By Jan Bedell, Ph.D., Master NeuroDevelopmentalist,SPED Homeschool Board MemberCurriculum Partner,  Consultant Partner, and Therapy Partner 

 

Ah, progress. That entity that often fuels us as parents and homeschoolers but is often elusive or barely recognizable with our children that struggle. That slow progress can be very discouraging. I know the feeling all too well! I had to learn to adjust my expectations from typical progress to “personal bests” and celebrate each of those tiny steps even when they were not what I was hoping for, especially in the academic realms. 

My homeschool journey started in 1986. I know, I am REALLY dating myself, right! Little did I know that homeschool was barely legal at that time. All I knew was that God had led me to home educate both my girls, but specifically my daughter, who was developmentally delayed. 

I headed into the task with zeal, but after 5 years of using a traditional approach in teaching reading and math, my 15-year-old was at a standstill. I was discouraged. My daughter knew all 70 phonograms yet couldn’t hold over 3 pieces of CVC words together to read a word. And because of her needing several attempts to read a single word, she had zero comprehension. In other words, a kindergarten reading level and math wasn’t much better.

When you have a child with unique needs, God is asking you to do hard things. We don’t know the reasoning, but I believe it is for profound Kingdom purposes. When Jenee’ was 15, I was ready to give up, but God asked me to do another hard thing. He asked me to continue homeschooling, but this time with a different approach. It was the neurodevelopmental approach that I used and have been encouraging other parents to use for the past 30 years. It is the approach we use at Brain Sprints to help families make progress and be able to recognize that progress in all areas of the child’s life, and not just in academics. 

Academically with the neurodevelopmental approach, we could advance from 1st grade in math and reading to 3rd grade. Compared to typical progress, that would look minuscule, but if you compare it to what “they” said was a 40 IQ, it was amazing! I found out later that traditional educational settings like those in public school wouldn’t have even bothered to teach my daughter to read because of the IQ that they labeled her with. IQ is another whole topic, but there are developmental factors that influence an IQ score and academic performance that  can be changed with neurodevelopmental interventions.

I didn’t realize it, but it was an actual gift that I gave my daughter in teaching her to read, even at a low level. It became a hobby of hers and she filled hours a day with reading words and then writing them in her notebook. 

She really LOVED math, too! She advanced in the understanding of math concepts through a technique that I now call Visual Circle Math. I also integrated this approach into a full neurodevelopmental program (organizing and stimulating the brain for the foundation of better overall function) and math curriculum for preschool through 2nd grade levels called  Early Learning Foundations. One of the remarkable things that I discovered is that even in her 30s my daughter had kept math facts that we covered when she was 15-18 years old. She could do 32 addition facts in 1 minute from using the retention technique in the   Rapid Recall System which is also integrated into the Early Learning Foundation curriculum.

When I home schooled, my philosophy for my child with unique needs was to take her from where she was functioning to the next level in any area possible–self-care, articulation, conversation, social, behavioral, academic and to celebrate each tiny breakthrough. I encourage you to do the same. Celebrate all the progress no matter how small. It will lift your spirits, get you focused on the positive and your positive countenance will filter down to your whole family. 

It has been a privilege for me to provide comfort to others with the comfort that I received. If you would like to know more about The NeuroDevelopmental Approach from Brain Sprints, contact us for a  Free Consultation.

 

 

 


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By Jan Bedell, Ph.D., Master NeuroDevelopmentalist,SPED Homeschool Board MemberCurriculum Partner,  Consultant Partner, and Therapy Partner 

This is a following-up to my previous blog on dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. The basic information shared in that blog will help you understand the suggestions below as they relate to the neurodevelopmental (ND) approach. 

Now that we are on the same page with the understanding that the symptoms need to be addressed so the brain works efficiently, we can move forward with tips to help a child that has any or a combination of the “dys” labels. Also note that a 15% off coupon is located at the end of this article for being a SPED Homeschool member and can be applied to any of our products you think may might be helpful in teaching your student.

 

Dyslexia

My previous blog listed  dyslexic symptoms. Almost all children who come to us with this label were mixed dominant in their eyes and ears. Fortunately, this is something that can change and when it does, the individual experiences increased long-term memory and less emotionality and school stress. 

Another key factor in academic success for a dyslexic is processing both visual and auditory information.   Free Test Kit. Processing is your short-term memory and affects a person’s ability to hold sounds together to read phonetically. For more information about auditory processing and how to improve it, watch this video or order this

After you have looked into those factors, you need to be sure the eyes are tracking together and converging correctly so the correct information is going to the brain regarding the print in front of the person. All of these developmental factors and more that might affect someone with dyslexia can be checked by a trained NeuroDevelopmentalist through an inexpensive, in-person or zoom NeuroDevelopmental Screening. Information about each of these factors is also available on our YouTube or Rumble Channels called Brain Coach Tips

 

When one of my children was struggling, I wanted to know what I could do TODAY to help. Of course, learning about dominance and processing is a good first step but easing the stress of  reading practice is paramount as well. If the child’s processing score is less than 6, we recommend echo reading. I know, the first thing you are going to say is, “Isn’t reading with phonics the only “real” way to read?” Phonics is great!  Let me repeat, phonics is a great way to teach reading if the individual has high enough auditory processing to handle it.  If that is not the case, it is a frustrating experience for both student and teacher. 

 

 

Read this text and then I will explain.

See, we are really sight readers. Once we know the word, we don’t ever sound it out again. Because of this sight word skill, having a large sight word vocabulary is an asset! Echo reading is where you read a couple of sentences and then the child reads the same two sentences after you. With this method, you work on word recognition, comprehension and reading expression all at the same time. I like to use this really sweet series of a family on a farm when recommending echo reading; Books for First Grade and Second Grade.

 In addition to echo reading, you would work on auditory processing twice a day. When the child can do a solid 5 and work close to 6 numbers on the auditory processing  Free Test , you add phonics back into your routine. In the meantime, the echo reading takes the pressure off the child and also the negative mindset that “I can’t read.” When you add the phonics back in, the child has the best of both worlds – a good sight word vocabulary and a way to sound out unknown words. Watch this for more details. 

Check out this additional resource for the  Best Way to Teach Reading

 

Dysgraphia

Symptoms for this label can come from several different sources of brain inefficiency. If the eyes are not giving the correct information about where the line is, how can the child write on the line? If the pathways from the fingers to the brain are not working well, he will not be able to control the pencil. If the pencil grasp is not good, this also retards progress. 

Interventions:

  • Do deep pressure on the hand and arm to help build pathways. 
  • Check the eyes for convergence and tracking
  • Consider a ND program so you can be equipped to help with central detail vision that makes it hard to see exactly where the line is. Central vision also affects the spacing between words and the inconsistent size of letters.  
  • CursiveLogic can also be used to teach cursive handwriting. This helps to keep letters more uniform because of proprioception (tactile awareness of where you are in space) that can compensate for visual inefficiencies. 

 

Dyscalculia

Again, we need to look for how to address symptoms instead of focusing on a disability or difficulty. 

  1. If the brain is not organized well at the lower levels, it is difficult to have organized thinking. So many times, we expect organized behavior from a disorganized brain (a brain that didn’t receive enough of the right kind of stimulation during developmental stages) and it becomes a frustrating experience for parents and teachers. 
  2. Auditory processing (as mentioned above). When this is low:
  • there is a struggle with logical thinking needed for mathematics concepts
  • word problems are a struggle because the information is not held well in short term memory
  • instruction of math concepts is hampered
  • remembering all the steps to a more complicated operation like long division is a challenge

3. Long-term memory – if information is not being stored correctly for easy retrieval, it will be difficult to learn math facts and remember how to do certain operations

 

An ND’s view of math is divided into 3 distinct areas of abilities that are worked on independently:

Math Issue #1: Learning the meaning of a particular operation. What is addition? What does multiplication really mean?… 

Intervention

Some parents are mistaken that a child shouldn’t move on to subtraction until they have mastered the addition math facts or on to multiplication until the addition and subtraction facts are solid. If you work on each math ability independently through AND methods, the mastery of math facts doesn’t hinder a child’s ability to progress in math concepts. We use Visual Circle Math  (VCM) with 50% instruction. Children that are behind in math really don’t need to do full grade level math curriculums to get caught up to grade level. When you use VCM, students are presented with ways to see what each operation is and do the problems that are more grade level appropriate even before they know the math facts. This way they can catch up quickly and then join a grade appropriate curriculum for other aspects of math like time, temperature, and geometry. Be sure to include Visual Circle Math Additional Mastery Pages so you have enough practice for your child to master the current math concept while getting daily practice on all the previously mastered concepts. This is designed to be hands-on with the parent as the parent does every other problem for the child (50% instruction). This adds intensity to help the information stick and stops all potential mistakes the child might be inclined to make. 

See the SPED Homeschool Review Crew unboxing and review videos of VCM to learn more.

 

Math Issues #2:  Mastering the math facts. This is knowing the answer instantly of a particular random one digit problem. Ex. You see or hear 4 + 5 and 9 comes to mind immediately without thinking of a math family or a trick to subtract 1 from a double like 5 + 5. 

Intervention

Mastery of math facts is the cornerstone of math. When a child knows their facts, math lessons go much more smoothly, and takes less time. We use The Rapid Recall System  where the child sees, hears, says, and writes 5 math facts 14 times a day. This dynamic system only takes 6-7 minutes of “input” (putting information into the brain) and 1-3 minutes of “output” (checking to see if the information is coming out on paper quickly). Children report that after using this system that they really like math after all. 

 

Math Issue #3: The ability to do word problems. This involves reading the problem, holding the information in short-term memory long enough to decide what is important as well as what operation is needed to solve for the answer. 

Intervention

Work twice a day on auditory processing so the student can hold the information more easily.

 

Your children with “dys” labels don’t have to struggle the rest of their lives with these challenging symptoms. If the root cause is addressed with the right kind of stimulation, the child will make progress and build confidence along the way. For more help in where to start, contact: office@BrainSprints.com 

Use coupon code: SPEDFriend for any products that might be helpful for your child.

 

 


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By Jan Bedell, Ph.D., Master NeuroDevelopmentalist,SPED Homeschool Board MemberCurriculum Partner,  Consultant Partner, and Therapy Partner 

 

Dys, dys, dys what is a mom to do? I just had a child in my office this week with all three labels and they added Auditory Processing Disorder on top of all the ”dys.” This mom, like many of you, wanted the child tested and even labeled so he could get some help. What she received was far from what she hoped. Instead, she received a lot of labels, some vague, general recommendations to remediate his work and ways he might cope and compensate for these conditions for the rest of his life. NeuroDevelopment offers a unique perspective. The goal of neurodevelopment is to find the root cause of each of the symptoms that show up on the test for these labels and to equip the parent with activities that work on that root cause to decrease or eliminate it. For a better understanding of this perspective, I encourage you to watch a video entitled: To Label or Not to Label

 

For now, let’s delve into the “dys” labels. 

When you look up the meaning of the prefix, dys you find: “bad”, “abnormal”, “difficult”, “hard”, “imperfect” or “impaired.”

Adding “lexia” (meaning – readable [to choose words; to gather, to collect; to pick out, to choose; to read, to recite]) to “dys” results in dyslexia.

Adding “calculia” (meaning-learning related to numbers and mathematics) to “dys”results in dyscalculia.

Finally, adding “graphy” (meaning-form of drawing, writing, representing, recording, describing, etc) to “dys” results in dysgraphia.

 

Mostly, children with typical or above average to even gifted intelligence are labeled with these “dys” labels. Some sources even admit that these reading, math, or writing challenges are totally unexpected in these bright children. In fact, one very sad result of these labeled difficulties is that these children often feel they are not very smart, even though they may have a very high IQ. Plus, their parents don’t know how to explain the disconnect between their intelligence and learning struggles. 

 

The traditional approach for remediating these “dys” issues focus attention on the difficulty, the abnormal struggle, and the impaired ability to do typical academic tasks. Unfortunately, this approach also blinds us to the solutions. 

 

Do this experiment for me – put the palm of your hand against your nose with fingers fanned out. Now, look at a scene outside your window. Is your view of the scene distorted? Now straighten your arm in front of you, parallel to the floor, and look at the scene again. Your hand is still there in your peripheral vision but it is not skewing your perspective of the scene. That is how I encourage you to look at these labels. They don’t need to be a daily topic or excuse for not being able to get school work finished. They can simply be an awareness (your hand in the peripheral position) that there are inefficiencies happening in the brain that can be addressed at the root to make function easier. I like to tell the children that they are really smart but their brain is tricking them right now so it is harder for all the smart to come out easily. 

 

Let me illustrate this with a dysgraphia label. One boy with this label as well as a 130 IQ described it like this: “My hands feel fluffy.” Now think about it, if you had fluff at the end of your arms would you be able to control a pencil? NO! In this child’s brilliance he was describing an immature pathway from his brain to his hand that was not allowing him to control his fingers to form the letters like his teacher wanted. This caused frustration on all sides of the issue. You could put this child in handwriting classes for hours a day and this difficulty is not going to change until the underlying issue of the brain pathway is addressed. Of course this is only one possible root cause of the many that could get a child that label but I hope you can see the point. In my daughter’s case, she had so much trouble writing legible and on the line that in addition to the poor brain pathway to her hand, her central detail vision wasn’t working well. This meant that she couldn’t even see all of the lines she was supposed to write on. These were developmental issues that were addressed with neurodevelopmental activities that stimulate the brain in these areas. Improvement was then made. 

 

As for dysgraphia, there are many possible root causes for the symptoms for that diagnosis. A few of these root causes could be the inability to hold information in short-term memory in order to see the big picture or poor long-term memory storage which  makes fact retrieval difficult.  

 

I have listed many symptoms of dyslexia’s root causes in this document to give you a better idea of the neurodevelopmental perspective on dyslexia. It is “the hand in the scene but not in your face” perspective that should help you know how to homeschool a child with these labels. 

 

If you are looking for more information, visit the Brain Coach Tips YouTube channel or www.BrainSprints.com to get more information on how The NeuroDevelopmental Approach can help you see more solutions for learning struggles. 

 

 

 


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By Jan Bedell, Ph.D., Master NeuroDevelopmentalist, SPED Homeschool Board Member & Therapy Partner

 

April is Autism Awareness Month and we here at SPED Homeschool understand how autism can affect learning and the education process. SPED Homeschool Founder and CEO, Peggy Ployhar, started their family’s homeschooling journey after their son’s autism diagnosis 19 years ago. We hope that our resources will empower your homeschool and your student will reach his/her full potential.

 

An autism diagnosis has become alarmingly more prevalent, moving from 1 in 10,000 births 25-30 years ago to 1 in 66 in recent reports. This increase is not explained away by better testing or the “gene pool” theory. So many children today fall into this label because of the broad spectrum of symptoms that are currently included under the umbrella of autism. As neurodevelopmentalists (NDs), the thought process is that the symptoms causing behavioral triggers resulting in this label should be addressed directly and not simply labeled. The question is, where do you start? 

 

Every individual on the planet learns through their senses. The bulk of the information comes primarily from three of the five sensory avenues – auditory, visual, and tactile. In the case of a diagnosis of autism, these sensory messages can be too sensitive (hypersensitive), not sensitive enough (hyposensitive), or a scrambled message. All of the above cause misinterpretation of sensory input by the brain. Every child does the best they can to function with the information provided through these sensory input channels. If one or more channels are giving distorted information to the brain, it compounds the challenge of the daily demand to function in a typical manner.

 

The NeuroDevelopmental Approach uses brain plasticity (its ability to grow and change) to improve the functional ability of the child. We also acknowledge the huge part that the chemistry of the body plays in individual progress. There isn’t enough space to expand on the metabolic aspect of spectrum disorders, so we will focus here on the ND help that is available. Let’s look at the main areas of input to the brain for some examples.

 

Vision:

When peripheral vision is hypersensitive, it means the detail or central vision is not working well, and the peripheral is working too well. When this happens, it is easy for a child to “play” with their vision by moving objects, flapping arms, or moving fingers, just to name a few common repetitive actions that we refer to as sensory play or stimming. These actions produce endorphins that are the same chemicals that make you feel good when you run. Running to get this feeling is good and very different from continuously pumping this chemical into your system by engaging in sensory play. The more this destructive behavior happens, the further the child retreats from the world around them. NDs encourage a multi-pronged approach to this situation. 1. Discourage the sensory play and redirect as much as possible. 2. Work to improve the central detail vision through specific stimulation so the child’s payoff (endorphins) is no longer there and the behavior stops.

 

By addressing the root cause, these symptoms can diminish significantly and allow more typical functioning to emerge.”

 

Tactile/Touch:

Many children with an autism label have an aversion to light touch. Certain clothes bother them, hugs are rejected, washing hair, haircuts and showers can be a nightmare, and food sensitivities make it hard to get nutritional meals consumed. At the same time this hypersensitivity exists, children may also have trouble distinguishing deep touch or pain (hyposensitivity). They might have unexplained bruises or ear infections that are not acknowledged as a problem until the eardrum bursts. All of these examples reflect a brain that is not getting the right messages from the tactile sensory stimulation in the environment. The ND’s solution again is to provide enough tactile input to change the brain and thus the reaction to the outside stimulus.  

 

Auditory:

Many autistic children are so hypersensitive to sound that much of the auditory stimulation in their world is painful. To combat this pain, many children simply turn off their auditory systems. This results in two very negative outcomes. 1. Withdrawal from friends and family as well as struggles with negative behaviors in noisy environments. 2. Lack of use of the auditory channel creating deficits in auditory sequential processing, which is holding pieces of information in short-term memory. This results in the inability to follow directions, stay on task, comprehend what is said or read, understand cause and effect as well as posing a challenge to reading with a phonetics approach. This deficit causes behavioral and academic challenges. For example, if you have a 9-10 year old that is only processing like a 2-year-old, you may have behavior and even academic abilities more like a 2-year-old. 

 

To address the first issue of hypersensitivity, the auditory system needs stimulation to reduce sound sensitivity. For low processing (short-term memory), the children need to learn to stretch their ability over time to be more age-appropriate. This is done through specific 1-2 minute interactions that happen multiple times a day. The results have astounded parents as well as professionals working with these children. To find out more about this important aspect of the autism diagnosis, visit this link. You will find a free test kit to check your child’s short-term memory level for yourself, information about the importance of auditory processing for successfully navigating life, as well as how to enhance this extremely valuable, life-long skill. 

 

In conclusion, it is the author’s opinion that we must pay much more attention to the cause of those negative indicators. By addressing the root cause, these symptoms can diminish significantly and allow more typical functioning to emerge. The best place to do this is at home, so homeschooling a child with autism is highly recommended. When parents are equipped with the right kind of information to stimulate the child’s brain at the root cause, progress toward typical function can be achieved. This is in stark contrast to public schools that have rooms that overstimulate with random stimulus. When there is a room full of children with sensory issues and non-typical behavior, how can you expect your child to gain typical development or behavior? Home with the model of parents and siblings is a much better option. 

 

 

 

 

 


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By Jan Bedell, Ph.D., Master NeuroDevelopmentalist, SPED Homeschool Board Member & Partner 

 

Documentation of your daily efforts to homeschool a child with special needs can seem tricky. Each state has its own requirements, so you have to stay abreast of that, of course. Beyond that, you need a system that can easily assure you – and well-meaning relatives – that the best education possible is happening for your child.

 

Remember Homeschool Is the Best Place for Your Child!

In a public school, your child would have an IEP (Individualized Educational Plan). That plan would put in place modifications and recommendations for more individualized instruction and traditionally only includes academics. What could be more individualized than a parent who understands their child better than anyone in the world and can modify on the fly for academics and life-skills? The answer: NOBODY! A motivated, informed parent is the best advocate for successfully educating a child with special needs, but progress for a child that learns differently is sometimes hard to document. 

 

Be Creative with Your School Day!

Depending on the severity of the developmental, academic, or intellectual delay, your school day will look different. It is not like a typical student where you show how many pages were completed in a given period. At Brain Sprints, we encourage our families to use a detailed checklist where each item for the day can be easily checked off for documentation of work done with the child. The list would include non-traditional school activities like how many times a day you work together on auditory or visual processing (short-term memory). Or what work you did to normalize the tactile system with specific stimulation. Or activities that would organize the lower levels of the brain for better coordination as well as organized thought. Each checkmark is a step in the right direction for the functional ability of the child and should be celebrated. These activities can be more important than completing a particular page or reading that is done each day. Academics can be on the checklist, too, but addressing the root of the challenges a child faces is even more strategic. The list can quickly help you see where you need to focus more or just a reminder of progress, even if it may not be evident to others yet.

 

Plan for Interruptions

Checklists can be divided into two different lists. One list consists of the activities and/or academics you do with the child. We call it the Daily Parent/Child Conference list. The other list is the activities the child can do independently called My Responsibilities. These lists can keep you both focused and productive each day. When there is an interruption, you can say, “Work on your My Responsibility list while I do x, y, z.” This can keep the progress for the day going when those inevitable interruptions happen. The My Responsibility list can also give the child some say in their day. He/she can decide what gets done first, second, or third instead of someone else dictating every step, which is important for maturity and self-reliance. We often find that if the child has some say in what is happening, there is more compliance. Also, the My Responsibility list helps with accountability and motivation.

 

Life Skills Are Work, too!

Don’t be shy about documenting life skills like learning to wash hair, cooking, making a bed, or tying shoes. These may be just as important or even more strategic to your child’s future as anything else in the educational plan. If you document it, you will feel better about your time spent each day. You are making a difference!

 

For more information about a neurodevelopmental approach to homeschool: www.BrainSprints.com

 

 

 

 

 


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By Jan Bedell, Ph.D., M ND, SPED Homeschool Partner and  Board Vice-Chair

This month, we have featured articles about Individual Education Plans, or IEPs, for homeschool students. But what if your child still struggles with achieving goals? Do you think your child is capable of meeting their goals but he or she may have a mental block for retaining information? Maybe your child can say all the letter sounds but struggles to put them together when reading. Or does your child still struggle with handwriting goals? An INP may be your missing link to success.

So, what is in INP, and what is the difference between an IEP and an INP? An INP is an Individualized NeuroDevelopmental Plan. NeuroDevelopment (ND) has to do with the brain’s development in three strategic areas of input (getting information accurately into the child’s brain) through the auditory, visual, and tactile channels. We all process information through our senses of hearing, sight, and touch. The brain’s three areas of development for output are language, fine motor, and mobility (ability to move body parts in space, including coordination). To respond to our environment, our brains help us speak, write, and move. Why is this important? The brain controls everything we do, and if the input isn’t right, the output will not be satisfactory. The IEP focuses only on output, or specific performed ability, as the goal. The INP focuses on stimulating the brain to make the goal more easily achievable.

Let me give you an example. If the educational goal is to increase handwriting skills, the traditional approach is to have the student practice writing with specific verbal instruction or a visual example. But, what if the tactile pathway from the brain to the fingers is immature? What if the fingers are not getting the correct feedback from the brain to make the letters well? Or, what if the central detail vision is not fully developed or the eye-tracking and convergence are off, and the visual images are distorted as they are writing? All the practice in the world is not going to overcome these areas of incorrect information from the brain to help the handwriting.

Instead of focusing on the child’s performance, the emphasis should be the root cause(s) of the deficit. Here is where an INP can be very helpful. Allow me to give you an example from my own experience homeschooling my daughter that was developmentally-delayed. On my homeschool IEP, I had the goal of her reading phonetically past CVC words. Of course, a step toward that goal, in my mind, was the mastery of all the phonograms that make up larger words. We used a phonics program with 70 cards representing the sound(s) of each phonogram. My daughter mastered all the cards, even the phonogram with six sounds! But, she was rarely able to hold the sounds together to read beyond three-letter CVC words. 

The brain controls everything we do, and if the input isn’t right, the output will not be satisfactory..”

After getting her INP from a NeuroDevelopmentalist, I understood the additional developmental issues that held her back from reading with phonics. The first issue was her low auditory processing ability. Her processing (short-term memory) was so slow that it prevented the retention of the sounds to make a word after the laborious pronouncing of each phonogram. The second issue that caused reading to be a struggle was my daughter’s central vision had not developed well and, because of this, she kept skipping lines, words, or parts of words. Her INP addressed these areas of neurodevelopmental need. Her plan included eye-tracking activities, specific activities for developing the central vision, and lots of practice for her auditory short-term memory. By adding this input, along with other short, brain-stimulating sessions, she was able to read longer words, which would have been the goal on an IEP but able to be achieved through an INP. 

If you are interested in finding out if an INP (Individualized NeuroDevelopmental Plan) is right for your situation, call for a free personalized consultation  with a NeuroDevelopmental Specialist. Or, to see if low auditory or visual processing is an issue for your child, go to www.BrainSprints.com and scroll down to “Tools” to get the free processing test kits.

 

 

 

 

 


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By Jan Bedell, Ph.D., Master NeuroDevelopmentalist & SPED Homeschool Board Member

Teaching methods have come and gone, been expanded, and even more defined through specific curriculum. Some are geared toward specific learning styles and, since humans are all unique, it is good to have various means to get information into young brains. What if I told you about three small ways to make a big difference in your child’s education?

 

Why consider a Brain-Based Approach to learning?

Well, for starters, the realization that the brain controls everything you do would point to the importance of such an approach. If the brain is well-organized and information flows freely to all parts of the body without any sensory interference, the chances of concentrated learning go up significantly. If the individual’s short-term auditory and visual memory is humming along on all cylinders, that makes learning easier as well. If information goes into long-term memory in a way that can be easily retrieved with none of the “but you knew this yesterday” drama, the learning cycle is complete. The question is, how do we get from where we are with learning inefficiencies that make most traditional methodologies challenging for both student and teacher to that complete learning cycle outlined above? The answer lies in The NeuroDevelopmental (ND) Approach.  

In a nutshell, The ND Approach focuses on using the brain’s extraordinary ability to change and grow – plasticity (find out more about Brain Plasticity at this link). By giving the brain specific stimulation or input, it responds by building brain pathways to create better overall function. The central theme of this methodology is to use the Three Keys to Input to attain better coordination, improve sensory feedback to the brain, increase short-term memory, and ensure information is stored efficiently for future use.

 

These Three Keys are Frequency (F), Intensity (I), and Duration (D) – FID

Frequency is the number of times the individual is exposed to the same stimulation/information. Intensity is how strong the stimulation is given. Duration is short periods of time one or more times a day and then over a period of days, weeks, or months. 

What would the Three Keys look like practically in a subject area? Let’s take math computation, for instance. This is an area where we are often in a hurry for the student to be independent. Teaching is really inputting information to the students until mastery is achieved. Typically, we use techniques that are “output-based” like worksheets, speed drills, and flashcards with no answer on them. Where do we think the child will get the answer when we hold up a card with 4+5 on it? We don’t even think much about it. It is just what we do. This output method often reinforces the wrong answers and makes it even harder to master the new concept. An example of FID in math computation is when a new concept is presented, you do 3-5 problems (F) demonstrating how to do the problem. This takes very little time (D) since you are proficient in that skill. The interaction is positive, short, and pressure-free for the student (I). After the initial day or two of input in this way, it is recommended that you do 50% of the math lesson (every other problem) to keep this FID technique going. 

Brain Sprints created the  Rapid Recall System. This is the best Brain-Based Teaching technique where the student sees, hears, says, and writes five math facts 14 times a day (F) and it only takes 6 minutes (D). There are special sound effects to add intensity (I) to the listening sessions. Children that have had trouble remembering their math facts in the past now have them mastered. 

Do you think you don’t have time to sit with your child every day for math? Let me ask you how much time do you spend checking the paper, marking, re-explaining, and dealing with frustration? Trust me, you have time if you rearrange your approach.

 

Three Keys to Input for Reading

Another example of FID for reading proficiency is input instead of output with phonograms. Use the phonogram cards as input cards instead of asking the student what the sound is. Pick 5 cards; hold one up at a time and say the sound; mix the order of the cards and repeat this input for 1 minute. Repeat this process twice a day for about a week. Voila! Sounds are known. If this is not the case, you have to look deeper into the brain function.  The questions would be: 

    • Is there a vision challenge?
    • Is information being stored in the wrong place and can’t be retrieved easily?
    • Does short-term memory need to be improved?
    • Is the brain disorganized?

Once the child knows all the sounds, if there are issues with using phonics, like holding all the phonograms together to be able to decode a word easily, you will want to check on the auditory processing (short-term memory). Good auditory processing is the essential prerequisite to being able to read with a phonics approach. This topic is too lengthy to enter into here, but you can learn more about this important skill with this short video: Auditory Processing  

An individual’s sensory system is an important part of being able to pay attention and not be distracted or in some cases completely overloaded with hypersensitivities. If your child is not receiving sensory information well, you can get facts about the impact and some solutions from these videos from Brain Coach Tips on YouTube.  It Is Not That Loud! (Hyper auditory); It’s Just a Sock  (tactile oversensitivity)

The Brain-Based Teaching known as Brain Sprints NeuroDevelopmental Approach has proven effective with children with all types of labels – Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia, ADHD, Autism, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Down, Sensory Integration Disorder. You understand more when you realize that the brain controls everything you do and when there are glitches, it just makes sense to get to the root of the issue in the brain. If you would like some guidance about where to start using a Brain-Based Approach, schedule your Free Consultation or visit  www.BrainSprints.com for more information.

 

 

 


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Jan Bedell, PhD, Master NeuroDevelopmentalist

If you are a parent of young children today or you teach your children at home, chances are very good that phonics is your exclusive go-to approach to teach reading. A conviction that phonics is the ONLY way to teach reading, and success with other children with this approach, leaves you purchasing one phonics program after another for a child that just doesn’t seem to “get it” with the current phonics program. Yet still, a satisfactory result eludes you. Sound familiar?

Many years ago, when I was in elementary school, reading instruction was a whole word approach. Definitely showing my age now! This method did work and I got through college while maintaining Dean’s List status. After graduation, my first job was teaching kindergarten where phonics was required. I learned right along with the students and I still find it very helpful in decoding unknown words to this day.

Don’t get me wrong, I love, love, love phonics as a way of teaching reading! I “taught” both of my girls to read in our home school with an intense phonics program. Well, to be perfectly candid, I only successfully taught one of my girls to read with phonics. The other one, labeled as developmentally delayed, struggled to read anything past a three-letter-word even though she mastered all 70 phonograms in isolation. I was perplexed, to say the least!

Reading is complex. The individual has to gain meaning from a string of symbols making up a word and then combine that with other strings of symbols to gain an understanding of what is written. Let’s explore from a NeuroDevelopmental perspective, the skills that make a successful reader?

 

Skills of Successful Readers

1. Visual Skills:

    • Acuity – a reference to 20/20, is the eyes giving a clear picture to focus up close or focus at a distance 
    • Tracking – the eyes moving smoothly across a horizontal line without darting back or forth that would give the wrong feedback to the brain about what is seen
    • Convergence – the eyes working together, placing the image of one eye directly on top of the other so there is no distortion of the letters or swimming of word on the page
    • Central Detail Vision – the ability to see directly in front of you – children that didn’t go through the proper developmental steps to gain good central vision often don’t have good eye contact, they don’t write on a line well and often skip little words or parts of words on a page while reading. Consider this video from the  YouTube Channel – Brain Coach Tips for information about checking the eye function at home.
    • Visual Discrimination – the ability to see subtle differences between very similar words like “then” and “them” can be developed with practice – consider this  Visual Discrimination Game to advance that skill

 

2.   Auditory Processing:

A prerequisite skill to reading in general and for phonics, in particular, is auditory processing (auditory short-term memory). You may not have thought about it but phonics is an auditory approach to reading. You have to hold pieces of auditory information (sounds) in sequential order and sometimes even a rule together in your short-term memory to decode the word. The capacity to hold auditory sequential pieces of information together is called your auditory processing ability.

Without the foundational skill of auditory processing, phonics is a painful, frustrating and often ineffective way to learn to read. The good news is that with practice, an individual’s auditory processing can be raised and then phonics can be effective. An individual needs a strong level 5 or better yet, a 6 auditory digit span for phonics to work well. To get a free test kit to discover processing levels for your whole family visit  www.BrainSprints.com (scroll down to the “Tools” section). This information will give you a clue as to whether low processing is a root cause of an individual’s reading struggle. When you accelerate this skill, you accelerate success in reading. Learn more: Auditory Processing-Best Kept Secret in Education

 

3.  Information Storage:

From a NeuroDevelopmental perspective, the efficient storage of information or being able to get what is in that little brain out into a functional form requires proper placement of the information. It is a bit like a filing cabinet. If you put information in the 2nd drawer in the proper folder, it is easy to get it when you need it. Improper filing of a piece of paper in the 2nd drawer with no folder can be frustrating, time-consuming and energy expending to find. The same can be true of storage in the brain. For more understanding of dominance that is key to storage, watch “You Knew It Yesterday!” 

 

An Alternative Approach

Many families have found help with the alternate approach to teaching reading. Children’s belief in themselves as readers has been restored with this different approach.

While you are working on the child’s auditory processing for two minutes twice a day, teach “sight words” by flashing cards and telling the child what the word is. If your child is an emerging reader, consider  3Rs Plus with the accompanying flashcard and detailed instructions. Beginning readers are very encouraged when they tell dad, “I read this whole book!” Granted the book is only 12 pages long and contains one to two sentences on each page but in their mind, they did read the whole book.

Children reading at 1st-grade level, I recommend Pathway Readers and the flashcards developed for the first few books in this series.

You can also read a sentence or two and in some cases a paragraph or a full page and have the child read the SAME selection after you. This is called Echo Reading and is a temporary but very effective approach to building reading confidence! For leveled books that will work on reading recognition as well as comprehension, just search “Reading” at the  Brain Sprints Store.

 

Bringing This Information Together

So how do you square up your belief that phonics is the best way to teach reading with this new information? First, you realize that we are all sight-readers. Let me ask you this – Do you read all the words phonetically when you read? No, absolutely not. After you learn a word, you never sound it out again as it would be extremely slow and laborious to do otherwise.

Secondly, rest assured that as soon as your child’s auditory processing is at a level to handle phonics, you can go back to the phonics approach. In the meantime, your child has developed a really good sight word vocabulary and will feel encouraged by a new ability to read. The best of both worlds is now achieved! Your child has a head-start on identifying a word immediately and then will master an ability to phonically decode unknown words. 

If a phonics approach or the sight word approach is not effective in teaching a child to read, one must explore other root causes by looking at how the eyes are working or where information is being stored in the brain. For more individualized direction consider a  Free 15 minute Consultation with a Brain Sprints’ coach.

 

 

 

 


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Jan Bedell, PhD, Master NeuroDevelopmentalist

The controversy, almost hostile conflict, over the best way to teach reading has been waged for decades. The pendulum seems to swing to one side or the other to an extreme. When the extreme is reached on either side of the issue, many children struggle to read and the pendulum swings back in the other direction. If you are a homeschool teacher of young children, chances are very good that phonics is your go-to approach. A conviction that phonics is basically the ONLY way to teach reading leaves many parents purchasing one phonics program after another to no avail. Maybe your current phonics program is failing to produce the reading level that you desire or maybe it worked for other children in the family but not for this particular child. Sound familiar?

Many years ago, when I was in elementary school, reading instruction was a whole word approach. I know that method works as I got through college on the Dean’s List. My first job after graduation was teaching kindergarten where phonics was required. I learned right along with the children and find it very helpful in decoding unknown words to this day.  

Don’t get me wrong, I love, love, love phonics as a way of teaching reading! I “taught” both of my girls to read in our homeschool with an intense phonics program. Actually, I successfully taught one of my girls to read with phonics and the other one struggled to read anything past a three-letter-word even though she mastered all 70 phonograms in isolation. I was perplexed, to say the least!

“Many families have been helped with the alternate approach to teaching reading. Children’s belief in themselves as readers has been restored with this different approach. “

I discovered that there are prerequisites to reading in general and for phonics specifically. One of those prerequisites is good auditory processing. Phonics is an auditory approach to reading. You have to hold pieces of information in sequential order and sometimes even a rule together in your short-term memory to decode the word. The capacity to hold auditory sequential pieces of information together is called your auditory processing ability. Without good auditory processing, phonics is a painful, frustrating and often an ineffective way to learn to read. The good news is that with practice, a person’s auditory processing can be raised and then phonics can be successful. An individual needs a strong level 5 or better yet, a 6 auditory digit span for phonics to work well. To get a free test kit to discover processing levels for your family members go to www.LittleGiantSteps.com. This information will give you a clue as to whether low processing is a root cause of an individual’s reading struggle. 

If your child’s auditory processing is low and reading recognition, as well as reading comprehension, are a challenge, a sight word approach to reading may be helpful. I know the following statements are almost heresy in the homeschool community, but let me ask you a question. Do you sound out each word when you read? No, absolutely not. After you learn a word, you never sound it out again as it would be to slow and laborious. 

Many families have been helped with the alternate approach to teaching reading. Children’s belief in themselves as readers has been restored with this different approach. 

  • While you are working on the child’s auditory processing for two minutes twice a day, teach “sight words” by flashing cards and telling the child what the word is. 
  • You can also read a sentence and have the child read the same sentence after you. This is called Echo Reading and is a temporary but very effective approach to building reading confidence!  

So how do you square up your belief that phonics is the best way to teach reading with this new information? Simple, as soon as your child’s auditory processing is at a level to handle phonics, go back to the phonics approach. In the meantime, your child has developed a really good sight word vocabulary and will feel encouraged by a new ability to read. The best of both worlds is now achieved! Your child has a head-start on identifying a word immediately and then will master an ability to phonically decode unknown words.     

If a phonics approach or the sight word approach is not effective in teaching a child to read, one must explore other root causes by looking at how the eyes are working or where information is being stored in the brain. For more information about The NeuroDevelopmental Approach to reading struggles, go to www.BrainCoachTips.com or Brain Coach Tips channel on YouTube and search “reading”.

 

 

 

 

 


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Jan Bedell Ph.D., M ND

God has truly given us an amazing gift that we are just now beginning to fully appreciate and use to help individuals function better. Scientists once thought that the brain was hard-wired and actually stopped developing after the first 18-20 years of life. They thought that connections were put in place between the brain’s cells during early “critical windows” and then were fixed in place as we age. Because of this belief, scientists also thought that if a particular area of the adult brain was damaged, the brain cells could not form new connections or regenerate, and the functions controlled by that area of the brain would be permanently lost.

The Amazing Brain
Neuro Developmentalists have demonstrated for over 60 years, and our recent imaging technology has proven the earlier scientists’ assumption of an unchangeable brain to be false. The brain has the ability to change and grow (neuroplasticity) throughout life. This is especially good news for our children with special or unique educational and functional needs.

We can all understand neuroplasticity in a practical way when we consider the recovery from a stroke. A stroke damages part of the brain and then the function of the individual is diminished. If the stroke victim regains function, this is proof of the life-long gift of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is, by definition, the brain’s ability to continue to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.

Homeschooling Strategies for the Brain
What does this have to do with homeschool you might ask? It really has everything to do with your job as a homeschooling parent. You are actively using neuroplasticity every day with your children from birth and on through high school. You just may not have known the term for what you are doing before now.

When you stimulate an individual’s brain, you are building brain pathways. If those pathways are reinforced with enough frequency, intensity, and over a long enough period of time (duration), permanent function is achieved. We all want to be strategic with what we do, so let’s look at what actually constitutes effective stimulation.

Random Verses Specific Stimulation
There is a difference between specific and random stimulation. Random stimulation will not produce change quickly or efficiently. It produces change almost by accident. For example, in most kindergarten classrooms you will see a myriad of “random stimulation.” There are community helpers on this wall, number lines on that wall, on still another wall, you might find colors, shapes, and mixed in there somewhere is a calendar full of leaves for each day of the month inscribed with a number. Oh, and don’t forget the alphabet that is displayed with each letter being in the shape of an animal that starts with that sound. It is often hard to pick out the real letter from all the other “stuff” that surrounds it. This is all random information.

If you really want a child to know the letters by name and sound, show one letter on a single card in an easy to read font and tell the child what the letter and sound is. Better yet, teach all the letter names and then come back at a later time and just say the sound when you show the card. This is “specific” stimulation and will yield long-term retention of the information. If you teach these letters and sounds with the frequency, intensity, and duration principles, it will take you less time and will be more effective than asking for information to come out as often as most of us are inclined to do. Think about it, how many of us point to a letter or number and ask a small child to identify it instead of telling the child what it is? Me – guilty!


How to Get Specific in Your Teaching Strategy

Use these same frequency, intensity and duration principles to give input to the brain to teach anything you want a child to learn:

Frequency
Frequency means having enough opportunity and repetition in order for the stimulation to produce a change in the brain and become learned information. Often we are focused on “testing” without ever properly putting the information in, and yet if I asked you if you test your child every day, you would probably say, “no.” Think of it this way. If you are asking a child to fill in a blank, it is really a “test” of his ability to do that task. When you have done a good job of putting information into the brain, the “test” is easy.

Intensity
Intensity refers to the strength of the input of the stimulation. Is the stimulation at a level the individual is actively engaged with the information? Or has he/she “tuned out” through lack of intensity? In other words, you can drag an individual through an activity, but without a high level of involvement and interaction, lasting pathways will not be built and changes in the brain or learning will not occur.

Duration
Duration has a dual meaning. It refers to the time the stimulation is being given. Usually the shorter the duration the higher the intensity. Five or ten minutes of mathematics will have a far greater impact than coaxing a child through an hour of math that is done on his own. Duration also refers to staying with the stimulation for however long it takes to produce change. This could be days, weeks or months.


Learn more about how this principle of neuroplasticity through stimulating the brain with frequency, intensity, and duration applies to all learning in the podcast: Three Keys to Learning Anything found at this link or on our YouTube Channel – Brain Coach Tips.

Also, make sure to check out all the  SPED Homeschool podcasts.  Each week we interview a new guest on our show, covering a wide array of topics related to special education and homeschooling. 

 

 


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