Helen Posted May 28, 2003 Share Posted May 28, 2003 Hi Linda, I enjoyed the brain gym course, too. I'm happy to accept that it can be generally effective, but I had serious reservations about the numerous sweeping statements about our presenter's research!! I've printed out a copy of the Headstart program you mentioned; will let you know what I think. I'm planning to start with two or three simple exercises each day at nursery, perhaps trying them with the children at different times throughout our four-hour session, and seeing what effects there are. Let me know how you get on with your programme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 1, 2003 Share Posted June 1, 2003 Our school is a member of the University of the First Age (UFA). It's an organisation which promotes the accelleated learning approach. We are 1 of 11 pilot schools in our LEA to trial this. I'm still a beginner myself but have had lots of in-school training from our UFA adviser. We have attended conferences and use the Alps books. We use brain gyms throughout the school. However, it doesn't just involve using brain gyms but a whole approach to learning. We drink plenty of water to rehydrate the brain. We use Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic (VAK) teaching all the time in our lessons. I know it's nothing new but the whole approach helps us to think about it more. We tell the children how they are learning. We let them know how there brain is working - we tell them that they use different parts of the brain for different learning. There are 8 different learning styles (I think!), they are picture smart if they are drawing, painting etc., they are number smart if they are doing number work etc., they are word smart if they are reading/writing and so on. When we tell them this it raises their self-steeem. It's difficult to encompass all what we do. We use a whole school approach so everyone is working to the same agenda. When the chn move up in September, they will already be used to working in this way. Also when the yr6 chn come down to reception, they automatically do brain gyms with the younger chn. Even the reception chn take it in turns to sit at the front and do a brain gym that everyone else has to follow, and they make up there own! I think I should get a copy of the book 'The Thinking Child'. I like the sound of the fact that it is for early years. I find the Alps books good but not necessarily for the Foundation Stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted June 1, 2003 Share Posted June 1, 2003 Hi Poppy, Your school sounds so innovative; what a great place to work. Whereabouts are you? "The Thinking Child" explains some of the things you mentioned, eg VAK, and emphasises the independent learning approach, encouraging children to take responsibility for their learning in plan-do-review sessions. A new concept for me was the mind-mapping idea, and I'm planning to try that with my older nursery children this half-term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Helen - let me know how the mind mapping goes, and also any other of the ideas from Thinking Child. I'm always pleased to get feedback! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted June 16, 2003 Share Posted June 16, 2003 Hi Nicola, I certainly will I've loaned your book to a friend who is an SEN teacher; no doubt she'll add her comments once she has finished reading it. Hope I get it back........ How's sunny California? We're currently experiencing what the tabloid press call a scorcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_196 Posted June 17, 2003 Share Posted June 17, 2003 Hi! I've been following the chat about BrainGym etc and am interested in the bit about 'stuck reflexes' particularly the w-sitting. We have several children who do this, and almost all of them display unusual patterns of behaviour - not always something that you can put your finger on, but when you say "I'm not quite sure about little Fred....." I'm also interested to talk to the parents of some of these children to discover that many of them did not crawl. I'm sure this is significant. I'd love more comments or information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 17, 2003 Share Posted June 17, 2003 Hi! I've been interested in different intelligences for a while and now Brain Gym. I'm finding a lot of activities/ exercises are similar to balance exercises for dyslexics. Cross crawl exercises I discovered in Australia for hyperactive children are also the same.These children did not crawl. I have also found that children with certain learning difficultis, particularly sequencing activities/ time/ spelling/ grids... sometimes take longer to learn to swim too. Practicing every day and as a pause in an activity does enable the children to foocus for longer. we also found that hteir singing imprioved after a few minutes of refocusing movements. Do you find that the children start to yawn after a few seconds of doing thes actiivties? - no, not from boredom!! Question - what is w-sitting?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_196 Posted June 18, 2003 Share Posted June 18, 2003 RachelRichards, w sitting is mentioned earlier in this topic by dizzyblondeuk (hello) and it is when children sit on their bottoms with their legs bent out to each side to make a w shape. Now you know that, you can picture children doing it , can't you!!!! Jacq Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 Hi everyone, I've contacted some tutors of Brain Gym to invite them to join in. It would be great to get some of their suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jacqui Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 Hiya All. This is my first time in a chatroom (in or on?) I was very interested to read the discussion on Brain Gym as I first heard about it several years ago in South Africa. Any more discussion to be had here? (Not sure if I sign off at this stage or if I just "hang-up") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 Hi Jacqui - Welcome into the forum . Hopefully you'll soon get used to the process! There are two different sorts of systems in place here. The chatroom is actually a different sort of beast - we do have a chatroom although it's not widely used ( the idea of a chatroom is that you chat in 'real time' so you expect conversation to happen while you wait). Obviously if there's no-one else in there, you'll be waiting some time... You can get into that by clicking the 'Live Chat' link at the top of the page, although at the moment you'll be lucky to find anyone in it. This forum, the one you posted your message in, is not intended to happen real time - instead the conversations take place over days and weeks. You put a message in, then log back in every few hours or day or two to see if people have responded. Actually, the best way to do it is to click the Track This Topic link at the bottom of any topics you contribute to, or are interested in. That way you'll get an email anytime anyone posts in the topics you specify. I'm sure the Brain Gym topic has legs to run for some time yet Jacqui - Welcome again! Regards, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 Hi All, My name is Alan Heath and I am a Brain Gym Instructor up in Yorkshire. I have been asked to join in by Helen and am happy to do so. I work with the Brain Gym processes and they are widely used in many schools in this area now. Funnily enough, I just did an INSET last week at the CDC in Chelmsford with Healthy Schools. You can find more information on Brain Gym either on www.braingym.org or on my site www.learning-solutions.co.uk It is well established that it improves concentration levels and developmental skills among other things! Certainly for 3-5 year olds, developmentally the ones to concentrate on would be homolateral crawl and cross crawl, lazy 8's (mainly on paper) and perhaps double doodles. Most of the midline movements will be very useful in helping left/right integration for the little ones. The best resource is probably Brain Gym Teachers Edition by Paul and Gail Dennison. If you can't find it, it is on the Learning Solutions site! Brain Gym is just a part of a bigger process called Educational Kinesiology and it all offers ways of helping developmentally and integrate primitive reflexes. If I can be of any help, drop a line and I will be happy to assist. Kind Regards Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 Hi Alan, Thanks for joining so promptly, and welcome to the site I've not heard of homolateral crawl, and I'm guessing it's touching the right knee with the right hand, etc. Is that correct? Also, can you put in layman's terms the integration process? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 Hiya, Sorry, just found my way back on - I find it very time-consuming to find the right topics etc. I am used to a standard mailing group. To Jaqi - 'W' sitting is often indicative of a retained reflex called the Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex. This can affect posture and create muscle tension in the neck and shoulders. May well also make it more difficult to copy off the board etc. To helen. Homolateral crawl is the one that younger children up to about 3-4 years old will do. They will usually only be able to put their right hand on right leg and not be able to cross their body automatically to do a cross crawl. It is an indication often of developmental level. The integration we work with in Brain Gym work is about building the connections between left and right side of the brain and body. This may be activating the Corpus Callosum (connection between the 2 sides of the brain) and certainly can improve many tasks from reading and writing through to dyspraxic type difficulties. Looking through previous postings there was a mention of a course in May - I would love to know who ran this as many people are offering training courses in Brain Gym at the moment and have no qualifications or knowledge to do so! Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_79 Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 Hi Alan, It would be really useful if you could give an indication of which brain gym exercises are useful for a Foundation Stage/ Reception classroom. We have or had adopoted Accelerated Learning in school and the children have access to water throughout the day. In KS1 they start the day with a run and PACE but this is very difficult for the little ones and I have found that by the time you've got through that any concentration for learning has gone!! This year we have concentrated alot on cross crawl and its been really interesting to watch coordination improve! I've read Nicola Call's book "The THinking Child" and Alaistair Smith's " Move It" and have tried to incorporate some ot those ideas but it's quite difficult to take it all on board. Some ideas for progression would be most useful, if only to boost my confidence and performance! Please. Thanks Susan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 Hi Alan, Our course tutor in May was Gill Brooksmith. I'm sure she is legitimate as she is listed on the braingym website! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 Hi Susan, As far as the Brain Gym movements are concerned, I think cross crawl and lazy 8's (on paper initially) are important developmental movements for reception age children. Many of the other Brain Gym movements are also helping to integrate primitive reflexes and build the necessary skills and vestibular development necessary for good sensory integration. I know such movements as Thinking Cap, Earth and Space Buttons, The Energiser (on the floor ideally) can help develop good visual tracking skills, listening skills etc. The Energiser is also one to integrate the Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex mentioned earlier. For a good understanding I would recommend a course with an accredited Brain Gym Instructor - I can help a little on this forum but as you appreciate, Brain Gym is a lot more than just a few 'brain break' activities and a good background understanding will always lead to more confident usage. It's good to hear that you have found a difference with cross crawl, just have a play with other movements. It is also worth remembering that in terms of developing good sensory integration and automatic motor movement capabilities, any of the movements are bound to help this process! Have Fun! Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 Hi Helen, That's good to hear - Gill certainly is legit! - A very experienced Instructor too. We have so much difficulty at the moment with unqualified people doing Brain Gym training I'm glad you got the real thing!! Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_484 Posted July 26, 2003 Share Posted July 26, 2003 I'm doing some research on how physical activity helps children's cognitive development, and would like any feedback on Brain Gym activities that you believe may work with very young children (2.5-4). If you've got time to respond to this, I would be sooooo pleased. Many thanks! Th ebook all to do with Brain Gym is called 'accelerated learning'. Ite will tell you all you need to know. Jaime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 7, 2003 Share Posted September 7, 2003 Hi This is my first comment within this forum. I've completed the brain gym 4 day course and found it fascinating and intense to be able to practice accurately. The teachers booklet for brain gym mentioned became invaluable as it allowed me to select group exxercises appropriate to style of teaching I wished the children to do. (This was in Y6 initially but also last year in a Y1 class) i.e. listening, remembering, pencil control) these exercises were in addition to the daily PACE. The children soon started doing exercises for themselves when I introduced the processes i.e. 'you need to listen carefully to.....' even at Y1~ in addition they loved it! I am hoping to bring the PACE into nursery and use some of the other exercises to. I am a big fan of brain gym having watched the difference in children's co-ordination and attitude to learning change positively. My problem in nursery is how to introduce it, speed, time and achieving 'successful' integration of water! Any ideas please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 I work in a special school in Oxfordshire. We had an inset on 'brain gym' which was really interesting. One of the main factors that the instructor emphasised was that the children should drink water, especially if they are feeling tired. The different movements were designed to cross midline, and to stimulate both sides of the brain. She demonstrated the different movements etc. and all the teachers joined in doing the movements to see how it made them feel. I really felt a difference, and still do it every morning myself to get motivated and wide awake! Unfortunately, the children that I work with cannot do these movements for themselves because they are physically disabled, but some of the movements I can use with them to help during physiotherapy sessions, for example: holding my hand over the umbilical region of the tummy to centre and steady a child that has trouble balancing. I would do this during sitting and standing physio sessions. I will see if I can find the name and address of the training agency and get back to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 18, 2003 Share Posted September 18, 2003 Hi Rosie, I think the lady you may be referring to in Oxfordshire is Gillian Hindshaw, a very experienced Instructor. Her telephone number is 01993 881498 and she is in Witney. I travel all over the country and would be happy to offer my services if needed! Joanne, My previous e-mail mentioned a few ideas about developing from homolateral (one-sided) and bi-lateral integration movements to cross-lateral. Most of the movements are easily adaptable to a Nursery setting. A good thing to remember is the slower the better. As far as water is concerned, many schools have found that having a tray of cups of water and giving the children set times to take a drink between activities is the easiest way. Some schools have the children with water bottles with sports caps (if the parents are involved enough to clean and refill them). Areas to concentrate on would be cross crawl, lazy 8 (plastic lazy 8 tracks are available from our web site www.learning-solutions.co.uk) This helps children to integrate the shape as the shape is a pre-cursor to letter formation and writing skills. Most of the movements can be adjusted using stories and songs (on the website too! - Brendan O'Hara Movement and Learning is particularly good). I can only check in occasionally but you can always ring me on 01274 777250 for a chat! Regards Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 Hi Alan, Thanks for your info on Brain Gym.Im due to attend a course in Amsterdam on this.The director is Trevor Hawes.Im looking forward to getting some new ideas.Could you give me some details on the lazy 8? Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tsackroyd Posted September 21, 2003 Share Posted September 21, 2003 Hi Helen,I don't follow a specific order of exercises, but I do follow specific exercises, some of which are physio based as well (strengthening shoulder girdle to aid fine motor control...Amazingly it works! ) In other words I muddle them up and the children often decide which ones we do. Kate I am very interested in introducing Brain Gym into the Foundation Stage at my school; is there a book specifically dealing with suitable activities? Susan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Hi Johnboy, I am training in Amsterdam at the weekend at the International School - I would also have to mention that whilst Trevor is brilliant and an inspirational presenter he is not an accredited Brain Gym Instructor - I am sure he knows a lot of general info about child development though! Lazy 8 is used for all sorts of different eye tracking activities and is also a pre-cursor to letter formation. You will find it fully written up in the Brain Gym books. Susan, the best starter book for Brain Gym is 'Brain Gym Teachers' Edition by Dr Paul Dennison and Gail Dennison. I out of stock elsewhere you can obtain it from our web site www.learning-solutions.co.uk (I think it is out of stock at Amazon) Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cat33 Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Am off to order the thinking child! Teachers in KS1 and 2 use the exercises so now I think we will too. The other important thing for the brain is WATER! We have a supply in each room Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Hi, we've just started using brain gym activities at the school I work at. I will find out from the teacher that is organising it all where he found out about it etc. I think that he also went on a short course for it. I'll let you know asap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_364 Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 i'm currently working on my dissertation into brain based activities in the foudation stage. After only one session the children have really seized the brain gym and loved it! In fact straight after lunch one little chap said ' can we do more?' i asked him which gym exercise he wanted to do and half way through he said ' stop! we didn't put our spaceman hats on!!! (from Hands on! book) so we stopped and started again from the beginning! this has to tell us something about children and movement! the cross crawl activity seemed to cause a few balance problems in the morning but all children, bar one could confidently complete the movement. i'm not sure how to track the benefits of brain gym on such young children... please help one very stressed student. The dissertation will also look at accelerated learning and thinking skills. please if any one has any ideas how to assess the different learning styles in such young children and/or any 'easy' to read theory behind the approaches i will be so so grateful, this is anew subject for me and university have little in the way of lectures to support my reading!!!! Lizzie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_79 Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Have you read Nicola Call's book "The Thinking Child", published by Network Press? I've yet to get hold of the Resource book. I'm sure that will help you and she may even have some pertinent ideas herself! Are you there, Nicola? Susan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_79 Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Lizzie, forgot to say Good Luck & let us know how you get on. Its certainly an area of current interest and I'd be very interested to find out what you find out, as I'm trying to get there on this one too!! Susan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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