Let me start off by saying that
my belief in nontraditional approaches in education did not come over
night. It was a slow process, but an
amazing one. A couple of years ago, I
had a group of student that needed extra support. In order to explore some different options, I
reached out to the occupational therapist on our campus for ideas. She had been talking to me about something
called primitive reflexes and she wanted to do some exercises with my
class. She began to explain to me that releasing
of primitive reflexes was foundational to student success. I was skeptical, to say the least, never mind
the fact that she kept saying things like, “supine” “symmetrical tonic reflex”,
“asymmetrical tonic reflex” and I had no idea what any of that meant!
Anyway, fast forward a couple of
days later and our fabulous OT shows up in my classroom and does four simple
exercises with my class. As she was
walking around and talking me through the exercises, wouldn’t you know it…she
pointed out all of my students that were at-risk! I AM NOT EVEN JOKING!!! Every single one! You better believe, that I began researching
and studying right away!!!
The first thing I learned was
that primitive reflexes are things that everyone is born with. The different developmental milestones that
infants go through allow our bodies to let go of those reflexes. Now, given that I am NOT an expert on these
things, I will try to explain them any further, but I highly recommend you do
your own research. Ready Bodies, Learning Minds, is a great resource.
What I can tell you, is that integrating
exercises and movement in my classroom made a HUGE difference, not only in
behavior, but in academic performance. This
is how I first implemented movement in my classroom…
Exercise 1 – Super Squats – Cross arms across body,
Exercise 2 – Rocking Horse – Crawl position, turn head
to one side and rock, 10 times each side.
Working hard to keep both elbows straight.
Exercise 3 – Giraffee – Crawl position, chin up,
pretend you are giraffee trying to reach eat the leaves off the high
trees. Make sure kness and hands stay
stationary.
Exercise 4 – Popcorn – lay on back, curl up in a ball,
count to 20 and then POP out. Make sure that head is off the ground
Exercise 5 – Superman – lay on stomach, arms and legs
stretched out, lift both off ground and count to 20.
Exercise 6 – Dot to Dot – Stand away from wall, hands
out and side, follow fingers to touch dots on either side of wall, while
keeping back straight.
You
can see most of these exercises here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUy5Y1UiymY. There are so many other youtube videos out
there. Well worth some research!
The
impact these had on my students was so amazing! I began looking for more ways
to intergrate movement. Thanks to a
grant from Toyota of Rockwall, I was able to add a mini trampoline, balance
board and ball chairs to my classroom. I
know, I know, some of you might me shaking your head right now and saying, “NO
WAY!”. But I promise you, it was
GREAT!!! The trampoline and balance board did double duty, as I placed a
hundreds chart by the trampoline and they had to count and jump and Word Wall
Words by the balance board, where they had to read and balance at the same time
J.
Now some of you may be asking, “How do you use this in
counseling?” And the answer is
simple. I can share my experience, when
looking at academic concerns and I utilize the exercises during individual
sessions, for stress/anxiety release. I
am looking forward to the day that I am called upon to help a teacher to set up
exercise stations in his/her classroom!
And I will continue to be an advocate for a dedicated station motor lab
for ALL students! It certainly served my
students well and I am certain that it can benefit yours!
