A friend & colleague (local assessment counsellor) mentioned yoga (along with gymnastics etc.) as good for balance & concentration for LD kids. I don’t know why this never occurred to me as I’ve done yoga on and off since my teens. I bought a great video, Yoga Fitness for Kids (Living Arts series— Gaiam is the name of the company) which I’d like to recommend. My boys really like it. (My sister predicted boys would scoff at it—can’t wait to lecture her about not stereotyping!) It’s fun, well-geared to kids, with great exercises like “Squashed Bug” and is very calming. It features a very positive visualization-relaxation exercise at the end. And I found it fun to do with my kids. So far it’s been used here as a pre-FastForWord warm-up (for a “Do I have to? day, a treatment for insomnia, and a solution for “Mom, what can I do?”) We do Brain Gym too, which is quicker, but this is more fun.
Re: yoga recommendation for LD kids
Great minds think alike. I just bought this video and haven’t had chance to try it yet. So good to hear it works with yours. My APD 6 yr old. fell down stairs three times today. Hoping this will help. Going to tell him it’s a karate training thing since almost anything wo a sword loses credibility in his eyes.
Re: yoga recommendation for LD kids
The thing to keep in mind is the message of acceptance that is stressed in the kid video—don’t make comparisons with how anyone else is doing etc.—approximations are ok. There is one exercise, though, that is truly tricky (can’t remember the title); my younger son could do it, no sweat, but my LD son and I fell over and had a good chuckle. The acceptance message got through—my eldest didn’t compare; he was too amused. We both resolved to work on that one, though I think I’d find it easier to split an atom! I got the pm Yoga one too, and found it ok, but I’ve taken lots of classes. That tape is inspiring at least— can’t quite do what that lady does but it’s nice to realize there’s hope—she’s no spring chicken! Taking a class is best for adults as an intro.— ideally from someone who has a sense of humour about it all and keeps us from those kinds of comparisons, which I think as adults we’re more prone to. The kid tape has the right accepting, light approach.
… I got their video for AM and PM yoga for beginners, and it was an exercise in frustration for me. (Maybe I should have gotten the kids’ version!) I’m not the most flexible or coordinated bug on the specimen board, and one thing a video *can’t* do is tell you what to do if you can’t do it. I figured I could have made a great Saturday Night Live skit — there was a wonderful contrast between the serenely stretched lady in the video and my Homer Simpsons Meets Yoga imitation :)
So depending on a kid’s motor skills I wouldn’t push it if it didn’t make sense to the kid.
I got the video thinking it would help me figure out what one of the local yoga teachers was doing… then I switched teachers — to the one the other folks in the first class said was terrifying and demanding — and it’s great. She’s very detailed, very specific.
And I didn’t even ask her for a 504, I get accommodations like extra blocks and one of her teachers-in-training as an aide for anything slightly tricky! So don’t let anybody tell you that kids can’t have an accommodation because they have to “learn to live in the real world.” And teach your kids about how *they* learn and to advocate for themselves.