All parents want their children to be happy, healthy, and successful, but your child is struggling developmentally.
Liz Strawbridge, M.D.
After suffering a stroke and severe meningitis, my 4-year-old son was left with right sided motor impairment, difficulty with short and long-term memory, spatial disorientation and sensory processing issues. As many parents who suffer the trauma of having a brain-injured child, we could see his heart and soul were still bursting with abundant life and beauty.
It’s hard for you to see your child frustrated, sad, and struggling to reach their true potential.
The experts are telling you there is very little you can do.
You worry about your child’s future – will they be able to take care of themselves when you are not there anymore?
You want your child to get better, but they are not making progress.
No matter what, you will not stop looking for ways to help your child.
Thompson Family
Our second child, Ben, started receiving services for autism at age two and a half. We were very proactive and diligent in seeking therapies and advice from the best, but…Ben, at age eleven and a half, still struggled immensely. I wanted to go to the movies or church without having an emergency exit plan.
I wanted my son to have the internal motivation to do things for himself or others, and not constantly have to bribe him with screen time or treats. I wanted him to learn to ride a bike, tie his shoes, bathe himself, create stories, respect people’s things, and engage with his family. After nine years of conventional therapies, none of those goals were achieved. We knew more was possible; we just had no idea how to achieve it.
The experts say your child can’t improve.
We are sure they can.
We’ve helped thousands of parents significantly strengthen their children’s neurological abilities.
We look forward to partnering with you to teach you how to do the same.
Watch the video about how we help in 2 minutes:
Liz Strawbridge, M.D.
As a physician, I was very familiar with the conventional treatment plan of PT and OT laid forth by his brilliant team of doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital. I was struck by how these therapies addressed the symptoms (muscle weakness) rather than the root of the problem (a hurt brain). It made much more sense to me that we should
be working on creating new neurological pathways rather than trying to fix the manifestation [of the] broken ones. We saw significant gains after working on the program with our son for 6 months. Both his neurologist and neurosurgeon have been blown away by his progress. The program helps your child adapt and become more resilient, not just get ‘band aid solutions’ that don’t promote his or her potentiality and evolution.
The Thompson Family
If you were ever told that your child is incapable or have been force-fed a “doom and gloom” prognosis, then it is time to remove those professionals from your roster and sign on new talent. For the last five years we have been implementing the comprehensive neurological approach designed by the FHC team. We as a family have witnessed neuroplasticity and continue
to see that growth is possible…we are no longer fearful. We know our power. We know the brain grows when a family rallies behind the one struggling and stands united in implementing an evidence-based systematic approach in a loving home. Ben is now independently bathing, riding a bike, tying his shoes, writing and reading, balancing a checkbook, doing chores, running, playing sports, and so much more.
Meet the Directors
Matthew and Carol
For the past 40 years, we’ve studied the neurological origins of disabilities in children and developed practical, effective ways of promoting brain healing and growth.
We started our own family during the early part of this 40-year journey. Two of our children faced complex neurodevelopmental difficulties.
We applied the same approaches to our children that we teach to all parents, and with lots of love, hard work, and dedication, our children overcame their challenges.
Today, our daughters are confident adults with meaningful relationships and purposeful professional lives.
So, we have two perspectives to share with you—one as parents and one as professionals.
As parents, we truly understand what you are going through, and we know how resilient you are.
As professionals, we know that with few exceptions, every injury to the brain is capable of healing – given the correct approach, dedicated effort, and time.
Directors of the Family Hope Center
View Our Daughters Journey
How To Help Your Child
Learn How Your Child’s Brain Works And Grows
- The Parent Training Course is the fundamental first step in helping your child.
- Understand how injuries and poor function in the brain show up as developmental delays, learning disabilities, and other diagnoses like ADHD and autism.
- Gain a comprehensive understanding neuroplasticity and nutrition, and their impact on child development.
Liz Strawbridge, M.D.
The Parent Training Course is a crash course in neurodevelopment which dovetailed beautifully with recent data around the science of neuroplasticity.“
Liz Strawbridge, M.D.
The Family Hope Center use(s) detailed anatomical and developmental neural network maps in the brain to evaluate where along the timeline of brain development your child suffered injury, causing a dysfunctional pathway for that particular network resulting in downstream consequences.“
Assess Your Child’s Current Neurodevelopmental Abilities
- Use our proprietary tool to assess how your child’s brain is developing and find out which neurological pathways and physiological systems need the most support.
- Parents complete this in Lesson 3 of the Parent Training Course.
Implement Your Child’s Individualized Home-Based Neurodevelopmental Treatment Plan
- Take personal control of your child’s neurotherapeutic activities and nutrition as you implement their treatment plan in your home.
- Parents complete this during Lessons 6-10 of the Parent Training Course.
Liz Strawbridge, M.D.
They design a personalized plan for each child based upon the particular sequence of neural dysfunctions and help strengthen the network from the origin of the dysfunction rather than fixing the symptom that is revealing itself. It is a complete multi-modal brain health approach: optimizing nutrition and fuel for neuro-regeneration, using physiology of breathwork to enhance oxygenation of brain tissue,
incorporating body and energy work to repattern pathways, creating a unique sensory stimulation program, and returning to basic motor and reflex pathways such as crawling to develop a strong foundation for the most effective brain development.
Update Your Child’s Neurodevelopmental Treatment Plan As They Develop And Progress
- Periodically reassess your child as they experience the positive changes that come from neuroplastic growth
- Each reassessment will provide you with an easy and objective way to see how your child is progressing and will be the basis for your child’s updated treatment plan.
At the Family Hope Center, we work with parents of children who have an extensive and complex array of neurologically based challenges, (dis)abilities, and disorders. If your child’s difficulties are of neurological or neurodevelopmental origin or if they have a medical or genetic condition with neurodevelopmental consequences, we can help.
We work with parents of children who have received the following diagnoses:
Measuring Results
The effectiveness of any therapeutic approach must be periodically assessed using standardized and validated measures. The Family Hope Center assesses the effectiveness of its approach using the WeeFIM®, the pediatric version of the Functional Independence MeasureTM (FIM®).
Both the FIM® and WeeFIM® were developed by Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSMR) from the World Health Organization’s bio-psycho-social model of disability. They are functional assessment tools for evaluating essential abilities in individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities along three dimensions: self-care, motor function, and cognition.
UDSMR notes: “Since its inception in 1987, the FIM® instrument has been widely regarded and adopted by clinicians and researchers around the world for its brevity and reliability. A sizeable library of supporting research and study sustains the FIM® instrument’s reliability and validity. To date, more than 1,300 published articles support the FIM® instrument, and ongoing research and study continues.”1 (Read more clinical research about the WeeFIM® here).
Our WeeFIM® results show that children’s neurological and functional capabilities significantly improve through the Family Hope Center’s parent-implemented home-based therapy.
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We believe that loving families make the best therapists.
We also know that the brain has an incredible capability to heal. Our job is to give parents the tools to make that happen.
With that in mind, we make the following commitments to you:
Nellie, Pete’s Mom
We didn’t realize our child [Pete] had special needs until he was about twelve years old. He just seemed quirky, and like a very bright young man who just didn’t want to do schoolwork and couldn’t get along with people. I was embarrassed by his actions most of the time and was getting desperate for help. My loving friends told me about the Family Hope Center and dragged me to the 3-day parent training. At the training, many of the behaviors I’d observed were no longer a mystery. We carried a heavy burden of guilt for not helping Pete sooner, for not seeing his needs,
and for not being able to do all the program. Yet, we kept at it. Today, Pete is nearing the end of the program, and he is motivated to do it on his own. He’s nearly eighteen years old. Without the concerted effort of getting him [neurologically] organized, Pete wouldn’t be driving, working, or graduating high school. I’m not worried about him ending up in jail because he exploded at the wrong time. He has friends and will be able to self-regulate in the stresses of life. His anxiety is gone, he has a bright future, and he’s a delight. The program is a gift. The results are priceless.
Pete, Nellie’s Son
At the time of this writing I am seventeen years old. I’ve been doing this program for just over three years now. And whereas at the start, when I didn’t see the point of what I was doing, I now see the benefits. I missed pizza and soda, and a load of other stuff. In short, I hated the diet. I hated the exercise. Now that the end is in sight, and my neurology has pretty much caught up to the best it’s going to be, I can say for certain that this program is easily worth its weight in gold. I have friends now.
] I can react to change, learn, and grow as a person. I’m a better human being. You’re the parent, you make them do it because eventually they will want to as well. Then you’ll get to stop pushing. I’m grateful my mom made me do it.
Get To Know Us More
Expert Perspectives on Our Publication
Linda Baker, MD, CCH
If you’re the parent of a special needs child, please read this book. You will find an empowering and refreshing way of viewing your
child’s condition. The information presented here will help you to understand what is happening, to get to the root cause of the problem and give you a roadmap for helping your child to heal. Recent studies are showing that our brains have much greater ability to heal than is generally appreciated. In this book you will find a scientific, practical, and well researched method for assisting that healing process. During the years I consulted with families at FHC [Family Hope Center], I saw hundreds of children who surprised me with the progress they made on this program, well beyond anything I’d seen or been taught to expect in my pediatric training. If I were a child with a brain injury, I would be hoping that my parents would find this book and follow its recommendations.
Nancy Werner, MD
It is thrilling to see the decades of dedication spearheaded by Matthew and Carol Newell and their diverse team at the Family
Hope Center encapsulated in this book. In it, their philosophy, approach, and results in overcoming neurological injuries—even the most severe cases—are made accessible to professionals and families alike. Yet, beyond their extensive experience in the recovery of neurologically injured children, their work demonstrates exciting potential in the enhancement of well-being and achievement in youngsters of “normal” families. I can attest to the brilliant results this program can elicit through its solid and well-documented multidisciplinary agenda in nurturing families who deal with the enormous challenges of raising an injured child, and the benefits that spill over to siblings and parents. In the fullest sense of the word, the Family Hope program can “raise” an individual to her fullest potential. This book provides a broad picture of previously unsuspected possibilities in neurological recovery and effective parenting.
Mira Helena Bergkvist, MD
This book is so rich in enlightenment and knowledge of how parents or other close relatives can bring hope and development
to children and adults suffering from neurological disorders.
Stephanie Ale, DPT, MDT, CSCS
As a medical professional, I’ve heard countless lectures in neurology and read numerous textbooks for courses. As a parent,
I’ve had conversations with neurologists and neurosurgeons from the best hospitals this area has to offer. None of them can explain the brain like Matthew Newell does. He understands the brain and can easily describe any area of it and how it relates to function. More importantly, he understands it enough to teach you what you can do to make an impact on that particular area. The information I’ve learned from him has changed how I think, how I treat my patients, and how I raise my children. His book will be a game changer for those who take the time to read it and let it change how they think!
Kerry D’Ambrogio DOM, AP, PT, DO- MTP, AdvCBI, AdvCBP, SrCBI
I had the pleasure of meeting Matthew Newell when he attended one of my classes. Since then, I have had the opportunity to
spend time learning from him and his exceptional staff. During my visits with Matthew, I have found him to be not only extremely gifted, but also incredibly focused and determined to find better answers for his clients. In the work he and his staff do with children who have brain injuries, he has found that educating parents and caregivers has been an integral component to the success of the program. With this book, Mathew can now share the wealth of knowledge he has accumulated over the years working with countless numbers of children with a wider audience and succeed in his mission to educate others beyond his program. I, for one, am grateful that Mathew has decided to offer us all his insight and experience by writing this book, and I know it will be an incredibly helpful resource for everyone who works with this special group of children.
Hear from parents who completed the Parent Training Course
When I booked this training session, I began to sleep at night. This was my therapy before my daughter or I received therapy. This is all common sense or learned through experience, yet our doctors and neurologists didn’t tell us any of this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
This stuff is revolutionary and gave me hope for success. Thank you for your passion to heal children…or rather, help us as parents to heal our children!
Thank you for giving us hope! I was starting to think things could never improve. Now, we’re going back to the beginning and helping my son develop his brain, instead of constantly trying to “therapy” him appropriately. This made sense to me. Wish I had known about FHC sooner. Feeling very hopeful and positive. Thank you.
We have really felt lost lately. I don’t feel so lost now. You really helped me realize that it wasn’t too late, that we could rebuild the brain at any age. Keep going! You’re doing awesome work.
It was Amazing! One of the most informative 3 days of my life! Worth the investment. I’m so excited. I feel like your knowledge saved us – we are surviving, we are living now. It is a good life against all odds. Thank you.
I feel confident that I have devised a programme that will help my child in our home. I now know where my child is coming from and where we need to go. The most important thing I learned at this conference was learning about my daughter’s brain and how to understand her. Thank you so very much.
The opportunity to hear strategies focused on ‘bottom up’ approach regarding my son instead of ‘top down’ focus we have experienced so far.
Yes, yes, yes! I am very exciting to have a plan to really help my child. I love that you practice what you preach with lots of breaks and healthy food options. I love that FHC did all the hard work and shared it with us. My life will be different, my children will be different. This is life changing! Thank you for making it affordable to the masses. I will tell everybody about your seminars and programs.
It’s a shame I didn’t take this when my children were young. Now I know the importance of the different signs we see in our children…[and] about how different parts of the brain function…Thank you and best wishes! You’re a great Team! God bless you! Thank you!
I’m soo greatful for the opportunity. Thank you for empowering me to intervene and to heal and start a process of restoration for my son. The program is amazing!
I find it very precise, excellent, professional. Really appreciate you. Words is not enough to explain the gratitude for gaining insight and wisdom into what you have learnt and gathered over so many years.
Nobody could tell us how Alex was doing neurologically. All we were told is that he has Down & West syndrome. But what does this mean for our child? [This helped us] find out where Alex is right now and the program we need to help him thrive. Thank you so much for giving us hope (we sometimes forget we have it when we don’t see our children move forward with other therapy). We can’t move forward with out this hope. Thank you!!!
This has been THE best training I have ever been to! I loved the breakout sessions. This was the first time a conference on the brain really followed what and how the brain works and learns. The best part of the conference was the organization of materials, and how to use them as tools to set up an organized, definite plan for helping a child.
Thank You! Your Center and Team are the answer to our prayers. We stopped feeling alone in wanting to heal our 2 children on day 1 of this conference.
When I first heard of ‘The Family Hope Center’, I thought the name was a bit corny. But now I feel it’s an incredibly suitable name! I appreciate the Team’s commitment and desire to help kids, the availability of the whole Team and the genuine way they approach each person and situation. Thank you.
Our Specialists
Our interdisciplinary team specializes in multiple fields of medicine and therapy with one thing in common: helping you learn how to optimize your child’s brain growth and development.