Little Giant Steps ~ May God Bless America 

4thJuly  

ISSN 1931-6968  Issue 52     cj@littlegiantsteps.com                      

July, 2011

www.littlegiantsteps.com

In This Issue
Handwriting Preparedness
Quick Links
Join Our Mailing List
EVALUATIONS 

 

McKINNEY - July 5 - 6
PLANO - July 11 -14
KATY - July 5 - 6, 26
SAN ANTONIO - July 12 -14, 20
AUSTIN - July 1, 27 
               
 See Book Fair Information Below
 

 

NEURO-EDUCATIONAL SCREENINGS

PLANO - July 7 - Location: LGS Plano Center

                                     3364 Lanarc Street

                                     Plano, TX 75023

                To schedule an appointment

                         Email: albedell@littlegiantsteps.com

 

Contact LGS if interested in hosting a screening in your area

albedell@littlegiantsteps.com

 

                  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  

THE RIDDLE
 

Q. What vehicle do you spell the same forward and backward?

 (see answer below) 

Handwriting Preparedness     

handwriting grl

 

None can escape the need to know how to write. What Little Giant Steps wishes to share is how to prepare your child for the best possible experience in that endeavor by taking care of first things first. Making sure their brain and body are operating with the highest neuro-efficiency possible.

 

Brain Coach Tips for Good Handwriting:

 

A good pencil grasp is key to good handwriting. If you have tried to teach your child how to hold a pencil correctly and he still has difficulty, then we need to ask the question, "Why?" Many children have low muscle tone so lots of running and playing outside is needed to build a strong lung capacity and increase oxygen intake for good muscle tone. (This will help brain function, too.) Hanging from a chin-up bar or crossing monkey bars will build strength in the hands.

 

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.

 Click here to see each of these fun products 

handw1 handw2handw3

 

Developmental Tip:

 

Your child may know how to form letters and numbers but doing it neatly is a challenge. You may have taught your child to hold a pencil right but there is still a struggle. These types of symptoms are typically from a lack of good brain/body connections. The distance from the brain to the finger tips is a long way for signals to travel.

 

The Neurodevelopmental Approach can provide specific stimulation to the brain to remediate these issues. The activity that is typically recommended for these symptoms is called "Deep Pressure on Hand and Arm" and provides stimulation to the brain to build neuropathways from the deep tissue in the arm to the brain. The parent uses his thumb and pointer to press or squeeze each of the child's fingers, starting with the tips of the fingers and working into the child's palm. Then the parent uses his whole hand to press or squeeze the child's arm from the hand working all the way up the inside and

outside of the arm all the way to the shoulder. "Deep Pressure on Hand and Arm" should be done one minute two times a day for six to eight months for lasting benefit. For more information on The Neurodevelopmental Approach, please visit www.littlegiantsteps.com.

 Better Academics Through Improved Visual Processing

 

First, order the free Visual Processing Test Kit. Select the Visual Kit online and you'll get it in your email.  Then, take about 2 min. and test your child.  If your child is six and they can only remember four items they see after a short exposure, then they are functioning two years below where they should be. What can you do to bring up their visual processing abilities?

 

1.  Detailed Reading Our programs will help you to understand more about Visual Processing. It also contains many helpful visual activities for different ages (with junior levels, too!).

Detailed Reading Comprehension works on developing and improving the following:  

1) Understanding that word combinations have very precise meanings
2) Attention to detail
3) Discrimination skills
4) Knowledge of positional words ( under, over, in, above,
below, etc.)
5) Recognizing punctuation symbols (question mark, comma, exclamation mark, period, etc.)
6) Processing skills,  7) Short-term memory skills,  8) Learning 60 Sight words and much more!

                                   

SequenceInAFlash2.   For those who enjoy working on a computer, this program has both visual and auditory processing-building programs. Sequencing in a Flash provides specific stimulation to the brain in order to remediate the processing ability of any person, at any age, when used as recommended: i.e. 2 minutes, twice a day each for both auditory and visual processing.

Here's what one customer had to say:

"The Sequencing in a Flash has taken just about ALL the STRESS out of doing digit spans with my 16-year-old son! It has REVITALIZED my son's interest in digit spans because of the novelty of doing it on the computer instead of looking at mom flashing cards at him. Before we had this program there was no incentive at all that could motivate him to up the intensity. Now, he watches the bottom right corner where it tells what span he's doing and screams "MOM!" when it changes from six to seven or whatever. What a relief! "
 

VisDis4563.  Visual Discrimination is a fun game designed to be helpful to each member of the family! There are 10 levels!

Contents: Each level comes with three sets* of visual discrimination cards, with each set consisting of 12 large cards and 12 small cards creating a fast pace game. *Levels 6, 9, and 10 have four sets each. Each new level builds on mastering more complex skills in discrimination!

Levels 1 - 3 contains numerals
Levels 4 - 6 contains similar words
Level 7 contains objects
Level 8 - 10 contains different symbols  

BOOK FAIRS

KoleidImage 

               Kaleidoscope Expo 2011
                    July 8 & 9, Aldersgate Church
                   2201 Earl Rudder Freeway South
                     College Station, TX 77845
                      Triumph Book Fair
                                          Go to their website for more information!

                www.triumphhomeschool.org

 

Faith Haley will be speaking! 

Saturday at 10:00 a.m.

Please stop by our booth and say hello!

Please check program bulletin for times and rooms when you arrive.

        

                                   = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =                             

thsc'11
              Texas Home School Coalition

 

Jan Bedell, The Brain Coach, will be speaking! 

 

 

 Workshop Topic:  Learn Faster and Better With The Brain Coach

 

Workshop Description: A personal trainer uses intense, frequent, and progressive workouts to condition your muscles for optimum performance. In the same way, the brain, if properly trained, can boost memory, comprehension, critical thinking, emotional well-being, maturity, and more. Join the Brain Coach, who will show you how to make any curriculum work more effectively.

See convention program for location and time  

  

 Stop by our booth and say hello!

 

RIDDLE ANSWER:  Racecar