What if…
What if there were no learning disabilities?
Or what if folks with learning disabilities and or behavior challenges could learn to overcome them, without medication?
What if everyone with a learning disability could learn to read?
What if the same methods that could help someone with learning disabilities could also help someone without disabilities improve and sharpen their cognitive skills and physical performance too?
I wish I could say that learning disabilities didn’t exist. But they do. The number of family’s facing certain learning disabilities like ADHD, ADD, and Autism Spectrum Disorders continue to rise at an alarming rate and more families than ever are facing enormous learning and behavioral challenges. These kids given these diagnosis don’t fit into the traditional classroom very well. They don’t learn the same way the majority of the other kids learn, or the way teachers teach, in school. Many times they are prescribed medications to help them stay calm in the classroom so the teacher can teach the whole class with minimal disruptions. Most of the time these kids fall through the learning gap, and fall behind, and many never learn to read or never learn to read at the skill and age level of their peers.
But…
What if…
What if there was a way to teach folks to overcome limitations?
What if there was a proven method?
What if that method has 40 years of research and success, but has struggled to evolve into mainstream approach to reduce or eliminate medications and even though many therapists have heard about it, mainstream culture, most parents, family doctors, and the regular classroom has not?
There is a way, and that method is called Learning Breakthrough Program.
The Learning Breakthrough Program is the invention of Frank Belgau who asked himself over 40 years ago “What if ?” I would encourage you to pick up a copy of the A Life In Balance book, and come along on the journey to learn about Frank’s life, his passion, his research, and hear testimonies from the families and individuals his program has helped in this autobiography co-written by his son, Eric Belgau.
Life In Balance, A Discovery of a Learning Breakthrough
Soft cover 216 pages
Retails for $18.95 , but is currently on sale for $16.95
See the web site link above for ordering details.
Frank Belgau’s research has led him to a learning breakthrough. He could not have named his program with a more appropriate name than the Learning Breakthrough Program. So simple yet so profound is this method. He developed this method to help everyone move past neurological barriers, and train the brain through the development of movement and balancing skills. Through the use of balance and eye hand coordination activities for a just a few minutes each day, a person can unlock learning skills and abilities.
A Life In Balance is the book that explains who Frank is and describes the process that took place in Frank’s discovery of the Learning Breakthrough Program. We were sent a pdf copy of the book for the purpose of this review, and I was very impressed with his story. He is a true hero and has blessed so many people with his discovery and his efforts to put the information into everyone’s hands. This book is written for adults, parents, and higher skilled readers. Though I think many young people would enjoy hearing about Frank’s life and his son’s life growing up too.
The information in this book is relevant for parents, childcare workers, teachers, therapists of all disciplines, doctors, nurses, athletes, coaches, engineers, and more need to know this key to unlocking the brain’s abilities. The Learning Breakthrough Program method goes beyond teaching those born with learning disabilities. It can help those who have never suffered an injury and just want to improve their skills in any subject area, it can also help rehabilitate those who have suffered brain and physical injuries in childhood and adulthood, and can help skilled athletes improve their athletic abilities too.
There are so many applications for using the Learning Breakthrough Program method. A lot of information and suggested exercises are mentioned in the book. The complete Learning Breakthrough Program resources kit including hands on equipment for daily use, and a DVD, is available on their web site. It requires about 15 minutes twice a day to implement. That is very simple straight forward effort in two short sessions of 15 minutes to help your child learn to focus, rebuild connections in the brain so they can develop skills to read, listen, write, compute, make decisions, and more.
When I was a young mother, I heard about how jumping and counting at the same time could help kids process early math skills. I heard it was especially helpful for energetic boys who couldn’t sit still very well. So we got a mini trampoline and put it into the living room for the kids to bounce on while they practiced math and spelling or needed a break. I had also heard that using a balancing board helped children learn better and was supposed to help the postpartum mom loose the weight she gained while pregnant. So I bought a balance board nearly 12 years ago and we have used it with all six of our kids. I don’t think it ever helped me loose the extra weight, but it did help my kids. I did not know there was a strategy or method and I did not know at the time that it was orrigionally used with those with brain injuries. I only knew that learning to balance helped with other areas of learning. I had seen some info on using a balancing board and a balance beam and classical music to improve children’s retainage of information and gross motor skills at the same time.
The kids also enjoy playing on the balancing on the board, and practicing on it while watching learning programs on TV too. Above is a picture of my son balancing on our board while watching a learning program on PBS KIDS. We still always thought of it as just a passive form of exercise, and an activity to give the kids something to do to pass the time, or help them get the wiggles out so they will listen and do their school work.
I was amazed through reading this book that there really is a scientific process that works with our body system called the Vestibular System. This is the part of the brain that helps you with coordination. It helps you keep your balance, and it also can reprogram pathways in the brain for information for several skills as it helps reroute information in the brain. There is a lot of information in the book that explains how the brain works and how we can work with it to maximizes it’s abilities and strengths. I hope to implement several of the exercises mentioned in the book and see how it helps the kids and myself learn and process information better.
I honestly wish I had a copy of this book to hand out to every family I know, and it would make a great wedding gift, baby shower gift, graduation gift especially for those wanting to become teachers and therapists, and also just as a gift of friendship too for families from all walks of life.
Be sure to follow Learning Breakthrough on their social media links, and check out their Youtube videos too:
Check out what others on the Schoolhouse Review Crew had to say about using this product in their homeschool.
“What if” is a perspective I appreciate. I am interested in reading this book.