Kathleen’s Philosophy
The philosophy of all programming is as follows:
- Learning depends on progressive levels of maturation of the nervous system.
- Maturation can be facilitated through the application of neurodevelopmental principles to children’s learning activities.
- Children learn best when as many sensory and motor pathways are utilized as possible.
- Children learn most quickly what seems to them to be relevant to their needs and interests.
- Learning experiences succeed best when structured to fit each child’s level of neurodevelopment, learning style and perceived needs and interests.
- Parents should be intimately involved in understanding their child’s level of maturation, setting learning goals and following through with home activities.
- For every child, a paramount goal is happiness, based on a feeling of self-worth and competence, fostered by the respect and love of the adults in the child’s life.
Therefore:
Shaming or denigration will never be used as a method of discipline.
Self-control will be fostered by structuring environment and time in positive ways.
Positive reinforcement will be used.
Intrinsic motivation will be fostered by frequently verbally listing for the child what he has accomplished.
The belief that one possible root cause of a child with a developmental disability is based on a nervous system immaturity or disorder and that:
- A high degree of plasticity exists in the human brain, and a redundancy of neural pathways. Therefore, even damaged or seriously delayed nervous systems, activation of alternate pathways are possible.
- Effective teaching/learning strategies are best planned and executed by a collaborative multi-disciplinary team of educators, therapists, and parents.
- Efforts should be directed toward building independent functioning in daily living skills as a foundation for maximizing the child’s potential starting at an early age.
- Family is ultimately most important piece in the child’s successful long-term outcome. Efforts of the family should include the children with developmental disabilities as much as possible into the same activities as would be expected from other family members. Frequent exposure in small doses that can be gradually increased over time leads to less isolation, more experience, and more neurodevelopmental growth.