.
As the training continued, something incredible happened.
Our daughter started speaking.
Her vocabulary expanded, her confidence grew, and she began using longer sentences. Soon she was speaking in complete phrases and expressing her thoughts and needs more clearly.
One day, she walked into the clinic, looked at Dr. Jamil, and said:
“Hello Dr. Jamil, how are you?”
It was a moment I will never forget.
The most important lesson we learned was that all the years of therapy had not been wasted. Our daughter had been learning the entire time. Once her brain became better able to process and organize information, she was finally able to use the skills she had worked so hard to develop.
Today, she can express her needs, share her feelings, call me “Mom,” and call her father “Dad.” These may seem like simple words, but for our family they are priceless.
I am sharing our story for every parent who is working tirelessly to help their child. Never lose hope. Keep believing in your child and keep searching for answers.
Our experience taught us that understanding how the brain functions can provide valuable insight into the root causes of a child’s challenges. For our family, Neurofeedback became an important part of that journey.
Thank you to Dr. Jamil Babli and the entire team at Tarkeez Neuro Center for helping our daughter find her voice and helping our family find hope again.
— Mother of a Child with Communication Challenges