Posts Tagged ‘The ND Approach’

Angela, a sweetheart of a girl, decided to write about her academic journey and her experience with our Neuro-Educational Program.  Read her story and get an idea about what could be for your child.

“My parents blessed me with the best education I could imagine, even though I might not have considered it that way when I was younger. I have experienced the settings of a Montessori preschool, public school kindergarten, home school for elementary, private school for sixth grade, and distance learning for junior high and high school. However, what made my education the very best it could be was that we worked on improving my brain function.

Do you want to know the secret that unlocked my full potential? Well, I had a neurodevelopmental evaluation with the Brain Coach, Jan Bedell of Little Giant Steps. She wrote a program (INP-individual neurodevelopmental program) especially for me to help my brain work better; it included academics and PE. At age twelve I became the branch director of San Antonio and earned enough money to be a tax paying citizen. My ability to travel for a job was made possible by my flexible school schedule with New College Preparatory Academy. The secret to unlocking my early maturity to handle the adult responsibilities of a job and independent learning was attributed to brain building.

It all began with a personal evaluation of my academic levels and developmental abilities. I started this whole process because my sister was doing it and my mother wanted us to go through it together. On the day of my evaluation, to my disappointment, I wasn’t aloud to eat anything with sugar and instead I had to eat a protein-filled breakfast. After my assessment was finished Mom and Dad talked with Mrs. Bedell who then wrote a program for me. Every four months I returned for a checkup and an updated program.

The INP created just for me stands for an Individualized Neurodevelopmental Program. It was like a to-do-list of activities that we put on a chart that I colored in once I was finished with each task. This Monday through Friday school week had three sections: (1) on my own, (2) with a tutor, and (3) with the neighbors. The activities I accomplished on my own included chores, specific listening, and computer memory games. Math using fifty percent input, echo reading using a New Practice Reader, and Sequential Spelling using auditory methods were all done with my tutor. We invited the neighbors over for a PE program that incorporated cross patterning so the two parts of my brain could communicate with each other. All of these activities worked together to organize my brain, which enabled me to hold a job.

For two years I have worked as an apprentice for Jan Bedell learning many aspects of Little Giant Steps. Some of my responsibilities included interacting with adults, babysitting children, selling product, handling money, and teaching program activities. Traveling to Austin, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio one week out of every month was a lot of fun. My flexible schedule was made possible by distance learning.

New College Preparatory Academy (NCPA) is the name of my school, founded by Dr. Kuni Beasley, who helps kids ace the SAT, and who is in partnership with Howard Burg, the world’s fastest reader. There’s an affiliate school, called National Homeschool Academy, for homeschool students. At the beginning of every year I spend about a week boosting my speed-reading, studying, testing, and writing skills. What is amazing is that I was able to skip from sixth grade to ninth grade because NCPA lets me work at my own pace! There are two people who help me in school: my tutor, Liz Sweet, and my mentor, Cathy Bankhead, who grades my work when I e-mail it to her once a week. Distance learning is a great way to do education.

What made my education the very best, was good schools and a fabulous opportunity to enhance my brain’s ability to learn. When my maturity increased then I was able to handle adult responsibilities at a young age and excel in academics. My recommendation for you is to explore neurodevelopment because they say, “It helps anybody with a brain.”

Where does one begin to share about one of the greatest gifts God has given our family? Little Giant Steps has been part of our lives for almost 2 years and has truly changed our son’s life. Luke was 9 when he began the program. To understand the miracle LGS has been, you need to know a bit about Luke’s story.

From birth, Luke was not making the normal “mile stones.” Since he was our third child we knew what to expect. It was at his 9-month appointment we started a battery of tests to search for answers. His diagnosis ended up being mild to moderate Cerebral Palsy. The doctors shared that they did not know if he would ever walk or talk. Eventually, our son mastered both. From 9 months on, Luke has always had some form of therapy and he has slowly progressed. Then at age 4, Luke began to have complex partial seizures. These were controlled by medication. Luke went to our local elementary school and we were pleased with the care he received. But, he always seemed to take one step forward in mastering something, to take three steps back. We tried many various options, from repeating Kindergarten to trying more time in “therapy.” Nothing ever seemed to help…

In fourth grade, we moved and our new school was not able to accommodate his special needs. We were distraught to say the least. As we looked into other options, each one had roadblocks. Weeks before the new school year were to begin; a friend asked if I had heard of LGS. Unfortunately, we had not up to this point. Quickly, we watched a video, hopped around on the website and made an appointment to be evaluated. (To be honest, we had to be very creative in our finances and even at this point, God provided).

From the beginning, EVERYTHING about LGS has been exactly what we needed. Jan Bedell has been a tool in God’s hands to literally begin to transform Luke’s life in a few short months. Luke has struggled from day one with an array of challenges from physical to learning (dysgraphia, dyslexia, processing issues and at age 9, he still was unable to read). Once evaluated, we began our INP and within 6 weeks Luke was reading. His retention seemed to double, his tactile issues lessened and over all our son’s confidence began to change.

Recently, our journey has been marred with more challenges in regards to Luke’s health. Last year, he was diagnosed with a low grade, brain tumor. Sadly, Luke’s hippocampus was removed, along with part of his temporal lobe. We had to take a break from LGS and months ago begun the program again. While Luke is healing, there is clear evidence that his memory is hindered. Our hope is God will use LGS once again to do what no other program or therapist has ever accomplished.  So far, we see good progress.  I am not sure what would have become of Luke had God not placed LGS in our lives. It has done miracles in our boy…and we are forever grateful for Jan’s evaluations, Michelle’s constant contact, guidance, encouragement and Alyssa’s administrative gifts.

It’s been amazing how we see children and adults who have been on the LGS Neuro-Educational Program move beyond the symptoms that have confounded them since they were little.  We know when such symptoms are addressed at the root cause (in the brain) with specific brain based techniques, these symptoms can become a thing of the past and not ones destiny.  As one of our 10 year old client told his father as he was completing our program, “Dad, you know I don’t  have dyslexia anymore.”  The fact was he was reading at 10th grade level and the rest of his subject grade levels were advanced, as well.     See a very important video:  John’s Story

When you continue to do the same old things, you get the same old results.  In the case of utilizing a revolutionary program that works with the neuroplasticity of the brain, the structure changes and so does the function.  Our advise is to first investigate, then educate yourself on how it is possible for you to see a change that will last a lifetime!

I was originally going to make my own digit span cards, and it never got done. So, I bought some (Digit Span Cards) from Little Giant Steps.

I bought some digit span cards. I love them. It is so much easier to get things done when everything is right there and done for you.  (Editors note:  We suggest you order a Free Test Kit to establish the current functional level of your child’s auditory and visual processing abilities. All directions are included with our products)

I bought the whisper phone- love it. My son is now saying Vincent instead of Sincent. I have also been using it with my other kids. My 8 ds had a hard time saving virgins (a bible quiz answer). Immediately he could say it correctly. Also, my almost 3 dd has been using it.

I bought some pencil grips -great!! Especially for my artistic ten year old.   I also bought Sequencing in a Flash and a cd. 

The service was very quick. I received my order in just a few days. (Thanks Jan)
P.S. Don’t forget there are a world of free information offered on their website, too!

www.littlegiantsteps.com ~ investigate, educate and bring your struggling child into his/her real 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

Here is a note from one of our associates.  We believe in the ability to incorporate natural methods with the body.  This is one we’ve seen work more than once.  Here’s the account from Linda K.:

“I got this text about ten days ago …
            Cathy’s sister Mary fell on ice and cracked her skull. She is in the hospital fighting for her life. They have not been able to stop the bleeding.  Please pray.

I texted back…..
            Have anyone place hands on her.  Right hand on body, left hand perpendicular over top of the right hand and just stay there.  This is the TKM stop bleeding hold.

The next text in to me……
             Cathy wants to know how long to hold the position.

My next next text out…..
             Until the bleeding stops and then some.

The next text later that day to me…..
            Mary is doing so much better.  The bleeding has stopped!!

Mary went home two days later from the hospital.  All was well.

I do not usually check my phone while working with clients.  I had a young man working on a math test and I just felt the Lord’s tug to check my phone for messages.  What a great God we have.  What a great thing TKM is.”

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, “N o 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, TX

The people who come to Little Giant Steps (LGS) usually are at their wits end trying to find a solution for their child’s learning disorder or problem.  Because we work from a natural developmental approach, we see things like this mother describes daily!  And it’s really fun seeing success and confidence growing and glowing in the faces of our clients.

“When I was asked to use one word to describe my experience with Little Giant Steps, I said, life-changing. When our daughter started the program, she was highly frustrated, emotional, and her attention span was terrible. The only way she could focus on school work was in a totally quiet environment. She wanted to help and follow instructions but could not remember. She was also hyper-sensitive, we had to cut out all tags from her clothing. Megan improved two grade levels in math, word recognition and comprehension in one year. She can now read in a noisy room and leaves most tags in her clothing. Her auditory processing skills have improved dramatically. We know that Megan would have been given several different labels if we had taken her to Scottish Rite. We feel blessed that Little Giant Steps has given us hope for her future. Thank you and God’s blessings. “T. E. in Plano, TX

“Thank you so much for the encouraging words and advice – it really helps me to stay motivated and hopeful. I appreciate this group so much.

FREEDOM

 And now…. I have some great news from my “neuro-program” boy… he learned to ride his bike without training wheels this week! Last year he just did not have the skills at all, but this spring he had picked up on his own and started riding his scooter, and his balance was so good on it that I thought it might be time to try the bike again. It took only one good head start from Daddy, and he was off down the road – he even turned a curve and came back!!!  He was so excited!!  He drove into the driveway, dropped his bike over, and came running up to high-five his daddy and me, saying, “I KNEW I COULD DO IT!!!” This is from the little boy who suffers with feelings of failure at so many things. And his sisters and brother were running along behind him cheering him on, and one of the neighbor boys shouted “YOU ROCK ISAIAH!” He was so proud and needless to say we were, too.

I wanted to share this with you guys, since I seem to share only when I get discouraged. I can see where his program has really helped his body awareness this past year, among other things. I am praying for more to come! “ ~ Selena

It is amazing how nature will heal, if the right stimuli and system is set in order.  Read about this child’s recovery from his mother:

“A couple of days ago we were driving home. A song came on the radio and from the back seat I heard, “Oh, this is my favorite song. I love this song.” It was Jeremy. The song he was referring to is a good song, but his words were more beautiful to my ears than any song could ever be. It was not too long ago that Jeremy would ride in the car with us and never comment on anything. He didn’t look out the window. He never said a word. Not only is he talking, he is expressing his opinion, and he knows what he loves.

Today, we are home together watching it snow. He is playing with his toys on the floor. The radio is on and Jeremy is singing a worship song about Jesus… another song he loves…. what a beautiful sound.”