In 1988, I experienced SOI for the first time when my now-grown son struggled in the third grade. He was given the SOI test and completed sessions throughout the year at Brainworks (formerly of Carrollton). After I retired from teaching school in 2002, I became the math coordinator at Brainworks and learned a lot more about the SOI tests and modules.

In the spring of 2008, one of my adult clients at Brainworks was James O’Connell. James had finished a tour of duty in the army and was back home  trying to figure out what to do with his life. James had attended Carrollton schools and struggled because of his ADHD. He was apprehensive about going to college because of his past school experiences and struggles with math/algebra.

When I first began working with James, I had no idea what a big part of my life James and his mother, Patti O’Connell, would become! I still hear from Patti from time to time whenever James reaches a milestone in life. A couple years ago, she emailed me to remind me of where James began when I first met him.

James’ initial SOI test was on October 31, 2007. At that time, we estimated that James would need approximately 73 hours of SOI cognitive skills training and 40 hours of work with me on math and algebra. That amounted to about 50-60 two-hour sessions.

After only 38 hours of session time, however, James was retested. His profile showed that he only had 7 hours of SOI cognitive skills training and 20 hours of math/algebra left to go! In other words, James had changed his brain, and in 38 hours he accomplished over 86 hours of work. That is testament to the fact that James is a very bright young man and that SOI truly wakes up and improves the brain.

James was almost finished with his SOI training, but I knew that he would still need some algebra help when he began his college classes. At Patti’s suggestion and encouragement, I opened my own SOI center, MindMenders LLC, in May 2008. James was my first client, and I worked with him off and on for the next year as he got his feet wet in college. Eventually he moved to Austin to work and go to school, but Patti and I kept in touch.

I heard about James early in 2015 when Patti told me that he was going to school, doing well, making A’s in calculus and loving his engineering classes. I repeat, “making A’s in calculus” – yet when we worked together in 2008, he was lucky to make C’s in college algebra.  Last May, I received a phone call from a happy O’Connell family enjoying the graduation festivities as James received his diploma for a two-year degree with a GPA of 4.0!

This summer, James was accepted to the school of engineering at Texas A & M University where he began classes this week. Patti assures me that I will receive a graduation invitation when James completes his degree at Texas A & M University.

Because of the SOI program, I was able to help James reach his goals. And because of James and his mother, this veteran public school teacher has her own company today – MindMenders Center!

written by: Patricia Stafford, SOI practitioner & owner of MindMenders