Vanessa Ruda was named KY ACTE special-needs teacher of the year in 2013. She has been using our program for the last few months and sent this letter to share her personal experience as a parent, educator, and doctoral student.
Hi Carol!
I wanted to let you know my son Zdravko has been making improvements since we began the primitive reflex exercises last month. He is faithful and cooperative in completing them each day. Within two weeks of these exercises Zdravko was able to tell me the names of all of his teachers and the subjects they taught. He could also remember names of several students in his classes, their “reputation” and where they sat in the classroom. In addition, Zdravko has memorized the 4-digit code for opening our garage door. These tasks were not within the capacity of his working memory before beginning the exercises. Recently he was practicing his reading with his aunt Emily. Emily lives out of state and is only able to visit now and then. She noticed an improvement in Zdravko’s reading since her last visit, too. We have only begun practicing with “Blink” and the linking block exercises. They are definitely challenging for him and I am excited to see what combining these practices will do to continue his progress!
As I work with my students at the high school level I am pained to see some whose full potential will never be reached because of so many obstacles. If only these methods were more widely known and accepted more kids could enjoy a more pleasant educational journey and ultimately a better quality of life. Today I submitted the proposal for my dissertation toward my doctoral degree in Educational Leadership and Psychology. I am planning to research “Cumulative-Cognitive Deficit in International Adoptees and the Effect of Cognitive Brain Training on their Academic Success”. You and I both know these cognitive brain training exercises/therapies affect far more than academics, but for the sake of my research I thought limiting my scope to something that could be linked to a more quantitative study would be best– at least for now. Without a doubt, the workshop you led at Equipping Minds was the single most influential, useful professional development experience I have ever attended. Thank you for the work you do and the blessings it brings to the children and students of those privileged enough to be exposed to this method of brain function enhancement!
Sincerely,
Vanessa Baker Ruda, MS
Post-Secondary Transitions Specialist
Center for College & Career Readiness
Jessamine Career & Technology Center
Nicholasville, Kentucky
