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Success Story of the Month:
I noticed when my son was beginning to play with toys he did not play with his toys like the other children in his play groups; he was a sorter. He would line them up along the window sills throughout the house. When he was finished lining them up in ascending order, he would start all over again in descending order, the day was complete when he finished by lining them up by color.
I was not concerned about my son, until a friend pointed out that when Elijah picked up a toy, he passed the toy from one hand to another and never crossed his body. This was the beginning of my quest for information on such odd behavior. Meanwhile, he entered pre-k, a personal nightmare. The teacher and director pulled me aside and asked me to have him hearing tested; he was obviously deaf. This proved incorrect, and then came the recommendation to speak to my doctor about ADD/ADHD. What to do, what to do?
My doctor recommended ADD medication without first evaluating Elijah. I picked up my purse and transferred to another doctor. Would a doctor treat for cancer without first finding out if a patient had cancer?
In the beginning of Elijah's second grade year, I spoke to some parents who had their children in Little Giant Steps. I had heard of them before, and their name kept coming up. My husband and I made a commitment to the program and made our appointment for evaluation.
Elijah has mixed dominance, which interferes in his ability to retrieve information, thus he appears to be "a million miles away", the false ADD/ADHD appearance.
The commitment to the Little Giant Steps Program cannot be made without first considering what it entails. It is work, however the reward is amazing. Elijah has gone from the child in the classroom with a great amount of uncertainty and trepidation, to a child growing in ability and confidence. There has also been a marked improvement in his maturation in the past six months.
Please do not misunderstand the commitment necessary to accomplish even a percentage of the objectives needed in order to be successful. There are times when 100% of the objectives cannot be accomplished; however 100% effort to accomplish them must be made in order to realize the optimum result.
Since we began working with Faith Haley at Little Giant Steps, there has been a progression in Elijah's ability to retrieve information and in his maturity. Gone is the "million mile stare", replaced with an insightful child able to make cognitive connections that we previously glimpsed on occasion. To see my son successful in the classroom, equal amongst his peers in ability and maturity is priceless. If you are considering Little Giant Steps for your child, take the next step and call or e-mail, the sooner you call, the sooner your child is one Little Giant Step closer to success.
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ND Tip of the Month:
Dominance, A Determining Factor In Learning
By Jan Bedell, M.Ed, M.ND. (Certified Neurodevelopmentalist)
www.littlegiantsteps.com
Where is all that information going that I teach my child each day?
Dominance is a huge determining factor in the brain's ability to store and retrieve information. In order to be neurologically efficient (like a defragged computer), your brain must be neurologically organized - one hemisphere must dominate and coordinate your entire body. The determination for dominance starts with the hand. Hand dominance is genetically predetermined and should not be encouraged one way or the other. It should emerge by the time a child is 3 to 8 years of age. If an individual is right handed it is much more efficient for the right ear, eye, and foot to be dominant as well. If left handed it is best to be completely dominant on the left side. To be right eared or eyed does not mean that you have better hearing or vision in your right; it means that your right directs which hemisphere of the brain information is stored.
Reasoning, analytical and logical thinking are the job of the dominant hemisphere of the brain and when neurologically organized (dominant all on one side) you have much more access to these vital skills. Thus, when you go to retrieve information, it is easily accessible. If you are mixed dominant, your sub-dominant ear or eye will file information in your sub-dominant hemisphere, which is where music, creativity and emotion take place. Information stored here is much more difficult to retrieve.
Individuals with mixed dominance are typically more emotional, easily upset and hard to calm down. When they are under stress or pressure they often do not have access to information they know. These are the children that do not test well or baffle the parent because they know something perfectly one day, but the next day, they don't recall ever being presented with the information. This can be extremely frustrating for both parent and child! When a child is frustrated day after day, you will have a child with low self-esteem, long-term memory problems, and often emotional and behavior problems as well. This happens because they are functioning using the sub-dominant (emotional) hemisphere of the brain.
Symptoms of mixed dominance include: long-term memory problems, inability to stay on task, reading difficulties, number and letter reversals, emotionality, spelling difficulties, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, poor testing ability, and inability to retain information. For information about testing for dominance and what to do if your child is mixed dominant, read the following article: Dominance is noted under "Storing"
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Inspiration From Our Family to Yours:
A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a cart which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. ALL BUT ONE !!!
He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple cart had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did.
The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one caring for her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, 'Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?' She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, 'I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly.'
As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him,
'Mister....' He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.
She continued, 'Are you Jesus?'
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his mind:
'Are you Jesus?'
Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not?
To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.
If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.
You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall.
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 The Digit Span Deck.... It's a deck of 125 cards none the same, Improving processing abilities is the name of this game, You follow the directions so it's done just right, It can be done for auditory retention or retaining information strickly by sight. It's just a deck of 125 cards none of them the same, But, oh how it can make a difference in recalling a name. You see, it's short term memory is where you will see the gain, Learning gets better, without doubting and emotional pain. So, go ahead and play it up twice a day, and 2 minutes will do, Listen then give numbers back in order when you get the cue. When you can retain 8 numbers in your short term memory, You'll have interesting conversations being the best you can be. If you can remember nine numbers, you will be ready to go and grin, Down the road to college with skills that have equipped you to win! |
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