Houston Chronicle Article

Miracles and Autism are two terms that don’t typically go together, but for the families with children on the autism spectrum who attend The Next Step Academy (NSA), miracles are a common part of their daily lives, thanks to the efforts of an extraordinary young woman by the name of Lauren Harrington Abel and her dedicated staff.

The miracles begin promptly at 8:30 Monday morning when the children arrive for school, ready to begin their week, excited to see their teachers and happy to reconnect with school friends after a weekend apart. These miracles continue throughout the week as Lauren and her team work tirelessly with their students tackling individual neurodevelopment, relationship and behavior goals, while also mastering classroom behaviors and grade-level academics.

Ranging in age from 3 to mid-teens, most of these children came to NSA already veterans of years of therapy programs. In most cases, they either plateaued in those programs, no longer making progress, or aged out of programs designed for very young children. A large number of these children are considered to be non-verbal and most have had no formal education.

Our son Bobby was one of these children. At six years of age, even with four years of therapy under his belt, he was non-verbal, couldn’t focus, couldn’t sit still or follow the simplest of instructions.

That is when we found Lauren, a miracle in itself. This young woman already had her hands full. She had no need to advertise and wasn’t listed in any public resource directory. The only way anyone found out about her was to stumble across her. And yet find her we did! Within two weeks of enrollment, we had our second miracle, when Bobby began answering "yes" and "no" questions, for the first time in his life. Fast forward 4 years, our son now 10, is talking up a storm and is mastering grade appropriate courses – reading, writing, math, everything! That my friend, is what I call living in miracle alley.

When asked what sets The Next Step Academy apart from other schools and therapy centers, Lauren’s eyes dance with excitement as she explains the customized nature of her center’s approach. “It’s a combination of so many things, but at the heart of it, it’s our work on maturing an individual’s nervous system, and meeting developmental milestones, that sets us apart.“

“At Next Step Academy, we believe that you can get profound clues about a child’s developmental level simply by observing their motor skills and actions.” Lauren explains. “When you see a 7-year old child exhibiting primitive reflexes he should’ve outgrown as a 3-month old or a 3-year old, you know you are dealing with an immature nervous system and there are specific needs that must be addressed in order for a child to move forward. The priority is a matter of making the brain-body connections so that these kids can achieve their fullest potential, and grow in the areas of relationship and behavior.”

Her demeanor changes, grows softer as she reflects, “Look, people do the best they can, especially children. If they aren’t doing what you ask, it is probably because they do not have the resources to do it, not because they don’t want to. It’s our job to support these children in making the critical connections that will unlock the resources they need to be successful in life."

This first part of the puzzle was already well established in Lauren’s routine as a therapist working with autistic children for several years before adding the educational part. Her years of work with children with developmental delays lead Lauren to develop and coin a unique and highly effective learning model The Integrated-Developmental-Educational-Approach to LearningTM (IDEALTM). IDEAL was first developed at The Institute for Special Needs Children (InSNC) as a way to target developmental goals in a supplemental way, in combination with other educational programs. The Next Step Academy as a full time, formal school grew as an extension from there. In her words, “using the IDEALTM model allows us to customize our educational programs to meet the needs of the individual and produces significant and lasting social, emotional, cognitive and behavioral changes.”

If you speak to the parents of children enrolled at NSA they may not intrinsically know how this model works but they all unanimously agree that they see profound results.

Parent Dana Dressel, who has two children enrolled at NSA, recalls the time Lauren worked all day with her reluctant son to chew gum. Says Dana, “Lauren had the vision to know that chewing gum would help him cope with his oral motor issues and increase his ability to focus. And now, his piano teacher always checks to make sure that he has gum before his lesson. It has changed his life!” Dana says her other son started at The Next Step Academy part time. “We had him tested yearly through another organization. His overall IQ score increased by 20 points after only 6 months at NSA. My husband and I knew that full time placement at The Next Step Academy was the key to our son's progress.”

Says Eileen Faulk, parent of 9 year old Evan,“Working collaboratively in teams has been a huge success and working through challenging problems academically, with so many methods and disciplines at work at once, my son is achieving his goals.”

New to the school is Julianne, a 9-year old who suffers from significant anxiety issues. Says parent Aileen Wendelewski “Julianne has only been attending Next Step Academy for a couple of months and my husband and I have noticed remarkable growth and positive changes in our daughter. She is noticeably less anxious, more peaceful and happier! For the first time in her life she is excited to go to school!”

In writing this article, it takes me back to that day my husband and I and Bobby stood on Lauren’s doorstep, almost 5 years ago. We went to see Lauren because our son wasn’t making much progress in the other therapies he was receiving, and I was exhausted from all the driving and coordinating involved in piecing together a program for him. At that meeting I remember talking about her qualifications. Her formal education, focus of studies, all of it was very impressive, and certainly all I needed to know to make the decision to move our son to her center.

But what I didn’t know at the time, the things that were most important, were the intrinsic qualities and motivation behind it all. I didn’t know the magnitude of her dreams and desires and love for these special children. That is what makes Lauren truly the gem that she is, and that is the stuff that births miracles.

At that first meeting with Lauren, I didn’t know that she had felt her calling since she was 9 years old. I didn’t know then that most of her life had been dedicated to working with autistic children and that when she looks into the eyes of a little one that she sees their innate intelligence and special light and knows intuitively how to unlock them. I didn’t know then that respect is the basis of Lauren’s entire belief system. I also didn't know then that Lauren felt she was cut from a unique clothe specifically to reach these children. She will be the first to tell you that sometimes the answers come to her in ways that even she doesn’t fully understand, and she attributes that to her strong Christian beliefs.

None of those things did I know and yet, I could feel all of those qualities in the way she interacted with my child at that first meeting. More importantly, I could tell by the way Bobby responded to Lauren that he felt those qualities too.

All of the parents of NSA will tell you our lives have been irrevocably changed, miraculously so. Our children’s lives have been enriched beyond our wildest dreams and we are so thankful to have Lauren Harrington Abel in our lives. Looking to the future has never been brighter and I invite you to stay tuned for more from Lauren as she moves into the next chapter of her life, which more than likely will mean opening up Next Step Academies across the country and making her educational model (IDEALTM) available and common to every school in North America, be it private, public, or special needs. And as long as she’s there to help my child through college, it’s fine by me!

by Barbara Haney, parent of Bobby Haney, 10-year old student at The Next Step Academy