New Beginnings Tutorial --partnering with families to
build a bridge between frustration and hope.
New Beginnings Tutorial is an educational program developed by Empower Ministries, a faith-based non-profit 501 (c) (3).
The four-day tutorial was created to help grammar aged children with mild to moderate learning differences who struggle in a traditional classroom setting.
The program is skills-based and incorporates a variety of methods and materials to help students build confidence, improve memory, and increase processing speed. The tutorial is designed to help students grow emotionally and relationally as well as academically.
The teachers utilize Trust-Based Relational Intervention, NILD and Equipping Minds cognitive therapy, and primitive reflex integration exercises to maximize learning potential. New Beginnings offers trauma-informed classrooms, low student-teacher ratios, and the tools needed to help students learn how to regulate their emotions in a safe learning environment.
We meet at Faith Presbyterian Church
4601 Valleydale Road
Birmingham, AL 35242
Visits are scheduled by appointment only.
(205) 440-3585
The four-day tutorial was created to help grammar aged children with mild to moderate learning differences who struggle in a traditional classroom setting.
The program is skills-based and incorporates a variety of methods and materials to help students build confidence, improve memory, and increase processing speed. The tutorial is designed to help students grow emotionally and relationally as well as academically.
The teachers utilize Trust-Based Relational Intervention, NILD and Equipping Minds cognitive therapy, and primitive reflex integration exercises to maximize learning potential. New Beginnings offers trauma-informed classrooms, low student-teacher ratios, and the tools needed to help students learn how to regulate their emotions in a safe learning environment.
We meet at Faith Presbyterian Church
4601 Valleydale Road
Birmingham, AL 35242
Visits are scheduled by appointment only.
(205) 440-3585
Foundational Principles
Your child can flourish in life.
"For by you, I can run against a troop and by my God I can leap over a wall." (Ps. 18:29)
When your child struggles to learn, to make friends, or to control emotions, he or she can seem unreachable and incapable of receiving help. It can feel like an enemy has attacked your home and is holding your child captive. The idea that one day he or she will receive the strength to enjoy the freedom to flourish in life can seem unrealistic. As Christians, however, this hope is our expectation.
"For by you, I can run against a troop and by my God I can leap over a wall." (Ps. 18:29)
When your child struggles to learn, to make friends, or to control emotions, he or she can seem unreachable and incapable of receiving help. It can feel like an enemy has attacked your home and is holding your child captive. The idea that one day he or she will receive the strength to enjoy the freedom to flourish in life can seem unrealistic. As Christians, however, this hope is our expectation.
The hope of the Gospel applies to your child's ability to learn.
"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth." (Isaiah 43:19)
When a child with learning differences develops the emotional, relational, and academic skills needed to learn in a classroom, we receive a glimpse of the "new life" that God offers. While learning how to learn should not be confused with being born again, it is most certainly one of the "new things" that comes with the "new life." For all of us, the "transformation" that comes through the renewal of the mind (Romans 12:2) is an outflowing of the gospel. However, when God transforms a child from a vulnerable place with a renewed mind, we see an unparalleled picture of His power and grace.
"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth." (Isaiah 43:19)
When a child with learning differences develops the emotional, relational, and academic skills needed to learn in a classroom, we receive a glimpse of the "new life" that God offers. While learning how to learn should not be confused with being born again, it is most certainly one of the "new things" that comes with the "new life." For all of us, the "transformation" that comes through the renewal of the mind (Romans 12:2) is an outflowing of the gospel. However, when God transforms a child from a vulnerable place with a renewed mind, we see an unparalleled picture of His power and grace.
Your child is mysteriously and wonderfully made both in body and spirit.
"...to be holy in body and spirit." 1 Corinthians 7:34
Recognizing the beautiful reality that every child, even a child with learning differences, is both a physical and a spiritual being will transform you as a parent. We gain the hope that God not only shepherds hearts, He strengthens minds. More importantly, the organic unity of your child as a spirit and a body opens your eyes to the presence of God's image that your child reveals.
"...to be holy in body and spirit." 1 Corinthians 7:34
Recognizing the beautiful reality that every child, even a child with learning differences, is both a physical and a spiritual being will transform you as a parent. We gain the hope that God not only shepherds hearts, He strengthens minds. More importantly, the organic unity of your child as a spirit and a body opens your eyes to the presence of God's image that your child reveals.
God has prepared a place for your child.
"Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars" Psalm 84:3
When a child lacks the ability to make friends or to do well in school, it is easy to fear the future and to doubt that your child will ever find a meaningful place to serve Christ and His Kingdom. We must never forget that at the altar of God, everyone who wants a place will find a place. God has designed and prepared a place. God has designed and prepared a place for your child to reveal His glory in a unique way.
"Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars" Psalm 84:3
When a child lacks the ability to make friends or to do well in school, it is easy to fear the future and to doubt that your child will ever find a meaningful place to serve Christ and His Kingdom. We must never forget that at the altar of God, everyone who wants a place will find a place. God has designed and prepared a place. God has designed and prepared a place for your child to reveal His glory in a unique way.
To help families build a bridge between frustration and hope Empower Ministries focuses both on the heart (spirit) and the mind of the child.
We shepherd the heart of a child when we use spiritual disciplines (prayer, scripture, and fellowship) to prepare them for a relationship with Christ (repentance and faith).
We strengthen the mind of a child when we use proven techniques to improve the brain's emotional and cognitive capacity to develop relational and academical skills.
We strengthen the mind of a child when we use proven techniques to improve the brain's emotional and cognitive capacity to develop relational and academical skills.
With the Learning Triangle as a framework, we strategically use techniques proven to increase the brain's emotional and cognitive capacity to improve relational and academic skills.
Empower's Learning Triangle
At the heart of our approach is the Learning Triangle. Modern research offers some amazing answers to why children struggle academically and socially. Empower's Learning Triangle organizes research into a diagram that offers a clearer understanding of how cognitive and emotional skills integrate through the development of sensory, motor and attachment skills.
Empower primarily focuses on four proven techniques to increase cognitive and emotional capacity. While some children need a specialist, most children see significant improvement when the following techniques are used properly and consistently.
Empower primarily focuses on four proven techniques to increase cognitive and emotional capacity. While some children need a specialist, most children see significant improvement when the following techniques are used properly and consistently.
- Brain Games: activities that engage cognitive processing (e.g., memory, processing speed, and comprehension). Brain Games grow cognitive pathways to increase the mind’s ability to learn.
- Nurture Groups: an intentional time to equip students through scripts (patterns for emotionally appropriate conversations), role plays, and hands-on activities. Nurture groups develop self-regulation skills to increase the mind’s ability to control emotions.
- Therapeutic Exercises: a collection of age-appropriate exercises that develop mental/physical responses that generally become involuntary responses during pregnancy and early childhood. Therapeutic Exercises develop primitive reflexes to increase the mind’s ability to control the body.
- Sensory Activities: a collection of activities that target hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity to develop a balanced response to stimuli. Sensory exercises improve the brain’s ability to control the senses.