Early Intervention in Movement

Practical Activities for Early Years Settings

Christine Macintyre

• Publisher: David Fulton Publishers
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136634208
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This text is full of practical ideas to help all early years children enjoy developing their movement abilities. Each activity uses rhymes and jingles and some have music. This is to enhance the children's rhythmic ability, their listening skills and their phonological awareness.

There are many activities that form the basis of lesson plans. The material shows how the learning outcomes fulfil the criteria set out in the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage and the 5-14 Guidelines (Expressive Arts). The activities will be great fun for all children, whether they find movement easy and are always on the look-out for challenges, or whether they are less confident. The book aims to support teachers in their work to help all children fulfill their potential, offering guidance on diagnosis and assessment of skills and weaknesses as well as observation and progression.

Chapters include developing the basic movement patterns: gross movements, fine movements and manipulative skills; developing sensory integration; teaching and observing movement; and detailed lesson plans.

All children, whatever their level of ability, can be helped to be more confident and competent movers - a process which often also results in improved self-esteem. Teachers and support staff in all early years settings will find much in this book to inspire and enthuse all children in their care.

Chapter 1
Developing the basic movement patterns

This chapter will show how fun activities can be used to help develop skill in the basic movement patterns so that descriptions like ‘awkward, clumsy and ungainly’ are no longer appropriate. The movements themselves are simple, but doing them well gives the children a great deal of satisfaction; when they realise how much progress they have made, their confidence and self-esteem get a huge boost. And as all of this happens, it is vital that observers get time to see and to decide what kind of intervention would be the most helpful. Repeating the activities more than once allows time for this and also gives the children security in knowing that there is time to go at their own pace, there's no rush; in other words that practice in a calm atmosphere will improve their ability to do things well. The children also need time if they are to repeat and refine their movements* (DfEE 2000).

Instead of changing tasks, variety can come from

• varying the speed — fast, slow and very slow

• altering the direction — forwards, backwards and sideways

• adding obstacles — e.g. beanbags placed along the bench

• copying a partner — children of similar ability working together.

Most children love repetition just as they enjoy hearing the same stories and rhymes. Knowing when to suggest developments can be tricky. Often asking, ‘Would you like to try…’ gives the children the opportunity to say ‘No’, while the prompt, ‘I know you can…’ gives encouragement, especially if support can be offered for the first tries. Through this kind of gentle intervention, it is hoped that the children will be encouraged to practise and try more challenging activities when the time is right.

Many of the activities in this book include rhymes and jingles, because they are fun — especially for the youngest ones — and they help in both memorising the key features of the movement and the planning and organisation of what comes next. This helps sequencing, i.e. remembering the order of events. If rhymes are learned in the classroom, the children can concentrate on the movement patterns which accompany them when they come into the hall.

Analysing basic movement patterns

The analysis of each basic movement pattern is accompanied by a ‘look for and correct’ section, so that those who are less experienced in observing children moving have some pointers to help. There are lots more activities in the lesson plans in Chapter 4.

Most children will develop competence in their gross motor patterns first, but some can manage the fine ones while their gross patterns are still clumsy. It is best that teachers check them all and not make assumptions that because one set of movements is competent, the others are too.

Gross motor skills

This section describes various gross movements: being still, standing, walking, running, crawling and climbing, hopping, skipping, jumping and landing.

Being still

Teachers are often surprised and bemused by the question, ‘Can the child stand still?’ but even after reflection, they often admit they don't know. This seems strange until they realise that standing still — or sitting still — is something that children, especially those with movement difficulties, rarely do. There are several possible reasons:

• children find that keeping two sides of the body balanced is extremely difficult when they are still, because one set of muscles, stronger than the opposing set, is pulling them to one side

• children may have retained some primitive reflexes which prevent the body making more sophisticated movements

• children may be distracted by movements or sounds around them and not be able to resist investigating their source

• children may lack the concentration necessary to keep still.

For whatever reason, these children have to be on the move — for then they gain constant feedback from the environment and this is what keeps them feeling in control of their bodies. For some children, being still is a huge challenge and sometimes it just can't be met. If they are required to stand or sit for any length of time it is important that they have support, against a wall if standing or on a beanbag if sitting on the carpet. Desks and chairs must be such that the desks are at elbow height and the children's feet can rest securely, flat on the floor. With this kind of help they are freed to listen to instructions instead of having to use up energy and attention keeping their bodies still. ‘Never being still’ irritates other children, especially if they are nudged, and the teachers, who find they are distracted by the constant movement. Often the learning atmosphere is spoiled. This can cause the moving children to be scolded by their teacher and even to be rejected by their peer group. And yet staying still can be beyond the children's control. Everyone has to understand why and take steps to help.

Why should children learn to be still? Stability gives confidence which leads to competence in moving well.

Standing

It is important that children learn to stand well because then they are balanced and in control and can take a moment to think what it is they wish to do next. When they stand still, they can glean new information from the environment in terms of where they are in relation to other people and other things and this should allow them to plan their next movement from a secure base. This contrasts with being always on the move and making spatial decisions at the same time, with subsequent inappropriate amounts of strength and speed leading to awkward, clumsy movement. If children don't take time and make incorrect spatial judgements, they get bumped and bruised and sometimes they hurt others as well. This shakes any confidence they may have and makes them understandably reluctant to try again. Standing well also aids health, because breathing can be deeper and more refreshing if the body is held well (Photo 1). This is why learning and taking time to stand well should be part of every movement programme.

Standing well involves

• the body weight being evenly balanced on each foot

• balance being held with the feet together or fairly close

• the shoulders relaxing

• the arms tucking into the sides

• the neck being long

• the chin being held in naturally without stress.

Look for and correct

• Slumping, i.e. the rib cage down

• the shoulders held tense and high

• the head poked forward or held back

• the weight held unevenly on one foot

• the hips tilted or overextended back or forward.

Photo 1 Standing well

Standing well should be an integral part of any activity, as a well-poised start and finish helps develop a sense of body awareness, balance and control. If children find this difficult, getting them used to an instruction such as, ‘Everybody standing well — 1, 2, 3’ gives them time to adjust their position and think through, e.g. ‘Where are my feet?’ or ‘Do I need to shift my weight?’ or ‘ Is my head up high?’ Sometimes in an effort to stand well, the children w...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Developing the basic movement patterns
• 2 Developing sensory integration
• 3 Teaching and observing movement
• 4 Lots of lesson plans
• Appendix 1 Developmental norms
• Appendix 2 Summary notes on dyspraxia
• Bibliography
• Index