Inez de Heer Koots Testimonial to Alphalearning
Inez de Heer Koots and Theo van der Hoeven – The Netherlands
To Alphalearning,
The results of the Alphalearning Institute treatment of our son Maarten have been so fantastic we have written the “article” following which we hope you can publish so other “braindamaged” children can also be helped.
“We’ve got a son – a great kid – who went to Alphalearning Institute where he got “repaired”. ” These were the words of Theo van der Hoeven and Inez de Heer Kloots, Maarten’s parents.
Maarten’s father tells us about an extraordinary experience he had at the Institute – something quite miraculous that took place during the holidays. They were still in Sweden when they got a phone call from their physician, who told Maarten and his father that they were both expected at the Alphalearning Institute. They were both to be treated at the Institute, a brain research institute, that claims to be able to “repair” brains.
Before Maarten was treated, a video recording was made of him performing a number of simple tasks. He was to stand on one leg – first on the left and then on the right one. He was not able to do this at one go on either leg, and walking in a straight line seemed to be impossible too. His left leg was swaying, and when he walks it looks as if he has a clog foot. It was not really that bad, but it did get us a bit worried. During our holiday in Sweden, his way of walking had become the topic of our conversation. His foot had always been turned inwards slightly. Specialists had told us that it would be okay in the end, but so far there had not been much improvement.
The treatment:
The treatment performed by the Alphalearning Institute is ‘simple’ – sensors are connected to the head, in particular the forehead. These sensors are connected to a computer. Through a number of tasks, the brain is stimulated in order to produce an EEG, displaying the activity of the two halves of the brain. Maarten’s EEG looks totally different from those of his father and others (see illustration).
The next part of the treatment has Maarten sitting down, connected to a light and sound “tuner” for 12 minutes, after which he has to perform some more tasks. And then, after the brain-tuning session, something happens that must seem totally incredible to an outsider.
“With disbelief and tears in my eyes I observe Maarten getting up on his left leg at one go – something that he was never able to do… Even more incredible is to see that his leg is steady now, and that he walks totally erect and appears to be ready to face the world with a smile on his face again. I can hardly believe it, even though I’m seeing all of this happen with my own eyes. Is this for real? Will it stay this way? Is this Lourdes or Billy Graham? It’s simply too fantastic to be true. Everyone present is just as amazed and happy. Maarten’s foot maintains it’s proper position, which to us is the only real and convincing proof that something really has changed.”
Good advice usually does not come cheap, and in this case the good advice came from the Alphalearning Institute, and Rainer Dietrich, who is a professor of pedagogy with the German Bundeswehr University in Hamburg. Both advised us to find him an international school, or a school with a staff experienced in dealing with children that have fallen behind. Slightly euphoric, the entire family starts the weekend.
On Saturday, Maarten is trying on a new pair of shoes. Carefully he takes his first steps into a new world – we are following him in amazement..
On Monday there is a meeting with the management of Maupertuus, a private school in Bosch en Duin. This private school deals with children who have problems reading and writing. We tell them about our experience at the Institute, and they show a lot of interest in it. Maarten will be examined on Tuesday – he does not want to go back to his old school. The next day he peddles the 11 kilometers to his new school – he does it entirely on his own. When he returns home, he is delighted: “I’m so glad that I don’t have to be on the bus anymore..”.
It’s been three weeks now since Maarten started in his new school. He really is becoming a new child. Every morning at seven he takes a shower, which would have been totally unimaginable before the treatment.
Every week we give him some money so he can buy a book of his choice, just like the Institute advised us to do. It’s happened more than once now that he started reading his book before starting his breakfast, simply because it’s too exciting. He also does his homework everyday without any complaints. He even got himself a part time job assisting at a bronze foundry..
If you ask him what he wants to become, this is his reply: “I’m going to medical school”, he’s quite determined about that. Maarten wants to learn, to read, to grow and become something in this world.
A lot has changed in our family.
Thank you!
Inez de Heer Koots and Theo van der Hoeven,
Maarten’s parents
Medical History of Maarten van der Hoeven
Maarten van der Hoeven was born at home at 00.20 AM on October 31, 1981. His father was still putting together the crib when his mother went into labor. The delivery went without problems and the parents were fond of their son. Maarten was much wanted and his birth was planned, even though the house was still being renovated as he was born.
The first couple of years of Maarten’s life were without worries. He played among the building materials, he played with clay in his parent’s art studio, and with sand in the sandbox.
Maarten’s growing up was literally a matter of falling and getting up again. Two of his spills nearly made the family lose its balances. The first time was when he fell down the stairs – he was just 1 year old. As far as we could tell, this did not leave any permanent damage. The second time – he was 2 1/2 years old – was when he fell again and hit the night table. He hurt his nose, which had to be stitched up at the casualty ward. When his parents saw blood pouring from the big wound near his eye, they got really scared. Panic broke out.
Participating in the play group took some getting used to. Maarten lacked fighting spirit – he preferred to play on his own in the corner of the room. However, he participated in the games that were played, and sitting in the circle of children he used to tell stories enthusiastically. But when the children were singing songs, Maarten was always a bit slower than the rest. Even now, the desire to play alone remained.
After the play group period, Maarten attended the kindergarten, and for principal reasons his parents decided to find him a Montessori school. They felt that – considering his independence – this type of school would be appropriate for him. Maarten was not too unhappy attending this school. But even though he practiced the alphabet in various ways, it never really worked out for him. But whenever another child made a mistake, he was able to tell it what exactly it did wrong. However, the school’s supervisors thought that Maarten was a smart kid, for they had never seen a child luring other children out of their class rooms so it could read them stories.. Maarten’s teacher was surprised to hear this – after all, Maarten was not able to read, was he? But at this stage, Maarten’s parents were not worried. At least, not yet… until he had to attend group 3. It was nearly time for the Christmas holidays’ school reports, and both his parents and his teachers felt that there was definitely something wrong with Maarten’s reading abilities. Maarten became depressed and sad because he was not able to read. At school, Maarten tried to escape from it all by going to the toilet often – the family doctor could not find anything wrong with Maarten.
Maarten was attracted by the computers standing in the school’s hallway. Maarten’s teachers were also surprised to see that he was not able to achieve better results. The impression that they had of him while attending classes did not agree with the grades he got.
Maarten was tested by an orthopediatrist who referred him to Professor Verdonck sr. of the University of Utrecht. The results of the tests indicated a functional disorder, a “pure image thinker”. Only once in his entire career had he encountered such a case. “A remarkably intelligent child” was Professor Verdonck’s comment. It was decided to do an EEG and a brain scan just to be on the safe side. Fortunately, the results were not disturbing.
After the tests, Maarten’s mother trained him everyday in school. She practiced the alphabet with him by using wooden letters, the result of which was that he was more or less able to recognise 16 letters of the alphabet. Below is a summary of the treatments and schools that have been part of the life of a boy who, despite of it all, remained cheerful:
- Tested by orthopediatrist Drs. Leo Blauw
- Tested by Dr.Prof.Piet Verdonck, senior
- Examined by neurologist Onno van Nieuwenhuizen
- Attended the “Berg en Bosch” school for special education and children with chronic diseases in Bilthoven, as recommended by the orthopediatrist.
Since more children in this school suffer from dyslexia, graduating students from the University of Utrecht were supposed to come to Bilthoven to train these children. Unfortunately, financial problems blocked these plans.
After four months, the Pedological Institute (P.I.) in Amsterdam followed. This was the result of the contact between this Institute and the orthopediatrist of the Berg en Bosch school. Maarten participated in a research program developed for children with reading problems, led by Professor Bakker. Every day, Marten was trained to read in order to stimulate both the audio and the visual aspects of the left hemisphere of the brain. For this purpose, a special computer program was developed. Contact at the P.I. was Mr. J. Kappers
– Strange enough, none of the specialist ever asked about the times that Maarten fell and got hurt one of the first questions asked at the Alphalearning Institute.
And finally …. repaired by the Alphalearning.
