More information for unlimited learning success
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Child Development Program
Available Articles and Resources
(Powerpoint) Slideshow class - Teaching Babies
Unlimited Learning Success News, March/April 2007
Neurodevelopmentalists write programs and work with families from all levels of disabilities, mild diagnosis and severe.
The approach is wholistic, taking in activities (stimulation), environment and metabolic issues when writing programs. Our state and
national definition of LD is vague at best, and educators - especially those working with children, do not have the understanding or
training needed to work with these children developmentally. As long as the focus is academics/performance rather than development
of the foundations in the brain that support learning functions - we will not meet the needs of a staggering percentage of children
and adults, who face the future with little hope for improvement.
Our nation needs a paradigm shift from function to foundations to provide permanent changes!
Jeremiah 29:11 "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, plans to give you hope and a future."
You know the struggles.
We know the neurodevelopmental causes.
Together, we can make a lasting change in the lives of children.
We are the neurodevelopmentalists of ICAN.
LGS Success Story of the Month:
I was asked to write a letter about my experiences with Jan Bedell and the Neurodevelopmental Approach.
When I was in middle school, I was very much a loner. I found it very hard to make and keep friends. My home life was very stressful because my little brother drove me crazy. He is three years younger than me and has learning disabilities and he used to irritate me a lot! In school, it seemed like the harder I tried, the more I failed. I came home with tons of homework everyday and my mother used to have to stand over me to make sure I kept working – my mind kept wandering. I had absolutely zero confidence in myself! I was taking 15mg of Ritalin a day to help me focus in school.
The summer before my freshmen year in high school, my life began to change. I went to see Jan and she put my brother and I on a Neurodevelopmental Program (we called it “therapy”). Most of the therapy I had to do was strange and sometimes boring but I was willing to stick to it and do it every day because I wanted to be smarter.
When school started in the fall, I could see that the therapy we did over the summer was already making some changes in my life so I became even more determined to stick with the program, which included wearing an eye patch to school. This was the hardest part of the program for me but I am so glad I stuck with it. After wearing an eye patch my entire freshman year in high school, I was able to stop the Ritalin at the beginning of my sophomore year.
I am now 20 years old and a sophomore in college. I can listen to lectures in my college classes and pay attention and understand without any problems. I have wonderful friends that love being around me and I love being around them. Before I started Jan’s program, I wasn’t very coordinated, but now I love playing sports and I’m good at them.
I have so much to be thankful for because of the confidence and pride I have in knowing that I really can do anything I set my mind to! I cannot talk enough about Jan’s program. I haven’t even talked about the WONDERFUL young man my brother has turned out to be and the progress that he has made. He had to wear an earplug and a lot of other stuff that I didn’t have to do. He was even worse at sports than I was and now he’s on his high school football team! My brother and I are now best friends. We have a special bond that we enjoy as a direct result of the Neurodevelopmental Approach. Garland , TX 2004
ND Tip of the Month:
ND Tip of the Month: What to do about Stimming
Sensory play, self-stimulating behavior, or “stimming” are all terms used to describe a group of behaviors seen in many children with developmental delays. Sensory play is a learned behavior that an individual develops for several reasons. Primarily, it feels good and so the behavior is repeated. With typical young children, playing with toes and fingers is pleasurable, and developmentally it is important as connections are made in the brain about where their body is in space, but the child soon moves on to the next exciting step in development. When senses are delayed or impaired, the child can become stuck and the behavior becomes obsessive and can actually stop development.
Repetitive sensory play creates endorphins, “feel good” chemicals in the brain. These chemicals become addictive, causing the individual to repeat the activity in order to renew the good feeling. Thus, the child becomes trapped in a compulsive behavior. Development stops progressing, becoming more and more delayed, and for many children actually begins regressing. Sensory play is negative, self-perpetuating, self-isolating behavior. High functioning children and adults do not engage in significant amounts of sensory play.
In order to stop a child from stimming you must first be able to recognize it. Stimming can involve any of the senses. The behavior will appear “strange” and repetitive, and there is often a compulsive element to it. Parents usually describe it as something that “doesn’t seem quite right”. Typically, a child who is stopped from stimming will become angry. Stopping stimming is equivalent to breaking an addiction such as smoking or drinking caffeine.
Below is a short list of behaviors that are often involved in stimming:
· dangling strings
· wiggling fingers—in front of or to the side of face
· lining up toys
· spinning wheels on toy cars/trucks
· flipping pages without looking at pictures
· rocking
· watching own reflection
· throat sound
· pounding toys or books
· electronic games that repeat
· scratching obsessively/to bleeding
· head banging
· rocking
To stop sensory play parents can redirect the behavior, distract the child and get them engaged in other activities, or remove the implements the child is using to stim.
Stopping self stimulation behaviors requires 24/7 attention. It is exhausting. Do not let it become overwhelming. Keep the goal in mind and determine to do whatever it takes.
ICAN can assist you in identifying the root causes of this self-destructing behavior so that you may eliminate stimming from your child’s life and help them back on the road to success.
By Jan Bedell, Certified ICAN Neurodevelopmentalist, Little Giant Steps
(***Free Bible Studies are available for all ages of children (and adults)!! Just send your name, mailing address, age (and developmental age for those with delays) to: unlimitedlearningsuccess@yahoo.com or mail to Mailbox Club c/o Lane POB 331- Victor, MT 59875.)
"Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn, I
must do the listening." - Larry King
Source: Weekend Encounter, by Dick Innes, Copyright (c) ACTS International,
2004, http://www.actsweb.org/subscribe.php
This month we will continue our discussion of the importance of proper development of the auditory system; Article Excerpts from “Developing Good Processing Skills; Challenges and Changes” by Marcia B. Blackwood, Neurodevelopmentalist, (Submitted to the IAHE Informer for May/June, 1999 issue.)
VISUAL PROCESSING: Use the same cards, but to test the visual processing, you SHOW them the cards for three seconds. Then take the cards away and have them give you the numbers they saw in the same order (left to right). Also test them by showing them one number card at a time in quick succession and have them repeat back, to prevent them from chunking information, rather than processing individual pieces.
The same procedure is used to test the visual processing as was used with the auditory processing, moving from 3 to 4 to 5-digit cards, etc. As with the auditory spans, you can use objects for young children. I have found miniature objects or doll accessories are easy to use as are the 2” by 2” cards often found in memory or lotto games. You can lay them down one at a time (in front of the child, left to right), cover them with a piece of fabric, towel or cardboard and then ask the child to identify the objects in the correct order.
REMEDIATION FOR LOW PROCESSING SKILLS: With any child, you can improve their processing skills by giving them a series of digit or object spans several times a day for 2-3 minutes each session. Include both auditory and visual digit spans within that session. Use the digit spans that are one digit more than that at which they succeeded during the testing. For example: The child had a digit span of 4 auditorily and 6 visually. You would be giving them digit spans of 5 to work on auditorily and digit spans of 7 to work on visually.
Marcia B. Blackwood, M.Ed. has been working as a neurodevelopmentalist with Neuroeducational Consultants of Indiana. She is a founding member of ICAN.
Next month we will continue with remediation for low processing levels.
Stephanie Lane is the director for the Montana branch of ICAN (ww.ican-do.net) Cyndi Ringoen, B.A., B.S., C.N.D. out of Spokane, Washington oversees program training and consultation, and writes Individual Programs and provides evaluations as needed.
If you have children or grandchildren, or you have neighbor children whose parents you know, please take note of the info below & pass it along to others. Schools are a distribution point to children for this book through the Scholastic Book Club.
Beware of the book, Conversations with God . Dr. James Dobson talked about this book twice this week. It is devastating & parents & Christian schools need to be aware of this. Do pass it on to church/e-mail addressees, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, & friends.
Please pay special attention not only to what your kids watch on TV & in movie theaters & the music they listen to, but we must also be alert regarding the books they read.
Two particular books, Conversations with God & Conversations with God for Teens , written by Neale D. Walsch , sound harmless enough by their titles alone. These books have been on the New York Times best sellers list for a number of weeks, & these publications make truth of the statement: "Don't judge a book by its cover/title."
The author purports to answer various questions from kids using the "voice of God." However, the "answers" that he gives are not Bible-based & go against the very infallible word of God. For instance (I paraphrase), when a girl asks the question "Why am I a lesbian?", his answer is that she was born that way because of genetics (just as you were born right-handed, with blue eyes, etc.). Then he tells her to go out & "celebrate" her differences.
Another girls poses the question "I am living with my boyfriend. My parents say that I should marry him because I am living in sin. Should I marry him?" His reply is, "Who are you sinning against? Not me, because you have done nothing wrong."
Another question asks about God's forgiveness of sin. His reply "I do not forgive anyone because there is nothing to forgive. There is no such thing as right or wrong & that is what I have been trying to tell everyone, do not judge people. People have chosen to judge one another & this is wrong, because the rule is "'judge not lest ye be judged."
The list goes on. Not only are these books the false doctrine of devils, but in some instances even quote (in error) the Word of God. These books (&others like it) are being sold to schoolchildren (The Scholastic Book Club), & we need to be aware of what is being fed to our children.
Our children are under attack. So I pray that you be sober & vigilant about teaching your children the Word of God, & guarding their exposure to worldly mediums, because our adversary, the Devil, roams about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8 ) How many of us know that lions usually hunt for the slowest, the weakest & the YOUNGEST of its prey.
When the world says, “give up,” hope whispers, “try it one more time.”
Submitted by Angelwings
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OUR APPROACH
Slow learners are often taken to tutors, kept in resource or put on Ritalin to solve learning problems. We believe you should treat the underlying cause. We also believe that parents can prevent problems and provide a foundation for unlimited learning success if they understand the stages of development every child needs.
Problems may be caused by poor tracking due to weak eye muscle coordination. It could be a short processing problem creating the inability to rapidly recognize and assemble letters forming longer words. It could be any of a variety of different problems that can be determined by a simple assessment.
Stephanie Lane is the educator and branch director for the Montana branch of ICAN. Cyndi Ringoen, C.N.D. out of Spokane, Washington, oversees program training and consultation, and writes Individual Programs and provides evaluations as needed. (www.ican-do.net)
Why Unlimited Learning Success?
· Nearly 2.9 million students are currently receiving special education services for
learning disabilities in the U.S. (Source: 24th Annual Report to Congress
on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2002)
· 50% of students receiving special education services through the public schools
are identified as having learning disabilities. (Source: 24th Annual
Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, 2002)
· The majority of all individuals with learning disabilities have difficulties in the area of
reading. (Source: President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, 2002)
· Two-thirds of secondary students with learning disabilities are reading three or
more grades levels behind. Twenty percent are reading five or more grade levels
behind. (Source: The Achievements of Youth with Disabilities During
Secondary School, National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, 2003)
· 44% of parents who noticed their child exhibiting signs of difficulty with learning
waited a year or more before acknowledging their child might have a serious
problem. (Source: Roper Starch Poll: Measuring Progress in Public and Parental
Understanding of Learning Disabilities, 2000)
More than 27% of children with learning disabilities drop out of high school,
compared to 11% of the general student population. (Source: 24th Annual Report to
Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2002)
ULS believes that parents can prevent problems and provide a foundation for unlimited learning success if they understand the stages of development every child needs.
For a child with low visual development and processing, A foundation of excellent auditory and visual processing must be developed, concentrating on the structure that support the function. Because tutoring focuses on practice and function/performance, a child with poor reading, spelling or other type of learning challenge will be unnecessarily frustrated with learning if the core problems are not identified and corrected first.
We believe every child can and should overcome their learning problems! Contact Stephanie Lane at 406 961-5266 or email unlimitedlearningsuccess@yahoo.com for more information.
Unlimited Learning Success is the Montana Branch of ICAN (International Christian Access to Neurodevelopment) ICAN offers consulting services to families with children or adults who want to improve their current level of functioning. We work with those who may have come to us with labels including: Learning Disabled, Dyslexic, Distractible, ADD, ADHD, Hyperactive, as well as working extensively with those who have more serious dysfunction, including: Autism, Chromosome Disorders, Cerebral Palsy, Brain Injured, Down Syndrome, Developmental Delays... We also work with those who are considered: Normal, Accelerated, and Gifted, to improve their overall function and continue making progress in all areas of learning. Individualized Programs are offered through ICAN in the United States and Canada.
For more information on ICAN, please visit www.ican-do.net (Christian Access to NeuroDevelopmental Organization)
Cost of a Miracle, the Lane family story
In 1994, when I became pregnant with my son, Christian, I didn’t know the cost of the miracle before me. My husband left before he turned six weeks old.
At eighteen months of age, my son began exhibiting violent behavior. He was removed from one daycare after the other and placed in State programs for psychoanalysis at $300-$600 every 3 months. For the next three years he would undergo intense behavioral therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. He had sensory issues, auditory and visual issues – and the labels/diagnosis began with Attachment Disorder (2 yrs of age) Oppositional Defiant Disorder/PDD-Autism (3 yrs of age).
With each new program, he grew more withdrawn and violent and still had no cognitive reasoning or language by 3 and ½ yrs of age. The number of programs that would accept him dwindled down to one – the Children’s Behavioral Therapy Unit for Autistic children. I was told by my caseworker and therapists that Christian’s future as a violent toddler was going to be institutionalization for life. They couldn’t determine the causes or triggers for his violent outbursts.
September of 1999 report reads, “Christian had 54 physical aggressions to persons (hurting himself, throwing himself off things,) 19 physical aggressions towards objects (throwing toys, chairs) and 9 bites to others during this month.”
He had been in attendance for 15 days.
The rate charge was $110.00 for this 4 hour a day intensive behavior therapy. There were signs of improvement, and I was encouraged to send him to an “inpatient center for toddlers” in Orem, Utah. Then the disappointing calls started. I was being turned down by one agency after another – and as a single parent, the state would not pay the $2000.00 a month. I was told that I “should sign over guardianship” of this one I loved so much.
I wept before the Lord that day. As soon as Christian was asleep I fell into sobs as I opened my Bible. I believed in my heart that if God had given me this child, then he would give me the means to take care of him, but my thoughts were confusing. “maybe, I deserve to lose him – just like my husband. I have made such a mess of my life. God knows I’m not a good mother.” I was exhausted emotionally and physically.
I told myself, “if I must give him up, the Bible must have a story like this or some direction for me.”
I opened the Bible to the book of John, chapter 9 – and my eyes fell on verses 1-3.
“…And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?’ Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I read it again and again. I started to cry again, but this time, the most wonderful peace and joy had come over me. I had believed that this situation was my deserved punishment, because of my mistakes and sins. But in that half hour, something had changed, forever. I believed with all my heart that somehow my Savior would make a way, and He wasn’t punishing me for my mistakes.
I called a local church, and told them the circumstances of my son – and they helped me get to church and prayed with us. I was able to start fellowshipping with other believers and started intensely studying God’s Word. I became intensely aware of my wrongful view of God, and also my personal sins. As many people prayed and fasted for me – my life was turned around. The changes came, just as the Lord promised, and even more than I had asked for or imagined. It began when I turned to trust Him as my personal Savior from very desperate circumstances.
Psalm 10:17-18 “You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed…”
Christian was removed from the institution in March of 2000. Within a year I met Linda Kane, an ICAN Neurodevelopmentalist. She approached developmental delays in a very different way than any other therapist we had seen. She talked about children being created in the image of God and that each stage of development in a babies life is important to avoid function and learning problems later on.
She described to me how each one of Christian’s function problems could be addressed individually with exercises that would create growth and development in the brain. We started immediately. Christian tested 9th grade reading comprehension in fourth grade, and 2-4 grade levels above average in other academic tests.
Today I teach the same developmental steps, in hopes that unlimited learning success will be created for all children.
We are created unique and precious for a purpose. The Lord didn’t make any two people alike and no two people can fulfill the same place in eternity. Perhaps the pain and mistakes of your life have created hopelessness and despair in your thinking. At this very moment, you can ask Christ to personally come into your heart and life. He will begin a process of restoration and help you to think clearly about your situation.
“He that believes on the Son has everlasting life.” (John 3:36)
You can take Christ as your Savior by praying from your heart a simple prayer like this: “Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. I know that You love me and that You want to save me. Lord Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God and that You died on the cross for my sins and rose again to be my living Savior. “
Stephanie Lane,
Director, Unlimited Learning Success/ICAN Montana
Permission is granted to copy and share any information we publish, granted the name and contact information for ICAN and Unlimited Learning Success is attached: POB 331 - Victor, MT 59875 unlimitedlearningsuccess@yahoo.com. www.ican-do.net
