Archive for the ‘Learning Difficulties’ Category

  Potential Realized!

 In 1st Grade – he said,

“I am not a very smart boy.”

Didn’t qualify for service in Public School

See improvement and functional grade level after Neurodevelopmental Program

A Solution That Works!

For over twenty years Little Giant Steps has been providing evaluations, academic testing, screenings, developed neuro-developmental programs, neuro-educational curriculum, tools, and learning aides. We have witnessed thousands of children (despite age or I.Q.) discover learning can be fun, fulfilling, and confidence-building by utilizing programs that change the root of functional problems by addressing and changing the connections in the brain – the source of our cognitive, physical, social, and spiritual development!  Please investigate. Then, take advantage of the free articles, auditory test kits, visual test kits, free webinars, and  free consultations. When you discover the program that makes sense to you, follow up and do it!  We work with people in our clinic, but also have great at-a-distance programs. In fact, Jan Bedell, our founder and mother of a challenged child, is so passionate about making the neuro-developmental/educational approach available to all who are searching for help, she’s developed a program that is done at home only. Developmental Foundations is one of many things she’s developed to help your child.

As a mother recently told me, “I realize with the changes I’ve seen in my daughter’s abilities to learn, and the her whole outlook on life improve, I can dedicate myself to working with her for however long it takes, because I now see and know that the time I invest with her will be a short time in MY life, but the benefits will for HER will be a whole LIFETIME!

Good luck!  Parents know their children better than anyone. You can do anything you set as a priority. Go to www.littlegiantsteps.com and gain the knowledge you need to proceed in changing your child’s life. Help them experience their true God-given potential!

What Is A Parent To Do?

There is nothing more frustrating than not knowing what to do when your child clearly needs help! In my personal case, I knew something wasn’t quite on target, with my youngest son. Even his pre-school teacher talked to me about him.  She said, “He is so bright, articulate, and comprehends beyond his years, but there’s a “glitch” somewhere. He can’t seem to do things he should be able to do. He may have a learning disability. Don’t misunderstand, your son has very high intellect, but I don’t know what we’re looking at, but I will tell you to watch and see how he develops in the next two years. You may need to find some intervention – I wish I knew more – just be aware.”

Seeking A Solution Can Be Frustrating

She was right. My son definitely had trouble learning things. While I’d watched my oldest son breeze through acquiring academic skills, my poor little one seemed like he was trapped in a glass bubble with no access to anything easily. He was so determined, and most painful of all, was that he was very much aware of what was happening around him and he would ask me, “Mom, what’s wrong with me…. I should be able to do things like other kids.” Then came the real heart breaker when he announced, “I’m just dumb, stupid! I can’t do what normal people do!”

It took me ten (10) years before I found a solution! It wasn’t because I wasn’t asking for help, either.  I even became known as the pain in the” you-know-where” to all of the elementary teachers.  They saw me as a meddling, over-protective mother hen.  The schools wouldn’t test him, because he was doing above average work, even though they recognized he struggled terribly!  He was so aware of the things he should be able to do, but couldn’t execute regardless of how much we drilled, coached, suffered. He could do advanced math in his head perfectly, but couldn’t translate that to paper. He showed all the signs of dyslexia, but no one would test him!!!!

Finally, I gave up on the school and drove 250 miles to a Montessori school to talk with them (I was ready to commute with him, because as each year went by, he got more and more discouraged and depressed.) They saved his life by telling me it sounded like he had a developmental problem. They thought I should seek out a professional neuro-developmental specialist. Was this a doctor? I’d never heard of such a professional. (I had a medical background and was surprised that I’d never heard of a neuro-developmental specialist.)  No, most of them are teachers with specialty training in neuro-development, academic testing skills, and understand how to get these kids like my son on track. They even told me some of the kids they knew had their learning disability eliminated! Needless to say, I found a neuro-developmental specialist with these skills. I had my son evaluated. He had dyslexia (even though they were not big on labels), he also had some serious eye tracking/ hand coordinating problems and they had us see a developmental optometrist. They put a program together. We saw our son begin to blossom in so many ways. Today he’s the one with the doctorate in our family!!    See us tomorrow for part 2.

Take Advantage of our Neuro-developmental (ND) Screenings

Certified Neuro-developmental Screener

Nancy Williams will be providing ND Screenings in Spring, TXMay 1st, 2013.  If you’d like to get a snapshot of your child’s current developmental function, then please email Nancy ( nwilliams@littlegiantsteps.com ) for appointment times, location details, and answers to any questions you may have.

For more details about what screenings cost, how they differ from a full professional ND Evaluations, please visit this page on our website.

Little Giant Steps, a neurodevelopmental/educational consulting group, has been providing services to those who struggle with learning for over twenty years. Remember, you can improve the levels of academic success – learning difficulties do not have to last a life-time! Conact Nancy today, space is limited.  nwilliams@littlegiantsteps.com

 A Great Service For Children Struggling With Learning.

Remember, learning issues, disabilities do NOT have to be a life sentence!

Little Giant Steps will be offering Neuro-developmental Screenings in OKC on May 2^nd. We have a few appointment times open. If you or anyone you know would like to take advantage of this special offering: $25 for each family member, plus a free seminar to teach how to interpret the testing and discover your child’s current level of processing, and resources you can use at home; please have them contact Neuro-Educational Specialist, Ruth Young (be sure to give her your phone number). Ruth will be providing screenings that day. She will schedule your child, give details, and answer any questions.

Thank you for sharing this information with those who are seeking help for thier child.

 What a Difference A Neuro-Educational Program Can Make

Meet Timothy.  Little Giant Steps,(LGS) and his dedicated family had the pleasure of working together toward making learning easier, successful, and opening doors that seemed to be closed to him. I hope his story will encourage you, and if your child needs help, then visit our services page on our website.

We provide professional neuro-developmental and academic testing followed by an individualized Neurodevelopmental Program and Training, which is what Timothy’s family chose to do.  However, we also have programs that will meet the learning issues or problems, regardless of where you live.  Jan Bedell, M.Ed., M.ND., founder of LGS has created neuro-educational programs such as  ”At-home Programs,” “Developmental Foundations“ and “At-A-Distance Programs” so you have a choice.  If you live outside of our home state of Texas, we can help you help your child, teen or adult to become neurologically efficient, and make learning easier regardless of age or I.Q.  Whether your loved one is gifted, typical or challenged; receiving, comprehending, storing and recalling information can be improved and you will see a confident and successful individual emerge as a result.  Now, listen to Timothy’s mom in 2009:

“When we came to Little Giant Steps two years ago, Timothy was barely passing 2^nd grade.  He wasn’t reading very well, couldn’t remember things that he learned the day before, couldn’t concentrate because the noise in the classroom bothered him and he was just really frustrated.  At home, just cleaning his room was extremely overwhelming for him.

     One of the first things we noticed after he was on the program for about four months is that he was able to clean and organize his room with little supervision.  It is like we have a different child!      

     Timothy has been back in public school for 4^th grade (after being home schooled for 1½ years and focusing on the Little Giant Steps program) and is making mostly A’s and a few B’s.  His reading has improved beyond our wildest hopes.  He has improved exponentially in every academic area.  His teacher said, “I don’t know what you did with him, but this is not the same child as in 2^nd grade.” 

     I met with Timothy’s dyslexia teacher recently because she sent out results of her end of year testing. Even though the report showed that his scores increased in every area, I wanted to know if this was satisfactory progress. His teacher said, “No, it wasn’t just ok progress, it was GREAT progress!”. She said he was the “STAR of the class” and that all of the students look to him. For example, at the beginning of the year he could read 15 out 50 words.  At the end of the year he could read 45 out of 50 of the words on this specific test. She said most kids do not make this much progress the first year!!!  She said, “You know, he still has a whole year left in this class.” 

     Here are Timothy’s TAKS scores for this year: 

• · Reading:  93 (only missed 3 out of 40). This score is one point away from “commended”.
• · Math:  82 (only missed 8 out of 42). Because of this score, he will not be pulled out of class next year for math tutoring.
• · Writing:  72 (only missed 7 out of 28).  His writing improved a lot this year and I know it will continue to improve next year.

     We are so proud of him and he is proud of himself, also. These scores are just more evidence to substantiate that the ND approach to learning is incredibly successful!”   D. C. in Frisco,

NOW…FOR THE UPDATE WRITTEN IN APRIL 2013!

” Timothy is doing great!  He is making mostly A’s in school. The teachers are blown away with the fact that he really doesn’t need any accommodations especially when taking the standardized tests.  He reads very well but struggles with spelling.  I cannot tell you how many times he notices how much better he reads than his friends who are dyslexic. He says, mom, they need Jan Bedell’s program!

The reason I am contacting you is because Timothy is on the tennis team at his middle school and will try out for the high school team in May. He has found that if he does the skip cross before he plays his match, he does better. So, he wants to know if there are any exercises or movements that would increase his coordination. He really is doing very well in my opinion but he wanted me to ask anyway.  Tell Jan thank from us.” D.C.  

Ask the Brain Coach                                       

Seeing Is Believing

Early Learning Foundations is a program developed by Jan Bedell, the Brain Coach, who was the founder of Little Giant Steps. It is program based on the Neurodevelopmental Approach. For those lucky enough to seek an educational program that also addresses the root causes of learning struggles, they will discover the difference between teaching coping and compensating techniques, and actually fixing the underlying problem.

Ok, now be exposed to what this mom has to say about Early Learning Foundations:

“We received the package you mailed us with the student work book and Bible flash cards….THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!  We are greatly enjoying our “new” school time and the boys love having their own workbooks!  With this, I thought it would be nice to share the big hug with you that my second son gave me when I pulled out his very own workbook…so please consider yourself bear-hugged by my 5 year old this morning!

Please also extend our appreciation to Jan and the rest of the team for their loving endeavor to provide an easy to follow “structured” approach to combining math and the basic block of ND program exercises through the Early Learning Foundations Curriculum!  This curriculum has really helped us stay more on program the last two weeks AND has made integrating our personalized programs into the day much more achievable!  Needless to say, our boys are enjoying the school-exercise routine that’s finally getting (consistently) set in our home! The bonus for us as parents is that we’re really beginning to SEE differences in their processing and social skill abilities since adopting this ELF program into our personalized exercise program….the consistency and repetition really do help(!).  So, thanks for physically showing us HOW to integrate it altogether with ELF so we that could achieve this new level of growth in our ND program!

Thanks again for your help with our inquiries and blessings on you!  We’ll look forward to working with your team again for the next level of ELF! JP & Co.     Have a great day from all of us at Little Giant Steps!

I thought development just happened naturally!

Almost everyone assumed that to be true, but as our society has “invented” items for the sake of safety, convenience, and progress, the human being has a natural path of development that has been interrupted from many of those practices we’ve adopted over the past 40 years.  As we’ve come along, there have been signs and symptoms that there was something happening educationally to our children. Now, we totally understand as we find ourselves in the midst of an epidemic of learning disabilities in our children. People back in the 1800s had better recall and processing abilities than most of our society does today! This decline in our learning abilities has been evident for over 40 years now!  Scientific research has born out the fact that we are raising our children from infants in ways that cause them to miss out on vital developmental steps. Thank heavens the Neurodevelopmental Approach was developed in response to this need.

If the brain and body do not establish strong, fast, and efficient-performing connections, there will be gaps and learning becomes a struggle which is most evident about age eight(8).  It’s at that time, because that is when the educational requirements will no longer accommodate a child’s natural coping and compensating strategies they’ve intuited in order to perform adequately in a school environment.  When their disorganized brain can no longer cope with the amount of information coming in, and they can’t keep up with the input, they are not storing the information where they can get recall; you often begin to see behaviors that show distress such as frustration, short tempers, lack of control, and sometimes very high ranges of anger displayed in as many forms as there are individuals!

What vital developmental steps are missing?

The most prevalent issue is that we are placing our babies in seats for most of their waking hours instead of where they need to be ~ on their tummies on a hard surface.  In order to map and organize the brain and get efficient neuro-pathways established, the body must send stimulating signals created through our sensory system efficiently to the brain.  That’s how God designed us, and no amount of technology will change the natural developmental progression of requirements of early development.  Quite frankly, God’s design will always outperform man’s technology!

A baby needs to feel resistance to let the brain know the signals from the limbs and body. The brain has to learn the functions of each part of our bodies, and get connected in the first six months of life.  The brain also needs to develop it’s ability to feel sensations, textures, temperatures, and begin to build into itself the distinguishing abilities of the millions of impulses it receives. On top of all the sensations it needs to learn about from the environment, and their cause and effect, it also has to learn about the babies “internal environment”!  It needs to develop the neuro-musculature required to be able to move the limbs, body, head, and all body parts in purposeful ways, rather than the reflexes and random movement we are born with.  In fact, all this developmental movement is a part of organizing the lower levels of the brain ~ a very distinctive and necessary part of learning successfully.

What can be done if our baby didn’t have time on the floor to develop properly?

So glad you asked!!  The answer is simple and natural.  Little Giant Steps has been developing corrective tools for families for over twenty years.  Jan Bedell, M.Ed., M.ND., LGS’ Brain Coach, has created an at-home program that can be administered to every family member, if they want to have improved receiving, storing and recall of information by getting DEVELOPMENTAL FOUNDATIONS.  You do specific activities for 2 minutes a day, twice a day for  3-4 months, or until the function shows up.  It’s amazing simple, everything you’ll need to be successful is in the kit, in fact you will be trained how to do the activities by being given access to our online professional training program. It’s a watch and learn training program that helps you to gain confidence in helping your family to unlock the key to their true God-given learning potential.  View the comments of those people who invested a short time and the powerful life-changing rewards they’ve experienced.  Just getting the family down on the floor crawling in a proper cross-pattern manner (Cross-pattern: opposite arm and leg extend forward at the same time ~ right arm, left leg, then left arm and right leg.) twice a day for two minutes for several months will help a great deal.  It organizes the brain!!

What if I need more direction on where to start?

So glad you asked that!!  Then Little Giant Steps has created a survey  just for those who feel they need more information. It allows you to be a bit more specific in your quest for information. You fill it out, email it to us and a Neuro-Educational Specialist or Neurodevelopmentalist will evaluate what you’ve stated and respond to you personally as to their recommendation! This free service is a part of our ministry in helping parents find the right fit or best solution for their child or themselves to eliminate learning difficulties. We deeply respect you, as you are the expert on your child, your family, or self.  You understand better than anyone their needs, struggles, and what makes to most sense in seeking a solution.  The one thing we would have you know profoundly: ” Learning disabilities do not have to last a lifetime”.  Have a blessed day.

Can LGS help a ten year-old to learn?

Ones age does not eliminate the prospect of becoming good at math, reading, and learning in general as far as Little Giant Steps (LGS) is concerned.  As we’ve informed parents, teachers, and grandparents for over twenty years; when lower levels of the brain are organized, the auditory and visual processing abilities are functioning up to grade level, and dominance is established, all can be successfully developed at any time and the dysfunction becomes function.

How Can That Be?

The feature in the brain called “plasticity” allows the brain to change, heal, and gain function that may not be fully developed.  As was explained in part 1, when we don’t get the required neuro-stimulation from crawling, experiencing most of our pre-toddler time on our tummies; many of us grow up with either poor neuro-connections between the brain and body. Cross-patterning movements are a normal part of developmental steps and they help to organize the lower levels of the brain, but also help map the brain, and build linkages to the hemispheres of the brain – dominant and sub-dominant. If the brain lacks efficiency in sending messages and getting lightening-fast response from the body; learning becomes very difficult. But, that’s not the end of the story! Like going to a gym to build muscles, the brain can be “exercised” to build strong neuro-pathways,  or connections. The same processes in building up muscles that are underdeveloped, have the same relationship to strengthening exercise. It will work.  How long it takes to reach maximum function is as individual as the person.

It’s All In God’s Natural Plan

When we utilize The Neurodevelopmental Approach, whether it be in the form of an individualized neurodevelopmental program recommended by the Neuro-Educational Specialist, or Neurodevelopmentalist following a full evaluation, and academic testing, or if utilizing  a program created by LGS’ Brain Coach, Jan Bedell, such a Developmental Foundations, or Early Learning Foundations; both apply the specific neurodevelopmental movements that stimulate specific areas of the brain that results in improved function.  Scientific research has continued to prove our neuro-educational programs as being true. They can now “view” brain responses electrically through the use of technology. They can see how the brain will re-route connections around damaged areas, and build new areas of function. It’s truly amazing…. it truly God’s design. We are blessed to work with a natural plan. No drugs are needed.  Parents of those children who have completed our programs bear testament to the life-changing results.