nacd

We are a NACD family. My daughter was on full program for about 6mo. and I then revised the program myself for about another 6mo.

We saw our greatest gains with our daughter while we were on program(she want from bottom of her class to top of her class in basically 3-6mo.) But it is very intensive and took a real toll on our family. We never completed our developmental milestones(and she still has issues)- that’s not to say that we won’t consider going back - it’s been on my mind alot lately! (For those who know me, we even started Brainbuilder back up again!) We’re took a break from program and trying to get re-phyched, also trying some other programs in meantime that are not quite so difficult.

NACD gave me the answers - I know WHY my dd is the way she and is and I have the tools/knowledge to correct. This was very important to me and has given me alot of piece of mind. I also went to a training seminar so that I could evaluate/develop my own program. I feel very impowered over my dd’s disability.

If you homeschool and/or have a very strong family/friends support network around you, you can be very successful with this program and I highly recommend it. We had neither(plus I work full time) and thus our struggles with it. I also had some misgivings over dominance switching (which is really my dd’s main issues - both eye and ear). I don’t doubt they are correct with their philosphy of it, but I got spooked and it was hard on my dd’s esteem to do the occluding correctly.

Thank you Dea for your honest response. We were in an intense program this summer and for the last two weeks my dd has been “burned out.” She was doing various programs (PACE, IM, MTC, Play Attention) plus Vision Therapy and Speech Therapy, plus homework. We are going to do Brainbuilder and possibly The Listening Program. I feel that a lot of what we are doing are things that would be recommended. I don’t know if I could enter another intense program with school starting. If you have any additional thoughts I would appreciate it. Thank you very much.

It’s always good to get feedback from parents who have actually done some of these programs — both pro’s and con’s.

Mary

My dd’s reading and language have improved. She will be retested by her speech therapist in September and I will have specific data at that time, but my observations show a more natural flow to her speech and less difficulty in retieving words. She is also having a progress check in Vision Therapy tomorrow, and her vision therapist is “excited” because she says she has seen a lot of progress. She will be tested at the beginning of the school year for placement in the O/G reading program. She still has a lot of difficulty with Math Facts. We are trying “Touch Math.” Will post with more specific data.

Have you checked into this program? Most children who are unable to learn math facts any other way learn them fairly quickly with this method. It uses silly stories and visualizations to give kids a “hook” to hang the math facts on. Eventually, the child develops his own mental shortcuts and is able to remember the math facts without the stories.

I lent my tutoring kid to the sped teacher at my daughter’s school to try with a 13yo who was still working on his 3-times tables. She liked it so much she started using it with all of her sped children, and ordered it for the school. I think she was using Touch Math before that.

Website is http://www.citycreek.com

Mary

Sounds like she has done alot and needs a break. We found that we (dd’s parents) probably needed the break more than our dd did and her sibling needed some attention.

NACD is kind of funny about other programs. I was continually mentioning new programs that I learned on this site and they always gave me a standard response of (we’ve never heard of that, but will look into - and then I don’t think they would). Like they really don’t like the PACE program for example. Their issue is that it’s the wrong kind of intensity, duration, frequency. (it was something that kind of irked me, but I accepted it).

NACD’s program involves short intervals, but multiple times a day. So for example, on Brainbuilder - you do NO MORE than 15min at a time, but do it 2-4times a day (we were lucky to get 2x a day in). Most activities are like 5min. in duration with lots of intensity and you do multiple times (2-4 typically) during the day.

NACD program is VERY different than any of the other types of programs you have done. I felt it was the most complete out of any I’m aware of. They develop your program under the fact that the brain has plasticity and with the right kind of stimulation you can change it/create new neuropathways. They don’t label kids with ADD or CAPD or NVLD etc. - they just view the brain as being neurologically disorganized. Their program is such that helps each individual become ‘organized’. They believe that it’s the parents role to be the ‘tutor’ and they teach you how to be the parent teacher and give you the tools to do so. Bob Doman believes that the 2 most important things you can do is to 1) increase your digit span - they want to see you at a 9. This increases the amount of information you can take in, process etc. 2) switch your dominance if you are mixed dominant and low function. If you can’t do both, then do one of them. (note: my dd’s digit span a year ago was at a 7, but I can’t say she was fluent at it. Just tested her last week and she was a solid 5. I think if we worked at BB daily, we could get up to a 6 in a couple weeks and peak at a 7. I’ld like to get her to an 8 at least. I’ve had other NACD parents tell me that ‘interesting/good’ things happen when you hit 9.)

Your program may be more than just neurodevelopmental - they can put together an academic program too. Our program was both neurodevelopmental and academic (we tried to bite off more than we could chew). Academically, your program teaches you how to input the information correctly (in a typical public school setting, they really don’t do alot of input, - worksheets for example are output only kind of teaching).

It’s like any kind of diet or exercise program - you have to be very committed and stick with the program to see results. If you are not good about that, then the program will be a waste of time and money. To change the plasticity of the brain - you have to exercise it in the right way, multiple times a day and multiple days- fairly consistent.

Dea, thanks for your input. What types of improvements did you see with your dd? Did she do any listening program?

At the beginning of Kindergarten(1st mo), she could not remember any of the names of the ABCs, sounds they made or names of numbers, much less be able to read or do any math. This was sort of her 2nd year in this pre-K/K class and was at the bottom of her class starting out. She was not learning anything, nothing was sinking in. Her teacher told us she has never had a child like our dd before.

We did sound therapy (Tomatis), Earobics and Brainbuilder and within a month she was putting the sounds together to form words and beginning reading. In Jan. we started NACD. By the end of the year, she was reading 1st grade level, and in math was adding, subtracting 0-10, and could do double digit carry-over. She knew her numbers into the 1000’s. She hasn’t hit that brick wall again and is actually absorbing and learning. Her teacher (with tears in her eyes) commented on what a different child she was.

We haven’t done program for about a year now. She had a great 1st grade year. She started 2nd grade a month ago. So far it’s been ok. She makes lots of errors when reading, but is still above grade level. Her writing is below where it should be, but I’ve seen alot worse. I believe her reading errors are still sound/symbol related and that’s why her blending is not real great. I’m told this is because of her mixed dominance. Like I mentioned above, her digit span is not where we would like it to be either - but she it’s not in the handicapped level like it was when we started.

P.S. yes, we have done TLP - multiple times. I like Tomatis better, but we will still continue to do TLP on occaision.

Dea, I think you should try an informal test of your daughter’s ability to perceive phonemes. They are the individual sounds in words. For instance, can she perceive two syllables in a two-syllable word or the difference between the sound of AH and EH. Mixed dominance often comes in the package with problems of phonemic awareness but is not its cause. If there is a phonemic awareness problem, it has to be addressed separately.

Carol

She use to have very poor discrimination. However, after Tomatis and Earobics she is in the solid average to high average now. I believe she can hear the sounds correctly. I can pinpoint her blending issues down to remembering the sound/symbol. She has what I think is a somewhat unique word retrieval problem. It’s a left brain/right brain issue(and a dominance issue)- the symbol(visual) is a right brain function and the sound(language) is a left brain function. She just cannot remember names of ‘things’. Doesn’t remember her friends names, name of the town she lives in, name of the school she goes to, names of her favorite foods etc. Sometimes she remembers and sometimes she forgets. Somehow sound/symbol is falling into this same category? It’s really weird. Her left brain(language center) is just not developed correctly. Because of her mixed dominance, her right brain is very strong and I think she relies on it too much and overcompensates - doesn’t use the left like she should.

When she reads, I can see her struggle with the sound/symbol. Sometimes it comes to her automatically and other times - she will miss really easy sounds. (ex. h she may say f, all short vowels she gets confused etc.) Again, if she remembers correctly, she can blend with the best of them. She also has a problem with deletion and I attribute this to her sequential memory issues.

But at least she is now remembering them most of the time. There was point where she could not remember - A, B, C - no matter how many times and ways we tried to get it into her (we did all the muli-sensory techniques). We could work weeks on just those 3 letters and NOTHING. After her 1st year in her pre-K/K class, she could not get thru one sound box(all the ‘normal’ kids even younger than she, completed all of the boxes). After sound therapy, Earobics, and Brainbuilder, she was able to get thru all the sound boxes in one month.

She is ‘sketchy’ in some areas, but at least she is learning and so far keeping up.

Note: She still has her CAPD to deal with.

Dea,

We are finally getting the sound symbol relationship down solid with PACE. The AP stuff has a drill like format. Now it took my son six weeks to get the 17 letters they use to automatic…but he is so much better now.

It may be she has to really overlearn some of this.

Beth

Thanks- good feedback. I’m hoping PACE will do so with my dd too. I want to start PACE around end of Sept(hoping I can get scheduled). We are doing another round of Tomatis right now, and I want to start PACE right after.

One of the reasons I wanted to do the PACE was for the auditory processing piece - Tanya had told me that they work on automaticty. I truly think my dd has some sort of neurological barrier, but I also think with lots of practice and repetition she can compensate/learn.

Thanks for the encouragement! Let me know how you end up after you are done with PACE? Have you completed the Neuronet yet?

We’ve been doing both all summer. In the last couple weeks, NN has only been about 15 minutes of work. This is really great and has helped with doing two programs at once. My son really only has work left on motor/memory and fast naming. The audiologist told me 6 fast naming sheets before you see it translate into word retreival. We’re finishing four, I think. I’ll let you know if we see improvements. We have seen improvements in reading fluency.

I think the AP work in PACE is superb. It has been really slow going for us though. I talked to the trainer in Sarasota where we went today and she told me she never had anyone go as slow as my son has!!! Well, she gave me some ideas so some of it, I am sure, is inexperience. Are you going to use a trainer or do it yourself?

I just redid the reading reflex pretests–my son is now perfect in segmenting and blending but still dismal in AP. PACE says work from easiest to hardest AP procedures so we haven’t hit those that are similar to the reading reflex AP ones yet.

We are going to use a trainer for PACE. I found someone very close to us, about 5min. away. They charge alot and don’t have a whole lot of experience - have been trained since XMAS. But I just don’t have the energy these days to do myself and realize we’ll have to do the ‘homework’ several days a week too.

My dd has been back at school going on 4 weeks. We saw a huge drop in her reading when she started back. She tends to do that when she goes back on track. I think it’s because she is tired and it takes her about a month to pick back up. We started sound therapy again last week - have done 2 sessions now. It’s probably a coincidence, but her reading is close to where she was at end of 1st grade in June as of late last week. Who knows?

2nd grade has been much more challenging to her, but she has not hit the wall yet. So far, she is even passing the spelling tests. We practice spelling using the rainbow colors technique and then she has to visualize it and then spell the word backwords and then spell it auditorily forwards. However, she still doesn’t transfer it to her writing.

Dea,

I would have used a trainer if one had been available five minutes away. Getting the training yourself is not any cheaper. I have done it myself because the nearest person was 45 minutes away and I couldn’t see doing that three times a week. Last winter we were doing that with NN once a week and that was enough. Plus, my son never seems to do anything at the speed he is supposed to so I thought it would make it easier to do a refresher later.

What is rainbow spelling?

I think you should be proud of her, and yourself, that she is keeping up in second grade. We didn’t get on our son’s problems intensely until after first grade and we are still playing catch up. He is going to be moved out of resource room for math this fall. He actually is good conceptually but slow processing, visual-spatial problems, and language based problems that carried over to math have impacted him. Neuronet helped a lot here and I think PACE has too. He still is slow though, just not as slow.

We’re feeling burned out too. I have been debating doing MTC or another PG intensive. I think MTC is a surer bet but I am leaning towards the PG intensive. My son had a fit about “another program” while he is more receptive to going back to Orlando. I think he likes the hotel. I did the Reading Reflex pretest again yesterday. His segmenting and blending are perfect now (due to PACE), code knowledge is in the low end of good, but his AP is still dismal. We haven’t got to those types of exercises yet in PACE. I am convinced that is what is holding him back. So maybe if we can get his AP normal, we’ll be OK with PG. If not, we’ll have to do MTC later. He made about 1 1/2 years progress over the past year which puts him about 6 months behind for third grade.

This is sure a lot of work!!!

Beth

You have done so much with him, you should be proud too. Does he feel like he is making progress? 6mo. behind is great, you are close, but have to be careful on that burn out thing. My dd knows that she is doing much better. One time when she was complaining

It was great that we had caught up enough in 1st grade that we could take a break. However, we feel that she is not making the gains like she was before, is becoming more obstinate on doing any kind of extra work and I don’t feel she learns at the same rate and pace as the other kids. She’s slipping some.

Rainbow spelling is good for kids who are high visual-spatial learners. May not be good for you son? You write each letter of the word using a different color. It allows them to ‘picture’ it easier in their head. When they have captured that image and have visualized it, they are suppose to be able to see the word and spell it backwords. So far (may be too early to really tell), this seems to be working for her. We have tried the sand-writing, shaving cream writing, back-writing and then just the standard repetitive thing. She is definatly at visual learner - the kinesthetic (sp?) does not work for her.

Dea,

Well, my son doesn’t have the visual spatial strengths your daughter has. He has made progress with PACE though. I like the idea. He might find it fun. Last year we did spelling for awhile. The shaving cream seemed to work well, if only because he held his interest.

My son has been whining big time lately so I sure know what you mean. He says noone has to work as hard as him.

We start school next week. I am dreading it. The only good thing is the resource room teacher who gave me fits is gone. Wonder if I had anything to do with that!!!! I haven’t met the new one but she has to be an improvement.

Beth

I was on such a high last night. She learned her spelling words in 15 min.!! and she had missed half of them on her pre-test.

What I found helped her, was chunking the word using the colors - for ex. Caterpillar was one of her words this week. So I did CAT in one color and ER in another. She had to learn that word forward and backword. Then I did PILL in a color and AR in a color - again forward/backword. Put them 2 together and she got it. Another example - ‘have’ - she keeps want to spell it HAV - forgets the e on end. So I did HAV in a color and E in a diff. color.

The other thing I learned last night was how important positive re-inforcement is. She overheard me talking with her dad at bedtime - we were commenting on how great she did learning her spelling words and both of us have noticed a big improvement in reading (she had dropped so much at beginning of school - she now back to her old level and maybe improved some - weird).

She was SO proud - SHE even suggested that SHE should start doing brainbuilder every day again. wow - couldn’t believe it. We all went to bed with smiles on our face last night!

She is doing really well. My son can hardly spell at all.

I do agree on the positive reinforcement. My son had been at the same level in a PACE activity for weeks. Part of the problem is that he processes “reversable letters” like b, p, d, q slower. I kept trying to get him to do it faster. And he did but not fast enough. One of my trainers told me to have him do it without those letters. We did and he was one second off. I passed him anyway. On the next level, he did really well. I think his motivation had really dropped because no matter what we did, he couldn’t get it fast enough.