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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us January 7, 2005 Movin' right along By John Darling Tidings Correspondent What looks like a behavioral problem in kids often isn't. Fidgeting, spacing out, not learning, not getting along with others - these are often the stuff of developmental disorders caused by lack of physical interaction with their environment in our modern, digital world. Paula Lynam (right) leads Waldorf School students in a movement exercise jumping rope to stimulate their minds Thursday morning before class. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings Where such kids are often subjected to rejection by peers and discipline by teachers, a new breed of child development specialists is mounting a different strategy - putting kids through daily body movements to integrate their minds and get them ready for learning and social challenges at school. Operating as Child Solution, Paula Lynam is one of these "integrative movement therapists," who helps Waldorf students start the day with skipping rope, walking rails, hopping through hoops, riding balance boards - then rocking, crawling and hopping movements that mimic the mind-balancing stages of infancy and toddlerhood. The drill gives a workout to the three "sensory systems" - touch (tactile), balance (vestibular) and the "sense of self in space" (proprioception), as well as the central nervous system. From the interaction of these systems come all higher mind functions, which allow people to learn and interact socially with ease and confidence, said Lynam. "When these systems are all doing their job, then learning happens." Waldorf teacher Debbie Murphy welcomes her students each morning after a round of such exercises. "The workout helps integrate the brain functioning and getting the left and right side of the brain talking to each other before they come to class for academic work," said "They need this because kids don't have the freedom of play they used to. They're confined to their homes and yards and miss the developmental stages of early childhood. Most of them don't even have chores, so they don't learn a lot of motions, like stirring, sweeping, scything - activities that shape the brain. As a result, the average 6-year-old just isn't ready for school." Development is hampered in childhood by the increased use of unnatural devices, such as car seats, walkers, strollers and by forcing them to sit up or walk before they're ready - and placing them in day care away from parents, Lynam said. Where possible, children need to be turned loose to climb trees, walk to school, play in the neighborhood and interact physically with the natural world. "I'm a game teacher, teaching kids how to play, ai-yi-yi," said the Zimbabwe-raised Lynam, 45. Exercises mimic natural activities, Lynam said, and can forestall developmental problems, special ed and the diagnoses, such as attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder that result in the use of Ritalin. Waldorf parents were uniformly happy with the Morning Movement class. "It warms up the body, gets all the juices flowing and gets the mind working," said Julie Gower. "It helps kids figure out where they are in space and how to interact with others, so they don't feel scared or overwhelmed in class. By integrating the brain, it helps kids' eyes to track right-to-left for reading." "It helps them organize their brains and 'get here' for the day," said mother Melanie Lancaster. Observed mother Ingunn Skjerviold, "My son often takes in too many impulses, more than he can process. He gets overstimulated. So this takes all the 'bugs' out of his body." Lynam counsels privately with parents and groups and guides private and public school teachers in recognizing the signs of developmental shortcomings and in running some of the exercises. A weakness in the vestibular (inner ear) system, for instance, could be triggered by chronic ear infection - and show up as difficulties in speech, hearing and balance. A clue to the overtaxing of this system might be something as small as an aversion to merry-go-rounds, said Lynam, who's been teaching here for 13 years. A challenged tactile system might bring such symptoms as pushing, not wanting to be hugged and "not knowing where their boundaries begin and end," Lynam said. Without proper understanding, teachers often "see the child as the problem and try to get them to conform," said Lynam. Lynam's message to educators? "Meet the children in a different way. These kids are not misbehaving. They're super-intelligent. They won't be put in a box like the kids of 20 years ago. We have to see them with different eyes." DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams