Benefits of Yoga in a Special School Setting

At Ysgol Pen Coch we focus on educating the whole child, mind, body and spirit.

Yoga, by nature, supports this learning. 

We have investigated whether Yoga would be a useful addition to  the therapies we provide for  our pupils.

• According to neuroscience our sense of who we are is anchored in our connections with our own body. 
• All yoga programmes are made up of postures and stretches ( asanas) , and breathing (pranayama) and meditation.
• A significant proportion of our pupils are not aware of their breath, so learning to focus on breathing in and out and to count their breaths can actually be helping them get in touch with their bodies whilst reinforcing their number skills. 
• Our emphasis is not on getting poses accurate but on helping pupils notice which muscles are active at different times.
• The sequences are designed to create a rhythm between tension and relaxation which we hope will help them in their daily lives.
• It is difficult for people with autism to feel completely relaxed and physically safe in their bodies.The majority of our pupils cannot understand what is going on in their bodies. They are unable to tell anyone whether they feel physically unwell. They can't tell us what makes them feel better or worse.
• Yoga can help those with autism to begin to appreciate sensory experiences. Cultivating sensory awareness is particularly important for children with autism so that they learn to anticipate and act on the ordinary demands of their body. 
• Sometimes children with autism find it hard to tolerate their own sensations. In yoga they learn to focus their attention on their own breathing and on their sensations moment to moment. Yoga therefore helps them to pay attention to how their actions make them feel.

Staff volunteered to attend Yoga classes and training sessions in their own time. It was unanimously agreed that Yoga would benefit the pupils. There are many many Yoga programmes available for schools to follow nowadays. 

The programme that classes chose to follow in Ysgol pen Coch is the Cosmic Kids programme, which is easily available for free on YouTube at:

https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

The following are some of the benefits of yoga to support the education of the whole child, thus maximizing the learning process:

• Provides pupils healthy ways to express and balance their emotions
• Promotes a more relaxed, comfortable state of being - the perfect state for teaching and learning
• Brings pupils into the present moment – the most basic requirement for learning
• Encourages community and connectedness within the classroom
• Helps to create an atmosphere of confidence, enthusiasm and non-competitiveness where everyone can succeed
• Helps to ease anxiety and the flight or fright mode that many of our pupils have to deal with
• Enhances focus, concentration, comprehension and memory
• Provides opportunities for reflection, patience and insight, reducing impulsivity and reactivity
• Supports social and emotional learning
• Improves listening skills
• Wakes up sluggish minds and creativity as needed
• Enhances organizational and communication skills
• Improves posture,
• Helps pupils to sit comfortably for long periods
• Enhances motor skills and balance
• Improves mind/body awareness and connection
• Improves confidence and self-esteem
• Encourages respect for self and others
• Creates a calm, harmonious classroom

Follow the link to see more information about the use of therapies in a special school setting http://ysgolpencoch.org/

Should a modern day Thomas Eddison attend a school like ours?

If modern psychology had existed in 1853, Thomas Edison, inventor of such as the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, the motion picture camera, as well as improving the telegraph and telephone,would have probably been deemed a victim of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) and prescribed a hefty dose of the ‘miracle drug’ Ritalin.

 He was born Feb. 11, 1847 and died Oct. 18, 1931 and because he was such a well known character he is mentioned more often than any other historical figure for exhibiting classic ADHD behaviour

 As one of the most prolific inventors of all time, Thomas Edison exerted a tremendous influence on modern life. Edison was not just an inventor but also became a successful manufacturer of his inventions and a businessman selling them.

Thomas Eddison was the last of seven children. He did not learn to talk until he was four years old and he also suffered with hearing difficulties. At the age of seven - after being in school for only three months ( a noisy one-room schoolhouse with 38 other students of all ages) - Thomas's teacher supposedly  lost his patience with the child's persistent questioning and self-centered behaviour( The biography of Thomas Edison By Gerald Beals Copyright © 1999 All Rights Reserved ).He told Thomas’s parents that he thought Thomas’s brain was ‘addled’.

Thomas Edison’s genetic predisposition for creativity, energy, and inventiveness and his genetic explanation for his ADHD characteristics would have been easily explained by the nature of his parents, both very strong -willed and energetic.

Whether an ADHD “energy gene” manifests itself in positive energy or negative energy depends very much on “nurture” or environmental influences. The school environment he was in was obviously wrong for him. Indeed it may well have been the wrong environment for many of the 38 pupils in that crowded schoolroom.

The nurture he received from his parents however was ideal. His parents decided that the crowded schoolroom was the wrong place for their obviously intelligent son. As there was no other suitable school around, and because they could afford to, they gave Thomas home schooling with private tutors. Tutors who encouraged mental stimulation, mindfulness and meditation on great works.

Children with ADHD often have lots of mental energy which can be confused with physical energy so that ordinary teachers feel that the child needs to ‘let off steam’ and run around for a bit. However that can sometimes increase the mental anxiety. Finding a balance between the physical and mental energy of ADHD children is challenging and it is what special school  staff are good at.

Teachers in special schools today know the benefits of Neurofeedback training for children with ADHD . They can also ensure that pupils can receive meditation, yoga, and other relaxation techniques. They know that these can enable the pupil to be in the right frame of mind to learn. 

They are  also cost-effective and would reduce the drugs used which will save the child from drug side effects and save the NHS a fortune. We provide these therapies at Ysgol pen Coch. We introduce Neurofeedback training for pupils in September 2016. Sometimes a child does not need to be home schooled but just be in the right school.

 Ange anderson

Floortime Therapy, Play Therapy and Intensive interaction .

As a school we have data to evidence the impact of the play therapy that is offered in the school. The effect on pupil behaviour has been substantial .And so we were interested to find out more about DIR Floortime therapy. Floortime proclaims to be more than just ‘play therapy’ and to go beyond child led interaction.Play therapy ,in our school, lasts for a 40 minute session per pupil. DIR Floortime can last for 2 to 5 hours per day. 

It was created by child psychiatrists Stanley Greenspan, M.D. and Serena Wieder, PhD. Its premise is that adults can help children expand their circles of communication by meeting them at their developmental level and building on their strengths. This is also true of intensive Interaction , another therapy that is used in our school .

Greenspan claims that the technique challenges children with autism to push themselves to their full potential. It develops “who they are,” rather than “what their diagnosis says.”

In Floortime, therapists and parents join  the child in its games. They follow the child's lead. Therapists teach parents how to direct their children into increasingly complex interactions. This process is called opening and closing circles of communicationand is  central to the Floortime approach.

Floortime sessions work by progressively developing enjoyable and relaxed interaction  between the interaction partner and the person doing the learning. This establishes the foundation for shared attention, engagement and problem solving.  Parents and therapists  respect and support each child’s uniqueness while promoting development through meaningful, relationship-based experiences.  Floortime, like Intensive Interaction,  encourages children to lead  rather than imposing adult’s own expectations or having them repeat a memorized pattern which is a common criticisms of ABA. Theoretically this results in more flexibility of thought.

As it currently stands, one intervention is incapable of catering for every child on the autistic spectrum and this post does not seek to recommend one over another. 

DIR reminds me very much of Intensive Interaction .Intensive Interaction with wings. 

I haven’t found any independent, peer-led, published studies on the effectiveness of Floortime with children on the autistic spectrum. However a recent Estyn ( Wales's version of Ofsted)  inspection report commented on the use of DIR Floortime in a special school in South Wales: 

 'The school works with an independent partner to provide a highly specialized and extremely effective behavior management approach. The impact of this work consistently indicates a significant improvement in pupils’ learning outcomes. Their levels of engagement, attendance and exclusions have all improved. This sector leading work is helping pupils to improve their behavior and substantially develop their communication and wellbeing. The success of this approach has led to the development of an outreach service to mainstream schools and special schools’ 

The independent partners, referred to in that very recent Estyn report, will be attending the Therapies In Education Conference on 21st of October at Ysgol Pen Coch. Follow the link  http://ysgolpencoch.org/course/view.php?id=359. Early bird rates of £45  finish on June 15th .

Come along and find out  from professionals talking and giving demonstrations  about Floortime; Storybook Massage; Neurofeedback;Indian head Massage for special children; Yoga and special needs; Meditation; Play therapy; Lego Therapy; Magic Therapy ; Vibroacoustic therapy; AIT; Sherborne therapy; Irlen lens; Reflexology; Functional Reflex Therapy;Tac Pac; hydrotherapy; Martial Arts and more whilst perusing exhibition stands as you enjoy Welsh cakes and a cuppa. Buffet lunch provided. 

Neurofeedback to balance a child's brain or Drugs?What would you choose?

Through some of the therapies that we use in Ysgol Pen Coch children's behaviour can improve. However, once their behavioural problems are under control their learning disabilities sometimes become more obvious. Even though therapies can help pupils to relax and be more ready to take part in education their learning skills often need specialised help.

In pupils with learning disabilities there is often loose connections between the auditory and word processing systems. They sometimes have poor eye to hand coordination and issues with the sensory integration systems. Pupils with a marked auditory delay find it difficult to follow and remember instructions from a teacher. 

 Children with ASD or ADHD brains are hyper alert to danger and their brains are always in the fight or flight mode. The brainwaves of children with ASD and ADHD are often loosely coordinated and don't come together in a coherent pattern. They are unable to filter out irrelevant information and so cannot get on with what they have been asked to do. Children with autism often have excessive activity in the right temporal lobe, the fear Centre of the brain, combined with too much frontal slow wave activity. This means that their hyper-aroused emotional brains dominate their mental life.

 Research has shown that by calming the fear centre you produce more relaxed brain patterns. At least 36 studies in America have shown that neurofeedback can be at least as effective as drugs in alleviating symptoms. The psychiatric drugs industry makes millions of pounds every year. In contrast to drugs once neurofeedback has trained the brain to produce different patterns of electrical communication, no further treatment is necessary. Drugs however do not change fundamental brain activity and work only as long as the patient keeps taking them.

 Neurofeedback has been proven to help the brain to charge up areas in the brain that are not working and also create new brainwave patterns. The feedback can reinforce selected brainwave patterns while discouraging others. Neurofeedback has no negative side effects.

 Neither drugs nor conventional therapy have been shown to activate the neuroplasticity necessary for people to learn better. Neurofeedback may succeed where these have failed.

 It surely is  time for us to return to understanding the brain in relation to electrical communication and stop relying on the drug industry to answer our problems when they may in fact add to them.

Staff from Ysgol Pen Coch will be trained in Neurofeedback in July 2016. We aim to provide pupils with the opportunity to have neurofeedback training in the autumn of 2016.There are several different types of Neurofeedback machines on the market. They are all expensive . We are currently raising funds .

If a Child can't learn the way we teach maybe we should teach the way they learn.

It is claimed that after two weeks  an ordinary person tends to remember:

10% of what they read

20% of what they hear

30% of what they see

50% of what they see and hear

70% of what they say

90% of what they say and do.

In 1974 Piaget wrote ‘The Future of Education’ in which he advises that ‘Instead of evaluating only from the angle of future scholastic success, in the sense of being a step in the ladder toward only one goal-the university-the school is responsible for discovering and developing the most diverse individual talents.’

The recommendation was that the traditional ways of teaching where students were passive recipients of information should cease.

In ‘Mindstorms’(1980) Seymour Papert, the father of educational computing , writes ‘Many children are held back in their learning because they have a model of learning in which you have either ‘got it’ or ‘got it wrong.’ But when you program a computer you almost never get it right the first time. Learning to be a master programmer is learning to become highly skilled at isolating and correcting bugs ... The question to ask about the program is not whether it is right or wrong, but if it is fixable. If this way of looking at intellectual products were generalized to how the larger culture thinks about knowledge and its acquisition we might all be less intimidated by our fears of ‘being wrong.’

Around the world today educational leaders, such as Graham Donaldson, champion the need for education to stimulate minds and consciences, whilst developing personalities.

At the beginning of the 21st Century in order to bring education into line with the needs of society, it has been necessary for  many countries to undertake  a complete revision of the methods and aims of education systems. It is exciting to read of the recommendations that all students will be more actively involved in their own learning and that constructivist teachers will replace the more traditional and conservative teachers.

In 1974 Piaget recommended a reorganization of education including specialized training and professional development of teachers in order to bring about changes in Education to meet with the recommendations of article 26 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This seems, at first glance, no different from Donaldson’s recommendations in ‘Successful Futures’(2015).

One can only hope that each of us will be able to look back to the beginning of the 21st Century as the time when educational change was no longer just written about but it actually happened.

Postscript

And what of those students who are not ordinary?

After two weeks what do they remember?

If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.