Little did Jan know in those early years, how life would test her personally, spiritually, and professionally. Never would she have guessed that her firstborn daughter, Jenee’ would arrive as a mentally challenged little girl. She struggled through fifteen disappointing years trying various programs, techniques, and homework through public and private schools, as well as home school. Their lives changed when they were introduced to The Neurodevelopmental (ND) Approach. Jan learned that the brain had great plasticity. By using specific brain stimulation frequently, with intensity and short duration, a life could forever be changed. She discovered that a child who was struggling with academic work could experience success when the neuro-pathways were strengthened and information processing became efficient. The life lessons of a desperate mom became a professional calling.

Jan’s mission is best described in her own words, “I’m especially drawn to to anyone (children, teens, and adults) who are ‘falling through the cracks’. Children or adults with learning inefficiencies struggle unduly, acquire low self-esteem, rebel, drop out of school and populate our prisons, leaving families anguished and torn apart. My deepest heartaches have been the struggles of thousands of my clients dealing with special needs issues while my greatest joys emanate from the answers The ND Approach can bring.” It was this empathy that has led Jan into working with Corrections Concepts, Inc., who is establishing a Christian prison that is based on full restoration of the mind, body and spirit. “It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are, if there are neuro-inefficiencies (and estimates are that 85% of the prison population has learning disabilities) then one’s life has been affected. It is our job to minister to all and help them reclaim their lives, and their God-given abilities.”

“The ND Approach is very eclectic and takes into consideration the whole person, assessing nine levels of six developmental areas: auditory, visual, tactility, mobility, language, and manual function. Far from static in its methodologies, The ND Approach trains professionals, laymen, and parents in ways to use the brain’s plasticity to further the child’s functional abilities. Can you imagine my excitement when my clients, after being medicated for years for ADD, complete a year of ND activities and then no longer need the drugs in order to function? What a thrill to see children with a diagnosis of dyslexia from a well-known institution, being free of all symptoms in 12-18 months! These same children who usually require remediation for life are advancing academically one year every four months in math and reading. It has been my privilege to see that their first report didn’t have to be their final report. In 2007 we increased our work with adults. We’ve seen professional educators take advantage of our services. See how they progressed in the first four months on our Adult Individualized Program .”

Ruth Young B.A., ND is first and foremost a Christian sister who is constantly reaching out to become the best she can be. She consistently praises and serves God. It is known by her fellow Dream Team Members that she refreshes each and every environment she enters and always, in her humble way, gives more than expected.

As a Certified Neurodevelopmentalist, Ruth provides consulting services and developmental assessments for children, teens or adults with learning difficulties. Her enthusiastic assessment, consultations, and instructions for clients and parents refresh their souls, as well as educate them. She trains clients in brain-stimulating activities which will help the child, teen, or adult become more neurologically effective and efficient. She has seen the miracle of treating root causes of developmental delays become non-issues in her own children’s lives. Ruth, a pastor’s wife to her husband Richard, travels extensively throughout Texas to help meet the needs of those with learning disabilities, and in general service to God.

In 2007 Ruth completed her National Certification which is sanctioned under the ICAN(International Christian Association of Neurodevelopmentalists) organization.

Ruth has a B.A. in Elementary Education from Asbury College in Kentucky. She has taught for 24 years in two public schools, one private school and currently is home schooling in addition to her responsibilities with LGS Services, Inc. In 2008 Ruth founded Little Giant Steps’ first Strides Academy School (a college preparatory school that incorporates The Neurodevelopmental Approach) in Del Rio, Texas.

Faith Haley joined the LGS team in 2005, first serving as a branch manager then as a Certified Neuro-Educational Specialist and Screener. She first found The Neurodevelopmental Approach for one of her sons who had learning disabilities. It so changed his life and the lives of their entire family, she decided to make it her life’s work, leaving other interests behind, desiring to give comfort and hope to others in a similar situation. She is trained to identify root problems both physically and spiritually and is always ready to help those who mourn with a helping hand and heart.

Faith is a business woman, having owned and operated many businesses throughout the years from her own custom designed jewelry business to a retail store. She’s worked as an executive secretary, bookkeeper, contractor, missionary and teacher who not only home schooled her own children for 23 years but as a lifelong musician has taught piano, guitar, and flute. She has served with her husband, Kenneth, on foreign mission fields beginning in 1977.

Liz’s mission is to fulfill her life’s verse in Titus 2:3-4 that calls for: “aged women …be in behavior as becometh holiness, …that they may teach the young women…” As a seasoned home school mother of 29 years, she has invested into the lives of her own four children and taught many other children during this time. Liz has extensive training in many well-known curriculum such as Principle Approach, Thomas Jefferson Education, Andrew Pudewa’s Institute for Excellence in Writing, and Spalding Phonics to name a few. Reared in a pastor’s home, she learned by example to serve and help those in need. Because of her love for learning, Liz began tutoring children with learning challenges when she was 12 years old and later graduated valedictorian of her high school class.

Liz is bilingual and works with her husband, Dana Sweet, as a missionary in Cuidad Acuña, Coah., México, The name of the ministry is Word in Deed Evangelism, Inc., which facilities mission teams from the United States to reach out to the needy of world by providing basic needs for the poor while sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As a half-century birthday gift to herself Trudy Landis began training as an ND and joined a team of women she has admired for years. She has lived in Texas for 27 years and is known for grinning goofily at the Austin skyline and thanking God out loud in the car that she gets to live in such an amazing city.

A long time educator, home schooler, children’s pastor and lover of babies and children, Trudy delights in searching out ways to equip each member of a family to reach their full potential. She and her husband, Terry, have two adult children. They spend family time on long walks, finding spicy new restaurants to ‘try out’ on each other and sitting in front of fireplaces or on porches reading and talking about Jesus and books, politics and movies, music and the price of tea in China.

Trudy hopes to continue serving families in Central Texas with Little Giant Steps and the knowledge that in every place where we find ourselves inadequate as parents the Lord is good and faithful.

Trudy comes to Little Giant Steps with degrees in Early Childhood Education and Child Development. To prove herself a life-long learner she is also a Certified Newborn Care Specialist and an Instructor of Baby Signs.