Millie came to Falcone Institute at the age of 22. She had difficulty maintaining meaningful relationships, organizing her life, and making healthy choices. Since childhood, she struggled with ADHD (difficulty with attention, concentration and focus) as well as difficulty tolerating frustration, which caused her to "give up" rather than persist until she accomplished her goal. Additionally Millie had difficulty with language processing, which culminated in lifelong learning struggles. Instead of problem solving, Millie would become angry and aggressive when she encountered obstacles, seeing herself as being victimized by an unfair person or situation.

Millie had underlying attachment, adoption, foster parent and early childhood developmental issues as well as personal safety issues as a result of early and ongoing childhood trauma. Contributing to her situation, her biological mother lived on the streets was a life long drug addict suffering from mood disorders and had the mental ability of a twelve-year-old. Millie was taken from her birth mother at three, and placed in foster care for two years before being adopted by a family with two older biological male siblings when she was five.

Millie wanted to feel successful. She wanted to be less reactive. She wanted to learn how to learn. She wanted to go to a trade school and perhaps college someday.

Falcone Institute determined that although Millie was intellectually bright, and artistically gifted with superior non-verbal ability, she was hampered by early childhood trauma, low-average verbal abilities and inattention tendencies. Falcone Institute concluded that Millie suffered from a language processing deficiency complicated by trauma. The interrelationship between her childhood trauma and depressed language development diminished her ability to process classroom language, maintain healthy relationships and excel at learning.

Over a six month period, Millie underwent a 20 hour per week intense emotional and cognitive language processing program which focused on the interrelationship between several major areas of deficit: emotional difficulties, attention difficulties, social difficulties and language processing difficulties. Through these specific focuses, Falcone Institute helped Millie to develop and enhance her academic, social, familial and personal skills.

In the two years that followed, Millie demonstrated an ability to establish and achieve goals, communicate with decreased reactivity, anxiety, anger and confusion while securing and maintaining a full time job and meaningful personal relationships. She is in a healthy relationship with a baby due in 2009.

Adulthood ADD/ADHD