by Sara Erling M.ED.

“Program has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. For many years, the focus was primarily on addressing my physical, visual, and processing abilities. Despite ongoing physical and visual challenges, by the time I got through high school and into college, I had a solid foundation for academic success. My program has always been tailored to address my specific needs at any given point in time.

Being on an NACD program has made me very self-aware and has given me the self-knowledge necessary to effectively advocate for myself. Ultimately, it has provided me with a foundation I can build on for the rest of my life. I will be forever grateful to everyone at NACD for helping me grow into the young woman I am today.” – Sarah Benedix

Sarah was a preemie, had been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, right hemiparesis, and strabismus, and she was fed through a G-tube. When she was a baby, her parents came to NACD, as they were determined to help Sarah reach her fullest potential. I first started working with Sarah back in the early 2000s when I started traveling to Chicago to conduct the evaluations there. She was around six years old and had beautiful blonde braids with big blue eyes. She was already quite smart and witty at that time! When I stopped traveling as much to have my own babies, she started working with Ellen Doman. Fourteen years later, I was able to increase my travel again and returned to the Chicago chapter. It made me feel very old to work with Sarah again, as she was no longer the little girl in pigtails, but an accomplished young woman! What a transformation!

Over the years of being on an NACD program, Sarah’s parents worked very hard to develop her ability to walk, to eat, to use her eyes together, her fine motor development, her ability to communicate, and to think (cognition). As many parents of children with CP often face, working with muscles, tendons, and structural issues is not an easy task. However, if we simultaneously work to build a child’s cognition, it makes working with their bodies and physical development significantly easier. Because Sarah’s processing and global cognition was really high, it was, and still is, much easier for her to understand how to place her body, how to direct her movements, and how and why she needed to work on certain muscle groups. Sarah can walk well, run, do yoga, and really enjoys bike riding. Sarah could be taught how to do certain exercises by herself to assist in her gait and could understand how to do them correctly through verbal cues. In her words, she is very self aware.

Over the past 20+ years of being a part of our organization, Sarah has blown us away with her accomplishments. She received a Masters degree in Sports Administration from Valparaiso University in August 2019. She graduated in May of 2021 with her SECOND Masters Degree in Disability Services in Higher Education from CUNY School of Professional Studies. With this degree, Sarah hopes to “advocate for other students with disabilities in the future.” She is ready to fly. Sarah, we are all so very proud of you and feel blessed to have watched you grow into one pretty cool human!

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Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 34 No.6, 2021 ©NACD

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Most of us have no idea what creatures of habit and patterns we are, nor how stuck we can be in these behavior patterns. I have three dogs that keep reminding me of what a creature of habit I am. If I’m watching TV in the evening and pick up the TV remote, my dogs notice; and if I turn off the TV, they all jump up ready to go. Which way they go is determined by the direction of my first step when I stand up. In the morning if I pick up my cup from the coffee machine and if I turn left, my dogs run down to my office. If I turn right, they go about their business because there are too many options as to what I might do. You probably put the same foot into your pant leg first most every day. The point is that we humans create hundreds of behavior patterns, most of which we are oblivious to.

When dealing with children, particularly children with developmental issues, the connection between the child and the parents and caregivers is amazing. This connection leads to each learning each other’s patterns. Patterns can become ruts, ruts that both parent and child can get stuck in.

One very common pattern or rut that creates problems involves what children will eat. In a very significant percentage of children who come to us, ranging from severely involved children to those who are gifted, a common problem is picky eaters. Back in the early ‘70s when we created a program specifically for children with autism, I worked with a teenage girl who had eaten no food other than apples for virtually her entire life. To compound the mystery of this child, she also had pica—she would put most anything in her mouth and eat it. This included everything from dirt to bugs and her dog’s feces from the yard, but not food. The issue with her eating a greater variety of foods was obviously not an issue with taste or smell, although this can be an issue for many children, particularly those on the spectrum. It was simply a matter of an established pattern, a habit. It should be noted that food cravings that come from eating a lot of some specific foods can also be a contributing issue. Kids are not simple.

In a previous article (Independence and the Developmentally Challenged Child) I discussed how important and vital independence is for the overall development of the child or young adult. The child’s and the parent’s patterns and habits often have a very negative impact on the development of independence.

An example of a common pattern that slows down the development of independence in many children is helping them dress themselves. Most parents who assist their child in dressing and undressing assist in virtually the exact same way every time, and the child participates, or does not participate, in exactly the same way. As an example: Mom approaches Johnny with a T-shirt. Johnny sees it and waits for Mom to put it over his head, at which point he lifts his arms and she helps put his arms in the sleeves. Then she pulls the shirt down. Every day they follow the same pattern. If Mom doesn’t do something to change her pattern, the odds are great that Johnny doesn’t either; and Johnny’s development of independence in dressing himself goes nowhere. Parents need to become acutely aware of the hundreds of such patterns, habits that have been created by them and their children, and consciously work to break them.

It’s helpful when trying to grasp the significance of patterns to see how differently children perform with different people and in different places. Children who work with their parents, caregivers, therapists, and teachers are often going to react and perform differently with each person, or in each place, because patterns and habits are created together and are often person and place specific. Each adult establishes a new pattern, and to some extent the physical space helps establish a new mental picture and a new pattern as well. Most children on the spectrum are strong visualizers, creating mental pictures and videos associated with many aspects of their lives. For these visualizers anything that changes their picture (or habit) can lead to them becoming upset, with the net result being that family members and caregivers avoid upsetting the apple cart and work hard to maintain and reinforce the habits.

One of the most devastating and pervasive problems associated with patterns negatively impacting many of our children with developmental issues is prompt dependency. Prompt dependence is actually taught through creating a patten by which the child is prompted, generally verbally through virtually every step of what they are being instructed to do. Some children, after years of such instruction, develop such a strong pattern that they will do almost nothing without a prompt, requiring someone to guide them through most everything they do, creating greater dependency and stifling independence.

Referring back to the picky eater problem, parents often discover that their child will eat foods at the grandparent’s house that they won’t eat at home, or in a restaurant, or even outside. This is because a new place helps change the pattern.

The teenage girl with autism I met had her eating problem largely resolved within the week she and her family spent with us. Guess what we did to fix it? Almost nothing. The child had spent her whole life at home, eating by herself in the same kitchen at the same table and given the same food—apples—because her family been convinced that she wouldn’t eat anything else, and had established a very strong behavior pattern. When the family flew across the county, stayed in a hotel and at our offices, and ate at restaurants together, they broke the pattern. My little suggestion was to not have any apples nor bring apples to the restaurant and to simply order her the same food the parents were eating and tell her they didn’t have apples. She ate the food and within the week established a new behavior pattern, which was to eat what the family ate.

Patterns and habits affect all of our lives to amazing degrees. Having healthy diets for most people means establishing a new behavior pattern or habit. Exercising regularly for most people requires establishing a new behavior pattern or habit. Many people realize how difficult it can be to break an old pattern and create a new one and realize it doesn’t just happen. You have to very consciously work to create that new behavior pattern; and the longer a pattern exists, the tougher it is to change it, whether it is a good or a bad habit.

Typically developing children are neurologically changing rapidly, and that neurological change pushes them to do new things; and in the process it tends to break many previously established patterns of behavior. Typical children and their parents can certainly fall victim to habits. But when you slow down the developmental process, life tends to become just a series of pattens that essentially rule the child and the family’s life and can significantly and often dramatically inhibit change, development, and expectations. These patterns can affect all areas of development and function. An example is children learning patterns of communication. If whining works to get attention, and Mom interprets that as the child wanting something and becomes trained to start offering the child options until the whining stops, then the odds are good that the child will maintain that pattern of communication even though they neurologically are ready to start verbally communicating. In a similar vein there are children who develop a functional vocabulary of only a few words, who may go years without expanding that vocabulary. It becomes their pattern, and if the expectation is that it’s all he or she can do, then it becomes the perception of what can be, and it is accepted. A child who has a vocabulary of three words is demonstrating that they have the cognitive ability and the oral motor ability to think in words and produce words, why not ten words or twenty words or a thousand words?

If a child lacks mobility, the ability to move either through crawling, creeping, or walking to get to something, and learns to simply lay on the floor and space out, cry for attention, or whine until someone brings something to them, then often these become patterns and the child has no perception that they could move to go somewhere or get something. These children may have the cognitive and physical pieces that would permit them to move, but they are stuck in a pattern.

Looking at pieces of the child in isolation makes it very difficult at best to determine what is a reflection of the child being stuck in a pattern vs. what can, could, and should be. The perception of what can be is then easily limited to what has been, and doors are closed not based on the innate potential of the child, but rather on what patterns have been and are in place.

If, however, we view the “whole child,” the gestalt of the child, we can then see what could be and what pieces need to be put together to break the habits or patterns and move forward.

For example, one vital piece of the “whole child” is cognitive function. If we have understanding, auditory sequential processing, that says the child mentally has the ability to use language functionally and put two or three words together, as well as adequate oral motor skills for speech, but they only use a few words, then we know we have a child who today could be speaking much more, if not for being stuck in a pattern. If, however, we have the cognition, but not the needed oral motor function, then we know we need to work on the oral motor function hard, as well as working behaviorally to create the internal need to communicate. Conversely, if the child has sufficient oral motor function, but not the cognitive function, then the primary focus becomes the cognition.

Looking at a child as their isolated pieces and not understanding their patterns and habits can produce misdirected efforts and priorities, and more often than not turn the focus toward alternatives that lead to poor, low, or limited expectations that can negatively impact the child’s ultimate potential.

Not understanding the “whole child” or the impact of patterns can lead to pursuit of poor alternatives. For the child with limited language, the alternative may be an augmentative communication device that for the vast majority of children fails. If full mobility is deemed to be improbable, then putting the necessary developmental pieces together gets scrapped, and the therapy gets directed toward a child who will spend the rest of their life in a wheelchair. Or a child with unresolved behavior issues ends up being medicated, rather than having his pieces put together and patterns broken.

Habits and patterns impact all of our lives. For our children with developmental problems, these habits and patterns, both theirs and ours, can have devastating consequences. Every child needs to be viewed through the lens of the “whole child” and seen as a creature of habit if we are going to begin to provide them with a real opportunity to realize their innate potential.

Lack of function needs not and should not be viewed as a prognosis or predictor of potential.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 34 No.5, 2021 ©NACD

The post How Patterns of Behavior Affect Your Developmentally Challenged Child appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

For many preschool children and children with special needs, particularly those on the autism spectrum, getting them to tolerate a mask can be a daunting task. For a child who doesn’t understand the need for a mask and who has some tactile defensiveness, getting them to wear a mask can be extremely difficult. Some of you might even think that it’s not just daunting, but impossible. But for some of your children, teaching them to tolerate a mask is vitally important. If your child needs to go to school, is exposed to teachers, aides, therapists, and other children, particularly children with lowered or weak immune systems, they need to be safe, as does the rest of your family.

There is neither a fast nor easy fix to this problem, but for most children we can work them through their issues. The main issue we need to address is the tactility problem. Most young children, and many with special needs, have an underdeveloped or hypersensitive fifth cranial nerve, the trigeminal nerve. This is the nerve that is responsible for processing facial sensation and is also involved with biting, chewing, and oral motor development and speech.

To help develop and/or desensitize the trigeminal nerve, we want to stimulate the nerve without being irritating. We develop neurological function by using the science of neuroplasticity, which means we need to be targeted with our input/stimulation and apply the specific input with high frequency, and avoid being aversive or irritating, with very short duration.

Specifically, we want to start when the child is distracted. They can be watching a video, playing, eating, or you can simply be talking to them. While distracted and without making an issue of it, gently start touching their face with your fingertips. Do this so gently and quickly so that they barely notice. For some children this can be as short as a second, but probably not more than a few seconds. Repeat this twenty or more times a day, always being mindful not to push the frequency (how often you are doing it) or duration (the length of time) to the point of being irritating. Very slowly over days increase the length of time you are providing the stimulation each session. Once your child is indicating that they are aware of what you are doing, speak to them in soft comforting words and tones—you are tying to make it a pleasant experience. As your child learns to accept your fingertips, you can add stimulation with a makeup brush and soft pieces of cloth, always remembering to progress slowly and only going longer as your child can accept it. If you push forward too fast and upset your child, you will probably need to stop completely for a couple of days and start over again.

As you slowly work to increase the seconds of time you are providing the stimulation and varying the textures, you can begin to decrease the number of times you do this per day. As you increase duration/length of time you can decrease frequency/times per day. You don’t want to be a pest. You do want to teach your child that this trigeminal stimulation is pleasant.

When you have built your child’s tolerance level to a point where you can provide the stimulation for a minute or more, it’s time to start conditioning your child to the texture of a mask. For most children, smooth textured masks are going to be tolerated better than those that are a bit fuzzy or ticklish. While providing your trigeminal stimulation, start spending more and more time touching and gently rubbing their face with the mask. Do not try to put it on yet, just work to get them comfortable with seeing the mask and feeling the mask. If you haven’t already, now would be a good time for you to start showing your child how you put on and wear a mask while teaching them to tolerate one. Show, don’t tell; and do it naturally, trying to make putting on a mask inconsequential.

Are you aware of any essential oils or extracts such as vanilla that your child likes? If so, start putting a little of the preferred essential oil or extract on the mask. If you know of an essential oil that your child likes and which also tends to calm them, then you have a winning combination.

At a point where your child can handle your touching their face with the mask, start putting the mask over their nose and mouth, without putting the strings over their ears, but for only a second at a time. You are going to need to start back at seconds again, working up to a couple of minutes, remembering to keep your child distracted and entertained. At this stage of the process, without making an issue of it, reward your child when you remove the mask. If they take the mask off, no reward; ignore it and move on. If possible try to anticipate when you child has had enough and remove the mask before they try to do it themselves. You should know what rewards works for your child, a tiny food treat, a hug, turning on their favorite video, etc., whatever works. Work back up to about two minutes. Maintain this for a couple of days.

It’s finally time to actually put the mask on, and again start with seconds and slowly build their tolerance. Build slowly, moving from seconds to minutes to even hours, keep your mask on, keep your child entertained, and reward them after you remove the mask.

How quickly you can move through this process is going to vary from child to child. If you have a child who is exposed to many people or who is physically compromised, then teaching them to tolerate a mask is really necessary. A bonus of taking your child through this process, even if you do not succeed in getting them to tolerate a mask, is development of their trigeminal nerve which will reap benefits for their eating, chewing, overall oral motor function, and tolerance for hats, glasses, headphones, and anything that may touch their face.

Good luck, go slowly, be patient. You may be saving a life.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 33 No. 8, 2020 ©NACD

The post How to Teach Your Child With Special Needs to Wear a Mask appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

You say nice things –I like you!

You’re fun to be around!

You think I’m good-you like me!

I’ll be good for you and try hard!

You just say ugly things to me!

You think I’m bad and dumb—then I’ll be bad and dumb!

Simple statements: The more positive you are with a child, the more they will like you, respect you, and work to please you, because they will feel better about themselves when they are with you. What we and others say to them forms their self image. We tell them who they are.

Good quality positive feedback develops positive attitudes, good self-image, and it motivates. Providing quality feedback is not necessarily easy nor does it come naturally to many of us. Please see my article Feedback Part 1 to get a better picture of what good quality feedback needs to be.

The more problems and issues a child has, the fewer obvious opportunities there may be to give them positive feedback; but the more problems and issues they have, the more they need positive feedback.

Most children who are high functioning and doing well receive lots of positive feedback. Every good grade on a test provides positive feedback; if they made a basket or scored a goal, they receive positive feedback; if they look nice, they receive positive feedback; if they have friends, they receive positive feedback. High functioning children tend to do well socially and have friends and positive social relationships—all things that provide positive feedback and, in turn, motivate and encourage the child to try more and do more. If you do a lot of things well, you receive a lot of positive feedback, generally feel pretty good about yourself, and on the occasion when you receive criticism, you accept it, learn from it, and are better for it.

Children who do not do well academically or in sports or socially tend to receive very little positive feedback. Their life is often filled with poor grades and failures in many, if not most, of the things they do. On the occasion when they receive positive feedback, they don’t believe it; and when they receive negative feedback/attention, it’s an affirmation that they are “dumb” or “bad” or whatever.

The children who receive the least positive feedback are the ones who need it the most.

Who children think they are is primarily a reflection of the feedback they receive. The feedback they receive determines how they define themselves.

Giving children real, true, and positive feedback is imperative.

One very important way to help every child is to create a positive environment for them. A positive environment helps motivate them, helps them develop a positive self-image, and it provides you the parent, caregiver, coach, or teacher with power to influence them in a positive way.

I define a positive environment as one that has a ratio of four positives to every one negative. The ratio of 4:1 is strong enough on the positive side to provide all the benefits of a positive environment, but also provides the opportunity for constructive criticism or feedback to extinguish unwanted behaviors and make corrections.

Think of a common scenario involving a child with a developmental, learning, or behavior problem or combination of all three. Typically such a child may live in a world where they receive only one positive to every four negatives. The sad reality is that for many such children that ratio is 1:10 or more, much more. Imagine their life–they are doing math and they hear, “That one is wrong. So is this one and that one and…”

When they are reading, for every word missed they hear, “Wrong!” and every word read correctly gets ignored. They play appropriately by themselves and get ignored. Then they poke their sister, who squeals, and they get a quick sharp, intense response from Mom. This is their day. Do something right—minimal or no feedback; do something wrong, and you are “bad” and “dumb” at math, reading, and even playing, or simply just “bad” and ”dumb.”

When balanced, negative comments and reactions generally have a significantly stronger impact on us than do most positives. Also, most negative responses are delivered with greater intensity than positives, thus the need for the ratio of 4:1 positives to negatives to create a good positive environment.

Parents, caregivers, and teachers need to learn how to find the opportunities for positive feedback. Mark and comment on everything that is right; don’t emphasize what is wrong, comment and emphasize what is right. Take note of those things that are wrong and come back and teach them. For children with behavior issues, catch them being good and let them know it. Perceive the struggling child as a child with the potential to do well, and work to help them develop that new perception.

We change the brain through the neuroplasticity fundamentals of frequency, intensity, and duration. It’s important to understand that neuroplasticity is how the brain changes and develops. Consistent positive input/feedback helps produce positive outcomes–motivation, good intentions, good self-image, and happy children. Consistent negative input/feedback creates negative self-image, poor attitudes, and unhappy children and helps produce negative outcomes. Negatives impact the brain, and if delivered with sufficient frequency, intensity, and duration, we do change the brain, building negative perceptions and making the brain more receptive to interpreting even positive comments as negatives.

Creating a positive world for your child goes a long way toward gaining their attention and cooperation and toward developing the strengths and abilities that you want to foster.

Your goal: four positives to every negative.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 33 No. 3, 2020 ©NACD

The post Feedback and Its Impact on Behavior, Learning, Development, and More – Part 3 appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

by Bob Doman

Was that right or wrong?

Did I do well or not?

Was that important or not?

Does getting it right matter, and if so how much?

Should I care—do I care?

Is it fun?

Do I like this and want to do it again?

Am I good at this?

Am I smart or dumb?

Most children’s answers to these questions are based on the feedback they receive. It’s not the actual performance at the moment that counts; it’s the response they get from it.

Your children, regardless of level of function, are reacting, changing, and developing based on how targeted the input, the frequency, intensity, and duration of the input, and the feedback they receive or not. Most children’s direction and rate of development can be significantly, if not dramatically, altered based on the feedback they receive.

At NACD we are fortunate to have a Portal upon which our families post videos that show how children’s programs are being implemented, and also how the children are functioning. One of the things we watch for on these videos is the feedback that the children receive and the general tone of the session. Inevitably we see a correlation between the quality and consistency of feedback and the rate of development of the child.

One glaring area where the feedback, or lack of, is easily seen is when we see a video of family or caregiver doing an activity that is repetitious. A common activity is working on sequential processing in which a child listens to or sees a sequence of items, then says or demonstrates in some way what they saw or heard. The feedback we observe varies from negative, to nothing, to fair/poor, to good, up to spectacular. We can fairly accurately predict the child’s rate of progress, or lack of, based on the feedback they are receiving. Let’s look at examples of each:

Negative Feedback

Essentially here we are seeing correct responses ignored and errors acknowledged. If the only attention the child receives, even if negative, comes when they make an error, you are actually increasing the odds of getting incorrect responses.

No Feedback

This is perhaps the most frustrating interaction to observe. Regardless of whether the response was correct or incorrect, the response is to simply give the child another sequence. If they don’t know if their answer is correct or incorrect, that is essentially communicating that it doesn’t matter one way or the other. So who cares and why try? The message is, “Let’s just get this over with.”

Fair/Poor Feedback

In these instances the child receives a relatively neutral response, such as “good” to every response whether it was correct or not. Or the child receives a low intensity “right” or “wrong” or “yes” or “no” response, or the equivalent. The reality of these responses is that the negative “wrong” or “no” has a greater impact on the child than do the affirmative responses. This makes the entire experience negative. These responses have low intensity and essentially communicate that it’s not really a big deal if you get this right or wrong, so why put yourself out. It also says, “This really isn’t fun, and I stink at it.”

Good Feedback

In giving good feedback, there is strong acknowledgement of correct answers: “Super!” “Great—you got it!” “Wow- you got another one!” And in response to incorrect answers, there is encouragement: “Almost, you’re going to get the next one,” “Oh, close—come on, let’s get the next one!” With good feedback the child should be feeling good, the emphasis is on their success, there should be smiles from both the caregiver and the child, and the child should be motivated to try hard and welcome the next session.

Excellent Feedback

Excellent feedback requires attention and preparation. The caregiver needs to observe the child and determine if it’s a good time to do the activity. Is the child wide awake? In a reasonably good mood? Are you making sure you’re not pulling them away from something fun? Part of the preparation is also getting yourself pumped so that you can start the activity with energy and the intention that you are going to be successful. And in some cases, part of the preparation is setting up some kind of reward system. The excellent feedback doesn’t need to sound significantly different than the “good feedback,” but the energy level is higher, the intention acknowledged before the activity is even started, and if needed some kind of reward system beyond the social/verbal acknowledgement is employed. What this additional reward system is would be very child specific. For young, lower processing children, that reward would need to be immediate and could range from a little food reward, to physically picking the child up and dancing around the room, to them engaging in one of their very favorite activities. For older, higher processing children, some form of a positive token economy system is often effective and appropriate. If you value the results you are trying to achieve, then give value to the results.

Whenever possible you want to teach your child to love whatever it is that you want them to do and do well. Simply put, if they love it they are going to do the activity with a lot of positive intention and intensity and do well. You really have the power to do this with virtually anything. One of the things I hate to hear from parents and caregivers is that Johnny is bored with the reading, math, processing activity, or whatever. In any activity that you are engaged in with the child, you are the one in control of how much fun it is, how much positive intensity there is, and ultimately how much the child loves the activity and thus their success.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 33 No. 1, 2020 ©NACD

The post Feedback and Its Impact on Behavior, Learning, Development, and More – Part 1 appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

by Bob Doman

I’m good at reading!

I love to read!

I stink at reading—I hate it!

I’m great at soccer!

I really like playing soccer; let’s play some more!

I’m lousy at soccer—I hate it, I quit!

Simple statement: You like what you think you’re good at. The ramifications of this simple truth are tremendous.

If you feel you are doing well at something, you are motivated to do it more. You approach each new event with a positive attitude. You approach each new event with intensity, and you want to keep doing it, and you want to do it again. The key to triggering neuroplasticity is providing specific targeted input with the necessary frequency, intensity, and duration. Learning is changing the brain—physically changing the brain by growing connections and building networks. The process is what it is—the components are written in our DNA; we can’t escape it. We need to understand it and use it to the child’s advantage.

For fifty years I have been preaching that the first thing, the first goal when trying to teach a child anything is to first teach them to love it. Whether we are hoping to teach a child to crawl, walk, run, read, do math, or do chores, we need to teach them to love it or at the very least, like it.

“You can’t teach a child to love cleaning a toilet!” I beg to differ. If you know your child, you should be able to use that knowledge to create a fun, motivating environment around teaching them how to do it; and once learned, give them a lot of real and positive feedback. You can teach them to love cleaning a toilet.

One of the first things I often have to encourage parents and caregivers to do before starting to teach a child anything is to remember school. Odds are fairly good that if you replicate a lot, if not most, of what you remember school being like, you’re doing it wrong. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Learning can be and should be fun.

Back at the beginning of my career, I was a special education teacher. I worked hard to teach the eighteen children in my class, who all had serious learning challenges and labels like Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism, to love reading and math. Randomly throughout the day I would have class question sessions and would throw out questions to a few of the kids in each session. I knew the kids and knew what they knew, so I would call out a child’s name and ask them a question that I felt confident that they could answer correctly; and when they did, I would wing a poker chip at them that they would have to scramble for. The token bought them time at the reward table at the back of the room. I taught the group to cheer at every correct answer, and the lucky child would grab his poker chip and go back to the reward table, where there were math papers with their names on them and books with their names as well. The kids loved doing math and reading and loved earning the reward of doing more math and reading. The tone, the environment, and the feedback can make most anything fun and positive. If the child likes whatever is to be taught and feels they do it well, they are going to approach the session with intensity and are going to want to do it frequently and to continue to do it (duration).

Another thing I did as a teacher was to mark only what was right/correct on a paper. I could give a child ten math problems, and if they only got one right, that gave me the opportunity to say things like, “Wow, you got that tough one right,” “See? You’re getting it—you got that one!” “Great, I bet next time you’re going to get more of them.” Why do schools always mark what’s wrong not what’s right? Typically if a child is given ten problems or questions, and if they got nine correct and one wrong, there is a big red mark on the one they got wrong. This essentially communicates to the child that you don’t care what they know, the emphasis is on what they don’t know.

We aren’t going to change what is happening in school very soon. I’ve spent fifty years trying to do it, with minimal success. But we can change how we do things at home.

I have spoken to groups of parents who have opted to keep their children home rather then send them to school, and I have actually encouraged them to refer to what they are doing as “home education,” not “home school,” because so many homeschoolers work very hard to replicate just what they do at school. We can do so much better.

You have the power to create fun, positive environments around teaching most everything. And you have the power to control the feedback and to make it positive. If your children approach what you are doing with positive intention and intensity, you are going to see them progress well, and you and they are going to enjoy doing it.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 33 No. 2, 2020 ©NACD

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Today’s spotlight is on a fine young man who I have known since 1996. Yes, that is correct, 1996. I have been with NACD long enough now to have several adults that I have seen since they were infants, Nicolas Cooke being one of them. When I think of individuals that I have the greatest amount of admiration for, Nicolas is certainly on that list. Born with Down syndrome, Nicolas has been seeing us since he was an infant. Over the years I have been so proud of how he shines. Nicolas has developed into a wise, responsible, hardworking, strong young man of excellent character.

Nicolas has done very well in developing physical excellence and participated in his first triathlon at age eight. Nicolas’s mom, Linda, is a swim coach, and knowing the importance of physical exercise, she had Nicolas swimming at an early age. I remember the two of us reminiscing that he went from crawling, creeping, and walking right into a child who could compete alongside typical peers in a triathlon. Today, at age 24, Nicolas is involved in bodybuilding and martial arts and has been featured in a piece by a local gym where he works out.

Nicolas is very active in his community and his church. He has participated in a theater group and is a favorite within the children’s ministry, where he dresses up like Shaggy Dog and teaches children about God. At church Nicolas not only works in the children’s ministry, but he is also on the worship team and can be caught from time to time playing his guitar. One of Nicolas’s additional stomping grounds is at a local horse barn where he works part time. Linda says that Nicolas is on quite a few “speed dials” when it comes to needing help with various projects. Each morning, while Mom works and coaches, Nicolas is very diligent in his responsibilities, cooking, cleaning the home and pool and focusing on his education. Nicolas also assists in caring for his invalid father who suffers from a debilitating, degenerative neurological disorder. Being the youngest of nine children, Nicolas now has eight nieces and nephews that he loves to read to, play with, and supervise.

Linda knew that working on appropriate behavior and manners and teaching him to have a strong work ethic were crucial in helping him to be a highly capable adult. She and I can look back on his “stubborn years,” being thankful that she always kept firm boundaries in preparing him to be an individual that other people would seek spending time with.

In talking one day with Linda, she commented on the fact that Nicolas can clean her house better than anyone she could ever hire. His attention to detail and making sure each and every job is well done is a real asset. At the time Mom said, “I bet he could even be hired out and do a better job than any other cleaning company,” and then her eyes lit up. At the next evaluation I was pleased to hear that Nicolas already had a few clients.

It is a pleasure to work with so many wonderful families through NACD; and I am so blessed to be able to follow a number of our NACD kids and watch them become such fabulous adults. Nicolas is a man who makes each and every life he touches that much better.

Reprinted by permission NACD Newsletter, February 2020 ©NACD

Read the full article about Nicolas here: https://www.easttexasmatters.com/news/local-news/adaptive-athletes-shine-at-east-texas-gym/

The post Nicolas Cooke is Physically and Mentally Tough appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

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Introduction by Lyn Waldeck

Let me introduce you to a lovely young lady that I think the world of, Ava Penkilo. I have had the pleasure of working with Ava for some time now and can honestly say that to know Ava is to love Ava. She is an exceptionally kind girl and a very hard worker. Not everything has come easy to Ava, but she and her mom are a testimony to what is possible with the right plan and the dedication to follow through. Ava has made good progress in many areas since coming to NACD, but the thing I want to brag about today is how Ava has grown in the areas of maturity and confidence through cooking. Over the years Ava has shared what she is learning in the kitchen with me. More than once she has gifted me with a special treat she has made when she comes to her evaluation. Along the way we started sharing favorite recipes and have had conversations about tools and techniques. At one evaluation she gave me a copy of one of her favorite cookbooks and another time an apron that she liked the design of. When a dear friend of mine recently published a cookbook, the first person I thought of was Ava, so I picked one up for her. This particular cookbook is not meant for beginners, and I was so proud of Ava when I started seeing pictures of her making “Creamy Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry Basil Syrup” and “Cherry Pecan Scones with White Chocolate Glaze.” These were very complex recipes, and Ava did a fabulous job of both making them and presenting them. I have asked her mother, Monica, to share how cooking has had such a positive impact in Ava’s life.

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Ava

by Monica Penkilo

I recall a time about 6 years ago when a friend was visiting our home. Ava started to feel hungry and asked if she could make lunch. She made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and my friend could not believe it. She said her big kids could not do that. Ava smiled with pride.

Many years ago I let go of my fear of Ava hurting herself in the kitchen, and thankfully Ava has never had to go to the emergency room. One of her favorite Christmas gifts was a chef knife. “I want to help. Please let me chop the peppers. I’ll use my knife.” It is music to my ears hearing Ava verbally communicate with me in the kitchen. Although Ava has struggled with developmental delays since birth, she shines bright in the kitchen where she seems to find peace and calmness.

The kitchen is a source of learning, nurturing, increased fine motor skills, and confidence building for Ava. Ava’s self-esteem has blossomed in the kitchen. She learns by reading recipes, measuring and using math calculations in cooking, writing grocery lists, and following a budget at the grocery store. Chopping, slicing, stirring, pouring, and mixing provide endless fine motor activities. The occasional mistake, like forgetting a stick of butter in the cookies, turns into growing opportunities. And there are lots of high fives, words of affirmation, and happy people after eating Ava’s delicious food.

Ava loves baking with her sister and friends. It is one of the perfect social opportunities for her. They have baked themed cakes such as animal cakes, had cupcake wars, tea parties and cookie decorating fun. Ava connects with people in the kitchen and can often teach them something new.

Ava recently had her first official birthday cake order for one of our friends who wanted a rainbow cake. Ava ended up making a seven layer rainbow cake covered with sprinkles and a fondant rainbow topper. Ava was praised for her cake as being the most beautiful and delicious rainbow cake ever. Of course, Ava stayed humble, smiled and said thank you.

While we may make a few messes in the kitchen, it is still such a joyful fun, especially knowing Ava is making leaps in her development in the kitchen.

One of our favorite mealtimes is Saturday brunch. It is a time for testing recipes Ava finds in cookbooks, and when our family comes together to eat the amazing food Ava helps to prepare with love. Maybe Ava will host community brunches, have a bake shop, or be a chef in the future. Only time will tell for Ava, our sweet baker and cook.

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NACD Newsletter, November 2018 ©NACD

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A study out of Simon Frazer University indicates that cognitive-motor function begins to decline at the age of 24.

In this study the researchers analyzed the data derived from 3,305 players, ranging in age from 16 to 44, of a complex computer game called Starcraft 2. According to Joe Thompson, the lead investigator of the study, “After around 24 years of age, players show slowing in a measure of cognitive speed that is known to be important for performance.”

The decline in cognitive performance in the 20s, as demonstrated in the Simon Frazer University study, is similar to the results of NACD’s Simply Smarter Project that evaluated the short-term and working memories of 7125 individuals, ranging in age from 4 to 84. Read more about the project results here. As demonstrated by NACD’s data, both short-term and working memory develop into our 20s and then begin to decline in our middle to late 20s.

Fortunately Bob Doman and NACD’s work over the past 45 years has demonstrated that the development of short-term and working memory can be accelerated, and with specific targeted developmental intervention, retained and even advanced past the point at which it would typically decline. Neuroplasticity has shown that you can continue to improve your brain function at any age.

Even if you use it, you lose it, unless you use very targeted intervention!

More Resources

NACD’s Simply Smarter Program – Work on your processing, cognition and working memory skills!

Get Started with NACD – How to get started with the NACD Program

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At NACD, we work with children that have every imaginable developmental issue in addition to typical and gifted children. In the process we have explored, researched and utilized many thousands of toys and products that we have found to be fun, educational, engaging and helpful. At the request of families from throughout the world, we have put together a list of items that would make great gifts. Each item has been researched and reviewed by our professional staff. All items on the list below can be found either at our NACD Store or on Amazon.

Developing large/gross motor skills (walking, running, jumping, sports) and small/fine motor skills (self-feeding, dressing, writing, drawing, playing an instrument), is important for a child’s overall development and wellbeing. Most everything we do is in some way dependent on our gross and fine motor skills. Developing early motor skills opens the door for almost everything we would want our children to do. Whether our child is a baby, a preschooler, of school age or older, motor development is tremendously important. We can help our children with the development of their motor skills by providing them with appropriate toys, games, activities, equipment and opportunities and make it fun.

NACD receives a small commission if you use our Amazon referral link to buy our recommended products. The funds collected will go directly into a scholarship fund for our NACD families. NACD also receives a small commission for everything else you buy that is in your cart when you buy our recommended products. If you are going to purchase items based on our suggestions please use our referral link to help our incredible dedicated families.

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16 Great Motor Development Gift Ideas for Holidays, Birthdays & Special Occasions

3 Wheel Recumbent Bikes

These bikes come in various size ranges. Match your child’s height to the right bike. Bikes are adjustable so you can accurately adjust the bike to properly fit your child or adult. These bikes are low to the ground, safe and provide many benefits including: improve strength and endurance, develop good leg muscle balance and development, help correct leg muscle imbalance issues, provide a fun activity that helps keep children engaged and present. —Bob

[amazon_link asins=’B00TKVONPS,B00UM2A0EM,B06Y4KYKQR,B00OMT1CO8,B016OPJPDW,B01DU43THS,B001J0FWWQ,B003VGFN7K,B016OPJS70′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’nacd0d-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’97f31c9c-d49f-11e7-b92d-b91b30a214aa’]

Weehoo Kids Turbo Bicycle Trailer

This is great for our kids that need the pedal motion of a recumbent but can’t ride a bike independently. It hooks on to an adult bike. One of our clients uses it and loves it! —Sara


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Climbing

COMINGFIT Indoor/Outdoor Rope Climbing Ladder for Kids

Climbing is a great exercise for children, building strength, developing good muscle balance, proprioception, vestibular function/balance, FUN and more. One of my preferred sport activities for children is indoor climbing wall. The rope ladder can build a good foundation for climbing walls.—Bob


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Climbing Cargo Rope Net Ladder for Kids – Outdoor and Indoor

Climbing is a great exercise for children, building strength, developing good muscle balance, proprioception, vestibular function/balance, FUN and more. The cargo net and build a good foundation for climbing walls.—Bob


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Basketball

Basketball is such a great sport to build endurance, strength and coordination. If you are playing indoors in a gym, I suggest the Wilson evolution. It’s soft, durable and high quality. —Laird

Wilson Evolution Indoor Game Basketball

Spalding NBA Neverflat Indoor/Outdoor Basketball

For playing outdoors, I suggest the neverflat because it holds air a lot longer, so you don’t have to be constantly pumping it up. —Laird


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Indoor Basketball Hoop and Backboard

This is perfect for those long winter days when we want the kids active and improving their coordination skills. —Ellen


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Other

Play Tunnel, Tent and Ball Pit

This setup encourages creeping and exploring but also includes a little hoop for ball throwing/aiming. The good news is that it folds up for storage.



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LeapFrog Learn & Groove Music Table

Boy did my kids get a lot of use out of this table! Before your baby is walking, he/she can play with the cause and effect toys on the board without the legs. Once your baby is pulling to a stand he/she can stand and continue to enjoy all the play on the board. This helps to strengthen their legs and ability to stand with minimal assistance. —Sara


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Fisher-Price Bright Spin & Crawl Tumble Beats Ball

This is a great toy to have your beginning crawler or creeper move toward. It has fun sounds and music and cause and effect buttons as your baby creeps to get to it.


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Perfect Pull-Up Bar

Used for, hang from bar. Encourages upper body strength specifically in the hands and arms. For children that are too heavy to hold on a dowel, a perfect pull up bar is great. It will affix to any normal sized doorway. Check the specifications to ensure you get one that will work for your door frame. —Staci


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Confidence Fitness Vibration Platform

This has seen to be helpful in helping to develop tone, motor development and balance through vibrating deep tactile input. Several of our families have reported good results when using these and the results are definitely getting NACD Evaluators attention. —Lyn


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