Educating & Encouraging Neurological Efficiency

Long time ago, my daughter was enrolled with the www.NACD.org 's method of teaching. At the time, her facilitator was Jan Bedell, now with (www.littlegiantsteps.com) They said that the brain can perceive much more in a few seconds than what we as adults realize... They think we can "flash" a picture or card with information on it... for a few seconds, and then remove it, and ask for feedback. The child can ask you to show the info again, but do so only for a few seconds. If the child is given too long to take in information, they have seen it already, processed it, and become bored with it and you, and tune you out.... This is prevented by this quick method.

Children's eyes and brains work very fast, and become bored quickly if input is too drawn out.

They did "Digitspans", (Index Cards with 5 + number combinations on it which you can either flash visually, or read without any rhythm auditorily) then ask child for either verbal or written feedback. The object is to get the child to receive, then hold and process feedback of several bits of information. They feel it helps the child to be able to gradually be able to focus on more items when receiving data.... like:
"I want you to go upstairs, brush your teeth, brush your hair, make your bed, get your backpack, and come back downstairs for your lunch. I'll meet you at the car". That's like 7 instructions.... Most children will go upstairs, do one or possibly two, then not remember what else they were supposed to do, and we think they just "blew us off".....The digit span program helps to build neuron connections. NACD instructs parents to do this "therapy" with the subdominant side of the brain- Occluded. They only want the information coming INTO the Dominant side... (say Right Eye, Right Ear, Right Hand, Right Foot) then stored on the other side properly, so that it can efficiently be recalled when needed. As this 5 digit span is mastered both visually and auditorily, another number is added to it, and process is begun again. This increases neuron connections in the brain.

They used Music therapy - a lot of Mozart, but some others.. most had higher notes... (little base on it...) to stimulate the brain regarding neuron connections, listened to with only Predominant Ear. (They occluded subdominate ear with waterproof wax). http://www.advancedbrain.com/   They also have a variety of Sound therapy CD's, as well as an interactive Computer program called Brain Builder that helps with the Digit Spans - both in Number and Letters combined.

What we're looking for is Efficient Storage and Retrieval. When correct Brain Dominance is established, and information is inputted into the correct side only, then it is effectively stored properly on reverse side, for efficient retrieval. For Example:

When people learn the ABC's, they learn it by singing them... ABCDEFG.......
Music is stored in Subdominant back of brain above brainstem... Thus, when someone asks you to alphabetizes files, or a page of information, it becomes very tedious, because people tend to try to sing to themselves... ABCDEFG.... to figure out what comes first, last, etc..... to put things in order... It's a matter of Brain Efficiency  - in storage and retrieval.... not intelligence. Information has to be Stored properly to be Retrieved properly.

Paul and Gail Dennison of www.BrainGym.com also have some wonderful resources in the way of Brain Efficiency.

NACD also believes in:
High Energy, High Frequency (repeated several times a day), Low Duration (minutes each time) ... In other words, make it really exciting, do it quickly, but repeat often.....no more than 10 minutes at a time.

I forgot to mention something else they did that was very helpful, especially for auditory children.... They had the parent tape their voice saying the Math Facts.... in Number Skip format for 2 minutes on a tape.
This would be like: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28... to 60 or so. The next tape would be the 3's, then 4's..... etc.. The child would listen ONLY with predominant ear... the other headphone would either have the wire clipped, or ear plugged, so input would arrive only from Dominate side.
http://www.littlegiantsteps.net/xcart/product.php?productid=1165&cat=64&page=1 
Jan has this already done for you on her CD.

Math Facts in a Flash uses the principles of this Neurological learning method in a way that nearly everyone, no matter their brain inefficiency or brain injury can learn math. http://www.littlegiantsteps.net/xcart/home.php?cat=64

They patched Subdominant eye to insure information entering into the brain only in dominate side; information being stored in subdominant side.

They used pinhole glasses.... to help strengthen vision.

They encouraged cross crawl movements to stimulate crawling, to help the brain establish data input, efficient storage, and instant retrieval. This would be done by doing cross skipping. The child skips down the street, with right knee up, and left hand tapping right knee, then left knee being tapped by right hand.... It simulates crawling, which is very important in helping neuron activity in the brain.

For a relative who was previously paralyzed, who couldn't do this, I shared with his dad that he could have those long rubber band things that exercise people use... to do this - with help of father behind son, raising left foot connected with right hand, and right foot connected with left hand.... etc... Even though the boy couldn't do it himself, the exercise still registers with the brain, and stimulates neuron growth.

For kids with problems with motor control writing their words, we did clothes pin exercises and button pulls to strengthen the finger muscles.... This helped my daughter's handwriting enormously! Previously, I could never understand how she could be SO artistic, yet have such HORRIBLE handwriting!!!! The small muscles in hand and fingers strengthening... helped this incredibly well. 

For children with hyperactive nervous systems, we did "appropriate pain and sensation" exercises with bath gloves rubbed up and down arms and legs, stomach and back.... to demonstrate appropriate sensation... My daughter had over stimulated (or under matured) nervous system, and didn't understand the difference between  "Real Pain", vs. just  being bumped, or scratched.  We did deep tissue joint compression exercises on all her joints, and massaging from finger tips all the way up to her ears.  She used to love this part of the day.  We did this several times a day. Knuckles and joints were squeezed, as were the ears.....to show appropriate sensation vs. pain.

Spaulding Phonics Cards have some incredible flash cards that depict all the phonetic rules, sounds, and combinations. These phonograms really teach the basics so that children can easily sound out words, and easily progress into gifted readers.

As educators, it was explained that we as parents could verbally and physically demonstrate and talk through several math problems for every one that we required the child do... so that the input was verbal as well as visual, then ask child to do one... Visually Demonstrating, Verbally Instructing, Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept, Here a little, There a Little.... Eventually, it gets through.  I would verbally go through a set of problems with my daughter, and then do a couple, then ask her to do one.  I'd do a couple more... verbalizing what the problem was, the steps involved in doing it, then allowing her to do a couple.  We did this several times a day for no more than 10 minutes.  High Energy, High Frequency, Low Duration.

Because of all the one on one, therapies of different kinds, and repetition going on, they keep their curriculum down to the basics. They usually use a book that is sold at Barnes and Noble called "What every 5th grader should know".... (substitute whatever grade you're needing...) It's a reasonably priced book considering what curriculums usually cost, and is very consolidated. It's measurable in terms of seeing significant progress and can be compared with what other students are doing on an average, as well as seeing how much the student is able to achieve in terms of growth. You can go through it quickly, and proceed to next grade if you need to. This could be done even in Summer as a parent directed "Summer School" to help make up a grade. I would encourage the Nutritional Support to be in place for several weeks - prior to a big push though.....You'll see better results.

Also, they used Gyconutrients. Mannotech funded this research with good results.

Personally, I use lots of essential fatty acids in my family. The Brain is made almost exclusively of fat. The myelin sheath is comprised almost entirely of fat. Nerves need a lot of Phosphorus, so I try to supplement Cod Liver oil, Choline, Phosphatidyl Choline and Phosphatidyl Serine, Lecithin and lots of Vitamin B.... which typically is hard to assimilate so sometimes sublinguals are best used - if not injections from physician. Hypercum (Homeopathic St. John's Wort) is very helpful in helping nerves to heal and grow. Homeopathic Tissue Salts in general are helpful, but BiChemic Phosphates are specific to nerve problems. Using this program, along with some cranial nerve stimulation, a relative of mine "came back" from a brain injury with paralysis, in a couple months time - from being paralyzed to walking with a cane... This is significant.

I have a lot of information on the Brain and how it functions in a book report on a book called Brain Longevity.

brain_longevity.html  This is pretty incredible report. The book was really great, MANY case studies of brains being reactivated... but the highlights are here.

There is also a lot more information specific to the Brain functions, and Nerve functions in general and specific to certain nerve diseases at brain_functions.html Keep in mind food allergies which can attach nerve function and make thinking hazy.....

It's been a while since I did this, but this was the bulk of the program.
As I think of more things we did, I'll try and relate them...

I remember reading a book called Better Late than Early... about the burning out of our children at early ages... this is really a crime against children, in that it causes them to hate school and learning.  Learning should be fun; an adventure, a life long process... never stopping.

My favorite saying about this is:

The idea of using the educational programs for part of the education of the child is an interesting one. I may need to subscribe to a Dish network!

Presently, I take my kids to museums, living history enactments, Science Dissection Labs, Sewing and Jewelry classes, Horseback riding lessons, etc...etc...

Marilyn Horshall (Wisdom's Way of Learning) has a interesting concept of finding each child's Bent....and building on it. Do a Unit study on say, - Horses... You can do a science project on parts and skeleton of a horse, what nutrition horse needs, what feed (protein & Carbohydrate) and how much, What it costs for feed per day, week, month, year... (counts for math also), Reading books about horses, Writing a Report on Horses (composition), Giving a Speech about horses, Riding the horse (Phys Ed) Reading about diseases and treating conditions that Horses are susceptible to, What goes into hygiene of a horse, brushing, cleaning hooves, putting oil on hooves so they don't split, etc... ALL in a subject They are interested in!!! This can be done in any interest the child has.  This method incorporates all the required courses into a subject they'll love to study.

The idea is finding what Drives YOUR child, and building on it. She has her parent/teachers have all the children make Notebooks in their chosen field of interest - for the school year. This contains all their research for the year, in all the subjects. Some of these are done in Notebook Journal format, (think scrapbooking....) or even using used Wallpaper books for backdrops for their papers to be mounted to.

Whatever works for you. These can be saved as not only their educational progress, but also a scrapbook for their life that year... What they did, experienced, learned, and their progress in learning.

Below is one mother's post on how she did some "unschooling", and what her testing results were at the completion of the year. It is significant.

"The way kids are taught in the public school system isn't because it's the best way to learn. It's because it's the easiest way to teach 30 kids all at once. You don't need to have a 5 or 6 hour day either, most of that is passing out pencils and waiting for everyone to get on the same page. We schooled from 9 to 12. I did a bit of unschooling.. required a math lesson daily and a half page of something written for grammar. They had to be doing something educational during that time or I made them fill out a map of the U.S., so I didn't have too much trouble. The state requires 5 or 6 hours so what you do is call it life sciences when they help with grocery shopping, making dinner, etc. My guys would watch educational programs as that is most of what I allowed with the TV. Plus we had all kinds of educational games and a computer. So unstructured time learning about things that interested them filled the other hours just fine. Public schools can kill the desire to learn. It is a passion with me but I did not like school for the most part.

It took me a couple of years to get to the partial unschooling method and that worked for my family just fine. One son scored 2nd year college, first month on one half of the Iowa Basic Skills test and he was only in the 8th grade. My daughter scored 8th grade level in science and she was in the 4th. This mostly from Bill Nye the Science guy, he had a bigger budget and a whole team to prepare those TV lessons and they were fabulous. I did some experiments with them and took them to the science museum but did not formally "teach" science. I was a resource person."

I really hope this is helpful. I am rethinking things, and see that I need to make some positive choices and decisions for my own child's benefit..... I haven't been doing all of what I know to do... and the results are telling on me! I need to begin again. The results are well worth it.  It doesn't need to be hard... just effective. I'm thinking about getting a Satellite Dish with only Custom Educational Programming on it. I think they told me they charged $9.00 a station if done this way.... Better that than all the "junky sitcoms" that are stealers of our time, morals, and brains.

These science, history, crafts etc...- programs are very interesting, and similar to historically sending a child on "The Grand Tour" as they used to - to complete their education. Science, History, Geography.... Yes! The kids are more interested in this, than in sitting in front of a teacher in a class all day! They'll remember better too - if they're interested in what they are seeing..... Then have them write a few short paragraphs on what they learned!

One of the MOST incredible English grammar, punctuation, and essay writing skills programs I've recently found is from a DVD program called Splashes from the river.  This lady from Canada has a very friendly method of inviting kids to learn their English parts of grammar in a cheerful, stimulating manner, demonstrating it, with nature sounds, and classical music playing in the background.  It's a incredible experience to behold.  Take a look! www.splashesfromtheriver.com/

If you find other interesting curriculums that build on this neurological method of learning, please write and let me know.