In line with the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts (2020), Sections 5.07 (Soliciting Testimonials from Current Clients for Advertising), 5.08 (Using Testimonials from Former Clients for Advertising), and 5.09 (Using Testimonials for Non advertising Purposes)- all testimonials on this site were given voluntarily and without coercion.
Our Shades of Life Care story through Parents’ Lens
“I am J’s mother. At 3 years old, our son, J, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). That moment was incredibly difficult. How would he thrive in a world where there is a stigma towards children with special needs? Would we find a suitable school for him? We wondered. Fortunately, intervention of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) was recommended at Shades of Life Care (SOLC).
Our first meeting was with the CEO, Mrs Nwokolo. With her personal and professional experience, she was able to empathise and understand our mental space. We were not looking for a cure but the right support to enable J live to his full potential. The therapy commenced. Holistic, individualised and intensive. It included one-on-one sessions and social engagements with other children at the clinic. J spent time learning, among many other things, self-help skills like brushing his teeth, feeding himself and potty training. Most of the stereotypic behaviours were also managed.
SOLC emphasises the joint effort between parents and staff. To this end, I enrolled and completed a 40-hour ABA training program by SOLC. This is the same training Behavior Technicians receive.
J was re-evaluated one year after the therapy had started and declared school-ready. He transitioned into school successfully and is thriving socially and academically. I guess the SOLC story never ends. It is home. I am glad we chose Shades of Life to walk this journey with us. Thank you Shades of Life!”
My beautiful children are two of the three most important people in my life… from the minute I learned I was pregnant, wriggling around in his little stomach-cocoon “M”, my first child, effortlessly settled into the center of my entire being. My thoughts, my dreams, my fears, my joy… all now heavily revolved around this fragile, precious human.
Over the first two years, no matter how exhausting or challenging the experience, I navigated each stage of life with M in complete wonder over the sheer joy and excitement that his presence ignited for me. And so when at the age of 2 my husband and I learned that he is (and always will be) autistic – a disorder I knew little to nothing about at the time – the first emotions that flooded me were fear and anxiety over how his life – a life that I held so dear – would be impacted by his neurodivergence.
In a strange way, as someone who had dealt with mixed anxiety and depression disorder, I found it perhaps easier than most to accept that our brains can function in very different ways and i had firsthand experience of what having a diagnosis could mean for getting the right sort of help and support amidst uncertainties, challenges and even desperation.
As M’s mother, I felt a deep sense of guilt for not recognising sooner that he wasn’t a neurotypical child because of the time that had inevitably passed without us harnessing the right tools to provide him with the support he needed and deserved. My focus swiftly became figuring out the best ways to support my beautiful son given this new information and our new reality.
With months spent trying to figure out what options were available to us in Nigeria, searching online and discretely reaching out to anyone we thought might be able to help and advise us, we ultimately found out about the Shades Of Life Centre (SOLC) and from this moment onwards we had an invaluable source of consistent, empathetic and compassionate support, knowledge, guidance and care.
The relief and sense of confidence and reassurance that accompanied finding a centre filled with knowledgeable individuals, skilled in diagnosis and behavioural therapies, who were all ready and willing to work with us towards providing the best support for our son cannot be overstated. It was like suddenly having a firm, trusted hand to grip and cling on to as we walked down a path completely unknown to us.
At every stage, SOLC, strode with us – through the progress and some inevitable challenges, through uncertainties, through anxieties. M’s team of technicians, led by the passionate and indefatigable Dr Nwokolo, was always willing to answer questions, offer suggestions, point us towards additional helpful resources and be a compassionate ear.
The privilege of being able to turn to Dr Nwokolo – a scholar, teacher, trainer, counsellor, leader and, perhaps, most important of all, a fellow parent of a neurodivergent child who had been through many of the very experiences and emotions that we ourselves had encountered – is something for which I am extremely appreciative. It means a great deal that SOLC is helmed by a brilliant founder with authentic experience of what it means to be a parent wanting the best for one’s neurodivergent child and who has been resilient and committed enough to gain the necessary expertise to transform not only the life of her own child but the lives of so many other children and young adults.
For Dr Nwokolo and SOLC, as proud parents of our beautiful, precious M, my husband and I will always remain deeply, deeply grateful.
