Jeff was 27 years old and had just finished his first semester of veterinarian school in Grenada. From the very first week at school, he struggled. He was barely able to memorize anything, and had difficulty understanding the material. He ended up having to drop Histology and Embryology.

When Jeff walked into the Huntington in East Northport, NY he confided in us his that his first year of veterinarian school hadn't gone well. He knew that his basic skills were weak and that he had problems with note taking and retention of this very difficult material.

Jeff had been given a "redemption exam," which he had to pass in order to remain in the program. Although Jeff was not happy to be in his current situation, he was willing to do whatever it took to succeed.

Jeff had struggled throughout school his entire life, yet had managed to receive a master's degree. He was diagnosed at age eight with a processing problem and had been recently diagnosed and medicated for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Jeff had survived all of this to find himself unable to achieve the high goal that he had set for himself: to start a career in medicine. Despite all he had accomplished, he felt like a failure.

Testing revealed that Jeff was most comfortable reading material on an eighth-grade level. His critical thinking skills were also undeveloped. He was absolutely mortified when asked to read out loud.

We were given 10 weeks to fix Jeff's situation. We developed individualized study-skills that focused on the skills Jeff needed to identify, interpret and understand the difficult material in his courses. With an additional emphasis on study skills geared toward his specific needs, taking a multi-sensory approach, we showed Jeff how to do everything from highlight to show sequencing and draw inferences, one of his weakest skills.

Jeff came to Huntington over the summer, up until the day before he left for his test. He would roll his eyes when we told him that he was absolutely ready. Even as he said goodbye and we wished him luck, Jeff was admittedly frightened.

Three days later we received the following email from Jeff:

"Well, today was a great day. I got a 95 on my exam. I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you so much for everything. Can you tell Vicki and Tim for me? I will keep you updated, because this is just the beginning of great things to come. I will come visit in December to show you the 4.0 I expect to get!"

FROM: Jeff