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We wanted to remind you tonight is the last of the series:
“Playing Catch-up, Successful Strategies for Learning Difficulties”
Thursday, April 21, 2011
7:30 PM CDT – http://www@anymeeting.com/LGSED1

Please join us for the third session on the neuro-educational approach. Learning difficulties are not a life sentence. It is neuro-efficiency that is the game-changer.

Many bright children struggle needlessly in school, while others have significant challenges. What is a parent to do?

Jan Bedell, “The Brain Coach” offers powerful strategies to unlock learning potential including tips on supplemental programs for struggling learners.

Little Giant Steps (Neuro-Education Consultants)  

We’ve scheduled a new webinar!

Here it is – another article on how bad stress is for us! It actually should be shouted from the housetops! Stress is bad, so stop it or it will stop you! The anxieties of life are a huge factor in our modern day lives. There’s been many an article written about stress, listing symptoms and solutions. It seems as if we’re all looking for ways to relieve stress and live in peace. We’re all looking for answers. Keep reading you are going to find some answers within these pages.When we are anxious, no matter how justifiable, our bodies do not receive sufficient oxygen. As our oxygen levels are lowered it becomes very detrimental to our brains. When we are stressed out by school, our children, our responsibilities, our neighbors, the bills, the lack of time to sit and enjoy anything, we have moved onto that merry-go-round going where? We have to ask, “Where am I headed – for healing and health or sickness?” Where are we leading our children – down a path of freedom or bondage? 

There are certian things that we do that actually decrease our oxygen levels and lower the immune system. One of them is very surprising! It is strenuous exercising. If we exercise vigorously it seems like our oxygen level would go up; it does not. In fact, it acts as a big stressor to our bodies. Exercising in moderation, on the other hand, like walking at a moderate pace for about 15 minutes a day or being on a stationery bicycle, peddling at a moderate pace can increase oxygen levels. A person starting out running a marathon with a blood oxygen level of 92, has a severe drop of over 20 points in their oxygen levels within the first three hours of starting the race and it stays down until the race is completed. It can take days for a marathon runner’s oxygen levels to go back up because their body is so stressed. Most athletes engaging in extreme physically stressful sports like marathon runners, boxers, or weight lifters do not, overall, live a long life. There was a report on the news just a few weeks ago stating that most professional athletes do not have a long life expectancy. The low levels of blood oxygen lead to a weakened immune system. This brought to mind what the Bible has to say about doing all things in moderation. When our activities, no matter what they may be, are done in moderation, our body can greatly benefit. It is great gain for us to be at peace.   More Next Time…..

Some times you are around a good thing so much you take it for granted.  I have been guilty of that with the Rapid Recall System, which is a multi-sensory math facts program.  What makes this program a real standout in the market place?  Well, it does what it purports to do and then some.  In fact, we’ve seen things that have even been a surprise to us!

For example, this math facts program was designed many years ago by Jan Bedell, The Brain Coach.  She was an educator who finally gave up hoping the public and private schools could or would teach her mentally challenged daughter to read, write and do math.  Taking matters into her own hands, she began home schooling her daughter at 15 years of age.  She knew in her heart of hearts that there was ability just waiting to be reached and she began a quest to make life better for her daughter.  At that time, she also discovered the ND (Neuro-Developmental) Approach.  It is a methodology of utilizing normal developmental activities that are typically done during the early years of development  to impact the neuroplasticity of the brain.  Neuroplasticity is a life-long feature of the brain that allows the brain to change, new connections to be created, damaged areas to be re-routed around, or repaired.  The goal of doing these brain-based stimulating techniques and activities are to get the brain to become neurologically efficient.  When our brain and body communications are efficient, there is fast interchange between the thought and the action.  Which impacts the cognitive, processing, auditory (short-term memory), visual and tactile areas, as well.

Everyone on this earth, regardless of age, I.Q. or status can always do better with greater neuro-efficiency!  That’s what the Rapid Recall System (a very specially designed math facts program) does; it provides an emphasis on in-put in such a way that the dendrites (ends of the the nerves) are stimulated enough that neuro-pathways are generated and greater connections, speed, and function are increased.

Now, let me tell you more about the surprises we’ve seen with this program.  I’d mentioned earlier about Jan’s daughter, and her being 15 with knowing how to read or do math.  Jan designed this math facts program and had a perfect candidate to work with right under her roof.  She found that her daughter could, in fact, learn!  In fact, what was so amazing was she had been diagnosed with a 40 I.Q., but with the help of a neuro-developmental program she began to read at a 4th-5th grade level, she did math on a 4th grade level, and can write!  Now… here’s the real SURPRISE~ Jan’s daughter today is a 30 year old young woman. She lives in a residence of Christian young women.  Jan went in to test a new resident who had some challenges and as we was starting to test this new resident she thought, “I wonder how much my daughter has retained after all these years?”  She then gave the speed drill to her daughter as well as the new resident.  Her daughter did (right on the spot, no advance warning) 39 addition problems correctly in 1 minute!  The last time she’d been tested had been 18 years ago!  

 We knew this program was exceptional prior to this very up-close and personal experience with Jan’s daughter, but this confirmed what we’d been seeing with our clients who utilized the program.  In fact, if you wish to see the research results done in a couple of schools over the past three years see it here.

I hope you’ll consider this program and many others we have developed as curriculum or companion curriculum.  All are available on our website store.  One thing before I close is:  This program works for gifted, typical and challenged individuals, regardless of age or I.Q. 

In fact, I had a mother from California call about our Rapid Recall System. She told me her son was gifted in math, but had never really mastered his math facts, and she’d already purchased 5- 6 programs that didn’t work.  Someone had recommended our program to her, but she was leary of paying out money with no results. She wanted a guarantee, so I gave her one.  I told her if she followed the program for 30 days, and she saw no improvement, we’d take it back, and refund her money.  Instead of a request for a refund I got the most excited mother emailing me telling me, “It’s working!  After all we tried, I am so happy and relieved to have found this wonderful program!”

Yes, we mustn’t take things that are really good for granted.  We see these kinds of miracles happen to people of all ages when the follow the Neuro-Educational Programs developed here at Little Giant Steps.  For these, we praise God!

Intellectual/Cognitive Delays – continued..      

Once the sensory systems and processing abilities are evaluated, neurodevelopmentalists evaluate how the individual thinks, either visually or linearly. An individual needs both abilities but often, due to developmental issues, lopsided development takes place and we often see individuals with great visual abilities and no logic, or the contrary, great linear thinking but no ability to think globally. Balancing these thinking abilities is important in helping the individual function normally and eliminates some “strange” behavior. 

This informational article was done by an associate, Kay Ness, a master level neurodevelopmental specialist:

Jan Bedell, M.Ed, M.ND has created a math facts product called Rapid Recall System that not only covers the required curriculum of a math facts program, but has added dimensions and practices that addresses the neuro-developmental gaps in the brain that makes it very difficult for many students to learn math facts. 

One of each operation: Teacher’s guide, Flash Cards, Audio CD’s and one
student work book included per operation, additional student books and visual input CD’s sold separately.

“After 18 years of teaching, I finally found a math facts system that works! Even my lower level students flourished. The Rapid Recall System was so easy to use—and it only took seven minutes a day! At the end of the year the test scores proved that the students had retained their math facts. This is a fantastic product!”   – Tanda Trussell, West Texas Elementary, Stinnett, Texas

Little Giant Stepswants to thank all of you who have been faithful in following our posts this past year. It is true, we are here to serve those who have trouble with academics, memory, and feeling confident about their abilities to learn and perform like others you know.  It is our privilege to have served a population for almost 20 years who deserve to and can be set free from anxiety due to neuro-inefficiency.  Folks, being unable to perform due to learning issues is not a life sentence.  We know most cases are a matter of having been raised in an environment that didn’t allow you to complete all the stages of development that set the stage for academic achievement.  The good news is that you are never too old to rectify the deficits and improve your ability to function mentally, socially and emotionally.  There is nothing as good as success.  So, before you go too far thinking 2011 will not be much of an improvement in your level of confidence about what you CAN do, read these stories, then make a commitment to yourself  for either your sake or your child’s and seek new information and programs that can change the course of your or your child’s life!  Now, go have a great New Year!  God bless you and your family.

ND Tip: Lower Level Brain Organization

By Jan Bedell, M.Ed., M.ND (Certified Neuro-Educational Specialist)

Each of us is born with tremendous potential.  A well functioning tactile system is imperative for receiving information and taking that potential to the next level, which will then be transmitted into producing intentional movement (crawling, walking, running, etc.).  Movement makes “memories” which causes the circuitry that releases intelligence.  There is tremendous brain growth in the early years and unless the brain cells are connected through neuropathways that are built early, they can be lost. It is a use it or lose it scenario.  Early development is like building a house, you have to have a good foundation in order for everything else to function properly.  The good news for an older individual is that even if these pathways are immature or incomplete, they can be rebuilt with proper stimulation.

In recent decades, our society has become very mobile; with most families having two cars and the convenience of air travel, society as a whole is living farther and farther away from extended family members.  Neurodevelopmentalists believe this separation from the extended family has caused many erroneous beliefs about child rearing to emerge.

MYTH #1:  Babies should be on a blanket if placed on the floor. 

TRUTH:  The tactile input to the brain would be limited by the blanket.  In addition to that, have you ever seen an infant try to crawl (tummy on floor) while lying on top of a blanket?  They just get all tangled up and frustrated because they can’t get anywhere.

MYTH #2:  Infant seats are a necessity!  When an infant is sitting in an infant seat, they somehow seem more human; i.e., it is easier to see their faces and for them to see you and they seem happier. 

TRUTH:  The best place for an infant is on their tummy on the floor during their waking hours.  ON the floor in a prone position (on the tummy) is where they build the muscles for sitting alone and walking.

MYTH #3:  Walkers are a great way to prepare the child for walking alone. 

TRUTH:  If a child does not go through the stages of tummy crawl and creeping on hands and knees for a long enough period of time, a ripple of adverse effects will occur.  Gross motor coordination, organizational abilities and eye-hand coordination are just a few of the areas that could be adversely affected.

MYTH #4:  The more gadgets, i.e. Johnny jump ups, fancy walkers, play pens, etc., I put my child in the better. 

TRUTH:  The more time a child spends in these gadgets, the less time the child spends on the floor, which means less opportunity for the brain to be organized at the lower levels.  Lower level development is the foundation upon which all other development is built. 

I encourage you to get your infants out of these gadgets and put them on the floor for lots of tummy time.  Next month we will explore what to do if your older child missed these essential developmental stages.

www.littlegiantsteps.com