News & Media

For media inquiries, please contact A Chance To Grow at (612) 789-1236 or email actg@actg.org.

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2021

Child care program piloted in New Ulm
New Ulm Journal, May 4, 2021
"A new child care pilot program has come to New Ulm called SMART Steps. The program was created by A Chance to Grow, a Minneapolis non-profit. A Chance to Grow started a program called Stimulating Maturity through Accelerated Readiness Training (SMART) that helps children’s brains and bodies get ready to learn by building the foundation for basic readiness skills."
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2020

Bob DeBoer, who left a legacy of innovation for special needs kids, dies at 73
Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 7, 2020
"He and his wife, Kathy DeBoer, launched A Chance To Grow, which offers services such as vision therapy, auditory services and neurofeedback for struggling learners."
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2018

Moving the Needle on School Readiness
Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, Oct. 23, 2018
"On any given day at the Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Elementary School in Blue Earth County, you will find kids crawling on the floor, jumping on a trampoline, walking on a balance beam, and spinning around with arms wide open. What might look like play time is actually a highly structured program called S.M.A.R.T. that helps children prepare their brains and bodies for academic success."
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A S.M.A.R.T. Start
by Sandra R. Sabo, CSCOE, Jan. 31, 2018
"At many schools, rolling around, jumping up and down, and navigating monkey bars are typically reserved for recess time. But at Notre Dame Academy in Minnetonka, such activities are routinely integrated into the classroom curriculum as part of the school’s implementation of S.M.A.R.T. — Stimulating Maturity through Accelerated Readiness Training."
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2017

Don't sit: S.M.A.R.T. teachers get kids on the move
by Noah Vernau, Portage Daily Register, Jun. 29, 2017
"Some leaders in education say that in order to understand the emphasis on body movement and brain stimulation in young children, you need to understand the climate in schools and homes that make it so necessary."
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Educators from over 20 counties come to Owatonna for three-day S.M.A.R.T. workshop
by Ryan Anderson, Owatonna People's Press, Jun. 15, 2017
"Educators from more than 20 counties came to Owatonna this week for a S.M.A.R.T. workshop, where they learned new ways to stimulate the minds and bodies of their students."
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2016

Park Christian S.M.A.R.T. program designed to boost learning
by Helmut G. Schmidt, InForum.com, Oct. 15. 2016
"The 7-year-old was sporting a big smile after a 40-minute stint in Park Christian School's S.M.A.R.T. room with the rest of her first-grade class. "It's really fun. It gets your brain and your eyes ready to learn," Johnson said, taking a break from crawling on a map and alternating between touching numbers and her ears."
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S.M.A.R.T. Program Teaching Teachers in La Crosse
WKBT News, La Crosse, WI, Aug. 5, 2016
A S.M.A.R.T. workshop profile piece by Sarah Thamer

S.M.A.R.T. workshops train educators in brain stimulation
by Noah Vernau, Portage Daily Register, Jun. 30, 2016
"Everyone knows movement, at any age, is good. But movement for young children, S.M.A.R.T. workshop leaders explained, is more critical than what most people would probably guess. Leaders from Minnesota Learning Resource Center on Wednesday wrapped up three days of classes..."
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S.M.A.R.T. Training comes to Owatonna
Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, Jun. 21, 2016
"Over 40 early childhood educators gathered for a three-day training last week in Owatonna for a SMART workshop training series. This three day training, led by A Chance to Grow, was funded by a $20,000 grant from SMIF. A Chance To Grow offers multiple programs..."
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Local educators get S.M.A.R.T
by Anna Segner, Owatonna People's Press, Jun. 16, 2016
"Early childhood educators from Owatonna and the greater southern Minnesota area found themselves jumping, rolling and hopping on the third day of the S.M.A.R.T. workshop on Thursday morning. The workshop, held Tuesday through Thursday this week at the Owatonna Arts Center, was funded by grants from the Otto Bremer Foundation and the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation."
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Staying S.M.A.R.T. in Mitchell
by Sara Bertsch, The Daily Republic, Jun. 8, 2016
"When Susan Dodd first received training for the S.M.A.R.T. program 11 years ago, she didn't realize that she would be using these same skills every day in her classroom to this day. Dodd, a first-grade teacher at Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary in Mitchell, said she has seen a lot of success in her classroom using the S.M.A.R.T. program techniques.
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2012

S.M.A.R.T. Training for Teachers
by Kremena Spengler, The Journal, Jun. 21, 2012
"District 88 is hosting S.M.A.R.T. training Tuesday through Thursday at the District Administrative Center, attended by teachers from New Ulm, Blue Earth, Mankato, Belle Plaine, St. Clair, St. James, LaSalle, LeCenter, Montgomery, Lake Benton, Eau Claire, Wis., and even Tokyo, Japan!"
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The Power of Movement
by Michelle Bruch, Minnesota Parent Magazine, Mar. 2012
"At a Northeast day camp, 10-year-old kids with autism navigate an unusual obstacle course. They walk a balance beam, hang on monkey bars and alligator-crawl across mats."
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Twin Cities Nonprofit Uses Light Therapy For Depression
WCCO Channel 4, Mar. 6, 2012
"Children and adults feeling depressed and anxious have another way to fight their problems, and this solution doesn’t involve medication. It actually involves light. Consider it a type of light therapy that calms the brain. The results for some people have been dramatic, especially for a 14-year-old Minnesota boy."
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2011

Teachers Learn Curriculum Designed to Prevent Learning Disabilities
by Ivory Hecker, Northland’s NewsCenter, Duluth, MN, July 14, 2011
"Teachers in the Northland are learning a new curriculum that’s designed to correct or prevent learning disabilities in students. S.M.A.R.T. training looks at kids through a developmental, rather than chronological, standpoint and emphasizes the connection between physical movement and mental learning."
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Northland Foundation Approves Grant for S.M.A.R.T. Program
Pine Journal, Carlton County, MN, February 28, 2011
"The Northland Foundation has approved a third year of funding for the Minneapolis-based nonprofit A Chance To Grow to partner with area schools in implementing S.M.A.R.T., a brain-stimulating program shown to improve reading skills. The Northland grant will provide $8,000 toward mentoring services for educators in nine elementary schools in Duluth and across the northeast region."
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Special Education Classroom Activities
by Carol McCulloch, Bright Hub, February 4, 2011
"Designed by professional physical therapists, the Stimulating Maturity through Accelerated Readiness Training (S.M.A.R.T.) curriculum “helps children develop the skills that are essential for classroom learning,” says Josh Orpen, Communications Coordinator of the Minnesota Learning Resource Center. The program’s multi-sensory activities provide tools for training the brain stem to develop auditory, visual, and motor functions."
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2010

S.M.A.R.T. Learners Spinning up Success in the Classroom
by Jeff Olsen, KARE 11, Minneapolis, MN, Aug. 25, 2010
"Teachers continue to adopt a Minnesota-based educational curriculum that uses a variety of physical activities to enhance a child’s mental ability to learn in the classroom. “They say that the average 4-year-old has spent 1,000 hours in a car seat. We know that computers & TV kind of robs kids of normal outside activity,” MLRC Director Nancy Farnham said, "without that activity, the brain stem isn’t able to develop enough for a child to be ready for classroom learning."
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S.M.A.R.T. Puts Teachers on Floor
by Jena Pike, Northland News, Duluth, MN, Aug. 17, 2010
"The program has helped improve test scores for students in the past, including groups which traditionally have lower scores. Teachers also cover topics, such as behavior in the classroom and what it might mean for a child's learning style, and what mistakes teachers make. "Traditional things – having kids always sitting still, some kids are movement learners, they gather information with a simple rocking back and forth. It might drive you nuts as a teacher but it may be the way the children do it,” said one mentor."
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Extra Stimulation a SMART Idea
by Tanner Kent, Mankato Free Press, Mankato, MN, July 30, 2010
"SMART is an increasingly popular curriculum based on neurological science that shows that stimulating certain parts of the brain through muscle movement can prepare students to learn, especially those in elementary grades…Gina Danielson, a first-grade teacher at Washington Elementary, in Mankato, said she would spend about 20 to 30 minutes per day engaging her students in SMART activity. She said the results were noticeable and significant with students being less fidgety, more focused and ready to learn. “I saw growth across the board,” Danielson said, “reading especially."
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2009

S.M.A.R.T. at Eagle Point Elementary
Life to the Max, March 2009

2005

Push-Ups for the Brain
ABC 6, Austin, MN Rochester, MN, April 2005
A student's use of A Chance To Grow's Audio Visual Entrainment program.