Archive for March, 2010

It is truly amazing how a slight shift in neuro-efficiency can make the difference between a child suffering from repeated under-performance at school, to a child that “gets it, retains it, and loves the fact they can do the work.”   As a neuro-educational specialist, I look at six levels of functioning and nine levels of development. Most of  the children I see are bright kids who suffer from disorganization, inability to pay attention, problems with reading, writing, math and retaining information. Typically, they are as puzzled as their parents and teachers as to why they can’t seem to succeed in mastering their subjects in school.  Of course, everyone is different!  The evaluation that is done illuminates  the areas of the brain where those “quirky” deficits reside.  Then, it’s a matter of writing a neuro-educational program that will address the root causesand the recommended activities are the catalysts that impacts the neuroplasticity of the brain and causes it to change, create new neuro-pathways and optimize the connections between the brain and body.  When a person’s wiring is fully developed, it’s amazing how many of the “symptoms” of learning disabilities simply no longer exist.  I have the privilege of seeing children go from failing in school to above average students. I’ve seen non-verbal autistic children become verbal and socialized, mentally challenged youngsters come into a potential no one ever thought possible. My biggest hope is that the word will get out how easily many learning issues can be resolved by getting back to the basics: Developmental Foundations.

When I was asked to use one word to describe our experience with Little Giant Steps, I said, “life-changing!” When we first met Jan, Jonathan was really struggling in his school work. As a 3rd grader, he couldn’t read well, couldn’t spell anything, and was forgetting his alphabet. He could hardly copy from the white board and his writing was not smooth and legible. Emotionally, he was insecure, shy and very down about himself. He hated school work and didn’t want to play with his 3 other brothers. As a home school mom, I tried to help him, but nothing worked.

When we first started the Little Giant Steps program, I was overwhelmed with all that needed to be worked on. The first 8 months, we saw little improvement, but he was making progress. After this, I made therapy the number one priority. We got up at 6:00 a.m. to do chores, etc. and started doing LGS activities at 7:30. That’s when we started to see big changes. In our excitement, we added two of our other boys to the progam.

After two years of hard work and determination, Jonathan is finally a different person. He is in the 6th grade and reading on an 8th grade level and loves to read! He is spelling and remembering. School is enjoyable now and he does very well. He can copy from the board. He is making straight A’s in 7th grade math and really likes it. He now laughs and plays games with his brothers and friends. He has become outgoing and confident.    Rebeca Bradley, Troup, TX

That was the cry of a young mother who has now experienced five years of caring and loving this wonderful gift from God, their adopted child, Kit.  He is extremely bright and a very loving child when he’s not being a one-man destruction machine.  What is even more confounding for this mother is that there is no history on her adopted son’s parents, whether he was exposed to drugs or suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome or what!  The only thing she does know is that approximately 4-5 hours a day things are just not normal for Kit. If he were evaluated she states she’s sure his diagnosis would be somewhere between ADD, ADHD to Bi-Polar.  It’s like riding a rollercoaster that you know will come off the track, but you’re never sure when, so you have no way to anticipate how to handle the situation.  He is a natural manipulator (he’s extremely bright) and when that doesn’t work,  then he becomes a run-a-way, out of control dynamo.  So, what’s a mother with a child like this to do?

For Little Giant Steps, this kind of dilemma is not surprising as we have seen and heard much the same from parents with adopted children whose history’s are unknown, but problematic symptoms in their behavior indicates something in their early development wasn’t quite normal.  And, from our perspective, it really doesn’t make a whole lot of difference if the child is healthy and growing.  From our perspective, we are concerned about establishing, or re-establishing developmental  steps through the use of brain stimulating activities that will cause the plasticity of the brain to change, create new neuro-pathways, repair connections that may have been damaged, or in the case of a child who was neglected, to develop those areas left without proper stimulation and therefore undeveloped.  As a scientist said following his research on a study of imaging the brains of children who were suffering from cognitive developmental delay, “As we began to see the changes occurring in the brains of these deprived children and areas in the imaging lighting up an array of colors demonstrating neural activity and growth occurring, it was as though all of these undeveloped brain bits of circuity were just waiting there for the proper activity to stimulate it and start it functioning.”

Essentially, we are the “activators” of the brain-body connections.  Our programs have been used successfully since the 1950s, and we have been providing services since 1992.  Thousands of children with problems just like Kit have become whole, the way God intended and have gone on to reach their full potential.  Our program only lasts as long as the symptoms are unresolved.  Typically, programs range from 8 to 24 months.  After that, children graduate and go on to become their parent’s greatest joy, rather than their worse nightmare. 

Having a child with symptoms like Kit displays is not a life sentence…. if you decide to get the root cause fixed through a neuro-educational developmental program.  It’s so much fun to hear from parents as they tell us about their success stories, because this all-natural developmental program works!

  A year ago, our 12 year old son was using 1 or 2 word sentences and motions to communicate.    He also had behavior issues and lack of attentiveness that kept him from being part of a regular classroom.  After using our Little Giant Steps Neuro-Educational program since June, we are seeing amazing progress with our  son.  He is talking in details and wants to read the ingredient lists of his favorite foods and record them in my recipe file.  We can hardly keep up with his flood of words now.

  He is a lot more interested in people and has eye contact now.  We are more likely to get an answer when we ask him about his day at school.  He wants to play with his 9 year old  brother and neighborhood kids now.   We see a look of understanding in his eyes that we’ve never seen before.   This sounds just too good to be true, but it’s not.
 
When we finish the dominance trial in a few weeks, we are planning on taking him out of school to home school him using Little Giant Steps program as a base for learning.  Hopefully after a period of time he will have progressed so much that he can return to school and attend regular classes. 

We have found Jan Bedell’s program helpful where others were not.  For that we are so grateful.   Thanks, C.C.  Lubbock, TX

I wanted to let the Little Giant Steps team know how well Timothy is doing in school. He just received his first report card last week. He got four A’s and one B (89) on his report card! And last week his teacher told me that they took some sort of reading passage test and he made a 100! He never asked for help in reading the questions at all!

My husband and I are absolutely convinced that your program was absolutely key to his success.  D. C. in Frisco, Texas 11/08

Jeremy’s mom sent over this note recently.  Jeremy is actively participating in the LGS Neuro-Educational Program, a program that treats the root causes through the use of working with the plasticity of the brain to address developmental issues.  See how Jeremy is doing:

A couple of days ago we were driving home. A song came on the radio and from the back seat I heard, “Oh, this is my favorite song. I love this song.” It was Jeremy. The song he was referring to is a good song, but his words were more beautiful to my ears than any song could ever be. It was not too long ago that Jeremy would ride in the car with us and never comment on anything. He didn’t look out the window. He never said a word. Not only is he talking, he is expressing his opinion, and he knows what he loves.

Today, we are home together watching it snow. He is playing with his toys on the floor. The radio is on and Jeremy is singing a worship song about Jesus… another song he loves…. what a beautiful sound.   Jeremy’s mom, KI

Dear Little Giant Steps

 I am so glad to have found your website.  I know it has helped numerous children as well as families.  I tutor at a Christian School.  I only wish your seminars were closer so more of our families could attend.  Maybe I can write to you about a few of our children that we are in the process of recommending for Testing due to their learning difficulties. 

I read your newsletter and would like to receive the free Visual Test Kit if possible.

Thank you again for ALL you do.  What a wonderful ministry!

Libby Jeffers

Alternative Instructional Methods Tutor

Mingo Valley Christian School

Tulsa, Oklahoma

After just 2 ½ months on the Little Giant Steps program, one mother wrote:

 “Our developmentally delayed 10-year-old son’s social skills have blossomed! He’s doing things that would not have happened 3 months ago. For example…he’s singing in the children’s Christmas musical at church and he’s enjoying the practices. He has volunteered to be a sound technician for the children’s ministry at our church. He’ll run the sound board for children’s church. He’s very excited about that also. He “meets” people better. We used to struggle to get him to go to church and Sunday school because it overwhelmed him. Now, he walks to children’s church on his own. These are wonderful things for us to see. We are seeing academic changes come slowly, in addition to these social changes. We are so very thankful for Little Giant Steps!”   C. W. in Oklahoma,

Children with learning issues can benefit in many ways from the LGS Neuro-Educational Programs.  Not only does the lower levels of the brain become organized, and they gain the ability to process information, but their furstration levels are reduced and is reflected in behaviors that are more positive.  Here’s a comment from a mother of one of LGS’ clients:

“Sarah is doing incredibly well.  We noticed a change in her emotional state immediately. I could hardly believe it.  I asked her ten year old brother, Michael, if he noticed a change in her and he said, “Oh yes, she still teases me, but now when she does it, she isn’t being mean!!   Thank you so much for your help.”   Blessings,  CP

I ordered Math N More for my “just turned” 4 year old. This is the most incredible curriculum I’ve ever had!!  It almost makes me have “momma guilt” for not having it for my two older children. I also ordered ABC’s in a Flash and look forward to using it.     K. S. in Spring, TX