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JACKSON My son Jackson was diagnosed with autism when he was almost 2 and half years old. He has often struggled to learn things that come easy to other children. For as long as I can remember, Jackson has worked very hard. We have been fortunate enough to have an amazing team of therapists that have been working with Jackson for several years. He has always made progress- but it has been painfully slow. 
Still, I know that my son is very smart. It amazed me how he could be so strong in some areas, but so weak in others. At 5 years old, he had yet to speak a single word. Not one--- ever. Jackson had a really comprehensive program, but he wasn't learning like he should have been. It seemed like something in his brain just wasn't functioning properly. As time went on, it became harder and harder for us to stay positive. I continued to research and learn about different treatments for children with autism. I tried many of them. Some helped a little, some not at all. I was willing to try many things, but I learned not to get my hopes up. Eventually, I found myself in Dr. Gruttadauria's office, listening to him explain Neuro Enhancement Therapy (NET) and how it might help Jackson . After learning more about it, I agreed to bring Jackson in for an evaluation. I decided to sign Jackson up, but I had no expectations. NET made sense to me, but honestly, I just didn't want to be disappointed. After just two weeks, Jackson loved being there. He would pull me through the door when we got there, wanting to go in right away. After two months, Jackson said his first word. He was holding the letter A in his hand, looked up at it, and said the word 'Apple.' It was the most amazing thing that I have ever heard. Many words have followed since then. His articulation gets better every day. He has made more progress in the past year than he has in his entire life. He has gone from a boy who couldn't even make sounds, to one who has a voice. A sweet, beautiful voice that I could listen to all day long. If you'd like to see some video of Jackson learning to say his first words, please visit http://www.youtube.com/lumardi1. We are forever grateful to Dr. Gruttadauria and the staff at the Long Island Spectrum Center. We will continue to take Jackson there for a long time. Please feel free to email me at lumardi@verizon.net if you have any questions. - Michele Iallonardi JOEY My son Joey was diagnosed with Autism over three years ago. Since the moment of his diagnosis he has spent countless hours in therapy and at doctor's appointments. He has been on a very strict casein, gluten, and soy free diet for three years. 
This has helped to control his self stimulatory behaviors and keep him focused. He has also seen several DAN doctors regularly for the past several years. We have followed the DAN protocol along with the diet very strictly. He has been on a daily dose of supplementation to help boost his immune system, fight yeast, and combat leaky gut syndrome. Since Joey's diagnosis we were very adamant about him never missing a class of his over a forty hour a week work schedule or one of his many DAN doctor appointments he had each week. Even though we were all working so hard, especially Joey, he only seemed to make slow steady progress. We had never seen a big jump or even a jump for that matter. It was taking so long for him to learn new tasks and he was still not verbal at the age of four. At that time I met a friend and she explained she was taking her son Jackson to a new place called Long Island Spectrum Center and he was doing better, even beginning to talk! That was amazing to me, since I had known Jackson and he had never spoken a word before. I took the number and called right away. I left a message and Dr. Michael Gruttadauria returned my call very promptly. He was so kind and warm; I immediately got a good feeling so I set up an appointment. My husband and I took Joey in that week and after meeting Dr. Mike and Veronica we signed up and it was the best thing I ever did for my son. After six weeks my son started saying his first words!! He came into the kitchen and said, "mommy pudding." I jumped up and down shouting, "he wants pudding!" I immediately got him some gluten and casein free pudding I had and he ate it. He then started asking for cookies, ball, banana, out, car. I realized that over the next few weeks he had thirty words. He was also learning at a much faster rate than ever before! After three months of going to Long Island Spectrum Center I noticed that Joey was beginning to have a formed stool, this was amazing to me because I had worked so hard to fix his leaky gut syndrome and was never able to do it before. When I told Dr. Mike about it he explained that the brainstem controls the gut and making changes to the brainstem with therapy allows it to function more normally! My son has now been going to Long Island Spectrum Center for eight months now. We never wait and are always greeted with a smile and a warm welcome from Dr. Mike and Veronica. They personally know each and every one of their patients and their parents. They are completely dedicated to making sure that each one of their patients are getting the best care possible. Dr. Mike has even made many calls to our house to check on how Joey was doing over weekends or school breaks. I was so pleasantly surprised! This school year has been my sons best ever. He is learning each and every day and every week I get a progress report that comes home with all the things he mastered and put in retention. Every week the list has about ten different things, where as it used to take him months to learn new things. He has about forty words and his receptive language has increased greatly. It is so wonderful to see him do things I ask him to do around the house without any prompting, just verbal cues! He is communicating and he is much happier. He is more focused and attentive at home and in school. He is more related and connected to people around him. He is always looking to play with family members and teachers. He was recently in a school play and for the first time in his life he was able to do it. He was even proud of himself when the audience applauded. It brought tears of joy to our eyes to see our son accomplish such a task, it was wonderful to see! Dr. Mike and Veronica have been incredibly supportive throughout this whole process to both my son and our family. I am so grateful to them for their commitment to helping the Autism community and what they have been able to do for my son so far. Sincerely, - Michelle Inzerillo LIAM From the moment we met Dr. Michael Gruttadauria of the Long Island Spectrum Center, we knew that we had found something extraordinary! My name is Joelle Golden and I am the mom of a 5 year old boy named Liam. Liam was diagnosed with PDD-nos at the age of 2. We found Dr. Mike (as we fondly call him) when Liam was about to turn 4. 
Shortly after meeting Dr. Mike, we started bringing Liam to the Long Island Spectrum Center multiple times per week. Liam has always been a high-functioning child. Prior to bringing him to the Center, he had a large vocabulary, but just wasn't putting words together as well as he should be. He also had a lot of sensory issues - in fact he was especially overly sensitive to loud noises and music on the radio. Liam also constantly sought out physical input - in other words he was a real "crasher and banger" always looking for that pressure and impact to help pull himself together. His attention span was scattered and his social skills were developing but just not up to par. After beginning therapy at the Center, we very quickly started to see changes in Liam (I would say over the course of just one or two months). His language was the first thing that really took off - he really started putting together words into sentences and his vocabulary just kept growing and growing! We also noticed that he was not as sensitive to music and loud noises. His attention span increased and overall, he just seemed more "pulled together." Today, Liam is a very high functioning child on the spectrum who basically blends in with his typically developing classmates. He attends the mainstream kindergarten class at his school. Although he has a two-to-one aid, his teacher tells us that she rarely if ever gets involved. He is either up to par or advanced academically speaking. He is a social little boy and his social skills are improving every day - in fact, he constantly engages his younger sister in play (cars, "fighting" with light sabers, and sometimes he even gives in and plays dolls with her!) and this behavior is starting to carry-over to the classroom setting. He also has friends outside of school that he loves to play with! We listen to music all the time on the radio in the car and in our home and Liam really enjoys it - he knows all of the popular music artists out there today! He has also stopped his "crashing and banging" behaviors, although he is still a very active child who likes to jump on the couch or the bed and just have fun building forts and giggling with his little sister. I know that the therapy provided by the Long Island Spectrum Center helped Liam develop into the child that he is today! We just love Dr. Mike and Veronica and are so grateful to them for how much they have helped Liam. Liam loves visiting the Center - it's like we are one of the family! Thank you Dr. Mike and Veronica for your dedication love and support! We couldn't have done it without you!! - Joelle Golden VINCENT My son Vincent was diagnosed with PDD-nos when he was 2 and 1/2 years old. He had already been receiving services through early intervention for 6 months when he was diagnosed. He had a very busy schedule which included speech and occupational therapies, ABA therapy and pre-school. 
Vincent was always very connected with the people in his environment. He is friendly and constantly seeks interaction. His biggest problem was that he had no words until he was over 3 years old. It also seemed as though he couldn't hear us when we spoke to him (although his hearing was fine according to several tests).
His many hours of therapy at home and school helped Vincent progress, although at a very slow rate. It almost seemed that every time he made progress in one area he'd fall behind in another. The gap between where he was and where he should be was growing every day, and that was very hard for me and my family to deal with. There had to be something else we could do. We weren't going to just accept this slow rate of progress and have Vincent fall further behind. Countless hours of research for alternative therapies led me to Dr. Gruttadauria at the LI Spectrum Center. "Dr. Mike" knew what we were going through. He went down this road with his own daughter. He listened to our story, evaluated Vincent and came up with a program designed for his needs. Dr. Mike explained this Neuro Enhancement therapy to us and it made so much sense. His brain is not functioning to its potential. Those less active parts of his brain need to be stimulated so all the parts could work together, effectively. How happy we were that after just 2 weeks of therapy with Dr. Mike and Veronica, Vincent's use of language progressed. His attention span improved. He could actually watch television, play with his cars, and respond to me at the same time. Vincent is currently 5 years old and in a self-contained kindergarten class. At our 1st kindergarten parent-teacher conference his teacher commented on his improved speech! We compared the results of his ATEC evaluation before and after 3 months of therapy and we are happy to say that his score (level of impairment) went down nearly 20 points. We have been blessed to have Vincent in Dr. Mike and Veronica's care for the past 3 months. They have touched our lives with their program. They also have become our friends and together we look forward to seeing how far Vincent will go. -Suzanne Ranaudo JAKE 
My son Jake was diagnosed with PDD at age 2yrs. He is speech and language delayed as well as delays in his gross and fine motor skills. He received early intervention at 2yrs and just before his 3rd birthday he went to a center based program for a full day of school. He received speech therapy, occupational and physical therapy in and out of school. We have also tried many different therapies along with nutritional changes. He has always made slow but steady progress.
In November 2006 my husband and I met with Dr. Michael Gruttadauria and Veronica Lleras to discuss the Neuro Enhancement Program. They explained what the program had to offer and how our 7 year old son Jake could benefit from the program. Jake started the program in January 2007, at the time he had started school in District in a self contained class of about seven children. In February 2007 his teacher suggested that placing Jake in a typical Kindergarten class for a couple of hours a few times a week would help to improve his social skills. He did so well, that by April he was placed in the class permanently! In September 2007, Jake was in a typical 1st grade class with an aide, for added support. He's still receiving speech, O.T. and P.T., but is doing wonderfully. Below is a list of things that he has accomplished in one year, it may not seem like a big deal, but from a parent with a special needs child it is fantastic: 1. he's more compliant and social 2. increased speech, language and receptive skills 3. transitions without getting upset 4. improved gross motor skills 5. improved fine motor skills: writing in school 6. buckles seat belt(this was very difficult for him) 7. puts on and remove shoes 8. rinses mouth after brushing teeth This was a great year for our son and we truly believe that the Long Island Spectrum Center has helped our son to achieve these goals. Not only has the program helped Jake, but Dr. Gruttadauria, Veronica Lleras and the staff have always been wonderful since day one. We will never forget them and their hard work. -S. McCourt |
              
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CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS TO THE OFFICE 100 Manetto Hill Road, Suite 106 | Plainview, NY 11803 | 516-470-9525 |
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