Regular readers know I work with austistic kids. This was a nice article on the benefits of Yoga and approaches to presenting Yoga to children, especially children on the spectrum, and the challenges of teaching Yoga in schools. Good stuff. I’ll say this, however, I face most of those challenges with regular classes; some people do well with a visual cue, others don’t like the chant or religion. What the article didn’t address is getting a reluctant child to simply exercise.
The robot, named Kaspar, is programmed to do things like smile, frown, laugh, blink and wave his arms. He’s apparently less intimidating to kids. I’m not too big on gizmos or even that studies for that matter. However, anything that helps these kids express and understand a wider range of expression is good.
Yoga for Special Needs Youth: This is an article about a woman in Dallas, TX who does work similar to the work I do with youth in residential psychiatric treatment. I work with kids who have attention, impulsivity and boundary issues that make it hard for them to function in mainstream environments. Yoga is a practice that can increase self awareness in these kids. It’s all worth while when I see little light bulbs go off as kids gain more self knowledge and self control.
Alyeska-Arts 