DO YOU NEED A VACATION?

How does five days and four nights in beautiful Ogden Utah Valley with access to nature walks, horseback riding, fishing, boating, a water park and an 18-hole championship golf course sound?

If you want to take it easier, you can also relax and rejuvenate by the pool or Jacuzzi.

Imagine you and your family:

Socializing with other families who share similar experiences, hopes and dreams for their children.

Learning how to help your children succeed with practical and inspirational workshops by the NACD staff.

Enjoying group activities in the evenings, including the Sunday night Barbeque dinner.

This is an ideal opportunity to enrich your NACD experience. Plan now to join the second annual Family Rendezvous June 26 - 30 in Eden, Utah.

In addition, there will be NACD evaluations, speech and language, and health and nutrition consultations available on a first-come basis. Contact Denise in the national office to get your appointment scheduled.

If you would like to participate in the Rendezvous, please contact Jennifer at the National Office as soon as possible (801-621-8606 or Jennifer@nacd.org).

For more information, click here.

The Importance of Targeted Developmental Intervention

NACD provides Targeted Developmental Interventions for children and adults, with the goal of accelerating neurological development and function.

Targeted

Interventions are targeted because they are specific to the individual. At NACD, there is no "one size fits all" approach. There is no formula or program to match a label. The treatment techniques and strategies are incorporated, developed, modified, and replaced based upon their efficacy or lack thereof for the individual.

Intervention activities are also targeted because they provide specific input to produce progressive change in specific areas, such as tactile, auditory and visual function, receptive and expressive language ability, fine and gross motor skills, and cognitive function.

Developmental

At NACD, lack of function or development is not perceived as a lack of potential. Each individual is evaluated and provided with opportunities (the targeted developmental intervention) based on a perception of unlimited potential.

Interventions are developmental because they accelerate typical neurological development and education as well as remediate abnormal developmental patterns. NACD helps individuals of all ages - from newborn to geriatric - along a continuum of neurological function - from comatose to gifted.

The developmental stages are virtually the same for everyone, so it is important to identify where an individual is, first, and then determine what specific neurological input is required to help the individual progress to a higher level of function.

Intervention

NACD programs are interventions because they involve the application of various treatment exercises and activities. With an average or typical individual, the brain develops typically based upon the typical stimulus surrounding that individual. In order to accelerate function, whether the individual has delayed functions or wants to improve average function, the brain needs appropriate stimulus to change. The specific stimulus needs to be presented with sufficient frequency, intensity, and duration to build new neural pathways - to actually change the brain and accelerate the development process.

NACD's Targeted Developmental Interventions empower parents, giving them the tools to help their children become all that they can be.

ASK BOB:
Video Games - Pro or Con?

What is your perspective on the advantage or disadvantage of videogames on brain functioning and does the answer differ for different levels of development or levels of brain function/disabilities? If not detrimental, is there a level/amount of usage that would be acceptable. Obviously, violent games are completely detrimental as far as we are concerned, but it is the other games that we are inquiring about. - Sandy and Scott Hendrix

Dear Sandy and Scott,

The video game question is a really BIG question. I think the jury is still out on some of the long-term effects, but I will share some of my perceptions.

I recently was driving with friends who had their two children in the back third seat of their SUV, and I observed how quiet and content their kids were, playing their hand-held video game systems. I recalled many painful hours as a child with my sister, traveling in backseats of cars, with nothing to occupy our time other than trying to irritate each other to the point of explosion, whereupon our parents would jump all over the offending child, producing a point for the victor.

To read more

NACD KIDS: From Smart to Brilliant

- by Elisse Davis

Last fall, I decided to finally enlist the help of NACD in my homeschool efforts. My friend had been telling me about NACD for years, so now that my youngest had turned two, I thought I could make the commitment. My oldest daughter, Ariel, in 5th grade, is a smart child, usually self-motivated, and happily compliant. We had been using every good resource we could find to create her curriculum. But I still felt like I was so amateur at being a teacher that I was sure I was "ruining" her. I simply didn't know if I was doing the right thing. Additionally, my daughter would have unexplained reactions to frustration. Usually, when frustrated she would burst into tears. This tendency to cry inappropriately was disconcerting to her extra-curricular teachers, and embarrassing for her. After listening to the introductory CDs from NACD, I decided to see if they could help me help her.

The first thing they did was have her start occluding. Evidently helping her to receive input laterally (right hand, right eye, right ear, etc) would help her overcome some of her frustrations. The second thing we needed to start doing was improving her memory. We immediately started implementing the NACD program to improve these two areas, and within two weeks we saw great improvement on the issue of emotionality. We didn't really believe it was related to the occluding at first, but then she spent a day or two not occluding and suffered all kinds of frustration those days. After another few weeks, Ariel began to recognize the benefit herself, and now admits that she prefers to occlude because of how much it helps her.

Once, after about 4 months of doing program, we got to a point where we felt "stuck." So we took a short break from some of the more difficult and frustrating items on her program and emphasized the occluding. Three weeks later, when we got back to her full program, we found that her auditory processing had increased to the next level.

We were so excited! With just that jump, she has been able to show dramatic improvement in all her other school areas as well. It has been amazing to me to see how little of a good thing can make such a difference. Her strong areas have become stronger. And her weak areas are less daunting. She's more confident and willing to try new things that once were too difficult and frustrating.

The bonus for me has been the homeschooling. NACD has taught me how to teach the various subjects in a way that she jumped from 5th grade to 8th grade level in just three months. The combination of correct teaching principles and NACD's Targeted Developmental Intervention has increased her confidence as well as mine. My once smart child is receiving the tools to make her truly brilliant! My other children can't wait until it is their turn to go to NACD.

Behavior and Processing

- by Ellen Doman

Every week I see children who are not co-operating with processing activities. This may be happening with your child. Sorting out what is going on with that situation is a job that you, your support person and your evaluator will need to address. Let's take a minute, however, and look at some typical scenarios that may help you understand your own situation a bit better.

First of all, stop expecting the child to be completely consistent with their sequencing level. Have you tried Simply Smarter? You are not consistent with your sequencing. How can you expect your child to be? It is normal for there to be times when your child is too tired, excited, distracted to do sequencing. It is normal for your child to do very well sometimes and rather poorly other times. It is not helpful to get angry with your child about this. So take it easy. Keep in mind that we are looking at the overall function of the child. If that is improving, then we are moving in the right direction.