Archive for April, 2010

The people who come to Little Giant Steps (LGS) usually are at their wits end trying to find a solution for their child’s learning disorder or problem.  Because we work from a natural developmental approach, we see things like this mother describes daily!  And it’s really fun seeing success and confidence growing and glowing in the faces of our clients.

“When I was asked to use one word to describe my experience with Little Giant Steps, I said, life-changing. When our daughter started the program, she was highly frustrated, emotional, and her attention span was terrible. The only way she could focus on school work was in a totally quiet environment. She wanted to help and follow instructions but could not remember. She was also hyper-sensitive, we had to cut out all tags from her clothing. Megan improved two grade levels in math, word recognition and comprehension in one year. She can now read in a noisy room and leaves most tags in her clothing. Her auditory processing skills have improved dramatically. We know that Megan would have been given several different labels if we had taken her to Scottish Rite. We feel blessed that Little Giant Steps has given us hope for her future. Thank you and God’s blessings. “T. E. in Plano, TX

“Thank you so much for the encouraging words and advice – it really helps me to stay motivated and hopeful. I appreciate this group so much.

FREEDOM

 And now…. I have some great news from my “neuro-program” boy… he learned to ride his bike without training wheels this week! Last year he just did not have the skills at all, but this spring he had picked up on his own and started riding his scooter, and his balance was so good on it that I thought it might be time to try the bike again. It took only one good head start from Daddy, and he was off down the road – he even turned a curve and came back!!!  He was so excited!!  He drove into the driveway, dropped his bike over, and came running up to high-five his daddy and me, saying, “I KNEW I COULD DO IT!!!” This is from the little boy who suffers with feelings of failure at so many things. And his sisters and brother were running along behind him cheering him on, and one of the neighbor boys shouted “YOU ROCK ISAIAH!” He was so proud and needless to say we were, too.

I wanted to share this with you guys, since I seem to share only when I get discouraged. I can see where his program has really helped his body awareness this past year, among other things. I am praying for more to come! “ ~ Selena

Audra is doing some of the same curricula that she did during her first 9^th grade year (the year she only completed ½ or less of her work and God provided LGS at the end of the year.) She was dreading it, saying she hated geography and literature.  Today is our 4^th day of school.  She has already completed her literature assignments for the week, and she says she understands it!  She is also really enjoying geography! I know now that a lot of the reason she didn’t like those things was because her reading level was so low that she couldn’t understand it. I thank God daily for LGS and the help this has been for my daughter.  Audra’s mom, Jeannette D.

It is amazing how nature will heal, if the right stimuli and system is set in order.  Read about this child’s recovery from his mother:

“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.”

The LGS Neuro-educational Approach is a program that provides the necessary brain stimulation to form neuro-pathways that were never developed during the earlier developmental stages of a child’s life. Each child will advance according to their own capacities.  (It also works on teens and adults - see test results) There are a myriad of things that keep our children from developing neurological efficiency.  Some have to do with illness as infants, some have to do with ear infections, but by and large most of our kiddos who seem to be bright, yet struggle with school were never given adequate exposure to activities that early on organize the lower levels of the brain, build a strong neuro-networks and connections.  We are raising a generation of children who have missed being on the floor and having “tummy time” which allows for the body to help stimulate and map the brain.  It is unfortunate we place our babies in the car seat when taking them home from the hospital, and for the majority of their infancy they remain in the up-right position and miss getting all of the vital tactile, neuro-stimuli that is required in order to process information at lightening speed and efficiency.  It’s all about the  mind-body connections.  What the LGS Neuro-educational Program does is to work with the plasticity of the brain to form, repair and even create connections / neuro-pathways to enhance internal communication.  Most of the “learning disability” symptoms literally go away when the child is experiencing the benefits of a well organized brain, good auditory & visual processing abilities (yes, we work with that along the way) and other areas that may show up in the child’s evaluation.  To discover more about our very successful programs, click here.   There are free articles for you to investigate the science, philosophy and design of our neuro-educational models.   Now, let’s listen to Jenny, a mom who discovered how her son could be helped:

“Our son came up two years academically in 3 months. The biggest indicator of progress to me has been that he is reading for pleasure! His problems are quite minor compared to what many families are dealing with, we were just frustrated at the lack of progress in several areas and felt like we needed an outside viewpoint. ”  – Jenny M.

By the way, we have designed curriculum utilizing our approach, as well as a Neuro-educational program called Developmental Foundations which is an at-home program that will get your child up and running with improved academic abilities.

Here’s a mom’s note regarding the progress of her child diagnosed with Dyslexia.

My husband and I have one son who has been on program for 6 months. We home school our children. Our middle son did not start learning to read until he was 7 years old, and reading and spelling have always been difficult for him. We are mainly working on visual dominance, macular refraction, and tactility issues. I sometimes feel like the “Patch Patrol” constantly reminding him to wear his patch! And then, there are the dreaded “bug glasses” as we like to call them (pinhole glasses)! We have also worked on visual and auditory sequential processing, conceptualization, and articulation. At our 4 month re-evaluation, we were so encouraged with the results. We saw changes/progress in all areas, including a 2 grade level jump in all academic testing areas. I was especially thrilled with his improvement in reading decoding which is very weak. We have yet to see improvement in spelling, but I have faith that it will follow once his visual dominance and refraction problems are completely corrected. I am sold on the benefits of this program and so very thankful for it and the work of our evaluator. It has been an answer to prayer!  Jen B.

I am happy to say that due to all the help Little Giant Steps gave us, Baylor has transitioned very smoothly into the classroom environment. He continues to excel in math – he has a 98% average in Saxon 54. His language arts skills are also coming along smoothly. His attention span continues to improve – although he still struggles to stay on task. He got very good feedback from his teachers and I feel like we have the tools to continue on this journey toward being all that God made him to be. We so appreciate all that you taught us and I recommend you and your products often!! Thank you so much!!     Dea B.

After 6 months on the Neuro-educational Program this mother of a 6 year-old with developmental delays wrote: “Jeremy is doing VERY well. He’s getting easier to work with. His attention span is increasing and he loves the Early Learning Foundations! He likes to listen to the Counting CD while he copies his numbers.

This morning at about 6:00 a.m., he was awake and I could hear him talking in the monitor. He was calling out, “Mom…” ~ That was a first! He has referred to me as mama for a while, but that was the first time he called out to me to come to him.
He’s using many more words all the time. A few weeks ago, we saw his old Special Ed teacher at church. She hadn’t seen Jeremy for a couple of months. She was amazed at how he’s changed. Her exact words were, “Oh my goodness. He’s here, he’s really here. He knows what you’re saying and he responds. That’s great.” She also told us whatever we’re doing it’s working, so keep doing it! I told her all about Jan of course. Thanks again for everything.  A delighted mom in Edmond, OK

Still singing LGS praises to family and friends and loving what we see happening in Amelia’s life and consequently as a whole family.  Two things happened just on Monday and Tuesday of this week.  One was a “twilight zone” type of experience  with a neighbor’s dog.  Walking by on just a daily walk I realized “O’ the neighbor’s dog is here wanting to play with our dog…their garage door was open, no one was answering the door, then I made the connection that it was the time of day for the neighbor to be at the bus stop, etc.  So we just waited ‘til they came home (it was a wee bit crazier than this brief descript…) but through it all Amelia stayed calm, followed directions, met the other kids without any fears, and when I told her okay lets go on with our walk she came right to me without lashing out!  This was the first time I felt a “normal” feeling (I think ever) with her!  And I’m not exaggerating.  It hit me when we got home how what could have been disastrous and totally exhausting for me was “a piece of cake!”

Then yesterday we realized our doggy had a cut on one of her pads.  Two part PTL:  I had the energy to want to take both girls and go alone to the vet and both girls where wonderful.  I didn’t have Amelia sliding on the floor, twirling away, fighting against me to go “look” at something and they were quiet little “audience” members while in the exam room.  Now, we missed program yesterday; mom didn’t have it all together or the energy to do both yet!  But what this said to me is if just getting through the neurodevelopment part of our INP once was turning out these results then O’ how I long to get to everything twice!  So the prayer request becomes Lord grant me the strength and give both girls the desire to get to the frequency and duration of our program.

The Math N’ More Early Learning Foundations  came into being as a way to help establish quick efficient processing abilities along with teaching skills in preparation for school.  Also, this course is great for those who have special needs challenges.  Many children with Down Syndrome have done exceeding well in their reading, writing and math readiness skills.  It’s fun, quick and easy.  Two minutes twice a day and you won’t believe the results!  It works from a multi-sensory and neurodevelopmental basis. Not only are the skills imparted to the individual, but the program is designed in such a way to create more neurological efficiency, which is of significant important for youngsters of today who are typically low in their auditory processing abilities due to the visual world they’re in and the fact many are not crawling or on the floor enough during those formative months where the brain must experience the tactile, neuro-musculature input that actually helps to organize the lower levels of the brain, provides development of their eye/hand coordination, etc.  Here’s a report from a person about Early Learning Foundations:

“My 3 year old grandson absolutely loves to do his Math N’ More Early Learning Foundations each day. In fact, he would like it if I’d let him continue past the two pages you recommend. Each day he wants to do more. He had terrible ear problems between ages 1 & 2. He missed a lot due to not hearing and his speech was distorted. It’s amazing how he’s picking up in his speech now that we’re doing some of the neurodevelopmental activities. Thank you for helping our children!”      C.R. 3/06