Archive for the ‘Autistic Child’ Category

 One Word To Describe Experience with Little Giant Steps

“When I was asked to use one word to describe our experience with Little Giant Steps (LGS), I said, “Freeing!” I knew Joseph was smart.   He had a hard time focusing and when he did math, he jumped all over the page. It took him hours to get school work done. Also, he would have little bursts of frustration with his brothers and was hard to reason with. I was tired of always having to keep my eye on him and everything.

After the improvement  in his brother’s life (from the LGS Neuro-Educational Program), we decided to have Joseph join the program. Joseph really took the initiative and work up early and did his hour of therapy before his other school work. It has been very freeing to see him change.  At completion he is reading  at 10th grade level.  He is actually enjoying Algebra and he can focus and complete his work twice as fast.  He doesn’t skip around anymore.  I do not have to check on him constantly and he is trustworthy to get his schoolwork done.  He gets along much better with his brothers and will actually reason out situations.  He is much calmer, yet fun and still our comedian . R. Bradley, TX

Life Is Improving For The Whole Family

We are so blessed with caring parents who have the ability to reach out to help others. This is the case of Michelle. Let’s read her story:

INCREDIBLE CHANGES

“I am sitting in sunny Colorado as I write this. If you had told me 3 years ago, I would have been able to leave my family for a few days, I would have laughed. God’s grace is amazing. My family learned about Neuro-Educational Programs and #Little Giant Steps# in 2005.

My eldest son has #Aspergers# and at that time he stuttered.  The 1^st four months we were on program his stuttering disappeared. I think that is what sold me on neurodevelopmental approach.  My other son has #Autism# and my daughter has spectrum like symptoms.  Needless to say our house was a very emotional house.  It was hard to find a sitter because frankly no one could handle the three.  It seemed that everything set them off emotionally.  At times on program progress has been swift , at time progress has come slowly, but it has been incredible to see the changes in my family.  Our favorite #program activity# has been those that help with #tactility#.  We love fiddling with them.  Many an adventure in our family has started with a hand full of these.

My Autistic son who never noticed the world outside has taken to asking many if they know Jesus, or Do You have a relationship with Jesus?  His concern of others amazes me.

I am a mom with 3 on the #Neuro-Educational Program# and we still have a ways to go.  The improvement I have seen in my children led me to ask Jan Bedell (#The Brain Coach#)how one became a Neuro-Educational Specialist. (Little Giant Steps trains professionals, para-professional and tutors in the Neuro-Educational Approach/ Neurodevelopmental Approach ~ their website for more information).  What started as curiosity for me soon became a mission ordained by God.  It has been a journey of discovery from me.  I have learned so much about myself and about my children.  My prayer is that I will be able to help other parents whose children would benefit from neurodevelopmental activities and programs.

This journey has not always been easy, but it has been the right one for us.  God continues to amaze me as he places the help I need to accomplish my children’s program.  I am at peace knowing that though many miles away, program will continue and my children are in good hands.

 It all started when a mom of an autistic daughter decided this:

“It is my heart’s desire to encourage others as a family to directly affect their children and their children’s future.  After all, we all start out as children and all end up as adults.  Other recent events in our family have taught us that the best thing we can do is to “pay it forward” in all we do.  As you get older you see all the times God has used someone to move you forward and I just want to do the same for others.”  Kimberly, Amy’s mom.

What The Neuro-Educational Approach Has Brought About

“I am still singing Little Giant Steps praises to family and friends and loving what we see happening in Amy’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.  While walking by on just a daily walk I realized, “ Oh, 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 her 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 Amy 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 (Praise The Lord):  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 Amy 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. 

We Don’t Need To Be Perfect To Get Results

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 Individual Neurodevelopmental Program (INP) once was turning out these results then  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.” 

Raising an autistic child can be an exhausting, frustrating, demanding, and “testing to your limits” experience.  Please read the the experience of other parents who are learning how to make a difference in their autistic child’s life through natural brain-based techniques. They have worked and triumphed by utilizing the Neurodevelopmental Approach, an approach that is loving, kind, fun and effective.  God bless!

Neuro-Education Success

It’s All In The Wiring

When we provide education to parents, teachers, and para-professionals they often feel a bit of confusion, because we don’t focus on the “subjects” being taught, or the techniques of teaching those subjects.  Little Giant Steps’ (LGS) contribution to those who are doing the educating of the children require them to begin to think about a more basic requirement that all too often is overlooked or even taken for granted, but is really the KEY to a child’s learning potential.

So, what is it that is the key?  We are talking about the basics of making sure the brain’s lower levels are organized, the processing abilities are at grade level, and the connections between the brain and body are functioning at maximum efficiency.  It’s an inside job! We address the vital developmental steps that are being missed in today’s society which result naturally in efficient function of the brain, all the senses, for both input and output.  As we say, it’s all in the wiring!  We are foundation builders for thinking, comprehending, memory, motor, manual, language, auditory and visual processing, and basic organizing of those processes required to become educated.

How Does One Prepare The Brain?

It’s natural stimulation that is focused on improving function.  If there are learning issues, gaps, difficulties, then those specific areas of the brain are addressed through brain-based activities that will result in the “wiring” or “neuro-connections” to be created, corrected, and strengthened.  You see, when a child misses a step in the devlopmental processes,(and unfortunately our children are being effected with learning disabilities and difficulties in epidemic proportions due to many of our societal practices in our child rearing ~ that’s another article in itself.)  then they show areas of lagging function, or in some cases serious dysfunction.  All of the Little Giant Steps’ Neuro-Educational Programs focuses on providning educational subject matter, but the modality of the activities are the bonus features that create what is called neuro-efficiency.  For instance, LGS has created a preschool program [Early Learning Foundations] that is great fun to interact with your child twice a day for two minutes that will accomplish getting them functioning at their highest potential, and readying them for school with reading, writing and math skills.  Check out the information on this program, as there are many issues it addresses.  In fact, a school put this program into their kindergarten, which also incorporates Rapid Recall, a neuro-educational math facts porgram and at the end-of-year tests the kindergarten class was having the same speed and accuracy as the third graders!  Now, that’s what we call neuro-efficiency.

Hearing Is Believing

Some of us need to have those professionals who are in the thick of the solutions in school let us know the truth about possibilities and potentials of programs for our children.  Little Giant Steps has been creating multi-sensory Neuro-Educational Programs for 20 years. Why? Because we are in and have been in a slow decline in our children’s learning abilities.  In fact, we actually are experiencing an epidemic within the U.S.  The ranking of our national academic scores is in 9th place worldwide!  What happened?  Our society has changed from an auditory society (listening to people talking, high verbal interactions several times a day with family, gaining instructions verbally) to a visual society.  The rub comes in the fact humans are set up neurologically to retain short term memory via our auditory system. Each person’s auditory processing ability has a global affect on their lives and functional capabilities.  Auditory processing is vital for picking up on social cues, following conversation, reading comprehension skills, following directions, attending, ability to read with a phonetic approach and many other skills needed to be successful in school and life.  For instance, behavior is greatly influenced by one’s auditory functioning.  If you have a 12 year old who is functioning (processing) on a 4 or 5 year old level, he is developmentally more like a 4-5 year old. He will be socially more immature, getting along better with younger children and interrupting conversations so that he won’t forget what he wants to say, because he has trouble retaining information in his short term memory. (We have free auditory test kits so you can check your child.)

Look, Listen and Learn

I would invite you to view videos from a school as to what an impact our programs have made in their students lives.  First let me introduce Liz Sweet, Dean of Curriculum.  She has insights you will enjoy hearing that reflect their school’s results and responses to the Little Giant Steps Neuro-Educational Programs.   Next, listen to the principal’s remarks.  Now let’s drop into a classroom taking their 2 min. speed test.  Why are the children excited?  Because it’s always a confidence builder when you get the answers right!  Once these children have mastered (integrated these math facts into their brains) they will have rapid recall for a lifetime.  Now that’s exciting whether you are a student or a student’s parent!

 Working With The Brain Pays Big Academic Dividends

“From the beginning, EVERYTHING about Little Giant Steps has been exactly what we needed. Jan Bedell, The Brain Coach, has been a tool in God’s hands to literally begin to transform my son’s life in a few short months. Luke has struggled from day one with an array of challenges from physical to learning (dysgraphia, dyslexia, processing issues and at age 9, he still was unable to read). Once evaluated, we began our Individualized Neurodevelopmental Program (INP) and within 6 weeks Luke was reading. His retention seemed to double, his tactile issues lessened and over all our son’s confidence began to change.”

Little Giant Steps has been seeing these kinds of results for the past twenty years with thousands of children.  Typically we see every four months a full year gain via academic testing. 

Our Son’s Progress Is Amazing

 Little Giant Steps has been working with families of children with autism for the past two decades. Our success has to do with the fact  we work at a root cause level.  Our Neuro-Educational Programs address function or the lack thereof.  With all learning disabilities there are symptoms. We work with stimulating the brain in specific ways, while we administer educational curriculum, that addresses those symptoms and the dysfunction.  There is a feature of the brain called neuro-plasticity and we exploit all of it’s God-given capabilities and potentials. It is the neuro-plasticity of the brain that allows for change and development of new neuro-pathways, connections and gain better organization.  Each person we work with is addressed on an individual basis.  Today I wanted to share the words of those parents who have had their autistic-labeled children on a Neuro-Educational Program with Little Giant Steps. Hear what they have to say:

“Within just one week after starting program, our son (moderately autistic, severe language delay) was stimming noticeably less (particularly with doors and light switches) and engaging more appropriately in play. He is also much less ticklish on his feet and around his neck. This makes it so much easier to put shirts and socks on!!! ” Thanks, E. R. 

 The following is a testimony regarding an eight year-old boy who had been labeled by a neurologist as “Undiagnosable” but was displaying autistic tendencies as well as other genetic anomalies. He came to Little Giant Steps with so many issues that it was difficult to test him and get accurate readings during his initial evaluation:

“We wanted to give you an update on Auggie’s progress since enrolling him back into public school after going through the Little Giant Steps program. When the teachers and administrators found out he had been home schooled for the last three years, they told us they expected to see some regression.

The last comment made to us by his teacher the other day was, “Auggie will do best if you “mainstream” him as much as possible.” He has been blowing them all away in reading and math and his communication skills continue to improve. Thought you would want to know.” K. Z. in Texas

 If you have a child with autism, or know of someone who faces this situation daily, have them read these free articles regarding how a neruo-developmental programs works and investigate this innovative approach. We don’t use drugs, as they are not necessary.  When you fix a problem at the root cause, you have a solution for life!

Helpful Products:

Stretching a hyper-flex ball for a minute two times a day will build up the flexor muscles of the fingers.  Consider products like putty-eye creatures, squirt fish, poppers, puzzibits and button on a string to develop cortical opposition (index and thumb touching pad to pad) which is important for manipulating a pencil.  A “claw” can train muscle memory for holding a pencil correctly. 

Learn more about utilizing developmental advantageous toys to make the best opportunities available for your child as they get ready for their academic future!    Little Giant Steps offers free articles that instruct you in how to make a big difference in your child’s learning experience.  We back up this instruction with a wide array of products to make the most of the opportunitiy you have in helping your child’s brain get organized, insure mind-body connections that in turn gives them improved processing abilities, better thinking and comprehending abilities and most important is neurological efficiency for ease of learning that develops curiosity and a true love of learning!

Justin is much more dependable than he used to be. He can be trusted to do a job well and thoroughly and even has been trusted with training others to do some important things (milking the cow, for example). He also has made great progress in acting in more “socially acceptable” ways. Other people used to cringe when Justin arrived. Now, they actually look forward to his company! While he still “talks too much” and occasionally too loud, he catches himself (which is a “Giant Step”) As parents, we have repeatedly rejoiced over this.

Furthermore, while Justin has never been academically behind, his nearly illegible handwriting had always been a limiting factor in his schoolwork. While his penmanship is not “textbook neat” it is now entirely legible and is no longer holding him back in his other schoolwork. He has even begun to enjoy composition work, which in the past was his most dreaded task.
On LGS program from May, 2009 to August 2010 Marie, Karnes City, TX