Learning begins at the moment a baby takes his or her first breath. The moment a human being enters this world, they begin to learn. They embark on a journey of exploration, need-fulfillment and the integration of multi-sensory information. Each and every sound they hear, thing they see, touch they receive, scent they smell, and taste they experience is sorted into various parts of the brain and "stored" for future use. As a child progresses through various stages of life, new information continues to be received, sorted, and stored - each new skill building upon the last.
Patterned movement is an important aspect of higher-level learning skills - such as reading, writing and spelling. The amazing truth is that the development of movement and physical orientation in relationship to the world are actually the building blocks to academic learning patterns. Everything a baby and toddler does helps support the foundations of learning language, reading, spelling, and writing. For example, when a baby crawls, the movement of the legs and arms transitioning in opposite sequential patterns is actually sending signals back and forth across the mid-brain: The simple act of crawling is literally making the two sides of the brain "talk" to each other. It is movement and play, discovery and associative relationships, and the gathering of information via the senses that networks the brain for future tasks.
The effect of alternating body movements does not stop after the toddler stage of development. Continuing to integrate alternating body movements during normal play - or any activity - keeps the brain "talking" amongst its parts. Climbing, jumping, skipping, riding a bike, and swimming are all powerful brain networking exercises. The act of doing activities that alternate the right and the left sides of the body continues to promote the exchange of neural information from right to left hemispheres and vice versa, that was initiated during infancy. This process of brain communication is essential to successful learning.
That is why it may be wise to "get back to basics" in life: participating in activities that come naturally to children which have been incorporated into daily life for generations. Some of these activities can include riding a bike, shooting basketballs, playing hopscotch, swimming, playing "tag", jumping, skipping, and so on. As simple as these activities sound, they involve movement from both sides of the body and are powerful brain boosters for learning.
As a Speech Pathologist of many years, I always encourage families to promote more physical activity into their children's lives. This can be achieved in several ways. First, be an example; participate in activities with your children such as bike rides, shooting "hoops", bowling, throwing horseshoes, etc. There are so many activities that families can participate in together; this not only helps you have fun and promote bonding, but it actually fosters brain function development. Here are some general suggestions for promoting whole body activity into the lives of your child:
Reduce the time they spend with their Game Boys and X- Boxes and promote more time for movement activities.
Help your child find a sport that interests them and that allows for whole body movement. Many children like group sports like basketball or baseball, while others enjoy more personalized sports such as tennis. Sporting activities can be competitive or just be played for fun. Encourage your kids to be kids.
Allow your child time to unwind after school before requiring homework completion. After all, they have been sitting in a desk for close to eight hours each day, and their brains and bodies need time to re-integrate.
Encourage writing exercises to promote visual, tactile, and kinesthetic input into the learning process.
Be attentive to how your child learns and attends to his/her work the best. Create learning environments around these observations. For example, you may find that allowing your child to stand at the kitchen counter, while she gently rocks from side to side will help her complete her math assignment faster and with more accuracy. In summary in parents, encourage your child to be more active. Physical exercise that promotes moving the two sides of the body in alternating movements not only promotes better health in general, but it also integrates the brain for systematic learning. Have fun with your children and demonstrate the joys of ole' fashion fun and games. Parents, it is time to move and groove the brain into success!
Lucy Gross-Barlow: As a Speech/Language Pathologist of over 26 years and having practiced in a wide variety of therapeutic settings, Lucy brings to her clients a diversity of patient care knowledge. For the past 12 years, she has specialized her practice in the area of processing disorders and remediation of learning impairments, and she has a passion in seeing her clients succeed in their communicative and learning skills. Lucy now desires to extend the knowledge she has gained in processing and learning remediation to as many children as possible to enable them to reach their full learning and communicative potential in life.
Lucy is a founding partner of The Therapy Group, an association of Speech-Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, learning specialists, Speech-Language Pathology Aides, parent teachers, administrators and advocates pioneering an industry in web-based consulting for parents who seek to help their children with learning challenges or those learning with disabilities in achieving academic and social success. Providing parents with resources, learning therapies, proprietary products and programs worldwide.
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