Erin Rowan, OT

Just wanted to let you know that my daughter's reading/writing teacher just shared that Taylor was the only student to get a "4" on an open response which means she gave a complete and accurate answer. I do believe integrating those reflexes are working. Thanks for letting me email you question. I see a light at the end of the tunnel.

-CS, parent and OT, KY

It seems like every day something new is happening. Last night Carter told me that when he used to read books like Diary of a wimpy kid, he didn't really read the words and he mostly looked at the pictures. (which I already knew)  Now he said, he is actually reading. You can tell that he too is noticing that he is reading better and enjoying it.  

Then tonight,  I asked him if he wanted to read to me a little bit.  He agreed, so we sat down to start reading. In the past when we sat down to read he would first ask how many pages?   Then he would count the pages out so he knew where he got to stop. Tonight, he didn't do this. He just put his head down and started reading. When we got to the end of the chapter I told him he could stop.  He then looked back and counted how many pages he had read.  Then he said..." can I read some more"?  OMG Kathy I just about jumped for joy!!  I actually had to tell him no because it was very late and we still had your DVD to do. I told him he could read in bed for 10 min before lights out.  So- he finished everything up for the night and headed to bed with his book.  Well, my husband then went to bed and I got side tracked on the computer.  Probably about 30-45 min later I realized I never went to kiss the boys good night. I went to their room and found them both reading in bed with flashlights!  Carter was on the last page of his book.  He read 25 pages (some pages had words and pictures) during this time and was determined to finish the book!! I couldn't believe it. It looks like he has just discovered the joy of reading.  I'm so excited for him, it just makes me giggle :)  Thank you so much for helping us with this.

-MM, parent, NY

Good Morning Kathy!

As promised, I wanted to give you an update on how our program has progressed at Lakewood Elementary School (Twin Lakes Wisconsin).  Our team of three trainers began by working for six weeks with a pilot group of two 3rd graders.  We concentrated on the moro and palmar primitive reflexes and the working memory and processing speed cognitive skills.  We followed the following basic outline (as suggested by Kathy Johnson during professional development):

• Starfish
• Patterned Numbers
• Math Facts
• Clap-Counting
• Marching
• Palmar
• Blending
• Segmenting
• Reading Chorally
• Lazy Eights
• Cognitive 1st Exercises

As you can see, we incorporated a computer based program at the end of the session. We did this for several reasons: we were awarded a grant through Cog1 and wanted to see their program, we used it as an incentive, and it extended the cognitive exercises in a way that kids really enjoyed... a video game.

As part of the Cog1 grant, we were also the beneficiary of ten Gibson Cognitive Screeners. These were invaluable have really allowed us to track the progress of students. Here are the results of our most neediest student after just six short weeks:

Skill: Pretest > Post (Age equivalent scores)

• Processing Speed: 5 > 7.9
• Working Memory: 6.3 > 7.5
• Long Term Memory: 5.5 > 6.8
• Visual Processing: 5 > 5.2
• Auditory Processing: 7 > 8.5
• Logic & Reasoning: 5 > 9
• Word Attack: 7 > 11.8

We had a lot of success, but there is still a lot of work to do.  Going forward, we have received parent permission to continue working with our two students from the first pilot group (adding visual processing, fly to the moon, and slow angels).  Also, we are adding a second pilot group of second graders; plus, we are adding another session that will be one-to-one with another third grader.  We also have a sixth grader who cannot come before or after school, but is using the Cog1 program independently in conjunction with the primitive reflex exercises.

It is our sincere hope that the expanded sample size will provide us with the needed data to make a compelling case for our school board to invest in brain-based intervention strategies.  We will be presenting our case to the board in May, days after our second pilot group concludes.  Also, we were selected as Brain Awareness Day Grant awardees by BrainWare, which will provide us with 30 BrainWare Safari licenses to use next school year.

Clearly, we have a lot going on here in terms of brain based interventions, and I want to sincerely thank you for your help throughout the process.  Please let me know if you have any questions!

Have a nice day!