SENTIENT TIMES Apr/May 2001

Let the Children Move
By Jon Bredal, MA

"Movement is the door to learning" – Paul Dennison, Ph.D.

When I met Jeff, he was fidgety, impulsive, easily distracted, and had difficulty staying focused. He was part of a school program in which five first graders, who exhibited characteristics of ADD/ADHD, completed movement sessions at school and did the same activities at home with their families. In meeting with Jeff’s mother, she mentioned that there had been some acute family challenges and that she would do whatever she could to help Jeff. She agreed to do five to ten minutes of developmental movement activities with him every day. I interacted with him during six one-hour sessions.

When the eight-week movement program was complete, this is what Jeff’s mother said about her son. "He is calmer and much more focused. He does not get bored and frustrated like he used to. He’s eager to participate in family activities, like hiking and bicycling. When we have workday, he does more than he needs to do. His whole attitude has calmed down. He has had a total change in his ability to concentrate. His endurance is better. He rode his bike for five miles—something he could never do before. Before with rollerblading he would say, "I can’t do this" and get discouraged. Now he rollerblades for two hours after school. He plays games better. Before in Monopoly he wanted the houses right away. Now he can wait his turn. We do ten minutes of the brain integration activities every day. I see the results. I want him to have the movement program next year."

Why was Jeff able to make these dramatic changes? Can any child make similar changes? When we understand the tremendous plasticity of the brain and central nervous system and the impact of completing developmental stages, we are able to see possibilities for all children.

In the past several years there have been a proliferation of learning and behavior challenges in American children. We have witnessed a myriad of labels and programs to "fix" our children and have spent tons of money with negligible results. Joseph Chilton Pearce, child development expert and the author of The Magical Child, has called what is going on "a major crisis or breakdown in our children’s development." Much of the violence, chemical dependency, poor health, teenage pregnancy, suicide and other social ills affecting our youth is an outgrowth of this breakdown.

In the healthy development of children there are four basic requirements that need to be met.

These are:
1) love and nurturing;
2) audio/visual interactive communication;
3) play and movement; and
4) proper nutrition, clothing, shelter, etc.

Our children are experiencing major deficiencies in all four areas. From infancy through their teenage years, they are not receiving sufficient love, are not being provided with adequate nutrition, are not given experiences that build interactive communication ability and are being restricted in their experience of natural movement and play.

Movement and the Brain
Since my personal experience involves working with children, families and schools to provide critical movement and play experiences, I will focus on this area.

All babies go through a natural, systematic pattern of movement. These inherent movements are activated by what we term "primitive reflexes" which occur in a set sequence. These involuntary reflexes automatically assist the baby in developing and maturing into more sophisticated and voluntary patterns of movement. The movements that emerge in a specific order create the foundation for brain and central nervous system development. In other words, the reflexive and accompanying movements create and build the system of neural patterns necessary to function with success. When basic reflexes are not matured, the result is often fidgety, impulsive, hyperactive, withdrawn or listless behavior, with neural gaps in visual, auditory, kinesthetic and left/right hemispheric processing.

Many of the learning and behaviors challenges in children can be directly attributed to babies not integrating basic reflexes that develop into more advanced forms of moving, thinking, and interacting.

Everyday millions of babies are trying their best to move and develop, but are prevented from doing so. Babies are simply not given the freedom to move. They are placed and kept in plastic carriers, jumpers, swings, walkers, playpens, cribs, strollers or other contraptions that restrict their freedom to move.

In addition, they are not given the freedom to move on the floor so they can do the reaching, turning, rocking, crawling, creeping, spinning, rolling and sitting movements which are so critical to brain development. Not only do carrying and play devices prevent moving, they also eliminate much holding, touching and nurturing, tragically blocking heart-to-heart connection. Plastic contraptions are convenient for parents, but devastating to the brain development of children.

I see many children who have difficulty with cross lateral movement, tracking with their eyes and being able to follow auditory directions. Invariably, I discover that they have failed to complete key developmental stages and have gaps in their neural development. For instance, crawling on all fours creates cross lateral development and interaction between the left and right hemispheres, an integration of the neocortex and balance systems and a major development of the visual and auditory systems. Recent research has demonstrated that over 50% of Americans have not fully completed this developmental crawling stage. In our program, we assist children or adults in completing this stage or others within a few months. This leads to dramatic improvement in learning and behavior.

In my work I often identify six to eight primitive reflexes that are still active in a child’s body, interfering with an ease of learning and interacting with others. The following is just one example:

In normal development, the symmetrical tonic neck reflex (STNR) emerges at about six months and helps the baby begin to crawl. If, however, the baby fails to do enough proper crawling, for at least six months, this reflex remains active, causing involuntary movements that interfere with the child gaining control over its body and blocking left/right brain synchronization.

An active STNR makes it difficult for the child to focus, sit still at a desk or chair and interferes with postures required for reading and writing. The child cannot relax, fidgets frequently and finds it very difficult to get comfortable. Often the child will slouch with legs straight out, sit in a chair with feet tucked under the body or hook feet around the legs of the chair. These children squirm, are easily distracted and often do not finish their homework. The more failure they experience, the more they avoid reading and written work. Research has demonstrated that seventy-five per cent of children labeled with learning disabilities have not integrated the STNR. If you or your child exhibits these symptoms, it is likely that you still have an active STNR.

School Age Movement
In addition to our children not completing development stages, a UNESCO study confirmed that in the last fifty years there has been a 70 per cent reduction in the movement of American school-age children. Instead of moving and playing in their spare time, many of our children are watching television, working on computers or doing homework. Watching television actually inhibits brain development and has several other harmful effects. The overuse of computers has a negative impact on the development of the visual system. Many early developmental specialists actually recommend no computer or television use before the age of eight to allow for natural development through play, imagination and human communication. Research has repeatedly shown that most homework is useless and is often a source of family conflict.

During the past forty years there has been a movement in American schools to eliminate music, art, drama and physical education for children. For example, sixty-four percent of K-12 students do not participate in a daily physical education program. During this same time there has been a lowering in our children’s academic achievement. Researchers James Pollatschek and Frank Hagen say, "Children engaged in daily physical education show superior motor fitness, academic performance and attitude toward school as compared to those who do not participate in daily physical education." According to the President’s Council on Fitness and Sports all K-12 students need 30 minutes a day of physical movement to stimulate the brain. The elimination of movement experiences, while increasing time sitting still and drilling for testing, correlates highly with the downward trend of academic achievement.

Educators know that there has been a consistent trend of "dumbing down" or making standardized tests easier through the years. In spite of this phenomena and the overwhelming emphasis on teaching to the test, there have been negligible gains in test scores nationwide in the past ten years. By ignoring more critical learning, educators are shortchanging our children for political reasons. Decisions about our children’s learning are made primarily in state legislatures, not by educators. A combination of emotional learning, critical thinking, problem solving, creative arts, movement and experiential learning is far more beneficial for children than our extremely narrow preoccupation with the teaching and testing of basic skills. When learning is aligned with developmental stages, student-centered, and intrinsically interesting and motivating, basic skills are learned much more easily and effortlessly than with our current approach.

Typically, when we send our very top students to international academic competition, they finish last in a group of twenty industrialized countries. Those countries that generally finish at the top, such as Japan, Hungary, Denmark and Netherlands all have intensive music, art and physical education programs built into their elementary curriculums. In Denmark, there is no testing of young children. For children, they emphasize concrete, experiential learning with lots of creativity and movement. They know that repeated early testing creates anxiety, is harmful and has no benefit. Their children demonstrate their unique individuality and brilliance as they unfold naturally. The Denmark system does not divide and classify their children, forcing them to compete and then publicly labeling and degrading the ones that test low. In Canada, the Vanves and Blanshaed projects revealed that when physical education time was increased to one-third of the school day, academic achievement went up. Research by Simmons has shown that teaching students art has been linked to better visual thinking, problem solving, language, and creativity. Children’s involvement in music and drama has demonstrated similar powerful results. There are over eighty U.S. studies demonstrating that increased movement, including the arts, improves academic achievement.

Parents would do well to look at programs within Montessori, Waldorf, and student-centered alternative schools. These programs are designed to align with children’s natural stages of development with much movement and interaction. They build upon concrete experiences to allow children to be successful when they are ready for more abstract learning. When children are forced to sit most of the day doing near point work without on-going movement, they actually develop patterns that block the ease and joy of learning. Another important option to consider is homeschooling, which can provide your child with the freedom and experience to fully meet her needs. The education press has reported that children schooled at home seem to be five to ten years ahead of their formally trained peers in their ability to think. For those children with acute learning and behavior challenges, a program of integrated movement targeted to completing "stuck" primitive reflexes and developing their visual, auditory, balance systems would prove highly beneficial. By building and strengthening neural pathways, thus creating whole-brain integration, children begin to create patterns of success and achievement. Simply focusing on more drill, testing, labeling and external discipline will continue to reinforce patterns of dysfunction.

How Parents Can Help
Infants need plenty of free, safe movement on the floor to integrate reflexes, complete developmental stages, and develop a strong neurological foundation. The plastic contraptions that babies are put into block movement and natural brain development. Freedom of movement is critical to development, yet parents and educators are not fulfilling this basic need. Babies and children require an abundance of moving, playing, singing, dancing, creating, and expressing themselves. Simply allowing for and supporting early developmental movement on the floor will prevent major learning and behavior difficulties from developing.

When babies are a few months old they can be placed on a blanket or sheet. Later when they begin crawling, create plenty of space, free of furniture and distractions. Provide a variety of surfaces, including tile or wood so the baby develops core muscles and fine-tunes its balance system. Supervise them crawling up and down stairs. When you are traveling make frequent stops at rest areas so your baby can move on the grass. Recently I witnessed a mother allowing her baby to crawl up and down the main aisle of an airplane. A good way to keep floors clean is to have family members and visitors remove shoes when entering the home. If through illness, injury, or trauma, infants do not complete necessary stages, there are effective integrative movement programs that assist in completing these critical stages, even for adults.

As parents we need to be involved in our children’s learning and lobby for changes that will benefit all children. Children need experience in making choices about their own learning, so they develop self-confidence and the ability to think and take responsibility for themselves. When they make their own decisions, they learn to love and value learning. They need stimulating experiences that involve imagining, experimenting and solving problems. They need to develop through playing, moving, and cooperating with others. Our youth need to learn basic skills as well as opportunities in creative and expressive arts. To open their hearts and to gracefully interact with others, they need opportunities for emotional learning. Experience in nature will give them a connection to their source and a respect and love for the earth. Children benefit from privacy and solitude, which develop inner peace and guidance.
Most importantly, our children need unconditional love, nurturing and joyful experiences with loved ones. Either eliminate television or greatly reduce its use, and that of computers. When we move and play with our children in a climate of love and acceptance, we develop whole-brain/body integration, heart-to-heart connection, trust, cooperation, and a sense of peace. Anxious, hyperactive, or non-responsive family behaviors transform. Integrative movement, plus related games and activities offer loving, supportive ways of improving family life.

What would happen if we were to meet the four basic requirements of raising children—love and nurturing, play and movement, interactive communication, and basic needs? First of all, to do so we would need to change our priorities and embrace our own healing. When fully loving ourselves, we would unconditionally love our children, thus connecting with them rather than isolating ourselves from them. Children maturing into empowered adults would create a major planetary transformation. With fully integrated mind/body systems, they would be critical thinkers and master problem solvers. They would reject racism, materialism, war and violence. With open, loving hearts, they would nurture the earth and all of life. In following their deeper guidance, they would make wise choices. In honoring their inner creative, they would manifest joy and beauty. They would create patterns of wholeness. For those in addiction, rage and fear, they would offer healing with compassion. Our children would honor the divine in each individual. In renouncing economic imperialism, they would share the earth’s resources in balance and harmony. Our children would create communities that reflect profound grace and love for all members.

"Let the children move" and their lives will be a sacred dance.

Jon Bredal, MA brings over twenty-five years of experience working with children and families, including seventeen years of classroom experience, plus twelve years training educators, parents and youth in the use of play, games and Brain Gym® activities. For information about Brain Gym® courses, movement programs, private sessions or presentations, contact Jon or his wife, Ianna at (541) 899-4447 or e-mail them at innerflight@qwest.net.

Homeschooling Resources: Oregon Home Education Network (OHEN), PO Box 218, Beaverton, OR 97076-0218; ohen@teleport.com; Jackson County Contact for OHEN, Rosemary Terrall, (541) 512-2531; terraforall@angelfire.com.

SENTIENT TIMES
PO Box 1330 Ashland, OR 97520
PHONE (541) 512-1084 • FAX (541) 512-1085
dmokma@jeffnet.org