Posts Tagged ‘Learning Success’

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.  Neuro-educational specialists 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:  As stated in an earlier newsletter, 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.  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.  www.littlegiantsteps.com

As we close our week long annual meeting and re-certifying conference, we are so thankful for our leadership in Jan Bedell, (also known as The Brain Coach). She is the President and founder of Little Giant Steps (LGS).  Jan has had 20 successful years as a neuro-educational specialist. Her success has changed the lives of thousands.  She and her team of neuro-educational specialists intervene daily in the lives of children, teens and adults with learning disabilities.  This week of professional education made all of us recognize how blessed and grateful we are to work in the field of  Neuro-development and at LGS with Jan.   Jan also is a certified and experienced teacher who has created products and curriculum to help set those with learning disabilities free. As we, the team, have witnessed in our own children’s lives, and in the lives of our clients, “Learning Disabilities (ADD, ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, PDD, Down syndrom, and other labels) are not life sentences.”   See our testimonies.

Currently LGS is providing a “Dyslexia Workshop”  for $14.97 that you can download or receive a DVD. This is an hour-long training session for parents, teachers, day-care, and after-school providers.  You will get knowledge on “how to” fix dyslexia and how you can make a significant difference in your child’s life. The symptoms of dyslexia can be eliminated, and without symptoms, then dyslexia no longer exists. The statements, “You must accept your Dyslexia,” or “Concentrate on improving your coping & compensating skills, instead of “curing” Dyslexia” are no longer true.  There are new modalities, the brain can change!

Two other “at-home-programs” she has created are:  # 1.  For pre-school typical children (ages 2-5) or for older children who are mentally challenged, the ”Early Learning Foundations “. This program provides readiness for school in math, reading, writing, but most importantly it will assure your child is neurologically efficient and functioning efficiently, as well.

      # 2.  For 6 yr. olds to college age the “Developmental Foundations” has been successful in helping individuals eliminate learning gaps. Academic scores go up, behavior can improve and their ability to organize themselves is much improved.

We’re thankful for parents who recognize there is something  “not the way it should be” or “quirky in the learning area” and choose to seek answers where the root causes (in the brain) can be changed so the function & development is completed and normal.  See the our test results of what happened to these struggling individuals.  The door for success was opened and they are on their way to functioning in the range of their true, God-given potential.

Here is a note from a teacher involved in a research program done in 2008-2009:

After using the neurodevelopmental approach in my classroom this past year, my students improved academically, gained strength physically and matured emotionally.  These students individually were able to complete sequences of tasks without promptings as well as staying focused on the task that was before them.  Other adults around them commented that their reasoning skills as well as their organizational skills were far above those of peers.  Unlike other first grade classrooms in my past 18 years of teaching and those around us not participating in the program, these students were more respectful of each other and worked together to accomplish tasks without arguments.  Students were successful, so both the students and teacher’s stress level came down.   Together, we were working “smarter”, not harder. 

RAPID RECALL SYSTEM

What a fantastic math facts system!  In 18 years of teaching, I have tried many ways to teach math facts but this system was by far the easiest to implement and I had better results with this system than anything else I have tried – all in just 7 minutes a day!   Even my lower-level students flourished and were successful under this system.

Tanda Trussell, First Grade Teacher

Plemons-Stinnett-Phillips CISD

Stinnett, TX

 The LGS Neuro-Educational Approach is a program that provides the necessary brain stimulation to form neuro-pathways that were never developed during the earlier developmental stages of a child’s life. Each child will advance according to their own capacities.  (It also works on teens and adults – see test results) There are a myriad of things that keep our children from developing neurological efficiency.  Some have to do with illness as infants, some have to do with ear infections, but by and large most of our kiddos who seem to be bright, yet struggle with school were never given adequate exposure to activities that early on organize the lower levels of the brain, build a strong neuro-networks and connections.  We are raising a generation of children who have missed being on the floor and having “tummy time” which allows for the body to help stimulate and map the brain.  It is unfortunate we place our babies in the car seat when taking them home from the hospital, and for the majority of their infancy they remain in the up-right postion and miss getting all of the vital tactile, neuro-stimuli that is required in order to process information at lightening speed and efficiency.  It’s all about the  mind-body connections.  What the LGS Neuro-Educational Program does is to work with the plasticity of the brain to form, repair and even create connections / neuro-pahtways to enhance internal communication.  Most of the “learning disability” symptoms literally go away when the child is experiencing the benefits of a well organized brain, good auditory & visual processing abilities (yes, we work with that along the way) and other areas that may show up in the child’s evaluation.  To discover more about our very successful programs, click here.   There are free articles for you to investigate the science, philosophy and design of our neuro-educational models.   Now, let’s listen to Jenny, a mom who discovered how her son could be helped:

“Our son came up two years academically in 3 months. The biggest indicator of progress to me has been that he is reading for pleasure! His problems are quite minor compared to what many families are dealing with, we were just frustrated at the lack of progress in several areas and felt like we needed an outside viewpoint. ”  – Jenny M.

By the way, we have designed curriculum utilizing our approach, as well as a Neuro-Edcational Program called Developmental Foundations which is an at-home program that will get your child up and running with improved academic abilities.

I ordered Math N More for my “just turned” 4 year old. This is the most incredible curriculum I’ve ever had!!  It almost makes me have “momma guilt” for not having it for my two older children. I also ordered ABC’s in a Flash and look forward to using it.     K. S. in Spring, TX

ANSWER:  Many Children Have Low Auditory Progressing Abilities Which Decreases The Ability To  Receive, Comprehend, Store, and Retrieve Information.

Why are so many children struggling with low auditory processing?
            Many years ago, when our educational system was developed, we were primarily an auditory society; we ate together as families 2-3 times a day and TALKED.  We read as a family in the evenings or listened to radio broadcasts for hours.  We developed our auditory processing ability by practicing. 
            Today, our society is primarily visual with T. V., computers, movies, electronic games, etc.  These all consuming visual activities permeate our lives and leave little time for the truly important practice of listening and developing our auditory processing abilities.  Even though our society is primarily visual, we are still using the educational delivery system that was developed for a primarily auditory society. 
 
What can be done?
            Since the brain is dynamic and ever changing, much can be done to remediate the processing ability of any person, at any age.  By providing specific stimulation to the brain to increase ones auditory processing ability, global benefits will result for the child or anyone who applies these activities for a four month period. 
            You can request a FREE auditory test kit  or by emailing: orderdept@littlegiantsteps.com  Put “Free Auditory Test Kit” in the subject line. This kit will allow you to test any individual ages four to adult.  Also, reading the Auditory Processing Booklet will add to you knowledge and skill.  This information will give you a baseline to work from and a better understanding of your child’s struggles or inefficiencies.  To increase auditory processing, digit span exercises can be done with a four minute time investment and the reward of increased abilities globally.  Instructions for digit spans are also included in the free kit.
              In addition to digit spans daily, I encourage you to read to your children at least one hour a day as an additional way of developing processing skills.  When they are not listening to you read, they could be listening to books or stories on tape/CD (without the book).  This is a great way to add value to the time spent playing with legos, coloring or other fine motor activities.  Listening to audio stories and books (not music) increases vocabulary, helps reinforce sentence structure, provides opportunity for narration, models good writing structure in addition to developing auditory sequential processing. 
            Audio stories are also a wonderful way to productively occupy pre-school children while you are schooling older siblings.  You can see amazing results when you get your child up to grade level in his/her auditory processing abilities.

Math Facts In 10 Min. A Day

Teachers are using this supplemental math facts system and discovering the multi-sensory, neuro-educationally-based system works:    “I like the quick one minute drill to keep focus.  You can see how much they’ve grown for the week.” Maxine Bonner—Grade 2  

“My kids really love the sounds between the rows of the facts.  They will giggle.  Everyone will laugh and predict what is said.  It takes my students two or three days to learn the facts.  They know them by the end of the week.” Jennifer Baggett—Grade 2

Math Facts In 10 Min. A Day

Teacher’s comments after only 8 weeks of use:  

“The teachers seem to like the Rapid Recall programs we have given them and are beginning to see some results. ” Alma Gutierrez—Principal            

 “I have students completing one minute drills that I didn’t think could.  This is surprising me!”  Candi Voyles—Grade 1