Soundsory Multi-Sensory Program (Homeschool Review Crew)

Sound for Life Ltd. is a company familiar to us -- a few years ago, we reviewed their Forebrain headset device.  We were intrigued by their new Soundsory multi-sensory program. While this program also uses a headset for its user interface, Soundsory is a multi-sensory program for ages three and up (adults included!).  By combining sound with physical activity, the program stimulates the integration of the vestibular and auditory systems and help better integrate body position, balance, and movement information with the brain. This reminded me of an occupational therapy program that Luke had completed several years ago. While that also added visual stimulus/exercises, it was a big help in increasing his proprioceptive awareness. It is something I have been considering repeating for Jude because if you combine his already-present hypotonia and physical delays with typical tween gangliness, you get a kid who has zero concept of where his body is in space.  However, it was a fairly large commitment for our family; the 8-week program required twice-weekly trips to the therapist (over an hour each way).  The 20-hour Soundstory was forty days (so slightly shorter overall) and lacking the visual input, but it could be done at home.  I figured it was worth a try.

The program is divided into 30-minute sessions (20 hour total), with the individual sessions containing two parts. The first section is a mainly auditory, 25-minute rhythmic music listening session. The sound is delivered in two ways through the dual-interface earphones; they contain both traditional auditory speakers and bone-conduction transmitters. Throughout the session, the user will be exposed to a variety of musical genres. At the start of each half-hour session, the music begins quietly, builds to a crescendo, and then tapers back to quiet, cueing the user to the impending movement session.   At the end of the second section, the headphone will automatically shut off, indicating the end of the day's activity.

Note: the package includes a USB charging cable, and suggests charging through a computer. Though you can use one if you have it, a wall adapter is not included.  We charged ours through the USB plug of an APC surge adapter. A display bar on the side of the headphones shows the remaining battery life, so we knew when to recharge so they did not die mid-session.  Though the headphones also have a Bluetooth function and can be used as "regular" headphones, we did not use this feature.

After the initial novelty wore off, Jude found the listening sessions boring.  There was nothing to do during them -- just sit and listen.  For a kiddo who is fidgety to begin with, asking him to sit and focus for almost half an hour was almost impossible.  Soundsory suggests combining it with quiet free play time.  Jude usually opted for playing with his Power Rangers or Legos. It was enough to keep his hands occupied, but low-stimulation so he could still benefit from the listening.  (You don't want to be reading or watching a screen -- that's too much stimulation, and listening while eating or drinking is discouraged because that will interfere as well.) 

Because the headphone is wireless, it meant he could also take it to his room to work with it. I think this was a big help in getting him to use the program. As he has gotten older, he has become more attuned to when he needs to "stim" (running around in circles is his usual activity), but also more sensitive to others watching him. Despite the fact that the entire house can hear him thumping about, he prefers the illusion that if he is in his room with the door shut, nobody can see him, and therefore his stimming is done "privately." (I've suggested he go outside in the yard, where the is a much larger area to run, and promised to keep his siblings inside until he comes back in, but there are windows and that means the potential to be seen.) After making him do the first few sessions where I could observe him to ensure the headphones remained properly positioned (with the bone conductors on the head, and the right and left sides on the proper side), I let him do the sessions in his room -- I knew when he had begun the movement section by the thumping.  (With autism, you learn to celebrate the hidden victories -- apparently, the newest one is an unanticipated added benefit to hardwood flooring!)

When I asked him what he thought of it, he said it was "Ok."  Thanks, kid...that's incredibly stellar input. I asked him about the music, and he said, "It was strange." Again...thanks, kid. So I put the headphones on myself and listened.  I can see (hear?) where he is coming from. I think it's a big disconcerting, because of the jumpiness and volume changes. Individual rhythms and tempos are relatively short, so the brain doesn't become overly fixated on one piece. While I did not complete the program (I did about a week's worth of listening), I found that some days, this was not an issue for me, and other days, it was incredibly over-stimulating.

The videos were short, and are accessed through the Soundsory website (an access code is provided upon purchase of the headset). The videos can be accessed via laptop, tablet, or mobile device.  Again, this helped with buy-in from Jude because it meant he could control where he did a session. Each day, the user combines seated and standing exercises.  Some are fairly simple -- one called "Sky Earth Stretches" is akin to yoga's forward fold -- while others, like the "Open Close", can be a challenge.  (These photos are from the program; Jude did not wish to have his picture taken during the exercises.)

But does it work? At the risk of sounding insipid, the short answer is maybe. Did I see any gains? Nothing impressive that couldn't be coincidental. 

Is his focus better because of the program, or was it the psychiatrist adjusted his ADHD medication? Was the little physical awareness increase I saw from the Soundsory or was it from our daily exercise program? He still needed a lot of physical/auditory cueing during our workouts but were the two-out-of-ten-with-proper-form reps from him gaining better awareness in general, or marginally increased muscle memory, or because he put his dumbbells down so he had one less thing to keep track of, or because of just luck?

Soundsory is something that I think we will keep working with -- for half an hour a day, I don't think it's a huge commitment. I think efficacy is going to depend on an absurd number of variables. Jude has a number of deficits, so while I was hoping for noticeable gains, I also had modest expectations. While it will not replace a good occupational/physical therapy program, I think it falls under the "might help, can't hurt" category of augmentative therapies.


If you'd like to learn more about our experience with the Forbrain program, click the headset image.

To read other Crew experiences with Soundsory, click on the Crew banner below!

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©2012- 2018 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

Forbrain (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

We've done years of speech therapy for Jude. He began as a toddler with our county's early intervention program. Initially, we decided to teach sign language, because his speech was so poor. (We decided it was better to focus on giving him communication skills, even if they weren't necessarily oral speech skills.) Jude has had countless hours of verbal speech therapy with hospital-based therapists as well, and yet continued to struggle. Learning to read has made a big difference for him because now he can see some of the sounds; words like "toaster" has a /t/ sound in the middle, and "box" has an ending /ks/ rather than being pronounced "bah." We still do a lot of modeling, but it is frustrating for him because if you say to him, "Say it like this, 'BAKS.'" he will protest, "I am saying it! BAH!" He just doesn't hear the sounds. We jumped at the opportunity to try the Forbrain bone-conduction headset  from Forbrain - Sound for Life Ltd.

Have you ever listened to your voicemail greeting and said, "Wow, that doesn't sound like me at all?" That's because you're used to hearing yourself through the combination of the vibration of your voice in your head as well as the sound in the air. When you play back recorded voices, everyone else sounds the same as they always do - because those sounds are transmitted through the air. Even traditional earphones and earbuds involve air that is trapped in the ear canal under the speaker. Forbrain headphones are different because they don't go in your ears, but rest on the top of the jawbones instead, using the bone to conduct the sound. The concept is very similar to that of a Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA), used for patients who have functioning cochleae but are not candidates for traditional hearing aids. In this population, the BAHA transmits sound along the bones to the nerve.

Forbrain - Sound for Life Ltd. has done extensive research and found that combining a microphone with a bone-conduction headset creates a sound loop that allows a person to eliminate sound transmission via air. The headset enhances vibration to help the wearer process sound, and then be able to adjust what he says. The vibrations also enhance sounds, allowing sounds that might otherwise be missed to be heard. Forbrain is not necessarily a medical device; it is geared to helping people with speech modeling and memorization by providing an increased multisensory situation. They recommend teens and adults use the headset for about twenty minutes a day and younger students for fifteen minutes daily for six to ten weeks. Suggested activities are reading aloud, short passage memorization, and reading together (parent and child voices simultaneously).

Jude used this headset for reading aloud, but his favorite activity was singing the memory song from his current Bible study program. Jude has amazed me with how well he memorized the events in the first level of the program. He could easily recite the events in the correct order when the song was turned off. However, when he sang along with the program, the memory song was garbled. Jude was doing well with the parts that had more of a crescendo, but diminuendos or between parts were rough. We decided to try the Forbrain headset when it was time to sing the memory song.

To my surprise, it really did make a difference in what he was singing. I'm not going to say he was as articulate as the program's singer, but I would say what HE sang could be understood far more easily. He thought the headset and how he felt the sound was unusual, but he was excited to be able to keep up with the song.

Next, we did some reading aloud with it. I can't say that using the headset made a huge difference in his oral reading skills. His cadence hasn't significantly changed, and his volume certainly hasn't. It may have helped his recall, but given how rapidly he has progressed with reading comprehension in the past few months, it's very possible that that was simply an organic change.

Finally, we tested it out doing some traditional speech work. For us, this is where we found Forbrain to have the biggest influence. At first, he still struggled, because he was listening to me say a word, and then he would repeat what he heard. What he heard ME saying was coming from air conduction, and it was as garbled as usual. What I then tried was to speak into the microphone, so that he was hearing my voice being conducted. To my amazement, he could hear a difference, and his articulation was much better. After a session with the headset, the constant carryover is about 20-30 minutes. That doesn't seem like much, but considering traditional speaking/listening doesn't even get him success within the session, this was incredible. As time has gone on and we've continued using the headset, he's been able to carry over high-frequency words.

I don't think it has made a huge statistical difference in his day-to-day speech - I'd say he's consistently saying about ten more words correctly compared to before. However, for him, this is a huge gain. When he last received speech therapy, he had hour-long sessions twice a week for twelve months; at the end, he had a 200% increase in skills when comparing his post-therapy evaluation against his entry eval. However, if you compared him to the norms for his age, he went from being in the first percentile to the third. Ten clearer words in six weeks is pretty impressive for Jude. I'm glad we had the chance to try this because he is being referred for another speech evaluation. I will definitely be speaking to his therapist about integrating Forbrain to his therapy (either in sessions with her or for home practice).

I can't say how beneficial this would be for a neurotypical child. I think that the feedback it provides would help a child be able to do higher-level processing (i.e., adjusting cadence, etc.), but Jude's not quite at that point yet. Jude has always been a very visual learner, because of his inability to process sounds. However, I think Forbrain is going to be something that will work for us to help him become less dependent on visual input and more able to recognize words and their component phonemes correctly.

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©2012- 2016 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

Alpha Omega Publications: Horizons PK-2 Physical Education (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

I have never worried about doing a formal physical education class for any of the boys.  After all, when you're in Physical Therapy one or two days a week for months on end, that pretty much covers learning new skills, and the home program to work on those new skills provides plenty of activity for the rest of the week.  However, this year, we'll be working on different plan for their therapy.  Since they all are cared for by the same physical therapist, we've decided to do one boy + 12 weeks of intensive therapy, and then switch to a different brother.  This makes scheduling my life a little easier because it will be only one, maybe two trips to the hospital a week for therapy instead of daily.  However, it means that while one boy has Miss Nicole all to himself, the others are at a loose end.  She will give the big boys "off time" assignments to build on their skills, but prefers the little boys to have less structured yet developmentally suitable play programs.  We recently tried using the  Horizons PreK-2nd Physical Education program from Alpha Omega Publications, and found that it is an excellent play-style program not only for them, but also high schooler Luke.

 Luke has long wanted to do something in the pediatric physical therapy field.  One career path he has been considering is becoming "bridge" caregiver.  The problem with many therapy programs is patients are only allowed a specific number of visits with a Physical Therapist, but the patients often aren't quite ready to be out on their own just because their insurance company thinks they have had enough.  He has been in that situation himself, and found himself frustrated because he's not sure he's doing things "correctly," but there really isn't anyone to ask.  Since he's wondering if he could make a career of filling this gap, he became our gym teacher for the year.  He has developed a credit-worthy "Practicum in Pediatric/Elementary Sports Medicine" elective course, putting this curriculum into action as the program's core.

First, the curriculum outlines its goals.  As the parent who has sat in on more PT evals than I can count, the sign of a great therapist is one who realizes skills do not exist in a vacuum.  This program looks to layer intellectual goals with physical goals; it's not just about being able to acquire skills but understanding what they lead to.   A child who is frustrated from inability often makes poor decisions; a child who has the proficiency to throw a ball can then engage in a game with another child.  The goal of this program is to provide a physical education for the whole child, not just provide an outlet for a wiggly kindergartener.

This is a Christian-based program, so it integrates not just individual physical skills to the activities, but also development of the core Christian values of each student taking care of himself and others in a manner that honors God.  However, this book focuses more on scientific principles than Biblical ones, so I think it could be used by anyone, regardless of religious background.  A non-Christian family may feel differently in how these character skills are presented, but "play fair," "make healthy choices," "don't break the equipment," "listen to the teacher," "try your hardest," etc. are all core standards that all children should be held accountable to, regardless of faith.

Luke found that seeing the expected skills for a child's age helped him devise programs for the boys.  Evaluation tests in the back of the book allowed him to pre-test all skills to see where strengths and weaknesses were; having all the skills allowed him test Jude across multiple levels.  At his last formal evaluations, Jude had test scores that placed him in the average range for a PK/K, with a bit of variation, which held true for this checklist as well.  It was good for Luke to see skills that he "should have" based on chronologic age, as compared to his actual skill. For example, dodging someone chasing you is a skill most 2nd/3rd graders should have mastered, but Jude is way back at just trying to run and not land on his face.   Being able to see the big picture of Jude's (and Damien's) skills gave Luke some concrete long-term goals to work toward, while also providing a direction for what to work on now to help get to those larger-scale plans.

Luke really liked that there are lots of suggestions for age-appropriate activities for the actual PE instruction.   I love our physical therapist, because she's been incredibly supportive of Luke.  She's been working with him for about six years now, so she's become a mentor to him.  She's also a bit sneaky -- she knows that by Luke working with the younger boys, he's going to work on skills he needs as well.  Often, his "homework" is to do activities with the younger ones.  She knows if she says "Work on core strength with them," he's working his own core as he demonstrates exercises.  However, to say to Luke, "Work on core stuff," he looks at her and says "Now what?"  In the book, there are suggested activities to work on specific muscle groups.  Activities are also presented sequentially, with the basics of building gross motor awareness, control, and dexterity being the focus of the PK/K level student, and then throwing/catching a ball is not introduced until first grade, by which time that first fundamental skill should be solid.  They are also well described and illustrated, so that he is able to understand what is being recommended and implement them in a home program.

In addition, there were sample lesson plans for instructors.  While he is working on developing his own plans, they have been helpful for him to understand how much should be included in a session.  The biggest challenge he has had has been scaling it down to having only one or two students.  While some things can be easily adapted, especially activities that focus solely on individual skills (running, jumping, muscle building, etc.), or can be played with a very small group (1-on-1 soccer, basketball, etc.), some things are a little more difficult, like relays and circuits.  Luke's first panic attack was when he saw the "equipment and supplies" calling for 30 playground balls, 15 basketballs, 15 soccer balls, 100 tennis balls, etc.  This program is certainly excellent for a homeschool PE class, but some activities may be better suited to use with a co-op or play group.

Luke honed in on the Special Needs section of the book.  After all, his students have special needs, so he wanted to make sure that he could understand their perspective.  It discusses the IDEA categories for special needs students, and Jude probably officially qualifies best under "multiple disabilities" since he could tick off 9 of the 13 individual classifications.   I wish there had been more support/direction beyond the obvious "Students with learning disabilities may find it hard to process instruction."  Luke looked at me and said, "Um...ya think?"  He found that while there wasn't a whole lot addressing implementation with a SN student, it was easy enough to ignore "what grade Jude is in" (3rd, technically) and page back to meet Jude's skill level where it is.  There are resources listed to help direct activity modification, but the book itself doesn't have a whole lot of information.  Luke has found himself both teacher and student, because he is beginning to understand that while Jude may want to throw the ball, just tossing the ball back and forth isn't going to really make anything connect if Jude hasn't worked on strengthening his muscles so he can better control his body. However, one thing he has discovered is that it is far easier to skip group activities and work 1:1 with a student who may be uneven with skills; he's leaning away from being an official PE teacher and working more in an ultra-small group setting (2-3 children).

Overall, I'm impressed with this program.  If you're new to a formal PE program, it's a balanced integration of real-life activities with developmental expectations.  I think for most families, PE is often something that doesn't need "teaching" - kids generally play and gain physical and social skills independent of formal instruction.  However, I can see two specific types of families who would benefit from this program.  First is the family of a developmentally delayed student.  It allowed us to look at the skills Jude had, and work progressively toward increasing them in a developmentally appropriate sequence.  The second family type that this could be a great program for is one that has a high school student who also needs a health/PE credit.  While we have chosen to add additional subject matter to help Luke advance toward his career goals, the pre-printed lesson plans and clear activity descriptions make this something that an older sibling could work on with a younger one.

For more information on the many Alpha Omega Publications programs that the Crew recently reviewed, connect with Alpha Omega Publications on social media, or click the banner below to read other reviews.

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©2012- 2015 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

Learning Wrap-ups (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

The Crew recently was given the opportunity to review several products from Learning Wrap-ups.  Learning Wrap-ups is a mathematics program developed by a teacher looking for a way to help her students.  Some of her students were not succeeding with memorizing multiplication facts with "traditional" flash cards, so she developed a different way that would work.  The product line has grown from the initial multiplications facts manipulatives kit to encompass other areas of mathematics and other subjects, such as language (English and Spanish), science, and even music theory.  It also has expanded into the Learning Palette program; instead of string and sticks, a round "artist's palette" style base is set with interchangeable cards and colored disks are used to indicate answers.  This program has also been independently expanded into the Learning Palette Online language arts and math program for students in K through 5th grade.  Our family received a full online family subscription from LearningPalette.com  Subscription costs are $25 per year for a single user, or $60 per year for up to five students in one family. Two students in our family,  Jude (1st/2nd grade) and Damien (PK) have been trying it out, with mixed success.  (Note: They are currently offering a 20% discount if you use the coupon code HOMESCHOOL.)

From an academic angle, I think this is a very good program.  The online series contains two sections - Language Arts and Math, and each subject is divided into different levels. The divisions are pretty logical (generally by expectations for that grade), and you can move around within the level/activities.

I also like that you can do different levels within the program.  For example, Jude easily completed the Level 1 math activities, and then started in on Level 2.  However, because his language skills are far behind his math abilities, so it was good to be able to start in the Basic level cards for those.

 The some of the Basic level skills for language arts corresponded with some of the things we have on our "Speech Therapy" activities summer/home program list - matching pictures with sounds, rhyming, etc.

 I foresee us using the language side of the program more as a "speech therapy" activity, rather than an actual "school" activity.

Damien started with Basic levels, and did OK with a few activities.  He didn't get much beyond "Match the Letters" in language arts or matching colors & shapes for math.  I'm ok with that, given he's only almost 4, however, unless you have a really advanced kid, I wouldn't start this earlier than the "manufacturer's suggested age" of Kindergarten.  Schools have been using the Learning Palette program for a long time for independent learning centers, and I agree with this practice. It's really more of a review/drill game, and less of a learning activity -- if the child doesn't know that the word jam starts with a /j/ sound, which is written as the letter j, it's not going to be an independent program.  I think if the boys were just reviewing and able to work on their own, this would have been easier.  Damien even struggled with understanding the "split card" idea - where the colored rings made the top matches and the colored disks matched the bottom. I think because their skills are so limited, it was frustrating because they didn't have a lot of variety to work with, and both needed help figuring out even just how to get from card to card.  For example, Jude eventually figured it out by where/what buttons he clicked on in the past, not by decoding that that shape he clicked said "Next Card."

We had an opportunity to review the physical product but I decided to request only the online program.  Given we spend a lot of time working away from home, I thought that the online version would suit us better because it was a lot less pieces to worry about losing in our travels.  LearningPalette.com works on the HTML5 platform, so it can be used on a computer or tablet, or even an iPhone! (The last one is little small, but it will come up.)  Having used it on both a MacBook and iPad/iPad Mini, I am reconsidering the "it's a lot of pieces" stance.  The trade off for having it online is having to drag the "chips" into place.  On the computer, if Jude resized the window mid-card (usually making it bigger so he could see the farthest top and bottom edges), he had to re-place the tokens.

Regular screen

Resized to full screen

On the iPad, we struggled with moving tiles around.  Sometimes, Jude lifted his finger too soon, an a chip would drop into the wrong space.  Once it was there, we couldn't move it.  (This did not happen on the laptop.)  He got very frustrated, because he knew the answer was wrong, but he couldn't fix it.  Damien struggled moving chips around - his fine motor skills aren't there yet, even using a touch screen.  I think the physical product, with the truly hands-on manipulation would have been better suited to them.  (Plus, it would have been a fantastic fine-motor development exercise.)

Jude also needs a lot of sensory input to maintain focus.  One day, we tried working draped over a Bosu ball.

It was really awkward using the computer, and I think having the physical program would have helped with being able to position himself and the item, plus given him a broader range of movement (picking up chips and moving them to another space/into the palette) rather than having only a 4" x 3" trackpad to move only his finger.


Overall, I liked the concept of the Learning Palette but the online version ultimately didn't suit our needs as well as I would have hoped.  Since the boys will be in the age range for quite some time (math skills are covered through fifth grade, language arts to third), not counting therapeutic use, once our subscription runs out I may consider investing in the physical product.  I'm definitely going to check out the reviews that other crew members did of the physical product Learning Wrap-ups activities - click the button below to join me!

©2012- 2014 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

A Life in Balance (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

A Life in Balance, Discovery of a Learning Breakthrough is the autobiographic story of Frank Belgau's journey to create the Learning Breakthrough program.  This book, aimed at adults and older teens chronicles Belgau's experience as a student, his life experience in the US Air Force and as a teacher, and how he has taken what he has learned about special needs students to create a program to help students who seem impossible to reach become successful.

A student in the early 1940s, Frank Belgau struggled to learn.  He wasn't stupid; he just felt it. Things were harder for him - to call reading a challenge for him would be a huge understatement; he was often the target of bullies on the playground because a lack of coordination left him in the dust.  Eventually, he got a bit of advice from his mother about Biblical living and parlayed it into a David-and-Goliath battle, complete with flying rocks.  Eventually even his bully was impressed with his thinking skills.  After a summer of "old fashioned playing" - running, jumping, and making up games outdoors, things started to click, and school became less of a chore.  Because of a few teachers who exuded a love for learning (not necessarily knowledge), he went from a child who dreaded school to a man who learned everything he could.  He became a crackerjack plane mechanic during WWII because of this.  In post-war America, he became a student again -- studying how to be a teacher.  When he reentered the classroom,  he brought the serious ethics of being an Airman - "If the plane goes down because you didn't put it back together right, you've killed a man," - together with his love of learning.

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Today, most schools have good programs for special needs students.  They may not be ideal for every child, but generally speaking, schools at least attempt to do right by all children even if they are handicapped by their checkbooks.  Conversely, in the seemingly idyllic Camelot era of the 1960s...there wasn't much happily-ever-after for learning disabled students.  At best, a teacher or two tried to reach them between first grade and when they dropped out; often, disabled students were written off and classes were little more than holding pens that operated from 8 to 3, with no expectations for the students. Taking pity on the "remedial teacher" at her wits end with her wild hooligans, art teacher Mr. Belgau offered to cover her class for an hour each day to give her a break.   At the time, the best "advice" the principal could give him was to tell the kids to sit down, put their heads on the desk, and cover their heads with the newspaper.  (Can you imagine?)  When given nothing to do, the students found something to keep themselves occupied -- usually exploring the room and others' projects, breaking them in the process.  Unwilling to watch his other students' projects be destroyed by these seemingly human-in-form-only animals, Teacher Belgau started giving them small projects to keep them busy.  To everyone's shock, they SUCCEEDED!   Slowly raising the bar of expectations, he found that every time it rose, so did the students' attitudes, behaviors, and self-worth.  One student, Edward, showed him that beauty came in perspective.  The assigned project was a glass bowl, and Edward accidentally broke his just as the bowl was deemed "complete." Belgau at first felt sorry for the boy, because all he saw was a broken bowl.  Undeterred, Edward asked for a new piece of metal base, then took the shards and transformed them into a glittering mosaic tabletop - one that eventually became the top entry in a craft fair, bringing honors to not just Edward but also to the school who had not long ago written him off!  Little did Frank Belgau know that in that year, the student who would learn the most was ... him. Thinking back on how it was one or two people who believed in him that helped him turn the corner and succeed, even when everyone else - including himself - saw young Frank as a failure, he realized that the problem wasn't the student.  It was the system.  Like Frank, Edward was a "crippled lamb" whose heart was as fierce as a lion.  At that point, Frank knew that he was being called to help others see the lions' hearts. 

Over the next decades, Belgau's own internal lion fought with just about every "establishment" out there.  The school system? Yes.  Doctors who thought that the "slower" child should just be left to his own devices?  Yep.  I can tell you from personal experiences what a perspective shift there has been over the last 20 years in the educational and medical establishments; I can only imagine being on the front lines and fighting for these kids before that.  Now, every state in the US has a federally-mandated Early Intervention program, and therapy services in the school system. Back in the late 1960s and 70s, the only advocates a special needs child had were his parents.   Using what he learned as a teacher, and through trial and error with special needs children and their parents, Belgau created the Learning Breakthrough Program.  It uses physical and occupational therapy concepts to help organize the brain to help the child succeed.

I could never summarize the program's trajectory in a paragraph here.  If you want to learn how it was created and how it works, then you'll want to read A Life in Balance.  To summarize it in a sentence or two, it is a sensory integration program that helps the child's brain and body learn to work in rhythm. It integrates auditory, visual, motor planning, tactile, balance, body positioning and neurofeedback systems, allowing the entire body to learn function in coordination.  While the first half of the book shows us the path to Belgau's "Aha! Moment" the second have shows us the sweat, heart, and tears that went into helping these "discarded" children.  He has always insisted parents be involved in their child's learning; when teaching the children his system, he wasn't running a drop-off service.  Parents were expected to learn the process, so they could help their children at home.  In the process, they could see the progress their child made in real time.  He readily admits that it's not a miracle -- it's a lot of work.  But he saw the difference that believing in and helping a child makes, and that's what kept him going.

Now, if you're a special needs parent, you're thinking, "Great. Another woo-woo guy."  And yeah, I thought so too.  I was expecting a book that would be proclaiming "You need to buy my program, it's the best thing in the universe, and if you don't, you're a lousy parent who is only paying lip service to wanting the best for your child."  When I was chosen for this review, I even said, "I will read this book with an open mind, but if I think this guy is shilling snake oil, I'm going to call him on it." Is the Learning Breakthrough program a sham? Is Belgau a shaman? I don't know. I haven't tried the program.   I will say that I'm seriously considering it, because having seen how Belgau developed it, I think he's on the right path.

Neal and I have been in the special needs trenches for too long to just accept anything without a Paul-Bunyan's-hotcake-platter sized serving of skepticism.  We had a "best-on-the-East-Coast" neurologist tell us that Luke would "never" walk and we should just accept it, order the wheelchair, and move on.  Uh...no.  A second opinion, and that neurologist saying, "I don't see never...I can't say 'next week' or even 'next year,' and I do see a lot of work on everyone's part, but I see nothing in the tests or exam that says 'never,'" has led to 15 years of more doctors and therapists than I have fingers and toes, but not only is Luke NOT confined to a wheelchair, but he's a competitive figure skater who has twice qualified for the National Showcase competition!  Jude's last round of testing deemed him "borderline uneducable."  He's struggling, to be sure, and going into second grade with some serious deficits in language and motor skills, but my little visual/video-based learner will tell anybody who is willing to listen a dissertation on "Double U...Double U...TWO!" learned from Captain America, or Benjamin Franklin and the American Revolution learned through Liberty's Kids videos.  Don't tell me he is incapable of learning - he is learning, he just learns differently.  Matthew is going to join our homeschool when this school year ends because the way a school has to be structured for a group setting just isn't how he learns, and the struggle is affecting not just his grades but his self-esteem and motivation, and something needs to change.  Belgau explained in detail all of the skills he has seen needed for success in learning, all of which we have seen deficits and gotten therapy for -- gross motor skills, fine motor skills, sensory integration, balance, core strength, and rhythm.  We know from our experience that sensory input - jumping on the trampoline, swinging, sitting on an air cushion - helps the brain organize itself so it can focus.  In order to read, a child needs to be able to move from left to right, crossing a midline.  He has to be able to balance himself - standing to read the museum plaque, sitting at a table to read a sentence to copy.  All of the skill areas Belgau has seen needing attention and addressed to help these kids succeed are the ones that our 2000-and-later doctors and therapists have focused on -- and Belgau was noticing these details back during the Johnson Administration!

Do I think this is going to "cure" them? No.  Do I think that it's going to mean we don't need medications? No.  There are some people who might be able to ditch meds, or lower doses.  That's fantastic!  Are we going to be in that group? I doubt it.  In order for these coping techniques to have a shot, my gang needs their meds on board to focus long enough to try.  The way I see medications for psychiatric issues is this:  you'd never tell a diabetic to "Go bounce and it'll be better," or "Just suck it up and be stronger." You'd say "Wow...maybe that chocolate cake isn't a good idea...but that doesn't mean you don't need to check your sugars and probably take insulin, too."  If there are non-pharmaceutical ways to help yourself that are safe -- by all means.  If pacing helps you reset yourself, put your shoes on.  Similarly, if eating an apple is better than an orange, then go with it.  But sometimes, it's not going to be enough.   As fantastic as I think what Belagau has done is, it's not going to be a silver bullet for everyone.  Part of the marketing is "Treat ADHD and dyslexia without medication!" and for that one, I'm going to say "It can't hurt to try, but I don't think it's going to magically make things all better for profoundly affected people."

At the back of the book, Belgau includes what he calls the "Space Walk" - a simple series of gross motor activities that are not nearly as simple as they seem.  For a neurotypical person, they're not that hard.  Walk.  March.  Hop.  For a person who has cognitive and/or motor planning difficulties, they can seem impossible.  I took a piece of sidewalk chalk and outlined the Space Walk in our yard, and had Jude (chronological age almost 7, language/motor developmental ages 3-4)  and Luke try them.  Luke had a much easier time of it -- but then again, he's also much older and has been in PT and OT since he was a year old.  But was it EASY for him? No, because of the motor planning.  For Jude, some of the tasks were impossible - like marching and hopping on one foot.  I expected this, because "marching 20 feet" and "hopping 5 consecutive steps 3 out of 5 tries" are among his Physical Therapy goals.  Would the Learning Breakthrough program help them? After seeing them work on the Space Walk over the last few weeks, I'd say it's got potential -- and their therapists and I are researching it.  But we are all in agreement that even if we decide against the main program (it's pretty pricey), the Space Walk should be part of their regular home program.  Is the order of the activities the magic bullet?  I don't know.  But it can't hurt to try this, and if we see success over time, consider trying the full program.  The full program is expensive, but this book is less than $20 ($18.95 list price), so worth the investment to learn Belgau's story, his process, and to try the Space Walk.

Special needs parenting is a true reflection of "God doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called." We take things one diagnosis at a time, one treatment at a time, one day at a time...and sometimes, pray really hard to just get through this moment.  Having read A Life in Balance, I believe Belgau is another one of the Called.  Clearly, he didn't start out looking for answers to help special needs children.  If anything, he was among the most resistant -- he only offered to take the class because the other teacher looked at him with such exhaustion in her eyes that he couldn't say no.  What started as pity turned to a mission to give discarded kids like Edward the tools to succeed.  Taking his own experiences as a child, he combined them with a never-give-up, give-it-your-everything attitude, working day by day, child by child, even just staying in "this" minute out of worry of what the next would bring.  When he began, there was no scientific research, no case studies - just Belgau and his instincts.  I can't help but be inspired by Belgau's resourcefulness and perseverance. 

©2012- 2014 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

A Gift List for Special Needs Children

Ever wonder what kind of toys to get for a child who has special needs?  I always talk to the kids' therapists as birthdays and holidays approach, and discuss with them goals and home program.  While they are very willing to do "therapy" at their sessions, one or two hours a week is not enough to make progress.  They have to work at home, too.  While sometimes there are bigger, more therapy-specific items that are most beneficial for their programs, often we are able to come up with a list of things that look like fun waiting to be opened and help us reach therapy goals.

Topping our list is balls of every size! From a small tennis ball for throwing to to oversized playground balls, and everything in between!  Exercise balls are great, too – they double as chairs and help kids work on strengthening their core, and function as a piece of exercise equipment for the family.  (Most kids love when parents try to do their exercises – most are eager to show you how to do it “just right.”) Foam “Nerf” style balls are good for younger ones, and “stress balls” provide squishy sensory play.  f you can play outside during the winter, a T-ball or basketball set is a great idea.  They help with gross motor movement as well as eye and hand coordination.  (It’s still a great idea, even if you need to wait for warmer weather and spring training!)

Check out the rest of our top 5 toylist at Frugal Homeschool Family!  Head on over, check the list, and finish up your shopping for the perfect gift for the special needs child in your life!

 

©2012- 2013 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

Fundanoodle - Muscle Movers: Upper Case Gross Motor Cards (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

 Fundanoodle is an "education readiness" series of programs, designed to develop the skills needed for handwriting and other everyday activities. The program contains 15 modules that address:

• Fine and gross motor coordination
• Eye-hand coordination
• Tactile and visual exploration
•  Problem-solving, discovery, and self-esteem

Fundanoodle believes that learning these skills should be fun. Their programs attempt to bring a bit of whimsy to learning.  They have several levels of programs.  The youngest level, with the offerings color-coded Orange, are geared toward three-year-olds; Blue level programs are for PK/K students, and elementary levels Green (first grade) and Purple (second and up).   We received the blue level PreK to K Muscle Movers: Upper Case Gross Motor Cards ($16.99).   

Although they are geared for ages 4-5, I thought these would fit right in in our house.  Damien, aged 3, already knows his letters; Jude, age 6, is delayed enough that he's still figuring them out.  Jude can trace, Damien can't. Ying and yan.  I was intrigued because they are "occupational therapist developed."  Since we have at least one OT for each kid on speed dial, I though they would be good for us.  Also, given our life revolves around therapy appointments, I'll admit I am a bit skeptical and jaded.  I wanted to see if the "OT developed" was hype or helpful.

Each card had an animal that started with the letter (armadillo, beaver, cow) and a gross motor activity for the animal (roll, gnaw, moo).  As we went though the alphabet, we alternated choosing a card, acting it out, and tracing.  Jude was able to write on his own; Damien usually needed a little help.

The boys enjoyed acting out the animals! 

Not all of them were active play.  Iguanas hold still.

 

And even the biggest Falciani kid found them to be fun.  Luke was supposed to be doing grammar and vocabulary but decided this looked more exciting.

Snakes slither!

We had a little bit of miscommunication when it came to the letter V and vampire bats.  According to the Muscle Movers card, they fly.  According to Jude...well, vampires suck blood.

I think by the letter V we were a little too wound up.  One thing I noticed as we moved through the alphabet -- it was harder and harder to settle down to write our letters after acting them out.  Instead of sit-down-and-waits being every few letters, as we approached the latter third of the alphabet, we were starting to have time outs every other letter.  They were getting so excited and wired that we were having safety issues.  

Damien has gotten better at tracing - he did this all by himself. But it took several minutes for him to stop racing around and sit for his turn.

 The cards themselves are made out of heavy laminated paper, and the dry-erase marker wipes off very easily.   On the back side, the tracing letters are clearly marked. Not only are the letters themselves clear, the top and bottom are well defined.  The top of the letter has a green line, and the bottom is lined with a red line.  This helps visually show the top, where you start a letter -- a "go" point; the red shows "stop."  (It's also really helpful with letters like M and W that can be tough without some actual cues.)  They come with a hole punched in the upper corner and a metal ring, so that you can keep them together.  I appreciate not needing a box (that always tears) or a rubber band (that may break, or in our case, we are allergic to!).  I wish the dry-erase marker that came with them had a hole at the end, so you could string it on the ring as well.  I've already had to go hunt it down several times when we wanted to play with the cards.

Jude's therapists (PT and OT) have asked if we would bring schoolwork with us for his visits.  This way, what he is doing there will help reinforce what he is doing at home -- and save him from having to do two hours of therapy and then go home and do a full day of schoolwork.  At one of our  OT visits, I brought these cards.  I told her that we had started using them "as directed," and then had started working with them only a few at a time.  We would do three or four letters, and then take a break for some table work, and then go back and act out a few more when wigglies became an issue. We still were having struggles transitioning.

Miss Amanda (Jude's occupational therapist) and I agree that maybe with a neurotypical child who transitions easily, these would work more easily.  From a "therapeutic" viewpoint, we both agreed that they "might" do what they claim, but at the least, "sensory" as listed was a stretch.  The visual clarity was fairly obvious, but overall there is very minimal tactile sensory input.  If anything, there was too MUCH sensory stimulation with the activity and noise!  Her recommendation was to do one activity for a group of cards - for example, take the letters A through E, do ALL the motion, then sit and do ALL the writing, then do ALL the alphabetical ordering.  If we want to move on and do F-J, etc., we can, but rather than having to constantly change activities, we would be doing each for several minutes before moving on.  We'll be trying that, as well as playing "pick a card" as a one-and-done gross motor activity, or just putting cards in ABC order. However, we will probably not be using them "as directed."

Sleepy, purring kitties.

These cards have lots of both familiar and less-common animals on the front, and a clear tracing guide on the back.  However, the reason I really, really wanted to review these is because they provided gross motor activity combined with literacy activities, which Jude desperately needs.  (When you're six-plus years old and functioning on par with a not-quite-three-year-old, you sneak "therapy" in anywhere you can.)  I admit, I was hoping that we'd love these cards so much we'd go back and purchase other sets (click the Schoolhouse Review Crew banner below and read the reviews of Fundanoodle's other products), but since these fell short for Jude's needs, we probably won't be adding to our Blue collection in the near future.  I think that we may look at some of the Orange level items for younger students for Damien, and revisit the Blue as he gets older and maybe is not working alongside Jude.

©2012- 2013 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com