Posts Tagged ‘struggling’

Setting Up An Academic Foundation Is Essential

Can you imagine building a structure such as this one, pictured on the right, if you didn’t pay attention to the foundation?  Like anything functional, there must be a logical approach to the beginning of  building a skill set.  God, in his infinite wisdom, created us to have a period of building that lasts our entire lifetime. He also provided a way to set that building process up, and it is called development.  There are natural rules that must be followed in order to have optimum development. Little Giant Steps builds solid foundations upon which the academic lives, successful thinking and living will be built. We are game-changers for those who missed some of those developmental steps, regardless of the reason for it. We are neuro-foundation specialists!

The Foundation Has Massive Wiring

The brain and body must function efficiently together through solid and massive connections in order for us to establish the foundation upon which our five senses are developed and vast functions are built. Our thinking , remembering, and expression of the world and all the experiences we encounter rests on the learning foundations that began on the day we are born and continues throughout our lives.  What science has confirmed with the availability of brain scanning technology, is that function can be restored through the use of brain-based stimulation that does, in fact, create new neuro-pathways and can eliminate the symptoms of learning disabilities by “developing” a stronger and bigger foundation with strong and vital connections. The brain is 97% connections and 3% cell bodies. When there is trauma, deprivation of stimulation, absence of activities that produce the required developmental cues for normal growth and development; we result in having gaps – unseen gaps in our abilities to function successfully in the academic setting or in learning.

What Does Little Giant Steps Do?

Essentially, we are foundation builders.  When a child is struggling with learning, or is noticed to be slightly off the normal developmental track, parents notice.  In school, teachers notice, but no one typically is quite sure what to do about it.  If more people would know that these deficits can typically be easily remedied; they’d do something about it.  It is my hope and prayer that more people will hear our message and will be encouraged to investigate the Neuro-Educational Approach.  It’s a natural way to intervene in problems areas.  No drugs are needed, because we work with what God created ~ the neuro-plasticity of the brain. Our articles are an excellent resource to start in learning, gaining skills, and most importantly, to do something to help your child.  Read them, please.  We also have DVDs if you prefer to learn from videos on our store..

If A Child Shows These Signs, Then Let’s Get Their Problem Solved

• Is your child seems smart, but can’t seem to be successful in school?
• Are you seeing inconsistent recall from a “bright” child?
• Does your child seem to know something one day, but not the next?
• Is he or she able to carry out directions without getting all confused?
• Is your child messy and seems not to have any sense of organization?
• Does your child consistently do things but rarely completes them or even knows they are incomplete?
• Does your child lack logical thinking ability?
• Is your child unable to stay on task?

There are many signs and symptoms that goes along with a disorganized brain, low processing ability (auditory & visual), and mixed dominance.  These are the things we can fix by addressing the foundational dysfunction.  To see how we go about doing that please check out our evaluation services and read the articles: “Learning Disabilities” and The Neurodevelopmental Approach.  Then look at the positive results of our programs in the lives of many children and their families.

Stop the struggling.  Investigate our approach to solving their dilemma. Set them free so they and you can discover their true potential.  It’s there, but the wiring is not quite working efficiently. Little Giant Steps can fix that. 

Great Gains In Learning with LGS Neuro-Educational Programs

Little Giant Steps (LGS) has seen thousands of students from ages 5 to 54 gain functional abilities that allows them to learn with ease and discover their full potential.  “How?” You may ask.  It has to do with a paradigm shift in ones thinking, because we look at the brain first, then the educational materials to be learned.  They go hand in hand, but if you have brain that is disorganized, with low processing abilities, and mixed dominance is a problem, then learning is very difficult and for some it seems impossible despite how hard they try. Our system addresses the foundational issues of learning, which reside in the brain.  We assess where the low or dysfunction is (in relation to educational models ~ we work from an educational model, not a medical model) and it can be a person showing symptoms of dyslexia, autism, ADD, ADHD, PDD, or many other such labels.

Then we look at where the individual is regarding their neuro-development. From that  evaluation, a plan is written and directed by a neuro-educational specialist.  The plan will include neuro-activities to address the issues that are hindering their ability to learn.  As some of our clients have explained, “It’s like going from an Internet dial-up line to high speed.”  They begin to experience what it is like to have their mind and body communicate and function at lightening speed.  Their eye-hand coordination becomes unified, the hyer/hypo sensitivities are normalized, in fact, all systems get a tune up when the brain is functioning efficiently and the neuro-connections are increased.  Read our success stories.

How Much Time Does This Take?

Each individual is different, but we re-evaluate our students every four months.  It’s not surprising when we see a student go up a full grade level in four months, in fact most do better than that if they follow the recommended individualized program that’s been designed for them.  Here is a graph that will show you how a group of nine year old students did in a period of four months. Note the first bar in a series of color is the level where they tested when they started, the second bar are the results shown in four months.  They are tested in math (blue), reading recognition (red), and comprehension (yellow).  Each horizontal line
respresents a full year of school.  To see more testing results click here.

Incremental Success Builds The Base

One thing that has been so much fun working with Jan Bedell’s neuro-educational programs, is seeing the children improve and succeed each day as we see the lower levels of their brains get organized (they begin to think and comprehend in organized ways ~ a big advantage especially in gaining math skills). While her programs provide curriculum supplementation, like Rapid Recall for math facts, they really ready the child for better processing of what they hear, see, say and touch.  Their short-term memory improves with the practiced design of ”The Brain Coach’s” educational programs.  These programs deliver life-long imprinting on the brain, because they actually create new neuro-pathways.  They close developmental gaps that may exist.  It is exciting to see more and more learning disabilities being remedied via the use of neurodevelopmentally focused supplemental curriculum and educational tools. 

Seeing Is Believeing 

This past year we had the pleasure of working the the Summit Christian Academy.  It is an elementary school (NAUMS) and therefore we had a great deal of participation not only with the teachers, but parents.  We kept hearing reports about how the kindergarten loved doing their Rapid Recall (Math Facts) each day.  So, here it is for you to see for yourself.  Kindergarten 2011 Math Speed Test!

If interested in more information on our work at schools, go to Little Giant Steps’ YouTube Channel.

No More Tears Reading ~ part 2

By Jan Bedell, M.Ed. M.ND, Certified Teacher, and Neuro-Educational Specialist ~ Little Giant Steps

(Remember, keep it fun, exciting as play and don’t underestimate the importance of  INPUT ~ you’ll know when they’ve got it!)

In the previous posting, we talked about the Quick Flash Method.  After you have used this method and your child has read through the Dick and Jane, or similar, books (scroll through suggestions), your child will be ready to read other books using the following method:

• parent reads one paragraph,
• child reads that same paragraph,
• parent reads next paragraph,
• child reads that same paragraph, etc.

In order to ensure the child is following along while you are read, pause every once in a while before reading a word you know he knows and let him say the word.  Also, while the child is reading, don’t listen to him struggle to sound out a word, just tell him the word.  You will find the child’s confidence begin to grow.

Don’t forget to work on auditory processing in the mean time.  You can order a booklet on Auditory Processing online at www.littlegiantsteps.com.  When your child reaches an auditory processing level (digit span) of 6, you can add phonics back into his curriculum with a lot more success and a lot less frustration.

P.S.  If you haven’t tested your child’s processing ability, please order the FREE Auditory Processing Test Kit.  It will give you a snap shot of just how grade appropriate your child is functioning.  If they are 5, they should be able to hold 5 pieces of information and recall it from short term memory. The test tells you how to give this short test, and some of the things to look for.  It will give you a bench mark from which to proceed.  It will also answer questions. If they’re not up to grade level, then it can be an easy fix that will last a lifetime! Please read up on the free articles, too. There are so many helpful things we publish for our audience.  Take advantage of them!

Helpful Products:

Stretching a hyper-flex ball for a minute two times a day will build up the flexor muscles of the fingers.  Consider products like putty-eye creatures, squirt fish, poppers, puzzibits and button on a string to develop cortical opposition (index and thumb touching pad to pad) which is important for manipulating a pencil.  A “claw” can train muscle memory for holding a pencil correctly. 

Learn more about utilizing developmental advantageous toys to make the best opportunities available for your child as they get ready for their academic future!    Little Giant Steps offers free articles that instruct you in how to make a big difference in your child’s learning experience.  We back up this instruction with a wide array of products to make the most of the opportunitiy you have in helping your child’s brain get organized, insure mind-body connections that in turn gives them improved processing abilities, better thinking and comprehending abilities and most important is neurological efficiency for ease of learning that develops curiosity and a true love of learning!

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!

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!

What follows is the story of one teacher’s struggles to help her students achieve math fact mastery and how the Rapid Recall System revolutionized her approach and effectiveness in achieving that goal.

       Rapid Recall System = Math Facts Mastery

For years I drilled math facts into students without much success. Flash cards and drill sheets were the standard fare. Students were expected to know their math facts and recite them with confidence and accuracy. Students would use their fingers, stare at their paper, or look to the ceiling as if the answers might fall out of the sky for them.

Oh yes, I did send home those flash cards with the answers on the back instructing parents to spend a set amount of time drilling their children. We spent hours on math manipulatives. But at the beginning of the new school year, I would hear from the second grade teachers that the students didn’t know their math facts and would I please work harder this year. This went on year after year.

Last year I had the opportunity to implement the Rapid Recall System in my first grade classroom. We began the system in September with students that ranged from not recognizing numbers to being able to do one or two addition problems in three minutes. The majority of the students were familiar with counting, but that was the extent of their mathematic skills.

Rapid Recall was easy to implement. The first week was spent teaching students about ‘plus zero’ facts. This system had us showing the students addition facts with ‘plus zero’ in all forms. We reviewed ‘plus zero’ facts several times throughout the day. By the end of the week, all my students mastered their ‘plus zero’ facts.

The second week we did the same routine with ‘plus one’ facts and the students did speed drills on ‘plus zero’ facts. My students were thrilled with the perfect scores they received on their speed drill papers!

The third week we began the meat of the program. Each week we focused on five math facts – two reciprocals and one double. We started each day by listening to a two-minute math track with only the five facts for the week. This part was easy. The students were listening while I was able to do those daily tasks like attendance and lunch count that take time but include no educational instruction. When the math track was over, we went on to other tasks.

Later in the morning, I flashed the five math fact cards to the students twice. I read each card. The students didn’t speak; they just listened. It took about a minute and it was on to other activities.

-more of this teachers point of view next time-

  Who says learning difficulties only happens in children?   There are adults who have spent their whole lives trying to figure out why they struggled so hard to learn, when they knew deep in their hearts they were smart, but for some reason they just couldn’t seem to receive and retain information like other people did.  Some got lost along the way due to never having rewarding experiences in their years in school. Some either dropped out, or chose paths that have lead them into conflict with people, institutions, and some ran afoul of the law.  Can you imagine what could have happened to these very discouraged souls if only they had someone to reach out and say, “Hey, you are smart, but your brain just needs a little help to prepare it to be ready to learn.”  So many of the adults we meet along the way have had lives of chaos and experienced very little confidence that they could ever be a success, not because they didn’t have the intellectual capacity, because they did!  What they had was a disorganized brain, poor early developmental experiences, very low auditory or visual processing skills. 
I have some good news! Lucky for those who are searching; there is a solution.  The brain can change,be trained and organized at the lower levels even if you are an adult.  As long as you are alive, the neuroplasticity of the brain is entirely ready, willing  and able to build new connections. There are techiques to make the changes so the brain becomes organized and all processing deficits, and other areas of dysfunctional symptoms in learning can be remediated and brought up to speed.
One of our Neuro-Educational Specialists has been working with an adult client with whom she shares the pleasure of watching a new world unfold for her as she embarked on her personal journey ina Neuro-Developmental Program. I’ll let the client tell you about her progress:
“I received the program. Thank you. Also, I’ve noticed that my ability to sight-read at the piano is better. I’ve really only been able to actually play a piece of music if I memorize it because, if I ever had to look down at my hands and back up at the music, I would be completely lost as to where I was on the page and as I would struggle to find where I was in order to keep tempo, it’s like all the notes on the page would be moving. It was so frustrating that I never wanted to read music again and decided to start doing my own thing at the piano. This isn’t happening as much anymore! P.C. Houston, TX”
We are so delighted she has discovered, like so many other of our clients; life can be very different, encouraging, and rewarding when the brain has had an opportunity to pick up those steps of development that were either missing, or needed proper stimuli to get them functioning.  Working in the world of Neuro-Education is a really rewarding experience.  We see people begin our programs with pain and struggle, then as they move on into more normal function; they blossom into people they’ve always wanted to be!  Now, that is exciting to watch!