'Wet Move to Learn'
Finally, we’ve been able to put together this fabulous little booklet full of great ideas about how to take the Move to Learn program into the water!
Developed with the assistance of the participants of the 2008 Fijian Seminar, under Barbara's inspiration, and spearheaded by Veronica Steer, Helen Thomson and Jini Liljeqvist, it gives a new dimension to the Movement Sequences.
We hope that you will be as excited with this as we are.
NB. In order to appreciate this booklet fully, you will need to be familiar with the Move to Learn Movement Sequences as described in Ten Gems for the Brain and the Move to Learn DVD.
Click here to read the booklet
Help Your Child To Learn (book review) and Move to Learn (DVD review)
This is a great article, and can be found in UNCENSORED online magazine.
Click here to read the review.
'MOVING FORWARD'
Mary Mountstephen explains why nursery schools
need to be providing more opportunities for
exploration and physical activity to improve learning,
language and behaviour among pre-schoolers.
Click here to view.
'DEVELOPMENTAL LEARNING STEPS'
The long awaited complete article by Veronica Steer BApp ScOT, RegOT, AccOT about developmental learning steps. Highly informative in an easy to follow format.
Click here to view.
'LINKS BETWEEN PRIMITIVE REFLEXES AND THE EXERCISES'
An easy to read and informative table put together by Mary Mountstephen MA (SEN) Associate Member of British Dyslexia Association.
Click here to view.
'WORDS, WORDS, WORDS'
A short article by Barbara Pheloung.
"This works like a miracle for teachers who despair about the poor listeners in their classrooms. Concentration improves when students actually understand what those small words really mean. Instructions no longer sound like Greek."
Click here to read the article.
'PRIMITIVE REFLEXES AND THEIR IMPACT ON LEARNING'
An interesting article by Mary Mountstephen MA (SEN) Associate Member of British Dyslexia Association
Click here to read this article.
Move to Learn 2005 Research Results!
In 2005 Move to Learn conducted research through the world renowned University of Sydney, Australia. The results have provided valuable insight into the relationship between body movement and learning.
Click here to read results from 2005 Research.
A Major Research Project On Movement
Organising Brain Function
Dear Barbara,
I wanted to let you know that the work of the Developmental Movement Centre has become the subject of a major research project in 14 children's centres throughout England and there is a conference on November 15-17, 2005 in Leeds. We are hoping to influence Early Years programs throughout the UK. If you would like to attend or want more information, please stay in touch. I will soon have a completed brochure I can email to you that is being created in England. I am a keynote speaker for the conference which will include policy makers, the Minister of Education, visiting nurse professionals, etc.
If nothing else, from your perspective, this will give more and more researched based credence to the importance of movement activities in organising brain function. Our intention is to take our work in Britain as a base, apply to major research organisations in our area and begin to apply our materials throughout the State of Washington.
Hopefully the research will be valuable to all of us globally in our effort the help kids and bring some sanity to the treatment of "conditions" such as AD/HD, OCD, PTSD - all the alphabet disorders.
Please stay in touch and keep up your good work.
Bette Lamont
Executive Director
Developmental Movement Centre — Seattle, USA.
Our Own Research In Sydney
SUMMARY REPORT:
Integrated Therapy Program for Language Impaired
Children in Public Schools:
Evaluation of Outcomes
A grant to fund the project “Integrated Therapy Program for Language Impaired Children in Public Schools” was granted to Dr. Christine Chapparo at the University of Sydney by Barbara Pheloung and the Move to Learn Foundation. The purpose of the project was to measure the outcomes that were achieved over two school terms of an integrated school based therapy program as measured by academic performance, gross and fine motor performance and perception. The following is a summary of the outcomes of the project.
Background:
In response to a request for occupational therapy assistance for children with specific language and communication difficulties at two public primary schools in Sydney, the School of Occupation and Leisure Sciences at the University of Sydney developed a final year specialised fieldwork placement. The program targeted children K – 6 who have been identified as having average or above average IQ, but significant language difficulties. In addition, the majority of children were identified by their teachers as having problems with general organisation, planning, fine and gross motor abilities, developing relationships with peers and self-regulation of their behaviour.
The Program:
The program ran for eight weeks in each of the 3rd and 4th terms in 2004. It focused on three areas: gross and fine motor skills, and tool use (writing, cutting, pasting), and sensory processing and regulation. Fine motor intervention focused on hand and finger dexterity and strength. Tool use was specific to the use of writing tools such as pens, pencils and paper. Intervention sessions were run as in-class groups for all children each day, and individual sessions from one to four times per week for children who needed particular help with pencil grasp, spacing, letter size and alignment. Sensory integration sessions were carried out once or twice weekly in the school halls. These sessions aimed to develop tone, posture and balance as well as motor planning. Activities were graded from simple to complex as skills developed and generalised to the playground and PE. Student therapists worked with specific children during class time on organisation, planning and regulating attention and behaviour.
Outcome measures:
All children were assessed at the beginning of the program and at the conclusion of the program using the following measures. The children were assessed and re-assessed by student therapists who had been trained in the assessment procedures and whose reliability had been checked by the senior researcher and an independent occupational therapist. Re-assessments were carried out by student therapists who had not completed the initial assessment, nor had been involved with the child’s intervention, to control for tester bias.
- Curtin University Handwriting Assessment
- Assessment of Handwriting Readability
- Handwriting Speed
- Assessment of Scissor Use
- Development Test of Visual Motor Integration
- The Motor Free Visual Perception Test
- Clinical Observations of Posture and Movement
- Qualitative observations of classroom behaviour and application
Outcomes:
All children improved in at least one area of ability, with the majority demonstrating significant improvements in all areas of function. As a group, the children made significant quantitative changes in all areas.
Generally, the visual and organisational skill required for handwriting improved, with students demonstrating improvements in spatial organisation, amount and coherence of written expression, consistency in the spacing and size of letters and speed.
Clinical observation group scores relating to posture, balance and planning showed significant improvement, with all children demonstrating a constellation of scores at the conclusion of the program that were close to those expected of typical children their age.
Qualitatively, changes observed in the classroom related to improved tone and posture during schoolwork tasks, improved balance and coordination during gross motor activities and a more active and initiated inclusion in PE and playground activities with children from other classes. During sensory integrative sessions, the children demonstrated an ability to perform more complicated sequences of movement, to calibrate their motor and affective responses to sensory input.
Qualitative reports from the classroom indicated that self-regulation and attention were areas demonstrating considerable improvement. Pre and post assessment scores of visual perceptual measures showed the greatest variability across children, with the group as a whole showing significant improvement.
Unsolicited reports from the teachers indicated the effects of the program. The following is an excerpt from a letter received from two teachers and a school principal after just six weeks of the program:
"We would like to thank you for assigning (two OT students) to the Support Class (Language) at our Public School. The impact on the class has been outstanding. All the children have made excellent progress in all areas. This is true not only of the occupational therapy aspects but also the flow on effects to all other areas of the language curriculum.
In the K/2G class, one child in particular has made dramatic improvements. C. is 6 years old and has been in the class for nearly two years. We were very concerned about her apparent lack of academic progress. However, in the last eight weeks, she has become focused, is able to complete her work and her reading and writing have improved. She is more alert in class and is communicating outside the classroom with other children and teachers.
In the 2/4L class, all the children have become more focussed, have begun to produce more consistent work and are showing greater attention spans. All are producing more fluent writing, particularly two boys, who had notable difficulty. One of the boys, S., who has visual perception difficulties, is clearly more able to self-correct and produce focused work. He has had the same problem for the eighteen months he has been in the class and we were concerned that he is approaching the exit point in the class without having gained the strategies to manage this problem. As with C., S. appears to have made a definite turn around. We could not be more pleased with this result.”
(SCL Class Teachers and Principal).
Television Program '60 Minutes' - June 2002:
Try A Blind Week!
One of the most basic building blocks for academic learning is our proprioceptive system. This system gives us our ability to learn where we are in space. Our muscles and joints give our brain this information and it is essential to know about our bodies position before we can learn about the position of other things in relation to ourselves and then in relation to each other. This is obviously essential for geometry, for positioning our writing/drawing on a piece of paper and of course being able to put figures in straight even columns. As well most of the clumsy children I’ve seen have poor proprioception.
SOLUTION
Stimulate the brain in our muscles and joints by temporarily removing other support systems such as the eyes. Do things with eyes closed so that the muscles/joints have to be used more.
For example:
- Try eating with eyes closed.
- Blindfold your eyes and have a friend near as you walk to a chair and sit down, or go out a door.
PRE AND POST TESTING
Take note of how hard clapping hands blindfolded with a friend is today, keep practicing blind activities for 2 weeks and then try the test again.
