Testimonials
I just wanted to share some news with you. Our son is using a program at school called READ180 to help with his comprehension. At the end of the school year he was at a lexile score of 592. He was tested again a few days ago and he scored a 608 this time. That’s an increase of 16 lexile points in two months without the daily reading program. In fact sadly, we were gone so much of the time this summer he didn’t really do as much reading as I had hoped. Yet, he still increased in his score. In an average school year of 9 months a typical child having trouble with reading is expected to gain 100 lexiles. If my son keeps this up, I have very high hopes that he will be able to surpass that and close the gap that he’s had for so long.
I was telling my husband, that I believe it was due to the neurofeedback therapy along with his own efforts. In any case, it was great to see that our son has indeed made progress in his reading comprehension. He won’t be tested again until November and I am looking forward to seeing his continued progress.
We also received positive comments from his speech therapist and social group therapists. One was so impressed she asked me for your website and name because she wanted to learn more. Thank you and Allison for all your work with him.
Katherine has been so miserable with allergies ever since we moved back to Houston six years ago when she was only 2. We’ve had to use the inhaler more often than we’d like and several nights we thought we might end up in the emergency room (as we did three years ago). We would sit up with her all night, she couldn’t sleep and had to breath through her mouth. Her eyes were constantly red and swollen and she was just miserable.
Thanks to your suggestion of the Chinese herb tablets (which she has had no trouble swallowing), she has slept the last two nights SILENTLY, with her mouth closed. It is really so satisfying to see her resting now because she looks so much more peaceful. She (and therefore WE) has gotten two good nights of sleep. Night before last she actually rolled over on her tummy and continued sleeping soundly – something she has not done in over a year because she had trouble breathing. She is taking the herbs three times a day without a bit of fussing. So THANKS ARTURO!! We will continue her regimen. – RL
We have been using the QRS mat for about four weeks now, our son has changed a lot, everyone noticed a great improvement in language, he is much more aware of the environment, and he is expressing really well. He is using longer sentences and many more spontaneous comments.
We have really seen great changes in his language, ability to focus and behaviors and it has only been a month!
Thanks a lot,
Maria and Jose
Dr. Volpe,
We have had amazing results! In less than 2 weeks our daughter began to improve tremendously in her attention span and social skills. Noticeably different! Then last week I picked up her piano book and saw where she had recorded her practice times. The handwriting was small and neat and fit nicely into the small boxes. Before she would have written across the page! This is amazing results and I am so looking forward to even more improvement as we go along. I am seriously considering sending her to school without her ADD medication because her focus is so improved!
We had Michael’s teacher conference last week and he is doing well. Actually, NO issues! Praise God. He is listening, transitioning, following directions, learning and keeping his hands to himself. Just what we want in pre K! (and for the rest of our lives actually!) Thank you for your recommendations on ridding myself of a sinus infection. I got the two items you suggested and they have worked exceptionally well.
Also, my husband’s lower leg swelling has gone down precipitously… after many months of discomfort… since being on your nutrition/diet suggestions.
I have been meaning to update you for several weeks now, but life has been so hectic I am barely keeping up! We have only a few days left of the chelation supplement you gave us, and varying quantities of the other supplements too. I am used to having patience and letting things work slowly, but considering how slow I have been, I have seen rather fast results. Q. is improving so much all the time, I am so stunned that it is hard to believe that whatever we are doing is working, between the therapy, supplements and diet. It is exciting and I can hardly have a conversation about Q. without proclaiming my shock and excitement!
Several of Q.’s biggest issues before were the obsession with music and my iPhone, as well as his difficulty with transitions. All of these areas have improved to some degree! He still enjoys my iPhone, but does not ask for it every time he sees it, and his time playing with it seems shorter and less intense. He still likes his classical music, but has decided to occupy himself with other things in the car like playing “I Spy” and reading a book of catalog.
We also hear more and more of his language deepening in spontaneity, clear comprehension and understanding of context, and making creative and inventive parallels in pretend play or with his simple observations about the world around him. He is making connections and using his intuition to figure things out. Very exciting!
I first called Dr. Volpe’s office four years ago, in an absolute panic. My 5-year-old son was having emotional and physical problems, and it was getting worse daily. He was spiraling down, and no one seemed able to help him. He went to pediatricians and therapists and psychologists and psychiatrists. The doctors were prescribing stronger and stronger drugs, coming up with a more frightening diagnosis every time. With each and every medication, my son had an incredibly strong and un-heard of adverse reaction, and, while frightening, this was a miracle in disguise. It sent me off desperately searching for another way to help him.
I found my way to Dr. Volpe, and from the first phone call, I knew this office was different. The receptionist was so kind and compassionate, I burst into tears on the phone with her. And, when we went in to see him, Dr. Volpe actually listened to me. He treated me as a partner in my son’s health. He realized that I was, in a way, an expert on my son because I lived with him and observed him every day.
While I wanted Dr. Volpe to hand me a miracle cure that would fix everything for my sweet child, what he was able to hand me was his vast knowledge and his dedication. Through diet and nutritional supplements, my son is doing amazingly well. He has made the kind of progress that would have been unconceivable a few years ago. It has not been easy. I had to remove about 90 percent of what my child ate. I had to convince him that eating what his friends were eating was making him sick. He takes a large number of vitamins several times a day and hates it, as any child would. But, he also has come to realize that he can do so much now that his body wouldn’t have let him do otherwise.
I am frightened to think where my son might be now if we had stayed on that other path, the one of newer and newer drugs, medication to mask the problem, not find out what caused it. And, I am grateful every day – that we did go to Dr. Volpe, that he is gifted with such knowledge and understanding of the human body, and that he wants so passionately to help his patients find their way to a healthy life.
A mother’s story
I’ve been meaning to write you for a while, but never seem to find the time to sit down and write when it’s on my mind. If you remember we started the gluten-free casein-free soy-free diet in October. If I remember correctly we were probably on the diet for 2-3 weeks when she came down with a terrible sinus infection. We had a follow-up with you in early November, and she had just gotten over her sinus infection. I had taken her to our regular pediatrician, who is quite open minded, but basically painted the picture that he has seen her situation (gigantic tonsils)many times over the years, and that he bet he “would be seeing a lot” of us that winter. He explained how the crowding doesn’t allow the ears to drain, etc. and that while she would eventually outgrow it, how much intervention would we have to do in the meantime? It was clear to me (without him saying it) that he thought tonsillectomy was the right path. That until we did the surgery, we’d be in and out of his office with illness like a revolving door, especially during the winter. I left feeling discouraged, but we stuck with the diet and supplements.I am happy to report that the sinus infection was the last illness of ANY KIND she’s had. I’m still pinching myself. I am simply in shock at how healthy she is. This cold and flu season seemed to be the worst by far that I have seen. All the kids in her class had hacking coughs and running noses. Both her teachers came down with the flu. Our best friends that we see two or three times a week both came down with the flu. The wife of the couple had a sinus infection and ear infection as well. Another close friend had a cold he couldn’t shake for 3 weeks and ended up not going on a trip because it was so intense for him. Louise traveled with us to Wisconsin (on airplanes), had her sleep disrupted, extreme changes in temperature (snow, etc.), changes in routines, etc. Throughout all this, she did not even get one trickle of mucus from her nose. Not even a mild cold, cough, NOTHING. Before she would have been the first to get it. I have no doubt about that.
I can’t thank you enough for this gift you’ve given us. I’m truly a believer. Also, you should know that at 2.5 years old, Louise is her own food boss. She is very much aware of what has gluten and casein. She told our friend yesterday that she “can’t have bread because that’s gluten”. At a Mexican restaurant, they accidentally put cheese on her beans. She said “Uh oh! Look at my beans. I can’t have cheese!” This from a child who used to love and beg for cheese. At Christmas time, we made GFCF cookies for Santa. She made sure we told Santa the cookies were “gluten free”. She’s happy to have her Jello when the other kids have birthday cake. Most parents think she is just amazingly compliant, but I think she FEELS BETTER. The few times she got a regular hot dog or something, her behavior has changed, and she’s been more emotional, clingy, and explosive. It makes me wonder how many kids who aren’t very compliant are under the same spell that junky food can bring?
Anyway, I just wanted to thank you deeply for your help. I’m looking forward to seeing our pediatrician at her next well child visit to remind him that not only did he not “see a lot of us” over the winter, he didn’t see us AT ALL!
Dr. Volpe has cared for my daughter and myself for nearly ten years. He has always given us the most thoughtful, careful, and complete advise and care. His range of knowledge and education in health matters is broad and varied. He is able to synthesize, prioritize, and simplify the many bits of information involved and then produce a streamlined treatment plan that is comprehensive and yet easy to follow. His supplements are reasonably priced.
As our confidence in Dr. Volpe has grown, our reliance on more conventional caretakers has diminished, saving time and money. We use traditional medical practitioners when indicated or recommended by Dr. Volpe. The changes in lifestyle and other recommendations from Dr. Volpe have had more impact on our improving health than anything suggested by the more traditional doctors. As we have learned from him, Dr. Volpe has helped us to develop our own knowledge about how to care for ourselves. We now feel confident in selecting health advisory newsletters and other resources to supplement what he has taught.
My daughter, who is now in high school, has always struggled with school. She has a hard time getting her work done, getting her thoughts on paper, and has poor grades no matter how hard she tries. She gets very anxious and confused easily, causing depression. She has a difficult time in social situations, making eye contact, remaining calm, controlling her temper/anger. She has been taking medication and has gone to every kind of therapy and we have seen very gradual, slight progress. In May 2009 she was having a harder time with anger and depression and we were having to start over with her meds, so we decided to visit Dr. Volpe and see what he had to say.
Dr. Volpe spent almost 2 hours with us and came up with an individualized plan for my daughter. We started her new program over the weekend and did not say anything to her teachers about the new treatment. Early in the week my 3 other children were amazed at the difference in their sister. On Friday I went to talk to one of her teachers and all of her teachers and the head of the school met me and asked me what we had done. She had completed all of her class work and was getting along with her peers! They said she had the best week ever, and some of those teachers have know my daughter for 5 years. Over the summer she was able to adjust a little easier to changing routines. She was able to enjoy our vacation without worrying so much about what was going on at home. This summer is the first time she has not begged to come home from a trip.
We were all getting ready for the beginning of school, which is always extremely difficult. Every year it is the same, lots of tears, frustration, not wanting to get up, fights over homework, outbursts at home. It adversely affects our whole family. For the first time in 10 years the school year started smoothly. She LOVES school. She gets up and gets ready by herself without any tears, get her class work done, independently does her homework without any arguing, and gets along well with peers at school. We have had very few outbursts and she is interacting with her siblings and peers in appropriate ways. She is a genuinely happy girl. Our family dynamic has totally changed, everyone is happy and the stress level has plummeted. She goes to a very small school and academically does the work of any other high school sophomore, Physics, Spanish, and Algebra II. We just got her report card and both of us cried when we looked at it. In big bold letters at the bottom it said “Honor Roll.” If you ask anyone of our family members or her doctors what they think about our daughter, they will all tell you they believe it is a miracle.