“I am writing to you today to tell you about my experience with Brain Sprints formerly Little Giant Steps.  I brought my son to you when he was in first grade because the private school he attended told me that if I didn’t put him on medication for ADHD they would expel him from the school.  I had recently picked up a brochure about your program and so I scheduled an appointment with you instead.  That was the best decision that I ever made for my son.  We began the therapy and within as little as two weeks I saw a dramatic improvement.  The principal of the school also told me that he saw a, “night and day difference”, in my son. He told me to keep doing whatever I was doing.  We continued the therapy for about 4 years and over that time I saw amazing changes in  my son’s behavior.  The changes were permanent not just a masking of symptoms as are the medications.  To this day my son is calm and one cannot even tell that he ever had ADHD.  I am so thankful that we did not have to put my son on the medication because all medications have side effects and consequences.  The neuro-developmental program has no side effects and no negative consequences.  I have told so many people about this program because I believe in it so much.  My son believes as well.  He has thanked me many times for not putting him on the medication and for using your program instead. He is now 18 years old and your program changed his life.”

O.W.

“When we came to Brain Sprints two years ago, Timothy was barely passing 2nd grade. He wasn’t reading very well, couldn’t remember things that he learned the day before, couldn’t concentrate because the noise in the classroom bothered him and he was just really frustrated. At home, just cleaning his room was extremely overwhelming for him.

One of the first things we noticed after he was on the program for about four months is that he was able to clean and organize his room with little supervision. It is like we have a different child!

Timothy has been back in public school for 4th grade (after being home schooled for 1½ years and focusing on the program) and is making mostly A’s and a few B’s. His reading has improved beyond our wildest hopes. He has improved exponentially in every academic area. His teacher said, “I don’t know what you did with him, but this is not the same child as in 2nd grade.”

I met with Timothy’s dyslexia teacher recently because she sent out results of her end of year testing. Even though the report showed that his scores increased in every area, I wanted to know if this was satisfactory progress. His teacher said, “No it wasn’t just ok progress, it was GREAT progress!”. She said he was the “STAR of the class” and that all of the students look to him. For example, at the beginning of the year he could read 15 out 50 words. At the end of the year he could read 45 out of 50 of the words on this specific test. She said most kids do not make this much progress the first year!!! She said, “You know, he still has a whole year left in this class.”

Here are Timothy’s TAKS scores for this year:

• Reading: 93 (only missed 3 out of 40). This score is one point away from “commended”.

• Math: 82 (only missed 8 out of 42). Because of this score, he will not be pulled out of class next year for math tutoring.

• Writing: 72 (only missed 7 out of 28). His writing improved a lot this year and I know it will continue to improve next year.

We are so proud of him and he is proud of himself, also. These scores are just more evidence to substantiate that the ND approach to learning is incredibly successful!”

Dana

Another amazing thing happened this week.  “B” actually asked me if he could start doing school work again!  I did not ever imagine this would happen.  I gave “B” a clean piece of paper and pencil.  Next, I told him I would set the timer for 5 minutes.  During that time, he was to write as much as he possibly could about why he is excited about our upcoming trip.

When I started the timer, “B” immediately began to write.  No whining. No complaining. No asking why he had to write.  This was a first!  In addition, he actually wrote three sentences.   He spelled words correctly which he had never been able to spell before.  It was amazing! I pointed out all the positive improvements about his writing and he genuinely smiled!  I told him that this kind of improvement seems to indicate to me that we will be able to start doing one school subject very soon.  I would appreciate your suggestions about this.

Oh, and “B” went the entire week without having to suffer the consequences in our behavior program!

I thank you with all my heart!

L.M.

It’s hard to feel successful when you are parenting a child who is delayed. 

It’s easy to feel like you simply don’t have what it takes.

That was how our story with Brain Sprints formerly Little Giant Steps began. 

From the time our son had just turned three years old, he endured many appointments with various doctors, all trying to determine why his speech wasn’t developing properly. It seemed each doctor or evaluator had a different idea of what was or wasn’t wrong and what we should or shouldn’t do. With our heads spinning and a growing sense of anxiety, we tried a number of recommended avenues and nothing worked. 

…until we found Brain Sprints, that is.

From the moment we met her, we knew Dr. Jan saw potential in our son. She gave us hope and equipped us with the tools we needed to help our son move forward, both developmentally and academically. 

Does this process require a lot of work and dedication? Yes.

Did we have to make changes in our schedule and the way in which we did things? Certainly.

Did it change our lives? Definitely.

Was it worth it? Absolutely.

As home-schooling parents, we struggled with the prospect of teaching a delayed child whose starting point we couldn’t really evaluate. He couldn’t express to us what he already knew, so how could we teach him? With the help of Brain Sprints, however, we soon found ourselves in a position to better understand his needs and recognize his progress. By the time he was age-appropriate to begin Kindergarten, we knew just what to do. By first grade, his speech was understandable and his progress was remarkable. He was reading and spelling at a much higher level than his age would suggest and his math skills were approaching a third grade level. He continues to astound us and those around us on a regular basis, thanks to the help of Dr. Jan and Brain Sprints.

D.K.

“I am happy to say that due to all the help you gave us, Baylor has transitioned very smoothly into the classroom environment. He continues to excel in math – he has a 98% average in Saxon 54. His language arts skills are also coming along smoothly. His attention span continues to improve – although he still struggles to stay on task. He got very good feedback from his teachers and I feel like we have the tools to continue on this journey toward being all that God made him to be. We so appreciate all that you taught us and I recommend you and your products often!! Thank you so much!!“

Dea

“We knew something was wrong with our 9 year old daughter when her younger sister could read better than she could, but my husband and I had no idea why or how to help her. It wasn’t until she was 11 years old, and in a homeschool co-op with other peers, that we realized how much her delays affected her view of herself and her ability to interact with others.

As homeschool moms, we have the ability to shelter our children from negative peer influences, bullying and the like, but I hadn’t realized how even positive peer influences wound the heart of struggling learners. Our daughter knew she was behind and couldn’t read like her friends. She would retreat to Mom whenever she grew uncomfortable with her limitations. It was one of only a few coping mechanisms she had for the internal struggles that ensued.

I knew I had to do something, anything, to help her overcome her learning challenges. We suspected Dyslexia when the usual switching of her B’s and D’s lingered. She would skip words, start reading a word she couldn’t decode and fill in the wrong word with one that started with similar letters. She complained of headaches when she did academics. Keeping her on task and getting her schoolwork done everyday put a strain on our relationship and our days typically ended in tears.

I had no idea it would be such a challenge for a homeschooler to get help. Even tried and true homeschool sources couldn’t offer any resources that we could afford. As with many homeschoolers, we have both a large family (8 children) and a single income. So we searched and searched, bet couldn’t seem to find any way for her to be tested or evaluated to see if she truly had Dyslexia or something else. I was also concerned that even a Dyslexia diagnosis would not help us to fix the problem for her.

After trying a developmental pediatrician through our insurance we were told she had ADD and should be put on Ritalin. We knew this was a wrong diagnosis; her issues had nothing to do with an inability to stay on task, and everything to do with her inability to read at grade level. We felt like we were back at square one with no real options to help our daughter overcome her challenges. We were at our wits end, yet we owed it to her to find something to help her reach her potential.

My frustration came up one day when speaking to a friend and fellow homeschool mom who shared with us that another mutual friend had similar issues with her daughter and that she not only overcame her issues, but advanced to college level work by the age of 16 using the program.

Hope returned. We learned about this program called Brain Sprints, which uses a neurodevelopmental approach to addressing a gamut of learning disabilities. The approach has found that certain children have incomplete neuropathways that cause the brain to become disorganized and information is stored and recalled improperly. By doing certain exercises, these pathways are completed and the brain becomes properly organized so that information can be stored and retrieved efficiently and without obstacles.

When our daughter was first evaluated by a NeuroDevelopmental specialist, we were shocked to discover that she couldn’t skip across a room, crawl or track an object with her eyes. Though she seemed to go through all the stages of development as expected as an infant and toddler, it was clear that there were pathways that were not complete and likely the source of her reading challenges and other physical manifestations we hadn’t realized before.

We began the journey of healing. And we are so relieved and grateful. In the first four months alone, our daughter improved one and a half grade levels! Along the way, an extra blessing surfaced. Our daughter had also been diagnosed with scoliosis. The curvature of her spine had advanced so drastically and so quickly that the doctor believed she would require a brace. But to our surprise, her scoliosis not only arrested, it receded (which is medically unheard of) due to a hanging exercises required by her neurodevelopmental program.

Our daughter is not even halfway through our eighteen month commitment, but she has made significant strides and for the first time in a long time we, with God’s help, feel she is FINALLY on the path toward healing… healing for both body and soul.”

T.H.

When I was asked to use one word to describe our experience with Brain Sprints formerly Little Giant Steps, I said, “blessing”.  Molly was adopted at age 20 months from Ukraine in 2004.  We put her in a small private school for preschool and then eventually for kindergarten.  She would get in the car each day and was upset that the teacher kept “skipping her.”  When I met with the teacher she explained that Molly was not focused and was not consistent with her letters and sounds.  One day, she would call an “A” and “A”, and the next day she would call an “A” a number.  She thought Molly was a behavioral problem or ADHD.  We took Molly to the pediatrician and he thought “maybe” she was ADHD. 

     I did some research and found Brain Sprints.  We met with Trudy Landis, a Neuro-Developmentalist, and quickly found out that Moly suffered from Auditory Processing Disorder, not ADHD.  Molly had spent the first two years of her life in an orphanage.  She did not crawl (due to superstitions at her orphanage) and that had a negative effect on her development.  Trudy worked with us for years on developing a plan to fit Molly’s needs.  She went from not reading at age 6, to within months, reading “Cat in the Hat.”  We were amazed and shocked! 

     The staff at Brain Sprints have been amazing throughout the years.  Listening to Dr. Jan and her personal testimony brought my husband and I to tears, but it gave us hope and it gave Molly a fighting chance. 

     Now 13, Molly is reading at a 12th grade level and thriving in homeschool.. We recommend Brain Sprints to everyone we meet that may be having a tough time in learning.  We believe in the program and know that it works.  It has been a lifesaver for us and for our precious Molly. 

     We now live in Florida and our youngest daughter (age 8) has been diagnosed with dyslexia.  I am excited to see Dr. Jan at the FPEA convention and look forward to her recommendations with our daughter.   

     Thank you Dr. Jan and the whole team for being a light at the end of a dark tunnel.

B.H.

We are very grateful for all that the program has done for Sarah. I never expected her to jump ahead in the areas mentioned so quickly. I am sure it is because of the progress we made with Brain Sprints. I have enjoyed working with you. I have learned so much.

S.B.

“To say my son’s handwriting was bad is to put it mildly. It was (to borrow from Judith Viorst), “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad” handwriting — which breaks my heart to say, because he tried so very hard. It’s as if his hands just didn’t work right. We tried everything to help him: We bought handwriting workbooks. We tried copy work. We quickly gave up on dictation. It seemed that everything we tried only added to Jake’s frustration, and the more we practiced the worse it got. We couldn’t understand — why was this so difficult? For years I kept thinking things like, “At least it can’t get any worse!” or “He’s just a boy and all boys have bad handwriting, right?” or “There’s always typing!” It was such a source of frustration that we had all but given up. And then we found LGS.

Eventually, Dr. Jan would teach us about mixed dominance and its effect upon motor control. We began doing the prescribed exercises, and Jake began to make steady improvement in all areas. We were so hopeful! But something still wasn’t quite right; after about a year, Dr. Jan noticed Jake was regressing. Thanks to her experience, she recognized the cause immediately: Despite what we all thought (Jake included), he wasn’t right handed after all — he was a lefty!

It has taken us two years and a lot of work, but he is making amazing progress! We just started cursive this week. He’s gone from hating handwriting to enjoying it: No more complaining when I pull out the handwriting sheet, no more tears and frustration. Thank you!”

“My son, age 7, was evaluated one month ago. He has big time dominance issues but praise God, the ear muffle and eye patch are working miracles. His emotional state has gone from constantly on edge to “go with the flow”.”

J.S.

“I have been writing things down that Lee has spoken to me since we began the Neurodevelopmental Program.

Some of these include:

”I am glad we are doing this instead of E- Sylvan. This is more fun and I am getting the help I need.”

“I feel like I am getting more things right because of my ear thing. I have more confidence.”

Young

“After just four months on program, this mom wrote: “Thank you so much for the encouragement. I did give Elizabeth a “high-five,” and I could tell that she was very proud. She has learned to ride her bike and she is learning letters and numbers, finally!!! Royce and I see so much improvement in her. Thank you again.”

“A year ago, my 15 year old daughter was only able to do less than half of her 9th grade school work. I’d known for a long time that she was having problems, and I’d tried many different things to attempt to help her, but obviously, something was seriously wrong. Much prayer and searching led us to Brain Sprints formerly Little Giant Steps. We started the program with much “weeping and gnashing of teeth”, but managed to persevere, and each time she would go in for an evaluation, she showed tremendous progress. After one year, my daughter’s reading comprehension progressed from the 6th grade to college level! As we prepared to start up school again, my daughter told me she “hated” geography and literature, two subjects that we would be doing again, using the curriculum that she had bombed out on two years earlier. I tried to reassure her that she would understand it better, but she remained unconvinced. We have now done four days of school. She has already finished her literature assignments for the whole week and told me, “I even understand it!” She is also really enjoying geography. I thank God daily for Brain Sprints and the help that we have received from them!”

J.D.

“Justin is much more dependable than he used to be. He can be trusted to do a job well and thoroughly and even has been trusted with training others to do some important things (milking the cow, for example).

He also has made great progress in acting in more “socially acceptable” ways. Other people used to cringe when Justin arrived. Now, they actually look forward to his company! While he still “talks too much” and occasionally too loud, he catches himself (which is a “Giant Step”) As parents, we have repeatedly rejoiced over this.

Furthermore, while Justin has never been academically behind, his nearly illegible handwriting had always been a limiting factor in his schoolwork. While his penmanship is not “textbook neat” it is now entirely legible and is no longer holding him back in his other schoolwork. He has even begun to enjoy composition work, which in the past was his most dreaded task.”

Marie

“When I was asked to use one word to describe our experience with Brain Sprints, I said, “Victorious”; my daughter said, “life-changing”. Our very first visit to the appointment with Dr. Jan Bedell was somewhat overwhelming for all of us. My husband came along, at my urging and for support. I knew we really needed him to be on board with this. (It’s harder for dads to see some of the “issues” kids have as they don’t spend as much “school time” with them. Convincing him has taken a few years.) The other reason I needed hubby along was due to the investment, we really needed him on board financially. I would have to say that cost is the only negative experience we had. It was so expensive, but so worth it.

So to this appointment we headed with trepidation: a skeptical dad, a scared and losing hope mom, and a little eight year old girl that was defiant and defeated, as up to this point nothing else had helped. She was smart enough to know that something was “different” in the way she learned and felt. We survived and headed home overwhelmed, but willing.

We worked really hard and made a little progress at our second evaluation, and then about halfway to our third evaluation something happened in Daniela. She realized that the program was really working. She felt changes taking place and began to get on board with it and with a better attitude. By the way, the behavior modification program, Token Economy, really works too!

She was a different child as she walked in to the third evaluation 10 months later. Her processing increased a solid point in every area, her math score dramatically changed 2.7 points, word recognition was improved from 2.4 to 3.3 and even comprehension increased from 2.5 to 3.2. By her fourth evaluation she was totally on board. By the fifth and final evaluation she strutted in to Jan’s office, though nervous to do her best on the test, she was confident, positive and a total advocate of the Neurodevelopmental Approach of Little Giant Steps.

This little girl has changed so much, in so many ways. But the best change is seeing her encouraged and not defeated any more. Mom has gained all hope back and dad is so pleased with the progress she’s made. He says, “It’s all been worth it, to see her change and be positive and confident in all areas has been amazing.” Big sister said, “She’s really growing up, she’s turned into a buddy! She used to be really hard to be around!” Others have noticed, too.

We didn’t know where the money would come from to pay for the program, but God was faithful to provide it. But that’s just like Him! And Jan always had a nugget or two for mom’s spiritual growth along the way, but that was just an added bonus God blessed us with. LGS is an amazing program that has completely and thoroughly changed our lives. I will tell anyone who will listen – do this for your children who need it, they are worth the investment. Take the year or two that it takes and work really hard, do the program, make the time!! It was the best gift I could’ve ever given to my sweet girl. She now feels worth it also, it has given her a new lease on life.

She was not the only one to change, the mom that sat on the couch waiting for her parent conference at the very last evaluation was also quite different. No longer hopeless, I was at peace and full of hope and courage for her future. It is a battle, but we can face, fight and beat it; this process has proven that. Thank you, Jan, for all the work and research that’s gone in to this awesome program.”

Beth

The following is a testimony regarding an eight year-old boy who had been labeled by a neurologist as “Undiagnosable” but was displaying autistic tendencies as well as other genetic anomalies. He came to Brain Sprints with so many issues that it was difficult to test him and get accurate readings during his initial evaluation:

“We wanted to give you an update on Auggie’s progress since enrolling him back into public school after going through the program. When the teachers and administrators found out he had been home schooled for the last three years, they told us they expected to see some regression.

The last comment made to us by his teacher the other day was, “Auggie will do best if you “mainstream” him as much as possible.” He has been blowing them all away in reading and math and his communication skills continue to improve. Thought you would want to know.”

K.Z.

“My son Will was officially diagnosed with dysgraphia in the 7th grade by a public school diagnostician. He had a post-high school vocabulary and reading level but wrote like a 3rd or 4th grader. He was told that he would never be able to take notes on lectures because it would take too long for his brain to process what he heard and then put it down on paper. Once he wrote something down, it was predicted he would miss one or two of the next points taught!

Will appreciated the label because it was the first time in his life that he believed the learning problems were not his fault. Suddenly, he could believe he was smart and that there was help available to get him through school with coping and compensating strategies. On the other hand, I felt like the diagnosis was a terrible thing. Would he always struggle in school? Would he not be able to go to college? Would he be unable to get a good job to support a family?

Shortly after we learned of Will’s disability I was helping to lead a prayer group in the home of Jan Bedell. When I asked her if she had a job, she explained that she worked with children who struggled with learning. I asked her if she was familiar with the term “dysgraphia.” She shrugged her shoulders as she walked casually into the kitchen saying, “Oh, that’s just because of a disorganized brain.” My jaw dropped to the floor. The “death sentence” my son received seemed to be an easy thing for this lady to understand and to fix!

Within a few months Will had an evaluation and two of his sisters and I went on program to improve our brains. It was a busy four years that followed of doing what seemed like crazy activities. I say it like this because in all my training for a Texas teaching certificate and in all my 15 years of teaching in public, private and home schools I had never heard of neurodevelopment. Nobody had ever taught me about the brain and how to make it work better so learning could be easier.

Today, Will is a successful upper classman at McMurry University in Abilene and his two sisters are making straight A’s with an extraordinary online high school called New American School. My brain is working better, too, because now my closets and cabinets are organized, I can remember a 7 digit phone number and I only rarely lose my keys or sunglasses.”

R.Y.

“This is working!!! We are seeing improvement upon improvement in Allison. She’s not My unreliable, unpredictable, immature little girl anymore, but has blossomed into a very responsible enjoyable 14 year old! I have also used our experience to encourage so many other moms. When God is in the middle of something (and He is in this) the blessings extend far beyond what we ever imagine. Thanks for your ongoing encouragement. It makes all the difference in the world.”

L.H.