Born in Calgary, Alberta (Canada) in 1957, Lynette Louise left school at 15, married and had two children before turning 20. By the time she was 29, she had adopted four toddlers, all boys with varying degrees of autism. “Having been a foster parent,” says Lynette, “I couldn’t stand that the kids would be bounced from home to home. I had to keep them!” Along the way, she added two troubled teenage girls to the mix, one with learning disabilities, completing the family with eight children in all. The story of how these children not only survived but flourished is a testament to Lynette’s persistence, unconventional approaches, and steadfast love.

A major turning point came when Lynette moved the family to a shelter after separating from her husband. Following this painful episode, Lynette worked an array of odd jobs—everything from mail carrier to advice columnist—in order to support the children as a single parent. But she kept returning to her first love; the theatre. Throughout the years, Lynette has performed stand-up (winning the title of Toronto’s funniest comedian in 1990), landed parts in several movies, and even hosted a weekly television cooking show on Canada’s Life Network. She also independently produced comedy and music shows, turning the family into a traveling theatre troupe. In the early 1990’s she wrote, produced, and performed Behind Bars, a musical show that toured prisons in Canada and the United States.

In the pursuit of helping her children, Lynette relocated to the United States in 1996. “America saved my life,” she admits. “I had constant problems with the Canadian schools and moving to the States gave me the alternative of homeschooling.” Loading the brood into an RV, she spent a year and a half traveling around the country with her children, allowing her to work closely with each of them. This period of “travel therapy” dovetailed perfectly with a new program Lynette had been introduced to: the Option Process, a treatment that stresses one-on-one play with the parent as therapist. She eventually received certification as an Option counselor.

Today as young-adults, all of Lynette’s children function independently except for Dar (26), who continues to live with her. Dar was the most severely challenged and abused of all her children when he came to her at age four after being locked up in a room by his alcoholic mother for much of his life. Lynette calls him a “slow moving miracle” who continues to make extraordinary progress, especially since beginning neurofeedback therapy several years ago.

How was Lynette so successful, given the severity of the challenges her children faced?

“My understanding of what they were going through was intuitive, probably because I had encountered significant problems of my own. We had common ground in trying to make sense of the world,” says Lynette, reflecting on a troubled childhood of her own that included some sensory integration processing problems. “Ultimately, in helping to heal them, I healed myself.”

Lynette also credits being open to trying everything. “Medications, diet, auditory integration, play therapy, family counseling, and neurofeedback all became part of the mix. Some things worked better than others, since each child was different. But most important, I always believed there would be a way to help them.” In addition to self-education and first-hand experience, Lynette became certified as a child facilitator by the Autism Treatment Center of America and as a neurofeedback practitioner, studying with leaders in the field, including Catherine Rule of Northampton, Massachusetts and Dr. Harold Burke of Westlake, California. Her training in neurofeedback was greatly enhanced by the honors college degree in main-frame computer languages she earned during her 20’s.

In 2004 Lynette founded the Brain and Body Clinic, a treatment center for autism and other brain disorders using neurofeedback, a therapy that improves functioning by training individuals to control their own brainwave activity. Although based in Santa Monica, California, Lynette works on site with clients and their families all over the world.

Lynnette is currently performing around the country in her one-woman play THING TO THING TO THING—From Crazy To Sane With Biofeedback, Autism And The Brain. Full of funny, heartbreaking, and triumphant stories drawn from her life, the show is a composite of monologues, brain science, and music during which Lynette recounts her 20-year search for ways to help her special needs children develop into independent adults. The play was first performed in May of 2007 at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, California. Gaining popularity at public venues in Southern California, plans are now in the works for Lynette to take the show on the road to theatres in cities and towns across the United States. An abbreviated conference version of THING TO THING TO THING has been performed and well-received at the annual conference of the International Society for Neurofeedback and Research in San Diego. Arrangements are underway for performances at other professional events, including leading autism conferences.

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The names and ages of Lynette’s children are Tsara 33, Jady 33, Brandessa 30, Khiya 30, Dar 26, Cash 25, Chance 24, and Rye 22.