Our first daughter has always had a passion for life. She has been energetic and exuberant from birth. There was no snuggling on the couch as we read books for our lessons — she couldn’t be still that long. Always on the go my girl is. When we began teaching her to read, there were tears from all involved. Though we have not had a formal diagnosis, anyone with experience has said she is highly likely to have ADHD and dyslexia. Over the years (she’s nearly 13 now) we have picked up various tricks and techniques to make life easier for all of us. I really wish we had found some of the information in this DVD,
Understanding Child Brain Development, sooner.
Family Hope Center recently sent this DVD to our family for this Schoolhouse Crew Review.
The Family Hope Center is located in Pennsylvania and directed by Matthew and Carol Newell. They have a heart for helping families with children of all ages and levels of diagnosis. From ADD/ADHD and autism to Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome, they have had success in helping families with many labels and symptoms. This is accomplished mainly in your own home with you, the parent implementing the hands-on, step-by-step plan developed by the team at the Family Hope Center. They offer 3 day training conferences for parents and two-day appointments for your child to develop a personalized program. Many areas are included in their programs, from medical to nutritional to physiological.
Part anatomy lesson, part encouragement for families and part treatment ideas, the video, Understanding Child Brain Development, offers hope to families affected by disorders in neurological development. I knew that brain development continued after birth, but I never realized how particular events were involved in that development. The old saying about “you have to walk before you can run” takes on richer meaning after watching this workshop.
Filmed during a live workshop, the video is divided into 15 chapters. All told it is about 2 hours in length, though I watched just a few chapters at a time. There is a lot of information here, take time to absorb it all. You might think the material would be dry, watching the workshop boring – but it wasn’t at all. Matthew Newell is an engaging speaker who made the time fly as I watched. Due to the nature of the video, the quality of both the audio and visual components could be improved. The slides used during the presentation could not be seen clearly but were available as a pdf. I would love to see this redone to the high quality that the information presented deserves. I would also like to see demonstrations of some of the techniques discussed. For those with a personalized program, their is a DVD available on their site, Mastering the Elements, for help in getting started implementing the program. This page also has a listing of books recommended – I recognized a few of those titles.
After watching Understanding Child Brain Development, I have a renewed passion for giving my children the best start I can. I don’t feel hopeless about the difficulties they have, but look for ways to help them now. The seemingly random developmental things do matter. Our brains are amazing things! While I don’t recall anything speaking for or against creationism, this video reminds me of how awesome our Creator is.
To order the DVD, please call 610-397-1737 or you can order Understanding Child Brain Development from IEW ($19.00). Other Crew families received the video as well; be sure to read their reviews.
Thank you Family Hope Center!
