An Autism Mom's Data on 70+ Horse Boy Sessions | Laila Rahmatian | EAW 62

✨ "Well, I'm an engineer. I collect data." – Laila Rahmatian

Laila Rahmatian is an autism mom and former NASA engineer, originally from Houston and living in Indianapolis, Indiana when her son Donatello was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in October 2024 — now based near Frankfurt, Germany.

Unlike most guests on this show, Laila isn't a practitioner — she's a service user. After her son's diagnosis, she brought her engineering background to bear on his care, systematically tracking data across a comparison of therapy approaches and, eventually, more than 70 Horse Boy Method sessions.

This conversation covers Laila's diagnosis journey, why she walked away from a well-regarded autism center within minutes of touring it, the chance referral that led her family to Horse Boy Method after relocating to Germany, and the session-by-session developmental milestones her data captured — from a son who could barely stay on a horse for a minute to one making spontaneous eye contact, sleeping through the night, and initiating speech.

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🔍 What You'll Learn in This Episode

Why the first signs of Donatello's autism showed up not as a language delay but as a failure to respond to his own name — until a summer camp counselor discovered it wasn't the name he needed to hear, it was his mother's voiceHow Laila's background as a former NASA engineer, and later an ADHD coach and tutor, shaped her instinct to research every option rather than accept the first professional's recommended protocolWhy Laila and her husband initially tried to "rule out" the diagnosis entirely, and what changed their mindsWhat made Laila walk out of a well-regarded autism therapy center within ten minutes of touring it, and why environment turned out to matter as much as methodHow a chance referral from a school in Germany — not a marketing campaign — led Laila's family to Horse Boy Method for the first timeWhy Laila decided to start formally recording data on her son's sessions, and how skepticism from others became the reason she started tracking numbersWhat Laila's session-by-session data showed across roughly 70 sessions — from a child who could barely stay on the horse for a minute to one making spontaneous eye contact, sleeping through the night, and initiating speechHow working with multiple Horse Boy and Movement Method practitioners across Germany gave Laila a way to compare approaches and s