My name is Sue Mann and I am the founder of Bright Minds Processing. I have two children who are gifted and both have Auditory and Visual Processing Disorders which makes them twice exceptional. I first started seeing something with my daughter when she started losing her recess at school in 2nd grade at 7 years old. Her teachers would tell me that she was totally capable of doing the work but that she just refused to do it and if she did do it she would take too long. The school's special education teacher assessed her and told us that she did not see a problem but maybe she needed to pay more attention. Another teacher sent home a brochure in her folder about ADD with local resources. During much research, I felt that ADD was not the culprit for her not paying attention at school. Like any other kid, if she was interested in the subject or activity she would focus on it.

Then the journey started as with all parents who are told that their child is having issues in the classroom. You go from one psychologist to another, some good and some completely useless. You spend hundreds of dollars on tutoring, special education clinics, and the likes of Mathnasium. Through all this your child begins to resent all of these appointments and hours because nothing seems to help, They are completely correct as nothing will help unless you get diagnosed with APD and VPD. We went from school to school trying to make it work but finally realized that my daughter hated going to school, hated reading, and started to have anxiety about going to school. She would cry every day and my heart would break when I would drop her off as she would look back with such a sad face.

She lost all confidence in herself and it was a downward spiral. Her grades started taking a nosedive and there was a conversation that maybe she go back a grade. Looking for a gifted school that would accept two exceptional kids, I found a school in Northern California and Anne Beneventi who was the Founder and director of the school. Anne answered the phone and asked me to come and visit her school. I explained to her that we did not live near that school but she wanted me to see what a real gifted school looked like. We loved Anne and her school as she is so passionate about helping kids with learning differences and what you can do to help them. In her school, they don't do an IQ test but a Quotative Assessment evaluation.

Anne immediately pointed out the fact that my daughter had a Visual Processing Disorder and that I should get her to an Ophthalmologist to be diagnosed. Once diagnosed with VPD, the Optometrist who specialized in Vision Development advised us that usually if they have VPD, they usually have APD also. So we went in search of an Audiologist and eventually found a great one in Florida. After many hours of therapy with both doctors, my daughter was able to read non-stop and became a straight-A student in a grade above her age.

During this time I noticed that her brother was having the same issues but boys are usually way worse when they have APD and VPD. They hate going to therapy also as they would much prefer to do more fun stuff! My son's APD was really bad where we thought he was just not doing what he was told all the time. Looking back at it now, he could not hear what we were saying because the words were not processing so he could not possibly comply with what we were asking. I noticed that when he was at swimming that he was not doing what the Coach was asking. He told me later that he could not hear what she was saying and was too embarrassed to ask again. His famous saying was " Wait now, what now?". He also hated going to school as he was so embarrassed because it took him so long to do his work and half the time he could not hear the teacher.

Fortunately, on our travels from one professional to another, we have met a group of awesome people that are passionate about helping these kids reach their potential. Once treated, it is like a light bulb goes on! They bounce forward and never look back. It is this group of passionate professionals and teachers that made me take my journey further and help other children so they don't have to go through what my family went through. It is not only the kids that suffer from learning disabilities but also the parents. It is frustrating, draining, and financially crippling when you have a child with a " hidden" learning disability that is not recognized by schools or the medical world!

It is my goal to connect with as many professionals as to educate and help these families. The ultimate goal would be to have Processing disorders recognized by the Board of Education in every state along with being recognized Nationally.