 A dream come true filled with heartbreaking challenges. Kimie and Jenni were overjoyed to welcome four children into their hearts and home through adoption. What began as a dream come true soon became a journey filled with challenges, resilience, and ultimately, hope. As a foster mom, Kimie understood the deep emotional struggles many children carry from early trauma. Still, nothing could have prepared her for the journey of supporting each of her children who were struggling with their painful past experiences. PTSD was a common thread among the challenges they faced, alongside anxiety, depression, ADHD, and autism. With four children between the ages of 7 and 10, finding meaningful support that addressed each child's unique needs often felt impossible. Traditional interventions provided some help, but Kimie continued searching for solutions that could create lasting change for her family.  Big brother, Tae, had astonishing results! Their oldest son, Tae, was the first to begin neurofeedback brain training at A Chance To Grow. A creative and caring boy who loves swimming, Minecraft, and helping others, Tae struggled with emotional regulation, focus, and impulse control. After hearing how neurofeedback could help calm the brain and improve self-regulation, Kimie felt a renewed sense of hope. “The progress we saw in under a month was astonishing,” Kimie shares. “The shifts in focus, emotional stability, and overall functioning were not only noticeable to us, but to teachers, therapists, and extended family as well.” The change was so remarkable, she knew she wanted access to neurofeedback for every member of the family. Wanting the entire family to experience the calm, focus and self-control that transformed Tae’s life, Kimie was excited to learn about the neurofeedback rental program available through A Chance To Grow. “It's difficult coordinating everyone's schedule, and having the convenience of being able to participate in the neurofeedback program at home made it possible for everyone in the family to do brain training.” Kimie beams. “Neurofeedback has made a remarkable difference in every member of our family.” Some of the changes she has seen across the family include:
Kimie adds, “Our family used to become angry or overwhelmed very quickly. Now we are calmer, less impulsive, and more in control of our emotions." Grateful for neurofeedback, Kimie appreciates the meaningful difference neurofeedback has made in her family’s overall well-being. The program is supportive, non-invasive, and effective. She loves how easy it is to incorporate into daily life and that help is always available when she needs it.  Kimie's recommendation, “I wholeheartedly recommend neurofeedback at A Chance To Grow to anyone. It has made a profound difference in our home, and I'm grateful for the positive changes it continues to bring to our lives.”
For families navigating the effects of trauma, anxiety, attention challenges, or emotional regulation difficulties, hope is possible. Neurofeedback has helped this family build calmer days, stronger connections, and a brighter future—and it may be the next step for yours as well. If you want to learn more about neurofeedback services and discover how brain training can help unlock potential, build resilience, and create lasting change, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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 Ben* used to have so much to say—but the words wouldn’t come out the way he wanted. He mixed up sounds, lost words mid-sentence, and struggled to be understood. While others reassured his mom that he was “fine,” she could hear the difference. And Ben could feel it too. The more he tried to speak, the more frustrated he became, often shutting down or melting down when he couldn’t get his thoughts across. Everything changed when he finally received the right speech support at A Chance To Grow. His therapist saw what others had missed—Ben's difficulty with articulation, eye contact, and expressing himself clearly. Week by week, he began to find his voice. Ben practiced sounds, built confidence in conversation, and learned how to communicate his thoughts and feelings without meltdowns as his frustration in speaking slowly faded. Today, Ben speaks with confidence and joy. He connects, shares, laughs, and expresses himself in ways that once felt out of reach. The little boy who struggled to be understood is now a child who feels heard—and that has changed everything. *Names and photo have been changed for privacy.  There is a quiet hope that happens every day inside the walls of A Chance To Grow. It doesn’t always look dramatic. There are no grand stages or loud applause. Instead, it looks like a child buttoning their shirt for the first time. A mother exhaling in relief after months of uncertainty. A small hand reaching out—confident, steady, and ready. This is the work of occupational therapy. For the families we serve, the journey often begins in overwhelm. Simple daily tasks can feel impossible. Questions linger. Worries grow. But step by step, with expert guidance and unwavering compassion, something begins to shift. Confidence replaces frustration. Independence grows where there was once hesitation. Joy returns in moments that many take for granted. Our therapists don’t just teach skills—they unlock potential. They see what’s possible in every child and walk alongside families making possibility a reality. And the impact reaches far beyond our clinic walls. When a child gains independence, a family gains hope. When families feel supported, communities grow stronger. This is how lives are changed—not all at once, but in meaningful, powerful moments that provide a child with a chance to grow into something extraordinary. This Occupational Therapy Month, we celebrate all these moments with each of you – past, present and future! We celebrate the children who persevere, the families who trust the journey, and the therapists whose expertise and heart make transformation possible every single day. Because here, progress is more than checking a box, or meeting a goal. It’s possibility. It’s dignity. It’s a future unfolding—one small, life-changing moment at a time.  I spent a lot of time at A Chance To Grow when I was a little girl. I loved Boost Up Camp and honestly thought neurofeedback was awesome because I got to watch movies. Vision Therapy though? Yeah… I definitely complained about that one. Not my favorite but I am so grateful my parents were patient and didn't give up on me. Back then, I had no idea how much all of it mattered. I was just a kid trying to get through hard things. What I didn’t see was how many people were showing up for me with a love and a passion for what they do… believing in me…and investing in a future when I couldn’t even imagine one for myself yet. There were seasons when I felt behind, frustrated, and unsure of who I was going to become. But little by little, this place helped me grow stronger, more confident, and more hopeful. Now I’m 22, and I’m living a life my younger self never thought was possible. I have opportunities, dreams, and a future that once felt completely out of reach. And the craziest, most amazing part? I feel so grateful that I am able to give back to the same place that once supported me during some of my toughest times! A Chance To Grow didn’t just teach me skills while helping me to calm my mind and body— it showed me that I mattered. It gave me hope when I had almost none. There are kids walking through those doors right now who feel just like I once did. Kids who don’t know yet how strong or capable they really are. And the truth is — stories like mine only happen when we all give from our heart, gifting hope and a future with life-changing possibility. Thank you to everyone who makes A Chance To Grow possible. Sincerely, Jayna P.  Destiny was a young mother in a big city, carrying the weight so many parents know too well—fear, uncertainty, and the desperate hope of finding someone who would truly see and care for her child. She had heard one horror story after another about daycare programs, and as she searched for a safe place for her toddler, Mia, she began to lose hope. Then, a social worker told her about A Chance To Grow. The moment Destiny walked through the doors of Turnquist Childcare Enrichment Center, she felt something shift. “Wow,” she said. “It felt different—and I loved the environment and small class sizes.” She had no idea, on that first day, that her life and her children’s futures were about to change in ways she never imagined. At A Chance To Grow, Destiny found something she had never experienced—support not only for her child, but for herself. She was encouraged to ask questions and was given tools along with activities to help her children grow—at home and in school. She was never alone in figuring out how to best support her children. “The teachers are amazing,” Destiny recalls. She was grateful for how they strived to meet each child’s unique needs.  But the journey didn’t end there. When Mia, her middle child began falling behind in speech, Ms. Carla gently recommended speech therapy through A Chance To Grow. Soon, the milestone every parent cherishes happened—Mia spoke her first words: “Mom” and “Dad.” That individualized support created lasting results. When her oldest daughter Maya entered kindergarten, she was able to write her own name and already knew her ABCs and numbers. Teachers were stunned—this was a child ready to learn, confident, and prepared. But the journey didn’t end there. When Mia, her middle child began falling behind in speech, Ms. Carla gently recommended speech therapy through A Chance To Grow. Soon, the milestone every parent cherishes happened—Mia spoke her first words: “Mom” and “Dad.”  Destiny with (from left) Mia, Mellie and Maya. When the teachers noticed Mia frequently squeezing her eyelids tightly, another referral led to an eye exam—and a pair of glasses that changed her world. Suddenly, she stopped bumping into things and started moving forward with confidence and smiles.
Today, Destiny’s youngest, one-year-old Mellie, is in the same classroom with Sami, the same teacher who supported her big sisters. While all the teachers are great, Destiny says with tears in her eyes, “Ms. Carla is amazing. She texts back immediately and finds solutions, and they even give food cards and gifts for the holidays.” She continues, “A Chance To Grow is like family. I love everything they do—not just for my kids, but for everyone.” Inspired by the care and growth she saw, Destiny began pursuing her own education in elementary childhood development. She now worked full time with Americorps, and when a position opened at Turnquist, she stepped into the role without hesitation. “I didn’t even have to think about it—it was perfect.” Destiny’s children are flourishing and as a mom she feels loved and supported. And now her nieces and nephews attend Turnquist as well, making her family part of a growing circle of progress and empowerment. Destiny says it best: “A Chance To Grow literally changes lives. I am so thankful.” A Chance To Grow is honored to be a part of families like Destiny’s— creating a rippling effect that begins when a parent is supported, a child is encouraged, and a community comes together to give every child a chance to grow.  Maria* knows her son David is an amazing, creative and gifted child. He was the perfect baby, so easy to manage. He never cried. But as he got older, Maria knew things weren’t quite right but no one could figure out how to help her son thrive. The teachers and doctors tried to diagnose and label David but none of them ever really defined his struggles or fit the description of who Maria knew her child to be. Dedicated to help her son be successful and find happiness from within, Maria searched for years for the right approach and effective therapies with little success.
David got to the point where he was living in a constant state of fight or flight. It got so bad he refused to leave the house. Maria’s husband, Matt, would carry him kicking and screaming to the car so that David could get to the places he needed to be. Maria knew her child was struggling with something serious, but despite searching for the right diagnosis and help for years, she still had no answers. In first grade, David sat in the classroom, completely disengaged. His nervous tick of twirling his hair around his finger in school actually created a bald spot. However, her son surprised his teacher when he scored in the 99th percentile on standardized testing. Based on David’s test scores and underperformance, Maria hoped they had found an answer in the school district’s high-potential program for gifted children. As part of the application process for this program, her son had to undergo psychological testing. This revealed that not only was David gifted with a high IQ but he had an anxiety disorder, as well. Finally, an answer! They thought they were on the right track. However, their hope evaporated when David was unable to meet the requirements for admission to the gifted program. Maria knew she had to do something different, and with renewed motivation she discovered A Chance To Grow. “We wanted to try everything we could to avoid medicating David,” Maria explained. She was so excited to have her son get started with Occupational Therapy. And, after years of feeling so alone, Maria now had a team of therapists. They performed a complete assessment, diagnosis, and collaborated with each other to develop a program and series of interventions catered to his specific needs. One of the additional programs recommended was neurofeedback. It helped David to regulate his nervous system better, helping him to move out of his constant state of anxiety. “The changes are amazing,” states Maria. “After so many years of worry, it feels so good to be making progress.” Maria is excited to see David’s real personality start to surface. “He opened up so much with occupational therapy,” says mom. “And when we added neurofeedback, he became a different person. He’s talkative and no longer refuses to leave the house due to his anxiety. These changes would not have been possible without A Chance to Grow.” As the family settles into their new life of hope, promise and possibility, Maria is filled with gratitude. “A Chance To Grow has been life-changing for our family.” *Names have been changed for privacy. I want everyone to know about the best kept secret – ACTG “For the first time, I felt understood,” Joan said. “ACTG offered therapies I’d never even heard of—but they made complete sense. For the first time ever, I knew we had found a better path.” *Lexi is a sweet teenager with a big smile. She adores her family, friends, and her puppy dog, Buddy. But as Joan*, Lexi's mother, watched her child struggle in school, it broke her heart. "I knew there had to be something to help her, but it wasn't easy to figure out." School was never easy. Her parents first noticed the struggle in second grade, when simple homework assignments would bring her to tears. When she would write out words, her handwriting looked like a toddler’s. Focusing was difficult for Lexi no matter how hard she tried. Despite knowing how bright she was, her parents watched her fall behind—especially in reading and math. Determined to help her, they didn't give up on the long and exhausting search for answers. A full neurological evaluation eventually brought some clarity: ADHD and Dyslexia. Like so many parents on similar journeys, they tried everything—specialized tutoring, learning supports, diet changes, medications. But Lexi’s struggles persisted. By 5th grade, with little progress despite countless interventions, her parents knew they had to look deeper. Additional testing revealed poor working memory and slow auditory processing, alongside with her previous diagnoses. With each new school year, they watched their daughter’s confidence fade, and their hope dim. “We tried everything,” Joan shared. “Tutors, medications, diet changes, even a private school that promised to change her life. Nothing worked. Every night, I watched my daughter struggle and I felt helpless.” By seventh grade, the family was out of answers—and nearly out of hope. “I had this feeling something was wrong deep in her brain,” Joan said. “Her neurons weren’t firing, pathways were blocked. Unless we found the root cause, she’d keep slipping further behind.” Then, one late night of desperate Googling, Joan stumbled upon A Chance To Grow (ACTG). That first phone call changed everything. Joan contacted Kelly Pittman, Director of ACTG’s Neurotechnology services, and during their first discussion, she knew that she was on the right track. “Talking to Kelly that first time was so refreshing because she totally understood our plight, having dealt with this type of stuff both as a parent and professionally.” “We tried everything,” Joan shared. “Tutors, medications, diet changes, even a private school that promised to change her life. Nothing worked. Every night, I watched my daughter struggle and I felt helpless. Jordan began neurofeedback, training her brain to calm, focus, and reset. She started Neuro Integrative Therapy, purposeful movements that rewire the brain for learning. ACTG also did functional vision and auditory screenings—tests most schools never provide. The discoveries were life-changing. “We learned her eyes weren’t tracking correctly. She was skipping words when she read, so her brain never had a chance to understand. Learning is 80% visual—and for years this was mistaken for ADHD and Dyslexia. No wonder she struggled!” She was also diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder. “Lexi could hear,” Joan explained, “but her brain wasn’t interpreting sounds correctly. All these years, the root issues were hidden—and now we finally had answers.” With ACTG’s therapies, Jordan is beginning to believe in herself again. “I was ready to give up,” Joan admitted. “But thanks to ACTG, my daughter has hope. Her future has hope. And that means everything.” Today, Joan wants other families to know: “ACTG is the best-kept secret. I don’t want any other parent to waste years and thousands of dollars like we did. Every child deserves a chance to grow.”
*Names were changed to protect privacy. Our family has benefited immensely from our OT experience with Adrienne. We have seen a shift in our daughter's ability to regulate and navigate intense emotions and feelings. We have seen her motor skills and coordination develop and have watched her accomplish new feats at the playground, which is a huge point of pride for her. As a parent, I appreciate the collaboration Adrienne offers - We want to be involved with our daughter's treatment plan and Adrienne takes the time to explain what she is doing, how it helps our child, and how we can integrate activities and the therapies at OT into our home routines.
A Chance To Grow is a special place for many reasons, not the least of which is our Turnquist Child Enrichment Center, that primarily serves young families that require county assistance to receive childcare services.
Turnquist consists of age-specific rooms for infants, toddlers and on up to preschool age. In addition to implementing a developmentally appropriate curriculum, Turnquist teachers are responsible for completing developmental assessments for each child every two months. “Most times, we [the teachers] are the first to notice any social, verbal or motor skill issues,” says Sami, an infant room teacher of three years. “If a child isn’t meeting certain developmental milestones, we notify the parents that we’ve identified an issue and recommend they be referred to our Clinics team. Parents are almost always OK with an observation, and quite often say that they’ve seen the same issues at home, but didn’t know how to address them.” Depending on the nature of the referral, an Occupational Therapist (OT) or Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) will observe the child in their classroom, alongside the Turnquist teacher. This provides a safe, familiar space for the child, and allows our therapists and teachers the opportunity to discuss whether evaluation and treatment would best address the child’s needs. Once an evaluation is complete and a care plan is established, a child will receive 1-3 therapy sessions per week, with the teacher available to receive additional instructions from the therapist about ways to continue the treatment. The teacher also serves as the intermediary between therapist and parent, providing progress reports and suggestions for therapy at home. “Working with the therapists is really nice,” says Sami, “especially when they show us how to do certain techniques. It makes a big difference that the teachers know how to help them, not just the therapists, because that means the child is getting the therapies they need all day, not just during one or two sessions. Parents really appreciate the convenience, they don’t have to take time out of their work days and it makes their lives a lot easier.” Michelle Koyama, MA OTR/L, ACTG’s Assistant Director of Clinical Services, knows that this process is only possible with great communication from everyone involved. “Normally, these families wouldn’t have access to additional therapies, but we’re able to take that barrier away because we are able to fluidly communicate with the teachers in Turnquist,” she says. “We have a shared philosophy and see things through a developmental and trauma-informed model. We’re on the same page so it makes our communication very easy.” Presently, 20 out of 32 children at Turnquist are receiving OT or SLP services. The need for these services has grown substantially in the wake of the COVID pandemic, and has often led to other areas of concern, including vision and auditory issues. Luckily, we offer vision and hearing screenings as well, and give parents the option to allow their child’s Turnquist teacher to represent their child in the exam room. Not only does this allow for the most optimal treatment schedule for the child (and parent), it provides our doctors with additional insight into their development, because they’re hearing it directly from the person that interacts with them in the early learning setting. “During the pandemic, seeing became flat,” says ACTG’s Optometrist, Dr. Shelby May, OD. “The world got small and children of all ages stayed in the same loop. They didn’t go to the grocery store, take vacations or have other novel experiences. The world wasn’t big enough for these children to grow properly, and we’ve seen milestone delay amplify.” From infants unable to hold their heads up (motor skills), to toddlers throwing tantrums (self-regulation), and preschoolers unwilling to give up screen time (attention), the effects of COVID are everywhere. The therapists and teachers at ACTG, however, are uniquely prepared to help these children. “Early intervention is so important,” says Sophie Reynolds, MS, OTR/L. “It’s really cool that our clinic is able to intervene at such early ages, where change can be made quickly because we can get to them so soon.” Dr. May sees several Turnquist children in her clinic, and despite the difficult environmental factors, she says that she’s now starting to see a rebound effect. “Kids are picking back up really fast. If we give them the right tools, all those skills come back. Their brains didn’t change, they always had the capability, they were just missing the experience - we have to give them the right stimulus to grow.”
Shania said that Larico had been to other daycares, but they didn’t provide the type of communication, support or sense of community that she wanted. “Now when they wake up, they’re both excited to go to school and to see their teachers and therapists. They really love it here, and I do too.”
The Turnquist Child Enrichment Center and Clinical Services are amazing resources for young parents striving to provide the best foundation for their children. But more importantly, the community that our teachers and therapists cultivate is what sets A Chance To Grow apart from any other daycare, school or clinic in the Twin Cities. “My kids wouldn’t be where they are today without the Turnquist teachers and the other services. It’s great that everything and everyone is in one building,” says Shania. “You can’t find a place like this anywhere else.” >> Click here to be redirected back to ACTG's Winter Newsletter At A Chance To Grow, we know from experience that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to helping individuals reach their highest potential. Every client we see is unique. We are proud to be able to offer so many therapeutic modalities to help our clients achieve their goals. Our therapists -- experts in auditory, vision, occupational, speech/language therapies and neurotechnology -- routinely work collaboratively to best address client needs. We believe that everything related to our health and wellness is connected, and it’s through this holistic lens that our team is able to provide the most comprehensive and individualized care for the whole person. For example, our Neuro Integrative Clinic combines elements of reflex integration, developmental movement, and sensory processing therapies that collectively promote brain growth and social, physical, and emotional development. To give our clients the most comprehensive care available, we continue to add therapeutic approaches. So we are delighted to announce that Jennifer Voorhees, an occupational therapist (OTR/L) who is trained in CranioSacral Therapy techniques, reflex integration and sensory processing therapies, has joined the Neuro Integrative Clinic. This is a wonderful addition to our panoply of approaches, as CranioSacral Therapy (CST) is a whole-body treatment that supports and nourishes the central nervous system. CST was pioneered in the 1970’s by Dr. John Upledger and is based on the idea that the body is interconnected at all levels – physically, emotionally and spiritually. This aligns with our overall holistic approach, allowing us to treat the whole person, not just the affliction.
Typically, the fascia tissue glides smoothly over the areas of the body, with little resistance or tension. When an illness or injury occurs, which may be physical or emotional, inflammation and scar tissue from the healing process may disrupt the fascia’s ability to function, restricting movement and causing pain. “From the top of our head, down to our toes, we’re connected by our fascia,” says Jennifer. “The slow, pumping rhythm of fluid through our bodies creates an ebb and flow on the fascia, allowing us to feel what’s moving, and what’s restricted.” The goal of CST is to respectfully guide the body’s own healing systems through gentle facilitation of the fascia as it returns to its full functional form. This is accomplished by applying gentle pressure – no more than the weight of a nickel – to assess and guide the fascia to restore the movement of the body’s tissues. . “Healing can happen when a person’s system - mind, body, spirit - is ready and supported to release restrictions,” says Jennifer. “There are times when our body needs a certain amount of restriction for short periods to heal itself. But when the body is ready and I feel the fascia start to shift and release, I just follow the rhythm that we can feel within the fascia, and gently encourage the movement in the direction of healing.”
A typical CST session for an adult lasts about one hour, and even less for a child. The number of sessions needed for improvement varies from person to person, but some clients say they feel less symptomatic after just one treatment.
As with all our clinicians, Jennifer tailors treatment to meet the needs and preferences of those she serves. “I work with the client to understand what they’re comfortable with and adjust the treatment to meet their needs. Some clients have sensory issues and don’t like being touched or having their body manipulated. Sometimes we utilize visualization, guided imagery or calming music to put the client at ease. The body knows what it needs, my job is to listen to it so I can facilitate the change safely.” We’re thrilled to add CST to our menu of treatment choices and Jennifer to our team of skilled therapists. Aligning with our philosophy of mind-body connection, CST embraces the whole person, and beautifully complements our other treatment modalities, giving us another invaluable and effective asset for meeting client needs. As Jennifer notes, “Most clients say that they feel rested and relaxed after a session. When people have success with this treatment technique, it’s undeniable. We keep doing it because it works!” The interconnectedness of our wellbeing is a foundational principle at A Chance To Grow. It’s evident in how our clinics and clinicians work together to serve our clients, as well as the way we approach innovative interventions. But practicing this principle builds more than just organizational or physiological connections, it builds human connections, which allows all of us to achieve more together. To learn more about the interventions offered by the integrated Clinical Services of A Chance To Grow, please visit our website at ACTG.org/ClinicalServices or call us at (612) 789-1236. Let us connect you to the service you need to reach your full potential! For as long as he can remember, Samson has had vision problems. When he was young, he was always tripping over things, misjudging distances. He was given glasses at an early age, but even with them, he had trouble seeing.
He gave up reading for pleasure, and instead turned to video games, playing repetitive games whose patterns he could remember so he didn’t have to track with his eyes so much. But Samson is a smart guy with a wide range of interests and a determination to get ahead. Despite his reading problems, he graduated from a rigorous private school and got a BA from the University of Minnesota. He loves theatre and dance, history and politics. He is fluent in a second language, Spanish, and having visited Spain twice, his long-term goal is to move there. But none of these accomplishments came easily. He says his vision issues were an “invisible problem” that bedeviled his teachers and friends – everyone knew he was smart, but couldn’t understand why he had trouble keeping up with his work. He has loving, concerned parents who did everything they could think of to help him, encouraging him, taking him to specialists, including regular eye doctor visits. Optometrists would prescribe glasses, but his problems persisted. As Samson discovered when he came to A Chance To Grow’s Vision Clinic, the problem was, they were focusing only on his eyes, not on the eye/brain connection that was at the root of his problem.
When Samson’s mother saw the evidence, she cried. It was the first time in Samson’s 31 years that anyone could show her what was wrong.
With the information generated by the program, Dr. May was able to diagnose Samson with Oculomotor Dysfunction and Accommodative Excess, meaning his eyes have difficulty tracking, and he overcompensates to correct. She also found that his glasses prescription is anisometric, meaning he has a large difference in the prescription for each eye. Those issues have made it very difficult for his two eyes to develop in a way that worked together. It also profoundly affects his depth perception. This explains so much of what Samson has experienced. When eyes can’t work together, sustained attention for near tasks, like reading, are straining and exhausting. Ultimately vision is uncomfortable and demotivating, affecting vision-driven tasks. That’s basically everything: reading, driving, learning, even walking around and knowing where you are in space depend on those skills. Dr. May prescribed eye exercises, which Samson has been doing regularly at home, as well as sessions on equipment in the office. The plan is based on very careful goal setting that emphasizes mastery of individual skills. When each skill is mastered, Dr. May and Samson will carefully put them together, giving Samson control of his system as a whole. After that, it’s just continued practice and maintenance. “The whole process is Samson’s work,” says Dr. May, “I’m just facilitating and giving him the best tools I have for him to regain control.” Samson reports that he never realized his eyes were jumping so much. Since beginning his vision therapy, he says he can see things much better. He is hoping one day soon, he will be able to drive, and become more independent. He says, “Tell people it’s important to ask questions and look at things differently, find someone who will look for deeper issues. It wasn’t about the eye itself, it was about the eye/brain connection.” How do we best prepare our children for future success? For nearly 25 years, our Minnesota Learning Resource Center has addressed this question via S.M.A.R.T. (Stimulating Maturity through Accelerated Readiness Training), a movement-based program designed to enhance brain development in elementary-aged children. With decades of proven results in academic settings, the S.M.A.R.T. team took the next logical step: In 2020, they launched S.M.A.R.T. Steps, a version of the program adapted for Family Child Care Providers working within their homes with newborns to five-year-olds. “This crucial stage in a child’s development sets the foundation for a wide range of skills and learning capacities,” says Katie Hansen, Assistant Director of the program. “S.M.A.R.T. activities strengthen these foundations, like balance and coordination, eye movements, and auditory discrimination. Once these skills become automatic, a child is more equipped to sit still in a chair, read smoothly across a page, and hear differences in sounds - all essential for school readiness and academic success.” With input from the providers, S.M.A.R.T. activities have been specifically tailored to their needs. And the first 18 providers we’ve trained love it! The plan is to take the program statewide in the near future.
Says Darla, a S.M.A.R.T. Steps provider in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota: “A lot of the things I knew in the back of my head, but I just wasn’t putting the two together, like how it was actually helping the child with little things, like sitting or focusing. Knowing that this is really helping my kids in the long run of their lives, and how it can be useful even for me to do, it’s just so positive!” LaDonna, another provider from Sleepy Eye, says her kids love the activities and are now doing them every day. “We like to do stuff all the time - fine motor, gross motor, at least a taste of it every day. And it’s easy for me because I’m not using a big curriculum,” she says. “When we make our projects or read our books, we can get it all put together quickly, no problem.” S.M.A.R.T. Support S.M.A.R.T. Steps is designed to give providers all the training and support they need, at times and in ways that work for them, as well as valuable knowledge that helps them provide high-quality care. The goal was to make S.M.A.R.T. Steps very easy to incorporate into any daycare environment. With lots of little ones running around, it needs to be. Providers don’t always have the capacity to orchestrate activities because they are constantly being pulled in different directions. The key to making it work is an online learning management system, called Thinkific, that gives providers easy access to training and resources necessary to integrate the program into their day. As with other S.M.A.R.T. programs, we provide mentoring services, something other programs don’t always offer. LaDonna says she loves the mentor visits and the hands-on instruction she receives. “They give ideas and help us fine-tune movements - like the pencil roll, for example, to use their hips and to get some speed - I wouldn’t have known those things, but the mentors watch closely to see if we’re doing it correctly.” Currently, these services are offered in person; as the program grows, they will be online to keep the program affordable and accessible. Alissa and her kids like the visits too. “I have some kids that I kind of worry about,” she says, “and Katie can tell me what to do with them. It’s great watching the kids’ eyes light up when they finally get something. We all benefit from it.” Making a Difference According to our providers, their young charges have embraced S.M.A.R.T. Steps activities. “They do the majority of the activities without even being told.” says Darla. “They’ll hop in to wash their hands or do different balance moves like flamingos. Today, we’re working with scissors and cutting with two hands. We’ll do courses with tunnels, balance beams, we do hopping and jumping and helicopters. They like doing fine motor, but their favorite is getting out the large muscle movements.”
Providers said that their children’s behavior and social skills have improved as well since the activities were introduced. “The kids get along better,” says Alissa. “The older ones attempt to help the younger ones learn things, like how to do the courses. They challenge themselves and each other to go faster.” Likewise, Darla says her kids' ability to work together has improved, especially when it comes to sharing. For the S.M.A.R.T. Steps providers, that’s what it’s all about. “You think you may only have a child for a little while, but why not help that kid out?” says Darla. “Why wait until they get into school when they’re so frustrated? The teachers have 20 other kids, and that poor kid is so frustrated and behind. We can help them out before.” If you are a Family Child Care Provider, or know of a Provider who may be interested in learning more about the S.M.A.R.T. Steps program, please visit our S.M.A.R.T. Steps page and complete an application. Details on our next training cohort will be shared soon. For questions, please contact the S.M.A.R.T. Steps team at [email protected]. We recently heard from an old friend, Sharon O’Shaughnessy, with an update on her daughter Rachel’s progress. Their story is not only inspiring, it shows the extraordinary lengths ACTG parents are willing to go to in order to give their children the best chance at a full life. And that’s exactly what Sharon did.
From birth, it was clear Rachel was facing significant challenges. “Her eyes were open when she was born, but then we didn’t really see her eyes for nine months, like she was just sleeping all the time. There was no evidence that she was impacting her world at all. I tell people who are non-medical, it’s like a coma, she was not responsive, you could do all kinds of things and she wouldn’t react.” They lived on the East Coast. “This was before the Internet, in 1995, and I knew I needed to find some kind of neurological training, but it was just not to be found locally. So I reached out to friends all over the country, and eventually, a speech pathologist who worked in Minneapolis said she’d heard of A Chance To Grow and thought it might be what we were looking for.” “It was exactly what I was looking for, something crafted for Rachel. I knew that it was going to take a lot of repetition to affect her neurology. So we came out to meet Art Sandler and he was amazing. Rachel’s reflexes were just completely in disarray, so we had to start with basics.”
“I knew it could be a long, long time before we saw anything happen and I also had a healthy respect for the fact that if we didn’t do anything to her, maybe she might improve on her own.” But over time, she began to see progress, so she was sure that the process was working. “Rachel was 10 months old before we realized she had any sentience at all,” when she was able to display some intentional movement. Still, Sharon kept at it. “Rachel had been completely silent as a baby, but when she was 3, we were on a family vacation in a big hunting cabin and my aunt came down the stairs and said “Rachel’s making such a lot of noise up there!’ and I said, ‘she can’t be, Rachel’s silent.’ And we went up and she was actually doing the very first baby sounds of babbling, which she had never done before. She started to walk when she was four, which was also a huge milestone no one outside of Art and our family had expected.” They stopped coming to visit ACTG then because they knew she was at the level she needed to be for her to pick up the next abilities, but continued to do the exercises at home diligently. “I had been treating her as a communicative person all this time because I know from my training in speech science that people understand before they can communicate, but it was a one-way street. Then, when she was 5 years old, I was reading to her and said, ‘I went to the doctor and the doctor said,” which is a call and response activity, and she actually responded with all the vowels in the phrase, in order! I was thunderstruck. We knew then that she had intellect that we hadn’t been able to otherwise access.”
But all that work came with a cost to family life. “There were so many things that were just really difficult. It changed the dynamic of my marriage; we got divorced. I also had a 2-year-old and he grew up knowing that his sister’s difficulties were going to take most of our resources. But every day, the hour before he went to bed, I made sure that I was his and his alone. I think that helped a lot. We have a great relationship. Now he’s a neuroscientist!”
All of that work was worth it. At 26, Rachel is “doing phenomenally well. She talks in complete, complex sentences, she’s completely ambulatory, she plays basketball, she swims independently. She’s living in a group home where she can choose activities she enjoys, like horseback riding and going to the movies. She has agency over her life. This means everything to me -- when she was little, I didn’t even know what food she liked. She did not express herself at all.” Sharon’s message to other parents: “Whatever you do now will give your child more independence in the future, every single gain is really important. It’s going to be hard in the short term, you may not see gains, especially if you’re not trained to see them. But what you’re doing is building neurons. If you think about that, you realize any positive motion forward will pay off.” “To know that Rachel is a living, breathing adult with friends, who has great relationships with her whole family, it’s a stupendous miracle to me. I would never have guessed when she was nine months old and we started this whole thing that she would be living as independently as she is now. She’d be the first to tell you: ‘I am an independent woman!’ It’s awesome.” Linda Nesenson has been part of A Chance To Grow’s family – and we’ve been part of hers – since 1994. Her journey mirrors ours, as this story demonstrates. Linda’s second son, Matthew, born in 1988, began having issues with focus and hyperactivity as a toddler. By the time he was in kindergarten, the impact was obvious: “He was so overwhelmed with everything that was going on,” remembers Linda, “he would just laugh and laugh, he didn’t know what to do. He would go full force and conk out.” He was so disruptive to the class, he spent half the day in the hallway on a chair because they didn’t know what to do with him. By the time he was six, his pediatrician had diagnosed him with ADHD and had put him on Ritalin. “It wasn’t doing anything, so they just wanted to keep upping and upping the dosage,” recalls Linda, “so he developed a tic, eye blinking, and I said, ‘no, we’re not doing this.’ The saving point came when I saw a flyer advertising the Boost Up Program.”  Linda, pictured next to a photo of herself and a child receiving vision therapy, taken 20 years ago. This was being offered by New Visions, ACTG’s alternative school designed specifically to help children like Matt who had trouble learning. As part of his enrollment process, Matt received a number of assessments he’d never had before. “His pediatrician never asked me, ‘did he crawl on his tummy, did he creep on his hands and knees?’ I had no idea that was important. I had taken him to the eye doctor to have his vision checked and they would tell me his eyes were healthy and that he had 20/20 vision, but at New Visions, where they did the telebinocular screening, I learned that he had depth perception problems and his pinch grasp was very weak, which explained playing catch and holding a crayon to color was of no interest.” At the time, New Visions offered the occupational and vision therapy Matt needed in addition to the Boost Up program, so Linda enrolled him there in 1994. Like Matt, his cousin Ryan was also struggling and he was also enrolled in the school. Her cousin was a paraprofessional in the 1st grade, where Matthew and Ryan started. Linda soon started volunteering in the classrooms, and was ultimately hired as an educational assistant in 1998. Her sister, Ryan’s mother Teresa, came to work in the school office shortly after. When New Visions school came under the umbrella of ACTG and moved to the current location (later in 2003), her husband Gary came to work as a janitor, and so the family affair continued. At the time, New Visions was housed at St. Bridget’s and offered Boost Up for children in grades 1-8. Students went to Boost Up five days a week as part of their daily schedule. There, Linda knew Boost Up was where she wanted to be. The success of the program with those students led the staff to consider ways to bring the program to more children. Hence the Minnesota Learning Resource Center, and the S.M.A.R.T. Program (Stimulating Maturity through Accelerated Readiness Training) came into being. Designed to easily incorporate the Boost Up approach into K-3 and Pre-K classrooms, the program has trained thousands of teachers in Minnesota and across the country, providing countless children with the brain development needed to succeed in school and beyond. Matthew stayed with the program through the fifth grade. In addition to occupational and vision therapy, Matt and Ryan received brain training via Audio-Visual Entrainment (AVE), which helps people self-regulate emotions. Both boys began to improve. “Matthew could handle the group situation, he wasn’t sitting in the hallway, he just got more engaged, more involved in what was going on, he could read, he was learning, he was calmer.” Linda recalls that Matt’s kindergarten teacher had predicted that he would never be able to read. After he had been at New Visions for a while, the paraprofessional took him back to that teacher’s room, and said “Matthew would like to read something for you.” And he did.  Linda (right), pictured with a Summer Boost Up class from 2006. Today, Matthew is grown up, steadily employed at a local store for the last seven years, and the father of four-year-old Xander. “If it wasn’t for my experience with New Visions, with A Chance to Grow, I would not have been able to recognize early that Xander had challenges. “First thing is the speech, he wasn’t saying words and he’s not playing like a neurotypical toddler.” He was diagnosed with Autism, low on the spectrum and sensory seeking. She told Xander’s mom that she should bring him to ACTG for an occupational therapy evaluation. Today, Xander is receiving speech and occupational therapy at A Chance to Grow. While Matthew left New Visions for middle school, and has since gone on to lead a wonderful life, Linda remained at ACTG. It was her second career, after spending 25+ years in the telephone answering service, but, she says, “Boost-Up became my first love.” Over the years, her involvement has grown and changed, just as the agency has. Eventually, she also worked for the AVE program, Vision program, and as it expanded, the Clinical Services department as a clinical assistant. She has never formally retired because, as she says, this has become a family affair too. “The people here, they mesh so well together. I think it’s because the love and dedication they have in helping children be successful is a common goal. She says, because of that shared goal, “the staff is like family, too.” NOTE: Growing with the times, A Chance To Grow now offers insurance-based OT, Speech, Vision, and Audiology services, as well as private-pay Neuro Integrative, Neurofeedback and AVE services.
A Chance To Grow provides a wide range of services designed to help people at all levels of ability reach their optimal growth. Our focus on brain function affords us the opportunity to offer many approaches that are designed to complement each other and improve quality of life. One family has been with ACTG since its beginnings, and their journey with us – beginning with Boost-Up, the program that is the basis for most of our programming, to clinical services, to PCA services. Their story provides insight into the impact of everything we do.
When ACTG began to explore the use of neurofeedback, a brain-training approach, Michelle was excited, and before long, she launched what became our Neurotechnology Program. What is Neurotechnology?
What are Home-Based Services? Michelle has made sure that her son and grandchildren participated in everything ACTG had to offer them. “Scott had auditory therapy, vision therapy and speech/language therapy here. Mike and Kyrie too, and also OT. And Summer Boost-Up.” She also made sure they got a lot of neurofeedback. “I think it built more brain pathways. All the things ACTG does is trying to encourage brain pathways, Neurofeedback was one way to try that.”
Scott, Michael and Kyrie will always have challenges, but the therapies received thanks to Clinical Services, Home-Based Services and Neurotechnology have had a substantial impact. Scott initially was very slow in speech, and while he still has trouble, his ability to pick up vocabulary increased. Michael, who was visually impaired at birth, has improved, thanks to the stimuli provided in vision therapy. Both Michael and Kyrie thrived in good school programs and continue to learn. ACTG helped all three build the foundation for continued growth. “You say ‘developmental delays’ but I say ‘delay.’ Because they are still making strides,” says Michelle. Because of her experiences providing Boost-Up, Neurofeedback and PCA services for her family, Michelle does not think about them in terms of their limitations. “If you have a child with a disability, you have to use their strengths.” She notes, “It’s just a matter of standing back and giving them room to be who they are. Talk to them, give them the opportunity, that’s really important to them. Respect different ways of knowing, give them the opportunity to learn.” When he was in school, “Scott was so curious about so many things that I could never get anybody to understand. He couldn’t read the stuff, he couldn’t take the test, but he learned. He learns by listening. He had all these difficulties with our traditional ways of getting information. For example, he can look at a number, he can’t tell you the name of that number, but if I were to put a 5 and a 3 on the paper, he couldn’t write the 8, but if I put 7,8,9 underneath, he could circle the 8, he knew the concept. It’s the same with letters. Now he is a fount of information, he learned to get himself around the Internet without being able to read and write. Now he’s reading better than he ever has.” Like Scott, Mike and Kyrie keep on growing and learning, albeit in nontraditional ways. They love sports and have participated in Special Olympics, honing their skills with hours of practice. Kyrie, now 18, is still in a project-based school that allows him to explore his natural interests at his own pace, and where he can stay through transition. Mike, now 27, is interested in cooking. As with Scott, he knows a lot, but is less communicative than Kyrie. “His receptive information is much more than his expressive,” says Michelle. Thanks to ACTG’s Clinical and Neurofeedback Services, all three have continued to make gains, and thanks to our PCA services, they have been able to do so with the love and support of those who know them best, exploring the world around them and enriching the lives of everyone around them. “As a kid, I had a harder time reading,” says Leah, a veteran educator currently with the Eau Claire, WI school district and a long-time S.M.A.R.T. advocate, whose passion for teaching and love for her students are palpable. “And I want to do everything in my power to prevent others from struggling.”
After several years in the classroom, Leah found herself in a position to support other teachers – as an educational consultant, instructional coach, literacy coach, Title I teacher, among other roles. While teachers were telling her that student behavior was their biggest problem, as a literacy coach and Title I teacher, she noticed that many children were having reading issues. “I had several kids, I could actually see their eyes doing different things on the pages, or they’d look at me and their eye would bounce, and I thought ‘something is going on there.’” Then she attended a training for a movement-based program that dealt with dyslexia. Her original teacher training had included very little about brain-related issues or the importance of movement to development. This new perspective changed her. “I started telling parents, ‘you might want to get their eyes checked, I’ve been noticing some things’ and parents wrote to me to say, ‘There was an issue, thanks for telling us!’ I thought, this is knowledge that everybody needs to have. It’s great and more students could be helped.” Several years later, when she attended a three-day S.M.A.R.T. training, it was revelatory: “Every time I heard a story I thought ‘oh, that was that kid.’ I remember having an a-ha moment: They showed us how the alligator crawl is really good for reading comprehension, and I thought, ‘why have I not been doing this the whole time with the struggling readers?’”
Movement Anchors Learning! Movement influences the ability to concentrate in a classroom and to learn to read and write. The body is designed to move. Research shows purposeful, specific, and systematic physical movement can affect the brain in a very positive and dramatic way. Physical activity helps create an optimal learning condition for the brain by:
Leah began to advocate for all teachers in the district to incorporate S.M.A.R.T. into their classrooms. Last year, district administrators went all in, arranging for all teachers and assistants to get trained. “The first time through the training, some of [the teachers] said, ‘oh my gosh, I thought this kid was doing this because they were misbehaving but really, they had this sensory or auditory processing or vision issue.’ They started to see behaviors differently, which I think is amazing.” Her S.M.A.R.T. training continues to inform her practice. When her colleagues say, “This child has ADHD” she asks, “’Have you tried spinning? Or balancing? Or pencil rolls? Let’s start with some of those.’ I say to parents, do you ever notice them spinning? And they say ‘yeah.’ And I say, ‘let them, they need it, their bodies are telling them they still need to move.’”
“I have probably three or four kids with high behavioral needs. One of my little guys used to have really large emotions and now you wouldn’t really recognize him. Does he still have moments? Absolutely, we still have to work on it. However, he’s really calmed down quite a bit. His mom said, ‘oh my gosh, he has improved by leaps and bounds.’”
“We are a container society, we are putting our kids in car seats to highchairs to bouncy seats and they are never getting those experiences on the ground, and those experiences are the ones that lead to academic success. We should tell parents ‘Don’t rush them, there are a lot of stages we try to rush through, and quite honestly they need to be on the ground moving.’"
For parents of older children that are having problems academically or behaviorally, Leah says, “There’s a lot of brain-based activities that we can be doing, even at upper levels. My favorite video to show people is The Brain Highway, because there’s always someone who says ‘oh, yeah, I get it!’ when they see it.”
When he got to high school, “I did really great freshman year in classes, and then I found sophomore year to be a step up from freshman year. I began to have trouble meeting expectations. I was really struggling with honors classes that I was selected into. I had to drop from honors geometry and biology into the regular courses. Man, did that year suck! I also found that it was becoming harder to interact with other people socially, even at the lunch table, because I was so drained. You see the ones that are achieving, and then you look at yourself and you think, I’m doing the same exact thing, or working even harder. You feel a little less than, hopeless.” Getting tutoring at school and at home did little to help, nor did other evaluations. “I’d had eye tests and hearing tests before, but nothing had ever been caught, any physical exam came out fine. But things still weren’t working out well, and when it came time for the ACTs and SATs, we knew I needed more help. We found out about A Chance To Grow from a friend on the football team, his mother referred us to you. I was evaluated by Dr. Moroz [then ACTG’s developmental optometrist, now retired], who diagnosed me with convergence insufficiency exophoria, and she gave me eye exercises and visual therapy. Then they introduced me to Michelle [Koyama, Neuro Integrative Clinic Therapist], for therapy to help with the visual system even more.”
I could walk better, drive better, my hand/eye coordination and timing in things like playing tennis got better. I could do deadlifts smoothly with thrust when I was coming up, I could do squats and bench lifting better.“
His life got better in other ways too: “Sleeping dramatically improved, my mood improved, I was more optimistic.” Eventually, even Kevin’s fatigue began to evaporate. “I found work weeks to be really challenging, so I’d be working like 25-30 hour weeks and I’d be exhausted. Once I started visiting Michelle, it went from 30 to 100-hour weeks for 10 consecutive weeks and it was insane. I was able to become more in tune with what I was able to enjoy. I took on a lot of extracurricular activities. For example, last summer, I had five different things going on – a full time job with a residential real-estate content company, a part-time internship with an organic food company where I did digital marketing, three online classes to fulfill university requirements, various software/design classes for my own benefit, and rebranding/revamping an advertising club of which I was the president.”
Perhaps most important, Kevin feels like the work he has done with Michelle at ACTG has helped him reach his true potential. “I think the fact that I’m confident in starting a business right out of college, I think that says something. I mean, two years ago, I don’t think I’d have been at that level. My self-confidence has increased, my ability to collaborate, to be able to take a step back. Now I’m in tune. Before, I was just drained, but now, it produces energy. How crazy is that?”
In the mid-1980s, ACTG’s founders, Bob and Kathy DeBoer, brought in Dr. Robert Zwicky, a pioneer in vision therapy, which goes beyond basic eye examinations to look at how visual information is processed by the brain and how the body responds to it. This approach became the foundation of the clinic’s approach today. Dr. Zwicky brought in Dr. Janyce Moroz in 1989, a Developmental Optometrist whose training in reflexes brought a new dimension to the practice. She recognized, without reflex integration, there wouldn’t be a solid foundation to help higher-level visual skills function at a basic level. Over the years, other optometrists brought in additional perspectives. In the early 1990s, Dr. Garth Christiansen brought programs for binocular vision and dyslexia, while, from 1998 to 2019, Dr. Michele Taylor expanded the clinic’s capacity to provide full functioning eye exams and vision therapy. In 2011, powered by Dr. Moroz’s deep commitment to help children within the community, the ACTG Mobile Vision Clinic was started, providing greater access to vision services for young children from low-income families. Headstart provided basic screenings and referred children to the clinic. Dr. Moroz then performed developmental eye exams and provided recommendations for further services. Children who needed eye glasses would get them from the clinic if their caregivers approved. In 2019, after more than three decades of service at ACTG’s Vision Clinic, Dr. Moroz and the Vision Team retired. We knew it would take a special kind of doctor to fill her shoes, one who could carry on her commitment to improving lives through vision therapy and continue her legacy of providing innovative, highly effective services to children and adults. We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Shelby May, O.D. is joining the Vision Clinic on July 7. Dr. May is a Developmental Optometrist who, while thoroughly grounded in the multidisciplinary approach that has made ACTG’s clinic unique, will help bring us to the next level in providing vision services that address the whole person.  We’ll let her introduce herself:
ACTG: Who are you? SM: I’m a Developmental Optometrist. Basically I’m an eye doctor that looks at the eyes and brain as a whole and tries to help those systems work together as well as I can. ACTG: Tell us about your training. SM: My dad is an optometrist, so I learned at his knee. I’m a fairly recent graduate from Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, TN, where I had the absolute privilege of working with brilliant people with really powerful thoughts on how developmental optometry works. Then I was lucky enough to have an elective class on special needs in optometry. It really changed how I approach therapy, mostly because it got me to look at vision as a whole, not just as an eyeball in a brain in a head, but an eyeball in a brain in a body in a process and a surrounding socioeconomic situation and a surrounding family. All those extra variables have to be part of the treatment. So instead of going broad and doing everything, I decided I would focus on vision therapy and just dive super deep, be a specialist essentially, and it’s made me very very happy. It's so much deeper even than I expected it to be because it goes so beyond eyes, which is why we’re here. ACTG: What is Developmental Vision? It’s important for people to know that vision is more than 20/20, is more than seeing clearly. It is seeing well, interpreting that, and then doing something with your body that is what you want, that creates a learning space. Developmental vision is first of all figuring out what the conversation is between your eyes and your brain and your body, then seeing what we can do to make it as strong as possible, and that manifests in a thousand ways. No two patients will ever look the same, so tailoring that program to you is the biggest part of success. ACTG: What is the prevalence of developmental vision issues, how many children are likely to have them? SM: The easy number for vision-related learning changes or disabilities, we say one in four. Now that does not mean that one in four children needs vision therapy. It means that one in four have some sort of hiccup in the road, either that child overcomes that hiccup, or has enough power essentially to reteach or learn on their own, but not everyone compensates and not everyone compensates in a healthy way. ACTG: Can you compare and contrast the approach used by Drs. Zwicky and Moroz and what you do? SM: Developmental optometry is really exciting field to be in right now because it’s changing at the speed of light. A lot of things that we were doing when Dr. Zwicky and Dr. Moroz were being trained were new theories at the time and not super-well researched, but we knew it worked, anecdotally. For example, Dr. Zwicky was well ahead of his time with his use of colored light therapy to treat the full body through the eyes. The basic concept is using color to change your sympathetic/parasympathetic balance. The body responds to color, the way you feel in a red room feels very different than the way you feel in a green room. When Dr. Zwicky was doing it, it was very broad – red, red orange, red blue, we’re going to mix these and it seems to do things on this. Since then, there's been plenty of research, and now we take that in very small narrow doses in very specific colors, which does very dramatic things to the body. I'm definitely looking forward to restarting that in a way that can both help my vision patients, and others. It can be wildly successful for OT patients as well. How can we make your session more powerful, let’s get you in the right mind and body set before we get you moving? ACTG: So part of your agenda is to do more to integrate vision therapy with other modalities? SM: Absolutely. We know this is going to take time, but so many times, an optometrist looks at a kid and thinks, “Gosh, you really need a little OT before we get started.” That’s not something that a stand-alone vision therapy office is going to be able to coordinate. And that’s the beauty of an interdisciplinary site like this. That’s so exciting for me because we talk a lot about the triangle of vision in my field -- this idea that the body builds the base for the eyes to function, and the eyes starts the conversation to get the body to go. The simple way to put that is “vision is motor and motor is vision.” It's so exciting because reflex talks to that in a way sometimes I can't. It does vision things in a body way that I can't necessarily do. ACTG: You have a talent for explaining complicated things in an easy way! SM: My whole job is to teach you what your brain is doing. If I can't communicate that, then I'm not doing my job. ACTG: What’s one thing you’d like our clients to know about you? SM: I am so genuinely excited to work with and come to know each one of you, your kids, and your whole families! I look forward to being involved in your development and your eye-brain connection! See you soon! They have been through more in their brief lives than most of us experience in a lifetime. Travonte, age 4, Tramonte, age 3, and Tranayjah, age 2, are the children of single father Terrance.
Terrance had known Savalas (children’s mother) for more than 20 years when they finally came together. He knew she had a history of heart disease and had a pacemaker, and that she was already mother to eight children herself. But she wanted more, and so Travonte and Tramonte were born. Both Terrance and her doctors warned her against getting pregnant again, but she wanted a girl. Six weeks after giving birth to Tranayjah, she passed away. Terrance and Savalas had shared responsibility for the kids. After she died, the children were embroiled in a custody battle between Terrance and Savalas’ older children, who took them away from him until a judge gave them back to Terrance. The impact on the children was devastating. “First, you lose your mother and you don’t know how, and then, at the same time, Dad, who is always there, suddenly he’s not there anymore.” Travonte, called Taytay by his father, felt her absence the most. “Her presence is very missed by him, he’s the one I’m dealing with the most,” says Terrance. “He has a lot of temper tantrums, shut downs, blank outs, he has these moments where he’ll cry and say, ‘I want my mom.’” Once the children were back in his custody, Terrance needed to find daytime child care for them, so he could continue to support his family. “I researched a few childcare places and everybody kept saying ‘we can take the younger one but not the older ones’ or ‘I’ve got room for the boys but not the girl.’ I needed someone who could take them all.” Given what they’d already been through, he felt it was important to keep them together; no more separations. “I was giving up and one morning I got a phone call from [Turnquist] saying ‘we have a spot for all three kids now.’ I did a little research and visited, the staff walked me through, and I was like ‘You guys don’t know how much of a blessing!’ Ever since that day I thank God for you guys.” Speaking of his little ones, Terrance says: “They are all my angels. Travonte, he’s a character of his own. He’s a bright young boy, shy and bashful, he loves basketball. Tramonte is more in your face. He’s my eater, you gotta keep the refrigerator full for him. He sees himself being a football player. Tranayjah, she’s a character among characters, she’s expressive, when it comes down to face gestures, impressions, picking things up, she’s one in a million.” But the older children had challenges. Both Travonte and Tramonte had trouble with language. “You couldn’t understand what they were saying, Tramonte would go about mumbling. I think they were more scared to speak out, so when they talked, you had to make everybody be quiet just to get a simple sound out of them. Travante’s equilibrium was off, he was just clumsy, with bad hand-eye coordination. The guys had temper issues, they didn’t like sharing, they would get really aggressive, they would shut down.” Since coming to Turnquist, things have improved for Terrance’s children. Both Travante and Tramonte have benefitted from Turnquist’s brain-based approach to child development, and both have also received occupational and speech therapy. Now, says Terrance, “they’re outspoken, you can hear every word clearly. Even my mom notices, she says to them ‘oooh, you’re talking so good!’ It’s a dramatic, dramatic change. Their physical movements are more coordinated. Travante, he still jitters side to side a little bit, but I think that’s him being silly at times.”
Terrance credits the staff at Turnquist with these gains. “They learned how to eat with a spoon. I didn’t teach them that, they were here most of the time, because I was working. Being able to have them come to the same place every day, with the same teachers and the same other kids is giving them stability they wouldn’t have had prior to that because of all the chaos. I tell everybody about you guys because I hadn’t found a daycare that took the time – and I don’t even call you guys a daycare, I call you a learning school, the services you provide these kids are way beyond being a daycare in my eyes.” Do you need child care? Call Turnquist today at (612) 789-1236 or email [email protected] to inquire about enrolling your child in our program!
Boost-Up Plus is a 3-week multisensory summer camp for children ages 5-11 that focuses on stimulating physical and cognitive development through fun and challenging gross motor, fine motor, vision and auditory activities. Incorporating elements of A Chance To Grow’s S.M.A.R.T. approach, the program is able to influence a child’s ability to learn, think and remember, ultimately giving them the confidence they need to achieve success in and out of the classroom. “It’s a holistic approach to help children reach their full potential,” says Patrick Dreher, a Developmental Adaptive Physical Education Teacher in the Robbinsdale district and instructor of the Boost-Up Plus program. “We work on building automatic responses in the brain, like balance, hand-eye coordination and cross-lateral skills through our ever-changing course of activities. As these abilities become more automatic, students are more likely to absorb and retain the information being taught in the classroom, because they are more prepared to learn.”
Patrick returned to school and earned several degrees, including a Master of Science in Special Education. He would later attend a conference for physical educators where he was first introduced to A Chance To Grow’s S.M.A.R.T. approach. This experience reinforced his belief that a moving child is a learning child. As fate would have it, he was hired shortly after as a physical education teacher at the Minnesota Transitions School, which happens to be in the same building as A Chance To Grow. Patrick attended a 3-day S.M.A.R.T. workshop at ACTG and began introducing elements he learned into his own curriculum. The administration supported his efforts, and soon he was helping his students get the recommended 30 minutes of S.M.A.R.T. activities each day. Upon seeing this, the coordinators of Boost-Up Plus invited Patrick to join the team for the upcoming summer program, an invitation he happily accepted. Since 2015, Patrick has been a Boost-Up Plus instructor and relishes the opportunity to lead the program each summer. “It’s difficult in a school environment because I sometimes only see students twice a week, which isn’t enough time to reach the 80 hours a year we aim for. It can take 2-3 school years to see any improvements at that rate. But in the summer, we have three weeks to work on specific things for each child and you can see progress happen much faster.” “Every child has their own starting point and progress means different things for different people,” says Patrick. “We begin with an initial assessment to see where the child is and identify what skills we want to work on over the course of the camp. We make individualized adaptations as much as possible, and the obstacle course changes from day to day.” The course includes activities like belly crawling, balance beams, overhead ladders, fine motor work stations and more. “We meet the students at their level by making the course incrementally harder or easier, depending on their individual needs. They appreciate the changes and that excitement fuels their motivation to reach their potential for that day.” “There’s lots of different things I’ve seen and done that have worked great for some students, but not for others,” says Patrick. “This program works for everyone.”
Patrick relishes the moments when it “clicks” for the students, when they realize that they have the capacity inside of themselves to overcome obstacles on their own. “Once they know they have that power, they can do anything,” says Patrick. “It’s rewarding when they want to challenge themselves to be better or faster on the course. They begin to see that if they put in the work, they are going to make progress and find success. Confidence breeds success, and success breeds more success.” Tell us about your child’s situation and discover how we can help. Children of all capabilities are welcome to attend Boost-Up Plus. Please submit an inquiry form to get started. I first heard about A Chance to Grow and the Summer Boostup program from a pediatric physical therapist I know. I had told her my concerns about my daughter's memory and coordination even though she had no formal diagnosis. She was always a super bright kid (reading at age 2) but started having trouble remembering facts in school including math facts and had difficulties with reading comprehension.
I also told my sister about the Boostup program as she had a daughter struggling to learn to read and had a speech language pathologist tell her she was dyslexic. The pediatric physical therapist told me if I just took my daughter to any regular physical therapist or occupational therapist they would struggle with goals for her since she was so high functioning, but A Chance to Grow would find things to work on to help her. I decided to take my RV to Minneapolis for the three weeks of Boostup for two of my three children and my sister joined me with her two children. While there, we also had a couple of reflex integration sessions. We both noticed positive changes in our children after about a week. My daughter became more adventurous on the playground and my niece, age 10, read her first book! We were very happy with how much we learned about the brain while we were there. A Chance to Grow exceeded our expectations. Even before we went, I felt that the program was worth the price and it definitely was. We are hoping to return to A Chance to Grow next summer for more Boostup and reflex integration. Carol, Wisconsin Rosa* had plans – to go to college, major in business, build a career – but all that changed when she found out she was pregnant. She dropped out of high school and found herself drifting, living sometimes with her parents, sometimes with her boyfriend, who is the father of her baby. When little Rodrigo was born, she became a stay-at-home mom.
This past summer, as her baby approached his first birthday, Rosa found out about the TCEC Teen Parents Program and realized that, through this resource, she had an opportunity to get her life back on track. It provided her with a safe place for her son to stay while she took the steps she needed to take, a place that was not only secure but would also provide a great learning experience for him. Turnquist’s infant and toddler programs ensure that even the littlest ones get the developmental support they need to grow up strong and ready for school. With access to reliable transportation, Rosa can turn her life around, because she can get her son to childcare and herself to school on time. Now she attends the Minneapolis Community and Technical College five days a week, three hours a day. This is hugely important to young moms like Rosa. Without childcare and transportation support, teen mothers face formidable obstacles. According to the Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support, only 50% of teen mothers get their GED by age 22, and less than 2% of teen parents graduate from college by the age of 30. According to a 2014 Hennepin County study, only 32% of county-involved teen parents go on to graduate from high school and dropout rate is among the highest in the state. Children of teen parents are more likely to:
“I am so happy I found this fantastic program,” she says. “The staff is caring and they always listen.” She is so grateful to have this invaluable resource. Without it, she might not have been able to reach her goals. *Names are changed to protect privacy Oliver is a happy, smart and creative eight-year-old with endless amounts of energy. He and his mom, Annie, first came to A Chance To Grow 18 months ago to address a myriad of physical and emotional development concerns. Early in Oliver’s life, Annie observed some unusual and worrisome behaviors. “From the time he could walk, he was falling down or crashing into things,” she said, “He’d walk on his toes and I didn’t know why.”
“He had a great experience in preschool,” said Annie. “He was performing well in a school environment, he made friends and his teachers didn’t raise any serious concerns about his behavior or speech delays.” Despite this, Annie and her husband were still concerned with his communication issues and began seeking help.
They decided to have him tested by a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) prior to beginning kindergarten to see if he could qualify for special education services through the school district. The SLP who conducted the test didn’t hear what Annie heard and recommended that he not receive speech therapy. It was the first of countless obstacles in the family’s search to get help for Oliver. A second test, with a different SLP, found that he qualified for an IEP, and at the age of five, Oliver began weekly speech therapy sessions. “Kindergarten was OK for Oliver. His teacher knew how to head off his meltdowns, and he started physical therapy to help address his balance issues,” Annie recalled, “But there were red flags. I saw attention and impulsivity problems, no eye contact, and perseveration issues (the repetition of a particular response).” At the end-of-the-year IEP meeting, she fully expected the school’s administration to recommend Oliver be evaluated by a doctor. To her surprise, the administration unanimously confirmed he was ready for first grade. Annie was thrilled, but intuitively, she knew something was still off. Annie was a teacher at the private school Oliver attended. “He was starting first grade and I had my dream job and things were looking OK,” she said. “But that’s when the storm hit. The demands of first grade were beyond what Oliver was ready to take on. Our school didn’t have the resources to provide support for Oliver or for his teacher. Because of his frequent meltdowns and he’d often spend his days in the principal’s office.” Meanwhile, Oliver’s physical therapy progress ground to a halt. His therapists would have him do activities that were not developmentally appropriate, like throwing and catching a ball, and Oliver simply stopped participating because he couldn’t do it. “His first grade teacher commented that Oliver wasn’t comfortable in his body,” said Annie. “She was right. Something was wrong, but we just didn’t know what it was.” During the turmoil, a family friend named Jo Gascoigne suggested Annie look into an organization called A Chance To Grow, where Jo once served as a board member. Jo introduced Annie to Julie Neumann, MA/OTR/L, Director of Outpatient Services at A Chance To Grow, and together they discussed Oliver’s symptoms, health history and current predicament. “We discussed several options including modifying his school day, moving to a different first grade classroom, or returning to his former kindergarten class. They recommended Oliver regress back to kindergarten because he wasn’t developmentally a first grader yet,” said Annie. They explained that Oliver’s wild behavior was caused by a sensory processing disorder, meaning his brain was having trouble receiving and responding to information coming through his senses; specifically his proprioceptive system. His body’s way of seeking sensory input from his environment was causing his behavioral outbursts - he was unaware where his body was in space. “They told me about MNRI and how integrating his reflexes could build a foundation to overcome his emotional and physical delays, but it would take time,” said Annie. Time wasn’t on their side. Almost simultaneously, Annie and her husband met with Oliver’s teachers and school officials to discuss their options moving forward. They proposed the regression to kindergarten and were hopeful when his former teacher agreed, and the administrators and counselors gave their consent. The administration asked Annie to keep Oliver at home for a few days while they discussed the details of the transition. It appeared as though everything would work out, until his kindergarten teacher changed her mind because she felt that Oliver was too smart for kindergarten. She was also concerned about the social-emotional impact that regression could have on Oliver and his peers. What followed were three difficult weeks in which Annie and her husband fought to keep Oliver in school. “It was a fiasco,” she said, fighting back tears. “He was out of school the whole time and his self-esteem was so low. He thought he was naughty. He was afraid he wouldn’t get to learn subtraction. It just broke my heart.” Oliver was too smart for kindergarten but not physically or emotionally ready for first grade. What could she do? She did what was best for Oliver - she pulled him out of school and quit her job. She didn’t know what school he’d be at or what grade he’d be in, but she knew she had found A Chance To Grow -- a place that understood what Oliver needed to get better. “The staff said, it didn’t matter where Oliver was at developmentally, they would work with him,” said Annie. Shortly thereafter, she enrolled Oliver back into kindergarten at a new school, left his old therapists and began coming A Chance To Grow twice weekly. “They were so willing to meet Oliver where he was developmentally and knowledgeable about what he needed to move forward.” Oliver’s OT, Alyssa, addressed his basic reflexes at first, but quickly noticed he could also benefit from speech therapy to improve his social language skills. “She referred us to Carly, who saw what I saw during the evaluation - poor articulation, no eye contact,” said Annie. “Oliver knew he wanted to sound better, so we immediately began speech therapy to help him better communicate his needs at home and in school.” Carly works on what triggers his meltdowns, practicing expected behaviors in a safe environment by building and scaffolding his social skills. “He used to be scared to lose and it would trigger a meltdown, but he’s learning how to handle that frustration and manage those social situations,” said Annie. During Oliver’s sessions, Alyssa demonstrates techniques for Annie so she can work with him at home. They work for 30 minutes almost every night on his grounding reflex, helping him to feel more stable, both physically and emotionally. “Once he knew where his body was in space, he stopped falling down,” she said. “There were a few days when we didn’t do the activities and he became restless and couldn’t sleep. He asked me to do some body work and in no time he was back in bed.” Throughout the first six months at A Chance To Grow, Annie witnessed many breakthrough moments that proved they were in the right place. “Our little dog Maggie used to be terrified of Oliver, but now she comes up to him and he’s able to hold her. It’s just amazing. You can’t be skeptical when you see progress like that.” Annie says that one of the best parts is that everything he needs is under one roof. “Everyone is working together to help Oliver, sharing information on all aspects of his treatment plan. It’s just such a different approach from the other places we’ve been. It’s become a safe space for all of us.” Annie has also attends A Chance To Grow workshops, including S.M.A.R.T. training, to further her own understanding of what Oliver is going through and how she can help him continue making progress. As for school, Oliver completed kindergarten and moved into first grade this past year. At a recent parent-teacher conference, Annie asked about his meltdowns and the teacher had no idea what she was referring to. The teacher thought Annie was talking about a different student! These days, Oliver is able to do many activities he couldn’t do even a year ago, like riding a scooter without falling, throwing and catching a ball, and hanging on monkey bars - not because he’s practiced these activities, but because they’ve built the foundations to be able to advance his balance and motor skills. “It’s been a really long journey, but he’s the best he’s ever been,” said Annie, “It’s been absolutely life-changing.” It can be hard for parents or educators to fully understand the difference between the developmental age of a child and his or her actual age. We have expectations of how children should behave at certain ages, and when these expectations aren’t met, adults can often respond to the situation with the child’s actual age in mind, discounting where the child is developmentally. The right therapist and approach can make all the difference when it comes to helping children reach their full potential. “If you want to learn how you as a parent can help, then this is the place. The wealth of knowledge and resources they provide are amazing. We love being here and we’re all much happier.” “Dear Dr. Moroz and Staff of A Chance to Grow,
Our son had a miserable first grade experience. His teacher strongly suggested he had ADHD. She also refused to allow me to visit her classroom to see why he was struggling with his work tasks. Ben was tagged as an SLD student and I was told I should just accept that he would always have trouble learning. On Valentine’s Day, there was a party and I arrived early to pick him up. Within minutes of watching him, I could tell he was having trouble copying words from the board. That started the rail of discovery that led us to you. An article in the newspaper was brought to our attention and we decided to give you a call. What a blessing that call turned out to be! With the expertise of Dr. Moroz we were able to determine that Ben had six different visual delays. She also suggested that we have a specialist check his hearing. That advice led to the discovery that Ben also had auditory processing delays. We enrolled our son in your summer Boost Up Program. In that short period of time, Ben’s vision improved remarkably. For the first time in his life, he saw visual details that we didn’t even know he was missing out on. Things like the small minute lines between the numbers on a clock, street signs and numerous wildlife creatures now appeared in his visual world. Although no one we asked knew about your school, we decided to trust your school and enrolled Ben for the upcoming year. It was a decision we will never regret. Ben entered second grade reading at below a first grade level. At the end of the year, he loved to read and was reading at a 4.2 grade level. Wow! Recently, we received the results from the Minnesota Department of Education Comprehensive Assessment Series II. I thought you might be interested in the results of how Ben ranks in the state when compared to his peers. In both the Reading and Math portions of the assessment, Ben received scores that placed him in their highest ranking of 'Exceeds the Standard.' A closer look at his reading scores shows a comprehension section that placed him in the 99th percentile in the state. His success can be directly related to your efforts and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. May God bless you all for the outstanding service and opportunities you have given Ben and other children with visual and hearing difficulties.” --Dave and Judy Schink  Grace’s Transformation: Finding Success By Addressing Early Childhood Concerns Grace is a free-spirited child who is adored by her parents but what was not always visible were her internal struggles. Things that other children take for granted such as understanding social cues, being able to focus, and even just climbing the stairs and balancing from side to side were difficult for her. Grace was born with hip dysplasia. What many don’t understand is that early childhood health concerns like this can ripple through every stage of development. For children like Grace, the impact can extend far beyond the physical—affecting their ability to learn, feel confident, and make friends. By the time she was 10 years old, she had already endured five surgeries. After her final procedure, she spent six long weeks confined to a body cast. While the operations corrected her hips, the immobility left lasting effects: Grace struggled with simple movements like climbing, balancing, and keeping up with her friends on the playground. Her mom, Anna, a special education teacher, began to notice something deeper too. “She couldn’t connect what she was learning in school,” Anna recalls. “She was easily distracted, struggled to read, and often missed normal social cues.” When the family relocated from out of state to the Twin Cities, Grace’s school told Anna that her IEP would no longer apply. This devastating news meant the safety net she had relied on for her daughter was suddenly gone. Determined to find help, Anna pressed forward until a friend referred her to A Chance To Grow. At ACTG, an audiology evaluation revealed Grace had an auditory processing disorder—she wasn’t able to make sense of the information she heard. However, instead of rushing to treat this diagnosis directly, ACTG’s team of professionals recognized that her underlying motor skills needed to be rebuilt first so that she would be more successful with the auditory program. That’s when Grace began seeing her occupational therapist, Alyssa.  Together, they started with the basics: strengthening core muscles, improving reflexes, and re-training the brain and body to work together. Through innovative therapies—like MNRI reflex integration, yoga, and S.M.A.R.T. activities—Grace began to cross milestones her family once feared she would never reach. It was amazing!
“When we first started, Grace dreaded field trips or any physical activities,” Alyssa says. “Now, as her reflexes and endurance grow, her anxiety is fading. She’s participating with more confidence than ever before.” The changes haven’t just been physical. Grace’s memory retention and executive functioning have improved, and she has transitioned to a new school with resources that better support her learning. Most importantly, Grace is smiling again. She is gaining confidence, thriving in therapy, and looking forward to what’s ahead. “She’s always been a free spirit,” Anna says, “and now, with Alyssa’s help, she’s finally able to let that shine.” |
