Sonek is very bright and was doing very well at school – when he went; he often missed school as he suffered from agoraphobia. This was not very serious for his schoolwork as he was brighter than most of the others in his class and quickly caught up when he went back. Nevertheless his parents were very worried. 

They had taken him to psychiatrists and they had been unable to help. 

They had heard from a friend of theirs that Tutors from England had helped their son in a similar situation and so they contacted us. I was sent out to live with the family for an indefinite time and quickly got on very well with Sonek. He is a charming boy, very well-mannered and very bright; his only problem, as far as I could see, was his agoraphobia. He couldn’t go to school sometimes, into town, to a party or to any social gathering. 

I tutored him in all the subjects that he should have been doing at school, which was easy as he is so bright. I slowly started taking him out for walks; these started as country walks and slowly I began walking with him in suburban areas and then in towns and he seemed to be all right with that. Then I took him to the cinema and that was all right. He also became comfortable at teenage parties. 

The secret was that I was with him all day every day. After I had been with him for a year he went back to school and had no problem. He went to parties and to town with his parents or friends exactly as a normal child would. 

Sonek is now doing very well at school (as usual) and his agoraphobia is a thing of the past. Tutors from England have succeeded with teenagers with similar problems with great success. GK