My son James was diagnosed with ASD four years ago. His speech was moderately to severely delayed. His behavior was terrible, tantrums, rigidity and outburst of violence.  His fine motors needed a lot of attention for getting dressed, for writing, for eating properly or lifting things. As for walking, James used to jump after each three steps and would jump up and down as a stim (self stimulatory behavior – also fliking his fingers in front of his eyes). As a Family, we had to start with intensive therapy of ABA to make him talk and regulate his behavior for mainstream schooling when he was 4-5 years.  The following year, 5-6 the same intensive therapy but only his vocabulary increased from ten words a day to 20 short sentences.  Speech Therapy was provided by the NHS until he reached the age of 5.  As a family, we grew increasingly worried for our son and his low progress each year. One day, a friend of mine told me to get an Occupational Therapist.  I looked through the internet and found Hemispheres.  Shelley explained what happened to our son and how to go about treating his core deficits.  Well, to cut a long story short, after two years therapy with Shelley, James now can converse with us and we don’t need to count his words anymore.  We can travel more and he no longer has any behavior that no-one in his classroom treats him differently. He tries to converse (by that I mean longer conversations) with his peers and plays football, basketball and badminton at school.  He is also part of the school choir and started playing the recorder.  His interests are broader and no longer obsessions nor rigid.  James is very happy and cuddly little boy who knows what has happened to him. He is able to learn in a mainstream setting, he can help me cook, look after his guinea pigs, garden with dad, have sleep overs, enjoy the company of his sisters (painting, pretend play, listening to music, play board games), going to museums, Cinema and travelling. James is very good at Skiing and this year has passed his first star.  He enjoys riding his bike, scooter and walks normally. I would recommend to anyone who has had this similar journey than us to focus on how important Hemispheres is to our Children!