Story of Hope for Finley

Challenge: ODD, Anger, ADHD, Tantrums, Autism, OCD

Finley first came to Crossroads Chiropractic at 10 years old. He had previously been tested for ADHD, autism, OCD and ODD… all of which he never was officially diagnosed with per se, but all the levels on his assessments were just a hair under the “red flag” line, so his parents were told that they would see a lot of those sorts of spectrum-like tendencies. The daily experience of living with Finley included tears, screaming, defiance, disrespect, aggression toward his younger brother, and multiple full-blown tantrums. After 10 years of experiencing these weighty and intense behaviors on a daily basis, it made it challenging for his parents to stay calm and regulated all of the time toward him. His mom, Jessica, reflected that the time she spent with him, “trying to train him right and teach him well have seemed futile and has caused utter exhaustion.” One of the hardest things for Finley’s mom was not just to see her oldest act out, but to see the toll it was taking on his younger brother. His brother has been exposed to this explosive behavior daily at home since the day he was born. Finley’s mom told us that, “I had seen him turn from a happy baby, to a hurt and sad toddler, to a stressed-out, frustrated 7-year-old because of our dysregulated 10 year old.”

Jessica let us know that over the years, Finley had seen three different therapists— from play therapy, to those specializing in spectrum behaviors— and all three of them recommended medication. Finley’s father is a medical doctor, and the family completely understands that medication has helped a lot of people, but she stated that, “For my son, it didn’t feel right, and the thought of it made me want to cry!” The family elected to go the natural route which included supplements, parasite cleanses, etc., but only saw minimal change. Jessica was at a point where she felt that medication was going to be the very LAST option but they were getting close to that point. “I would search high and low and try everything in between that we could— coupled with prayer— to help him be whole in his mind, soul, and body and become all that he was meant to be! I really believed deep down that there was an answer, but I had to find it”

One day, Jessica stumbled upon PxDocs on Instagram and she could feel a nudge on the inside to dig a little deeper. Unfortunately, there was no PxDoc location within 300 miles of where they live, so she sat on the information she had learned for a couple of months and didn’t do anything about it. During this time, Jessica did her research and read about how the nervous system tied in with chiropractic care. The evidence became overwhelming, and she finally got to the point where she knew she had to take the next step and make an appointment. “Crossroads Chiropractic was the office that stood out to me, so we had our first neurological assessments the next week! All of our scans confirmed that we have been living in a state of fight-or-flight for some time, and not in a place of peace and rest.”

The rest of Finley’s story is a directly written by Jessica. We tried to re-write it multiple times but nothing was better than the words directly from her.

“After hearing what Dr. J had to say about our neurological assessments, and because we live out of town, we scheduled a two week intensive plan at Crossroads. At the end of the first week, I’ll be honest, my son’s behavior had gotten worse and he was acting full blown autistic! His neurological scans looked worse than the initial scans and I literally became an emotional basket case. I pleaded with Dr. Kent to adjust my son back to how he used to be because something must have seriously gone wrong! But Dr. Kent took an ample amount of time explaining that my son’s brain was literally rewriting new neural pathways, and he was detoxing from traumas and old ways of thinking. Dr. Kent spent a lot of time encouraging and reassuring me that the situation may get worse before it gets better. Everything he said made sense, and I could tell he knew what he was talking about. We drove home after that appointment for the weekend and surprisingly, had a very good and different weekend than we normally have. It was not perfect by any means, but the arguments and tantrums were diffused and limited. I could see a difference immediately and so could others. When we returned for our second week of intense treatments, I met up with a friend for dinner who I had not seen for a long time and brought my son with me. During our dinner for the first time in his life, my son did not interrupt, need to be the center of attention, or be obnoxious, nor was he asking to use my phone. He sat there politely literally for the first time EVER! And acted like a total gentleman! He sat there quietly and allowed us to catch up, and I was absolutely blown away! I ran into the office the next day excited to share our experience together! Dr. Kent told me to not let my highs get too high, and my lows get too low. He said I would start seeing that sort of change happen, but this was a process, not a quick fix. I was just so elated that I had already seen such a transformation in my son that I knew what he said was true. That afternoon, my son got really cranky and was yelling at me a lot and seemed more overly angry than normal, but I remembered what Dr. Kent said and I didn’t let it get to me, and I didn’t say much. A few hours later, my son came up to me on his own without me saying anything, and apologized for the way he had talked to me. He told me that he saw that he had been crabby with me earlier and had not talked to me kindly and asked if I would forgive him! WHAT?!?! And again… NEVER, IN HIS LIFE, had he come up and apologized to me on his own. I was beside myself!!”

“Our two week intensive is over and we are now traveling to Crossroads once a week to maintain the progress we have made. We have by no means reached our destination, but the process we have made has been so encouraging and so much better for all of us as a family. I am so very thankful for EVERYONE at Crossroads. Every single person, (and you too, Scout!) has made a difference in my life and my son’s life. We are so very thankful to all of them and the Lord for this amazing path to healing and wholeness that they are providing! We are definitely looking forward to more of this this next year!”