Archive for the ‘Autistic Child’ Category

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.

Parents seek our neuro-educational services due to many and varied learning and behavioral issues.  Some recognize learning delays or struggles.  Other things are more subtle or sometimes not so subtle unique behaviors, such as a child’s continual encroachment of other people’s space, or attention-seeking behavior when a parent or teacher becomes occupied.  It’s true, there are times that these behaviors are just a part of early development, but when these types of  behaviors persist beyond three, then it may be time to have them checked out.  Little Giant Step’s modality of working with the root causes through the neuro-educational assessment, deals with looking at the dysfunction or inappropriate function and deals with it by exploiting the part of the brain that is capable of “changing function”. This feature  in the brain that lends itself to our type of intervention is called “neuroplasticity”.  Through stimulating brain- based activities to address gaps in the natural development, the child, teen or even adult’s negative, odd, or disruptive behavior can changed or be left behind.  It’s amazing how improving the lower levels of brain organization, increased auditory and visual processing, dealing with dominance issues can dramatically change an individual’s life-long interactions for the better! Time and time again we see behavior improving and levels of maturity becoming more appropriate.  Here’s a note from a mother on this matter:

“Kaden has settled down a bit and here’s some really good news. We spent over three hours getting our cell phones changed out the other day and he didn’t do any of the personal body space invasion or intense attention getting activities he usually does. He was just your typical bored 9 year old boy. Woop woop! Thanks for everything LGS!!  Blessings, Sandi”

 A parent knows in their hearts when they see their child struggling with academics. The problem is once they recognize things are not as they should be, they most often don’t know where to go to get help.

Little Giant Steps has been providing natural and life-long solutions to learning disabilities for two decades.  Here’s a mom who shared her experience with us.  Now, we’d like to share it with you.

“We are so very happy with the Little Giant Steps program. For the first four months, my 17 year-old daughter did very little structured academics. We focused on the Neurodevelopmental Activities on her program instead. At every question I had of “Should I continue this?”, her evaluator, Ruth Young, would answer, “Let’s just wait, it will be easier in a few months.” At our four month evaluation, I was shocked at the progress Sarah had made. Her reading comprehension jumped from a 7th grade level to an 11th grade level in just 4 months. A few days after the evaluation, I heard my daughter read for the first time since long before she started with Little Giant Steps and I joyfully listened to her read at an adult level for the first time in her life. Sarah has attempted Algebra on two previous occasions and I had just about given up hope that she would ever understand. After the four month evaluation, we started Algebra again for the third time and this time she gets it! She has taken 5 Algebra tests and her scores have ranged from 80% to 100%. It is like teaching a different child. Even when she doesn’t understand something, her reactions are usually much more mature. Wow! Thank you, thank you, thank you.” C. P. in Houston,

All we can do is to say thank you to this mother for persisting in helping her child each day for the four months it took to see results.  She now understands, like we do, it’s all in the wiring!

Jan Bedell, M.ED, M.ND

Brain training for every age!

The secret to a good life has many facets. Jan Bedell, M.Ed., The Brain Coach: a Christian educator, has over thirty years experience in making life better for her students. She’s devoted the past 20 years of her professional life as a master certified neurodevelopmentalist to help make each person’s potential become a reality, regardless whether it be problems with memory, learning issues, brain trauma, stroke, or as with her daughter, being learning challenged. It works!

Jan has been prolific in writing curriculum, developing tools, educational teaching aids, training, and lecturing. She shares the latest research, but most importantly, she demonstrates to those she teaches how to stop the struggle by sharing the best kept secrets in maintaining, sustaining and improving their cognitive function and memory.  As she has demonstrated throughout her private practice with clients and those with whom she has trained, “What the future holds is not pre-determined or preset ~ what the future holds is based on specific opportunities offered to the individual”.

Programs we offer:

Evaluations- Individualized home program

Screenings

Home program for school age through college level.

Home program for professional adults through seniors. 

See the research we are doing in schools: LGS Educational Services

 Seeing our children be successful academically is the desire of every parents heart.  This mother sent this note over to us concerning the Early Learning Foundations Program created by The Brain Coach, Jan Bedell.  The program, is multi-sensory and designed to meet the needs of  improving neuro-efficiency, which always results in improved learning abilities.  It also helps children struggling with school due to learning disabilties.  It’s amazing how they can overcome dysfunction when their brains get organized and their neuro-pathways start working with optimum connections and speed. Here’s what this mother has to say:

“The Early Learning Foundations program is amazing! Thank you! When we put our son back in public school after home schooling him for a couple of years, he started off right away needing to learn his math facts. We are really hanging in there thanks to this program. He is also being timed in these areas and this has always been difficult for him. His first test he made a 68%; but the last four tests – 100%!!!” K. M. in Midland, TX

I am so grateful for this mother sharing her and her son’s journey to wholeness utilizing the Neuro-Educational Programs at Little Giant Steps:

“I noticed when my son was beginning to play with toys he did not play with his toys like the other children in his play groups; he was a sorter. He would line them up along the window sills throughout the house. When he was finished lining them up in ascending order, he would start all over again in descending order, the day was complete when he finished by lining them up by color.

I was not concerned about my son, until a friend pointed out that when Elijah picked up a toy, he passed the toy from one hand to another and never crossed his body. This was the beginning of my quest for information on such odd behavior. Meanwhile, he entered pre-k, a personal nightmare. The teacher and director pulled me aside and asked me to have him hearing tested; he was obviously deaf. This proved incorrect, and then came the recommendation to speak to my doctor about ADD/ADHD.  What to do, what to do?

My doctor recommended ADD medication without first evaluating Elijah. I picked up my purse and transferred to another doctor. Would a doctor treat for cancer without first finding out if a patient had cancer?

In the beginning of Elijah’s second grade year, I spoke to some parents who had their children in Little Giant Steps. I had heard of them before, and their name kept coming up. My husband and I made a commitment to the program and made our appointment for evaluation.

Elijah has mixed dominance, which interferes in his ability to retrieve information, thus he appears to be “a million miles away”, the false ADD/ADHD appearance.

The commitment to the Little Giant Steps Program cannot be made without first considering what it entails. It is work; however, the reward is amazing.  Elijah has gone from the child in the classroom with a great amount of uncertainty and trepidation, to a child growing in ability and confidence. There has also been a marked improvement in his maturation in the past six months.

Please do not misunderstand the commitment necessary to accomplish even a percentage of the objectives needed in order to be successful. There are times when 100% of the objectives cannot be accomplished; however, 100% effort to accomplish them must be made in order to realize the optimum result.

Since we began working with Faith Haley at Little Giant Steps, there has been a progression in Elijah’s ability to retrieve information and in his maturity. Gone is the “million mile stare”, replaced with an insightful child able to make cognitive connections that we previously had glimpsed on occasion. To see my son successful in the classroom, equal amongst his peers in ability and maturity is priceless. If you are considering Little Giant Steps for your child, take the next step and call or e-mail; the sooner you call, the sooner your child is one Little Giant Step closer to success. “ T.S. Katy, Texas

  Today we finish Ruth Young’s article regarding all the many things you can do to make an improvement in your or your child’s academic experience in school next fall.  Ruth is a Certified Neuro-Educational Specialist. She continues in part two with teaching you the importance of neuro-developing activities that results in neuro-efficiency. (Neuro-efficiency is the ability to receive, process, store and recall information via high speed transmission of messages between the brain and body.) A good comparison of what it’s like to be neurologically efficient is likened to the difference between dial-up and high-speed internet service.  Let’s continue with the activities she began to teach us last time:

 • A cross pattern crawl (army crawl on the tummy) two minutes two times a day can organize the pons level of the brain to build strong, well-bonded relationships; empathy for others, the ability to (Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish.) discern danger, pain, hot/cold and hunger and to interpret social cues.

•  The midbrain influences impulse control, memory for learning, emotional responses, the autonomic nervous system, the endocrine system, the immune system and eye/hand coordination. To accomplish improvement at the midbrain level, a well synchronized cross creep on the hands and knees for two minutes two times a day is recommended.
• A cross march (hands touching opposite knee while marching) and a cross skip done twice a day for two minutes each, plus a twenty minute fast walk with a good arm swing will organize the cortex level of the brain. The cortex is responsible for formal reasoning, inner speech (thinking before acting), test taking and the ability to respond quickly and intelligently to new situations.

In addition to brain-organizing activities, you may wish to improve short term and long term memory to help you and/or your student remember the details, increase maturity levels, improve behavior, follow directions, be successful with phonics, comprehend reading and recall quickly what is learned.

Make your plans for a summer camp that can organize your brain for a lifetime of success in learning at school and on the job. A free auditory processing test kit with tips on improving short term memory is available at www.littlegiantsteps.com. A DVD on “The Neurodevelopmental Approach” from our online store will explain how to increase long term memory.

Developmental Foundationsis a program which includes the foundational aspect of brain development for all the areas previously described. It includes free auditory and visual processing test kits for all ages (including tiny tot test kits for under age three), “The Neurodevelopmental Approach” DVD, The Rapid Recall System (a popular math facts memorization program), online instructions for every activity that you can view for thirty days, a tool kit of supplies and much more. Developmental Foundations is a great idea for summer camp or can be implemented during a school year for the whole family as a physical education and brain building program. A successful summer camp, success in school, success in a career or success in managing a home can happen if you make your plans for developing full potential through organizing your brain so you can remember the details.

During that first summer after graduating from high school; it was an exhilarating experience for me to reach my goal of climbing a mountain by hiking to the top (elevation: 14,000 feet) of the Rio Grande Pyramid at the head waters of the Rio Grande River for a breath-taking view of the spectacular Colorado Rocky Mountain peaks touching the sky as far as the eye could see.

You can reach your goal for full potential with a plan to organize your brain by implementing a program of specific physical and mental activities this summer and throughout the year for a lifetime of academic benefit and learning pleasure.

As we come to the end of a school year and hopefully you will have more time with your family, I wanted to share with you a very appropriate article  (in a two-part series) written by one of our associates, Ruth Young, Neur0-Educational Specialist.

“The best summer camp I attended as a youth was a backpacking trip to the San Juan Wilderness of Colorado; a gift from my parents for graduation from high school. Later, my husband and I led rustic junior high conference camps at the H.E.B. Foundation in Leaky, Texas for years. Our five children attended church camps during the summer and three of them became counselors for YMCA camps.

 Our family has always enjoyed attending summer camps; but recently, I had the privilege of helping Jan Bedell, the Brain Coach, create a summer camp model for families and groups of children that is full of brain boosting fun and can produce a lifetime of learning success. 

Whether your goal is to climb a mountain this summer, put in a garden next spring or to help your child graduate from high school, it is important to plan, organize and remember the details. If your goal is to apply for a job or help your child to succeed academically, then you will want to plan for full potential. It will be important to get organized; then it will be crucial to remember the details of your project. 

My dream at age nineteen was to climb to the top of the world and see as far as I could see so I could enjoy seeing God’s great mountains and vast beautiful creation. Therefore, I set my heart on the heights! What are your plans? What do you plan for your child? Are you getting organized to implement your plans for the summer or for the next school year?

 For my hike along the continental divide in Colorado I carefully organized my backpack with dehydrated food, layers of clothing, a tent, tent stakes, a sleeping bag, and a thin foam mattress for a total of thirty-seven pounds that I would carry for fourteen days. Getting all family members’ brains organized will help adults organize cabinets, balance the checkbook, clean the garage and can help students write better papers, organize their time and clean their room. So let’s take a closer look at specific physical activities designed to build and strengthen nerve pathways for intelligence:

• • By stimulating the tactile system with deep pressure for 1.25 minutes on each limb twice a day and lightly tickling with bath gloves on each limb 45 seconds twice a day you will be building brain/body connections; you will be stimulating the nerves that run up the spine to the brain and back down to the extremities enabling a child to experience the benefits of better connections like holding his pencil correctly and resolving bed-wetting issues.”
• More to come next time… be sure to stay tuned for more “insider tips” that can make a huge difference in your child’s or any one’s life!

We always appreciate it when parents share what’s happening with their child who is on the LGS Neuro-Educational Program.  This mom had some exciting news and we thought you’d enjoy it, too.

“I want to take a moment to share with you how excited we are about Miles’ progress. His improvement of more than 4 grade levels over the last 8 months is fantastic! Thank you for your periodic reassurance to keep at it and your reminder that progress takes time.

For any of your other families that question whether continuing with the program has value I can only say, the change in your child may not be obvious since it is incremental and you are seeing him or her every day. Trust your initial desire to help your child.

As each of Miles’ reevaluations approached I repeatedly wondered whether I should stop “wasting” our money. Was he making progress? Was this an exercise of futility? Miles has made a tremendous leap in ability in less than a year. The sense of achievement and pride that Miles enjoyed when he saw the results of his reevaluation was worth everything to us.”

Miles’ Mom