POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT Mom credits agency with son's progress

Potential Development is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two-year-old Brandon Baber preferred watching the credits at the end of a cartoon to the program itself.
His mother, Jackie Tarr, noticed he was fixated on numbers and letters and did not seem to have the developmental skills of other children his age.
Worried, she took him to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he was diagnosed with pervasive development disorder, under which autism falls, and speech apraxia, a difficulty voluntarily forming and sequencing sounds used in speech.
Tarr, a registered nurse with the American Red Cross, went into a deep depression.
"I had never really had any major problems before that. My life was great. I never expected to have something wrong with one of my children. I was desperate," she said.
Tarr, who also has two adult children, Tara and Michelle Baber, said she cried a lot.
Finally, she said her father gave her "a little talk." He said however Brandon is going to be, he would love him.
Tarr said to herself, "Quit crying and do something."
'Life-changing'
And she did. Although protective of Brandon and hesitant about surrendering part of his care to people she didn't know, she enrolled her son at Potential Development Program in September 1996.
"It brings tears to my eyes when I talk about Potential. It was life-changing. They listened to me and listened to my frustrations. The joy came back into my life when Brandon improved," she said.
Potential Development, a Youngstown-Mahoning Valley United Way agency, provides services for children diagnosed with autism, mental retardation, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders.
The agency has two sites in Mahoning County -- at 209 W. Woodland Ave., and the Millcreek Community Center, 498 Glenwood Ave. -- and one in Trumbull County, the Children's Rehabilitation Center, 885 Howland-Wilson Road, Howland. For calendar year 2003, Potential Development got $96,900 of its $550,000 budget from United Way.
Today, Brandon, 10, is in the third grade at West Boulevard Elementary School in Boardman. He was spelling bee champion for his homeroom last year, is on the school's bowling team and has excellent mathematics and computer skills. Reading is the only subject in which he needs special help.
Brandon can look at something, and it's instantly memorized. He turned on a football game one day, watched for 10 minutes and drew a picture with all the players' names and numbers. He's very good with letters and numbers, kind of like a little "Rain Man," she said, referring to the movie starring Dustin Hoffman.
But, in between the despair of diagnosis and today's relative optimism, progress was slow.
"Brandon didn't talk. He was a very frustrated little boy," his mother said.
He said his first word, "Hi," at age 4. "I cried," Tarr said.
Hope for Brandon's future
"I think Potential Development was his foundation. Without them, I don't know where he would be today. I really thought he was going to be a mute all his life. I was really scared," she said.
"I'm in awe of people with disabilities. Brandon is my hero. All children with disabilities are heroes to me. We take speech for granted," she said.
"To this day, I don't know what Brandon will do. But he is high functioning. My main goal is to have Brandon live in 'our' world. I have hopes he will go to college and have a family," Tarr said.
Brandon and his mother are featured in the 2003 United Way campaign video. This year's campaign goal is $3.2 million.
50th anniversary
Potential Development, founded in 1953 as the United Cerebral Palsy Association and reincorporated in 1975 as Potential Development, is celebrating its 50th anniversary Oct. 9 with a dinner, beginning at 6 p.m., at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church Social Hall.
Wayne Gilpin of Texas, president of Future Horizons, a publishing company, and father of an adult son with autism, is the keynote speaker.
Potential Development Executive Director Paul Garchar said that during its 50th-year celebration, the agency would like to hear from former students served by the United Cerebral Palsy Association or the Potential Development Program. Former students, clients and their families may call the agency at (330) 746-7641.
alcorn@vindy.com