Monday, February 1, 1999
Exercise for the mind and the body
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
Some area youngsters, and older folks, may benefit from a new form of exercise that treats the mind in conjunction with the body.
Called ''Brain Gym,'' it is idea that began in California, but has attracted the attention of an area schoolteacher, Carolyn Price. The St. Mary Elementary physical education teacher has been spreading the word, through teacher in-service workshops, families seeking help for their children and even stroke victims.
She learned of the series of simple motion exercises, through another educator Suzanne King of Greenwich, in 1986, while seeking out a way to help youngsters as an aide in the local school. She said that the activities were first suggested by Dr. Paul Dennison, who was conducting research on learning in the early '80s, and who set up remedial reading centers using the knowledge he gained.
''I was hunting for ways that I could assist them that could not be found in the classroom,'' she recalled. She learned about some aspects of it in Mansfield and decided to investigate further. That led her to Claifornia and a two-week study course on ''Brain Gym.''
''They told me that I was probably 10 years ahead of myself,'' she said. ''They are a little more open to new ideas on the east and west coasts. I still believe in the heartland, but they are more open to checking into things. Yet slowly, through word of mouth, it has traveled to the interior.''
She enjoys spreading the word through working with individual families, one-on-one, and in teaching the ''Brain Gym'' exercises in seminars, such as the one Price presented at St. Mary Elementary.
Price has been using the exercises with her gym classes, hoping it will help all of the children with their studies. And she said some of the other teachers at St. Mary have used them in the classroom. Thirty-six people participated in a fall workshop, which included eight educators from Hancock County, some home-school parents, as well as local public and parochial educators.
King shared her knowledge and some of the techniques with them, having them do certain tasks, such as writing on the blackboard, after completing certain movements.
One local mother, who wished her family to remain anonymous, can tell ''Brain Gym'' activities have helped not only her sons, but her as well.
One of her sons has had motor skill problems since birth. Striving to find something to help her son, she picked up a book, ''Edu-K for Kids,'' in a bookstore. It described characteristics of people who use a particular side of the brain. ''They described the left-side type of behaviors, and they described my son to a 'T,' '' she said.
The book described some of the exercises, as well as Dennison Laterality Repatterning, a method to allow both sides of the brain to be used by reconnecting themselves. ''I could tell that he wasn't using both sides,'' she said. ''He was switching to one side, and I would say that he was such an extreme example that he was probably not using it at all.''
Her son could not do one of the crucial brain gym exercises, the cross crawl. It involves touching your shoulder, then the opposite knee. And then repeating it the opposite way.
''He tried to do it for several years; we could do it for him, but he could not do it on his own,'' she exclaimed. ''So I called a number in the book to see if there was anyone in the area trained.''
She learned of King's expertise, and King came to her home and helped her dothe repatterning necessary for her son. ''The more you use both sides of your brain, the easier learning becomes,'' she said.
According to the literature that she has read, each side of the brain has its dominant traits or abilities. ''I could tell that my son was right-brained,'' she said. ''So he saw the whole picture. While the other side breaks things down into parts and steps, if he could only see the whole picture, then he was really limited in his ability to learn.''
She also learned that being right-brained is not conducive to classroom structure. ''They are more emotional and creative because they can see the whole picture,'' she said.
Price reiterated the need for movement to learn. ''Movement anchors thought,'' she said. ''Until you tell someone else what you have thought, it isn't learned. Movement develops neural muscular routes and pathways. Studies have shown that children who do not crawl, some of these pathways are not developed, and they may have some learning difficulties.''
For the right brain and the left brain to work together, the two hemispheres are interconnected by the corpus callosum, an intricate bundle of nerve fibers. ''Ideally, in infancy, this system of switches develops as we crawl to synchronize our movements,'' Price explained. ''And we integrate information as the two hemispheres work together. To learn a new task easily, both sides of the brain need to be involved in that task.''
The mother feels that learning has become easier for her eight-year-old now. ''It used to take so many repetitions. After Brain Gym he learns so much faster and easier. He was seven before we started with this,'' she said. ''Learning is not nearly as tedious and time consuming as it was before. His coordination has improved; he used to have a problem with balance and clumsiness, and that has improved, too.''
He has taught all 20 exercises to his older brothers. She really believes that it helps all of the boys become more efficient learners. And it has helped her also. ''Sometimes it is just a realization that I am more alert and can deal with everything consistently,'' she said.
''The exercises help keep the brain integrated so that learning is easier, faster and more efficient. There are exercises that help with writing, reading or as an energizer. All are pretty simple to do and to integrate into your life.''