Invitation to Kids Focus Workshop Feb. 20, 2016 REGISTER NOW!

“Want Kids to Learn and Behave? Let ‘Em Move!”

FEBRUARY 20, 2016 Saturday – KIDS FOCUS WORKSHOP at African American Performing Arts Center, 9 am – 4 pm. 6 CEUs. A hands-on WORKSHOP for PARENTS, TEACHERS, COUNSELORS, SOCIAL WORKERS. Learn how to help kids improve FOCUS, CALMNESS and SELF-REGULATION – in the CLASSROOM and at HOME. The Drug-Free way to say GOOD-BYE ADHD!

Scientific studies prove that movement is one of the most effective ways to improve ADHD behavior, support child growth, increase academic success, and balance the emotions – without the use of medication! Includes movement, sleep, nutrition, and activities for ages 4 through teens. Includes Kids Focus Manual and Certificate of Completion. $119 per person. Ask me about DISCOUNTS.

REGISTER NOW Call 949-468-9841 or Email marcia.lee@kidsfocususa.com

Celebrating Fantasic Children’s Brain/Body Balancing Workshops

Children’s Brain/Body Balancing – “Students have demonstrated growth!” Comment on using CBBB movements at Helen Cordero School – Pre-K – 2 grade

Thank you so much to all the parents, teachers and professionals who joined us on Saturday, September 8th in Albuquerque at the beautiful African American Performing Arts Center for the last day-long workshop in 2012 on how to use simple, controlled movements to help children focus, feel calm, concentrate and self-regulate – in under a minute. Thank you for sharing the excitement and joy that simple movement can create so quickly and easily inside you.

Children’s Brain/Body Balancing also recently inspired the dedicated EAs at East San Jose Elementary School in Albuquerque, NM, the devoted professionals at Hogares Inc. in Albuquerque, NM and the hard-working teachers at La Promesa Early Learning Center in Albuquerque, NM. Thank you all for your dedication and commitment to helping children learn and succeed using movement every day.

In spring/summer 2013 I will offer more workshops. So you too can come and learn dozens of unique and fun movements you can use with children in the classroom, at home, or on the go. You’ll also learn the Childhood Brain Science that supports movement for improving behavior and learning and hear tips on nutrition, temperament, intelligence, ADHD, and more. I look forward to meeting you next year!

Kony 2012 and the Engine of Change

I believe that Kony 2012 has shown the world how change that begins in our hearts can move mountains. I believe the same energy and devotion can work to change our children’s lives and the schools they attend in America – right now! What would you do if you knew that simple changes could revolutionize schools and wipe out the behavior labeled ADHD without drugging our kids with medication? What would you be willing to try, if it was healthy, easy, and natural?

Children’s Brain/Body Balancing in schools and at home does just that. But you won’t know until you experience it.

So I’m launching a new activist group that supports teachers, parents and children in America to rebuild our education system because it just doesn’t work right now. It is discouraging our children, drowning their spirits, and holding back their potential. Every teacher and parent I know wants the opportunity to change this situation – to improve their schools and help children learn and grow and succeed. But we are failing. The money we need, the innovations we want to implement, just aren’t happening.

How do we change that? We do something right now. We talk. We send out the message. And we act. I’m launching a new organization with one goal in mind – creative schools nurturing creative children right now in America. The group is called TPS:CS which stands for Teachers & Parents Supporting Children & Schools, which stands for teachers and parents standing up for children in America NOW. Watch the website and blog for the first scheduled meeting in Albuquerque, NM. Join me and become the engine of change that supports our children and our schools.

Part 3 – Anderson Cooper Show on ADHD – Safe Help for ADHD Behavior

Dear Mr. Cooper,
Parents have the right to be told about safe and effective NON-MEDICATION options that really work for behavior labeled ADHD. The success rate of these options is backed by scientific studies which Dr. Jensen chose to ignore on your show on ADHD.

The options listed below are benevolent and effectively address deeper childhood issues such as temperament, environment, deprivation of movement, social and personal stress, and other contributing factors that ADHD medication never address:
– Movement and exercise
– Parental training
– Innovative teaching strategies
– Behavioral modification programs
– Improved classroom environments
– Biofeedback
– Yoga, martial arts, dance
– Meditation
– Acupuncture
– Nutrition and Vitamins
Sincerely,
Marcia Lee, Solutions Without Drugs, Children’s Brain/Body Balancing

Part 1 – Anderson Cooper Show on ADHD – Not a Fair Fight

Dear Mr. Cooper,
Parents deserve to hear important facts about ADHD medications that were not addressed recently on your show about ADHD. The lives and health of millions of American children are at stake. We do not want our children to have to pay the terrible price of our ignorance.

ADHD medications are neurotoxic and brain-disabling. This is the real science that Dr. Jensen intentionally did not address. Nor did Dr. Jensen address the fact that psychiatry is trying to make us believe that age-appropriate childhood behavior is an illness. Dr. Jensen’s calm, soothing tones were an act designed to hide bad medicine. His description of children losing their “sparkle” is a far cry from the reality of children drugged into submission like zombies.

Since the 1980s the FDA has warned repeatedly about the seriousness and overuse of psycho-stimulants (ADHD medication) on children. These are the same drugs that were banned from the American market years ago as diet pills and the chemical cousins to the street drugs we DON’T want our children to use. These drugs have been repackaged as ADHD medication, but a nice ad campaign cannot hide the deadly facts.

You need to fight fair, Mr. Cooper, and ask a doctor of similar status and medical background to appear on your show, such as David Stein or Peter Breggin, who can explain the very real and frightening effects of ADHD medications and give parents healthy options for helping their children grow and mature safely. For this to be a fair debate, you also need to produce a show that invites parents of children who died or were permanently impaired because of ADHD medication. Give parents a chance to experience the other side.

Parents can check online at solutionswithoutdrugs.com, psychintegrity.org, and toxicpsychiatry.com for accurate and complete information on ADHD and ADHD medication.

Sincerely,
Marcia Lee, Solutions Without Drugs, Children’s Brain/Body Balancing

Helen Cordero Primary School – First APS School to Implement Children’s Brain/Body Balancing

The Albuquerque Public School District is the largest school district in New Mexico. Helen Cordero Primary School, in the southwest part of Albuquerque, NM, has over 40 teachers and 20 EAs teaching almost 800 children in grades pre-K through 2nd grade. This school has a very active parenting community as well. On March 6th, Ellen Griffiths, principal, and half of the teaching staff broke new ground by training in Children’s Brain/Body Balancing.

Children’s Brain/Body Balancing (CBBB) supports the Nurtured Heart Approach used by the teachers at Helen Cordero School. The CBBB movements help children focus and self-regulate which makes it easier for them to communicate and understand the principles of the Nurtured Hearth Approach, helping children feel positive, creative, and cooperative.

Gaby Vera, the Helen Cordero School Community Liaison, has begun teaching some of the Children’s Brain/Body Balancing movements and ideas to parents of students. Both parents and teachers have seen immediate positive changes in behavior and learning! Barbara Brandon, an APS Early Childhood Office Social Worker, has reported similar success with parents and students at Kit Carson Elementary School.

Here’s what the Helen Cordero teachers had to say after their recent training in Children’s Brain/Body Balancing:
“Easy to learn and fun to do activities to share with my class immediately!”
“I enjoyed all the material and movements.”
“The actual demonstrations and being able to do each movement was great.”
“I truly enjoyed learning positive methods of calming students.”
“The most useful parts were the research behind brain/body balancing, the various breathing and movement exercises, and the information about health and nutrition.”
“Wonderful workshop! Families need this information!”
“I think this is excellent information that I’m hoping has a big impact on kids!”
“I can’t wait to see how this works with my class!”
“Offer this to parents!”
“It’s great for the overall well-being of body, mind, and soul of students and teachers. It helps eliminate stress.”

Contact Marcia Lee at 949-468-9841 for information about bringing Children’s Brain/Body Balancing to your child’s school and parenting community. Enjoy the benefits of happier, confident, focused children.

Marcia Lee @ NMAEYC Conference – Self-Regulation Through Simple Movement and the Impact on Behavior, Development, Learning, and ADHD

  The NMAEYC Early Childhood Conference on March 3^rd was a huge success and wonderful experience for all of us who attended. Teachers, caregivers, administrators, and parents attended a wide range of presentations on family, childcare, multi-cultural approaches, early literacy, creative activities, play-based learning, relationship building, life skills, movement and more.

  Over 87 attendees came to my presentation on The Child’s Relationship to Body and Brain. I offered a hands-on experience of Children’s Brain/Body Balancing which included effective teaching strategies for school and home using simple movement to help children focus and self-regulate in under a minute. We tried out several movements. I think Wash Off was the biggest hit (see the video on my website – solutionswithoutdrugs.com). We explored childhood brain development, how to promote self-awareness in the child’s search for balance and growth, and the positive impact of movement on learning and behavior, particularly behavior labeled ADHD 

  And yes, you wonderful fans inspired my courage to lie down on the floor and demonstrate Upside-Down Bug on a Rug, even though I was wearing a business suit! I loved your enthusiasm. Your dedication and love of children shines through. I am so proud to be part of the New Mexico teaching community. I look forward to the next opportunity to demonstrate how to use simple movements to help children self-regulate!

How Do We “Cure” Our Schools?

  We all want to see our children grow up expressing their rich potential as human beings. Yet in our schools we are doing the one thing that will guarantee their failure in school – forcing our children to sit still which shuts down their brains.

  The biggest mistake U.S. educators and schools have been making for centuries is treating children as if they were machines instead of unique human beings who are growing and learning. Machines don’t walk, think, or feel; they just carry out their function without question. But children are not machines.

  In response to institutionally (i.e., classroom) enforced stillness, children will do whatever they can get away with to keep their brains alive – daydream, fidget, twist and turn – anything so that the natural need for movement and growth is not extinguished altogether. Above all, the brain and the body DEMAND to move to stay alive, active, effective, and growing. A  human being will naturally do whatever she or he can to strive for growth and balance – and MOVEMENT is ESSENTIAL.

  With the fabricated disorder called ADHD, the drug industry has given parents and teachers an excuse to freely administer stimulants like Ritalin. What are the results? Drugged out zombies who once again can barely move (machines) that now have OCD because the stimulant drugs create an artificial state of obsessive-compulsive disorder to force children to focus.

  WE CAN MAKE A CHANGE! But first we need to stop blaming children, their brains, and their personalities. We need to stop blaming parents and doctors, as well. We need to provide an atmosphere in the classroom that supports individual needs and essential growth requirements in childhood. One of the MAJOR NEEDS, along with emotional and social needs, is PHYSICAL MOVEMENT – what the child’s brain and body MUST HAVE to function well.

THE CHILD’S BRAIN MUST HAVE MOVEMENT TO FUNCTION AND GROW!

  My goal is to bring movement into every classroom in America! Every teacher training program in the U.S. should teach teachers how to use movement in the classroom to help our children improve their brains and unleash their potential. If you want to help children achieve top scores in any subject, give them the opportunity to move and grow their brains.

  Join me and Solutions Without Drugs in the quest to help all of our children prosper and grow – with movement. For more information, e-mail me at solutions4kids@yahoo.com.

Sincerely,
Marcia Lee

No Excuses for Abusive Restraining of Autistic Children in Schools

Louisville, Kentucky Christopher Baker, a 9-year-old autistic boy who misbehaved at school was stuffed into a duffel bag and the drawstring pulled tight in a Mercer County Public School in Louisville, Kentucky. There are no laws in Kentucky on using restraint or seclusion in public schools. The state also investigated two informal complaints this year. “A student (was) nearly asphyxiated while being restrained,” and in the other, a student vomited from panic attacks after spending most of an academic year “confined to a closet, with no ventilation or outside source of light.”

Albuquerque, New Mexico In November, 2011, a 7-year-old autistic boy was handcuffed by a school police officer at Mary Ann Binford Elementary School in Albuquerque, New Mexico when his acting up in class escalated to running around the school and hitting social workers who were trying to restrain him. The Albuquerque Public Schools’ policies emphasize prevention, and both state and district policies say restraint should be used as a last resort – when students are in danger of hurting themselves or others. Yet de-escalation guidelines were not implemented in this situation.

Leila Pochop, a special education teacher, said she believes violent outbursts from students have increased in frequency and intensity. The poor economy, she suggests, may be putting strains on families that students with special needs carry with them to school. Shrinking public education budgets have led to smaller staffs and larger classrooms, which can trigger outbursts or make them harder to control.

Special Needs of Autistic Children Liz Thomson, past president of the New Mexico Autism Society whose son has autism, said parents would like to see training for school personnel that is specific to autism. While students with autism are not the only ones who act out, she said they have particular needs that can be counterintuitive. “What might be comforting to a neurotypical child might be painful to a child with autism.”

Real Solutions “More and more, teachers are reaching out for professional development on behavior techniques, classroom management, how do you prevent inappropriate behavior, how do you enhance positive behavior . . . this is what we need to help support our students,” Leila Pochop said. Yet school districts have reduced training and professional development budgets. Clearly, the education and respectful treatment of all children and their needs, particularly children with special needs, should be a top priority for our communities and our nation.

 

Banana Song Brain Break

Classroom brain booster! Moving and grooving in the classroom for focus, alertness, attention, and self-regulation. It really works!