Posts Tagged ‘labels’

Stephen Schuetz had what was described as a “learning problem.”  His folks found a method called The Neurodevelopmental Approach which is locally provided by Jan Bedell, Certified Neuro-Educational Specialist.  Ms Bedell is founder of Little Giant Steps.  She left her teaching career when she discovered how miraculous this approach worked with her mentally challenged daughter. She’s also discovered how it works with those who are typical or gifted.  After 20 years of serving families, successes with kids who struggle with learning, has been the fuel by which she’s continued to teach parents how to change their kid’s lives for the better. Life is more than academics, which is generally the focus of The Neurodevelopmental Approach. Steven has been delighted with a by-product of getting more efficiently “wired!” (which includes doing activities that increase the neuro-pathways in the brain and results in higher neuro-efficiency and faster communication between the brain and body.) By the way, his academics have sky-rocketed, too!  Here’s his story:  

Life Can Be More Than Just Improved Academics

“I can’t believe how much this program has helped me.  It changed my life!  Immediately in the sports I can see the ball traveling at 65-70 mph coming straight at me and I can hit it.  My stats were 21 at bat and 15 hits and that is incredible for me.  I think I was one of the best on the team.  I went from the bottom of the batting order to close to the top!”                                     Steven Schuetz, age 14.

Three and one half years ago, our youngest daughter, Joanna, was struggling socially, academically, and relationally.  After 14 months on Little Giant Steps program she had improved in all academic areas; 2 grade levels math and more than 5 grade levels in Word Recognition and Reading Comprehension.  She now has been off the LGS program for two years, and last week we had her evaluated again to fine tune her brain for rapid decision making needed for her hobby—scuba diving & underwater rescue.  During these past 2 years she has gained more than 3 and ½ grade levels in math and maxed out reading comprehension.  Joanna is rapidly finishing high school with the most dramatic improvement in math. Her brain is still sharp!

Last night I was talking with a former elementary school principal who left her profession for the time being, while she enjoys raising her family.  She was talking about teaching her children with Little Giant Steps core math program called, Rapid Recall System.  She has followed the evolution of this program that offers a multi-sensory approach based on the neurodevelopmental approach.  In fact, this program was designed by a teacher with over 30 years experience and is also a very experience neuro-educational specialist, Jan Bedell.

What this former principal likes most was the fact that in 10 minutes a day, her children are showing exceptional progress.  Yes, just 10 minutes a day!  (14 minutes for multiplication)  As I noted, this is a program based on the neurodevelopmental approach. That means it works at a root level with the brain.  We know from years of experience, the brain learns best when stimulated with short intense bursts of information that are fun!  We always leave the student wanting more.  The program allows a great deal of flexibility for both the instructor and student, but is done frequently during the day. (At least twice.)  There are auditory, visual and tactility components of the program, which helps to develop efficient and permanent neuro-pathways that increase the ability to improve input as well as output of information. The students academic scores go up because in a short amount of time they have permanent rapid recall of math fact skills.  Skills they will use the rest of their lives.

Here’s another mother who has weighed in on Rapid Recall System:

“My daughter had a very difficult time ’getting’ her math facts. We tried a lot of different approaches but nothing worked. Still searching, we tried the Rapid Recall System. Somehow, she began to know her facts before we studied them! I am so impressed and thankful for Rapid Recall. I recommend it to everyone with elementary students!”    – S. Phillips, Houston, Texas

P.S.  Good news for School Systems!  We now have adapted the Rapid Recall System to be integrated into the classrooms as an easy-to-use math supplement that will help bring all students up to grade level with their math facts. Our research program done in a school during the 2008-2009 school term showed a dramatic increase of mastery for those students using Rapid Recall as opposed to the other three control groups using just their math curriculum.

  From the parent of a child diagnosed with Dyslexia:  (Free Test Kits Are Available – Order Now)

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 reflection, 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 reflection 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.

My son was interested in learning to read when he was 3 ½ years old.  I picked up The Writing Road to Reading and started using the phonic flash cards to teach him the different phonic sounds.  He learned the sounds from the flash cards but could not apply them to words.  It seemed like I was just spinning my wheels.  I decided to sign him up for a phonic class with the local home school coop, but he was still unable to apply his knowledge of phonics to reading. 

     We started Little Giant Steps when my son was six and he only knew 1 or 2 words.  During his evaluation with LGS, Jan Bedell discovered that his auditory processing was a 3 and his visual processing was a 4.  So, Jan suggested that we stop phonics for a while and teach him by sight, while working on improving his processing. 

     My son started a private inclusion school last year and his teacher was trying to teach him phonics and remarked that he knew the rules but could not apply them.  Just a couple of months later, his processing went up to 5.5 and phonics just started to fall into place.  Almost overnight, he started to use those rules that he had learned before.  

    Jan put him on a phonics program that helped to fill in any gaps.  He no longer has any problems in reading at school and has more than caught up with his grade level.    M. L. in Dallas, TX

Here are a few of what some of the parents who’ve been working with Little Giant Steps are saying.  They have worked with a neuro-education specialist and an individualized program:

• We attended a wedding this weekend.  One of my friends was there -she hadn’t seen Brennan since we started LGS.  She was so impressed with him.  It was great to get that kind of unsolicited encouragement.  I have to say that he sat so nicely and quietly -I nearly forgot he was there while I enjoyed the wedding!
• The question I have lately is “Who is this kid and what have you done with her!?”  And, by the way, I’m keeping the new one you can have the old one.  Ariel is so sweet lately; she really seems happier and nicer and I can tell she is taking in more information.  She has also been doing her chores without reminders or nagging and she is taking pride in a well-made bed!!  Thank you!                                                                          
• I wanted to let the Little Giant Steps team know how well Timothy is doing in school. He just received his first report card last week; he got four A’s and one B (89)!  And last week his teacher told me that they took some sort of reading passage test and he made a 100!  He never asked for help in reading the questions at all!   My husband and I are absolutely convinced that your program was absolutely key to his success.                    

QUESTION:  

OK, so my child’s auditory processing ability is not at grade level….. what now?    “It’s been shown that children who have consistent  fun learning interactions with their parents will grasp & retain information better than anything they will ever see on TV or possibly learn at school!”The products listed below if done as instructed in each package is a solution.

ANSWER: #1    Learn What You Need To Know  Order A Free Test Kit # 2  Make It Intensely Fun*, Frequent & Short Duration     A Deck of Digit Spans Cards  #3 This is the computer version of Digit Span Cards for Auditory & Visual Processing   #4    Th To Have Listening Experiences         Reading & Listening FUN!! #5  ”Not since my 3rd grade teacher read us The Adventures of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle (dates me I know) have I been so entertained. Rooster Morris has hit a great balance between appeal to young children and subtle humor t teens on their toes to catch it all. The main character Axle, inspires integrity, honesty and fundamental truths of good triumphing over evil. Rooster’s recordings are amazing as he depicts each cleverly named character with different voices. From my professional stand point, the recordings will accelerate reading abilities as children follow along in the book while Rooster skillfully dramatizes the written word.” Jan Bedell Certified Neurodevelopmentalist Make It  Every Day Twice A Day* you can learn to have fun for 2 minutes each time you play!

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My cup overflows today. I am so grateful for all Little Giant Steps has done for my family…Indeed, God has blessed us beyond measure and I am so thankful that He led us to Little Giant Steps.

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Where children, teens, and adults can reach greater heights in development,
academics, and the workplace. Since 1992, Little Giant Steps has
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When I was in middle school, I was very much a loner.  I found it very hard to make and keep friends.  My home life was very stressful because my little brother drove me crazy.  He is three years younger than me and has learning disabilities and he used to irritate me a lot!  In school, it seemed like the harder I tried, the more I failed.  I came home with tons of homework everyday and my mother used to have to stand over me to make sure I kept working – my mind kept wandering.  I had absolutely zero confidence in myself!  I was taking 15mg of Ritalin a day to help me focus in school.
The summer before my freshmen year in high school, my life began to change.  I went to see Jan (at Little Giant Steps - a neuro-education specialist) and she put my brother and I on a Neurodevelopmental Program (we called it “therapy”).  Most of the therapy I had to do was strange and sometimes boring but I was willing to stick to it and do it every day because I wanted to be smarter. 
When school started in the fall, I could see that the therapy we did over the summer was already making some changes in my life so I became even more determined to stick with the program, which included wearing an eye patch to school.  This was the hardest part of the program for me but I am so glad I stuck with it.  After wearing an eye patch my entire freshman year in high school, I was able to stop the Ritalin at the beginning of my sophomore year.
            I am now 20 years old and a sophomore in college.  I can listen to lectures in my college classes and pay attention and understand without any problems.  I have wonderful friends that love being around me and I love being around them.  Before I started Jan’s program, I wasn’t very coordinated, but now I love playing sports and I’m good at them. 
I have so much to be thankful for because of the confidence and pride I have in knowing that I really can do anything I set my mind to!  I cannot talk enough about Jan’s program.  I haven’t even talked about the WONDERFUL young man my brother has turned out to be and the progress that he has made.  He had to wear an earplug and a lot of other stuff that I didn’t have to do.  He was even worse at sports than I was and now he’s on his high school football team!  My brother and I are now best friends.  We have a special bond that we enjoy as a direct result of the Neurodevelopmental Approach.                                                                                                                                     A.T.Garland, TX