Responsible Health for Children
Judy Towne Jennings, PT, MA Special Education Researcher


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Older Child and Physical Therapists


Attention Parents and Physical Therapists:
  • Is there any help for elementary through high school students who are struggling in school?
  • What can we do for the child who won't listen or sit still?
  • The teacher says my son is lazy, but he really tries hard.
  • My child has just given up. I am at wit's end. Help please!

Welcome to our Older Child and Physical Therapist's Information page. The answer to the above questions is a resounding YES. There are many learning strategies that can be implemented with the older child who is struggling in school.

It is important for parents, teachers and therapists to know that when a child develops the gross motor skills of crossing the midlines while balancing on one foot, grades usually go up. Developing specific core strength is a must. A child without core body strength will not have the stamina to do a full day's class work. Compare how an adult would feel if they were told they had to go Christmas shopping and carry all the packages home every day of the week. Or if they were asked to drop and do 50 push ups right now.

The Clumsy Child Syndrome Presentation (Clumsy-Child-and-School-Success.pdf, 1.2MB) shows why gross motor deficiencies will affect learning in the classroom and what therapy strategies Ms Jennings used with her students. Parents may want to find a pediatric PT familiar with these strategies if they feel their child might benefit.

Participating in some form of gross motor, large muscle, stress reducing exercises should make homework easier. If some form of exercise is done before homework, the amount of time it takes to do the homework will be shortened and the memory retention of the material will increase (see Crossing Midline Exercises PDF below). Spelling words learned on Wednesday night will still be learned on Thursday morning. TV or computer games do not count and should not be done until all other beneficial activities are completed.

Rote Memory Tips: Rote memory activities (spelling words, multiplication tables) practiced while marching in place, or written in the air with both pointer fingers or written on the arm with the finger are more apt to stick. If handwriting is weak, writing the words 10 times is just painful not productive.

Assistance from the School: If a child is really struggling in school, the parent has the right to ask for a conference to get help from the school personnel. An evaluation by the school psychologist is usually the first step to setting up an individual program for your child. An individual plan might include modifications in the paper work ie 10 math problems instead of 50. Other participants in the plan may be a physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech and language pathologist, and a teacher assistant. Many students I have worked with who needed an individual plan through school, eventually graduated from college.

It is important for parents and professionals to understand that early baby development affects academic performance in preschool and kindergarten. And certainly if the core strength deficiencies are not corrected in kindergarten, the problems can follow the child all the way through school.

The incidence of core strength problems in a preschooler was 25-30% in our mid-western middleclass school district.

Children with speech problems should be evaluated for core strength problems as well!!!

Correcting Deficiencies in Preschool Prevents Years of Academic Struggling

Ms. Jennings has worked in school-based therapy programs with students 0-22 since 1980. Her programs with the children with learning disabilities or Ausperger's Autism have been extremely successful. She found that best results were obtained if she could work in a team approach with the preschoolers. When the whole educational team (administration, teachers, psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists) understood that subtle gross motor deficiencies might be impacting the success of a child, an entire program was utilized to help the child be ready for kindergarten. When the teachers or psychologist noted any unusual motor patterns during preschool screening, a full battery of evaluations was done by PT, OT, and Speech Pathologists. The 3 year old child might walk well, run well, and climb very well, but the following mannerisms indicated that early developmental "holes" warranted further evaluation by the entire special education team.
  • The child would not assume or tolerate being placed on his belly on the floor.
  • The child would not be able to do a log roll on the floor after demonstration.
  • The child would cling to the parent and not be able to interact with a stranger or even work with the parent.
  • The child would not respond to verbal directives or seem to understand spoken language.
  • The child would not be able to do the requested gross motor tasks of walking backward, sideways, or on a line.
  • Sensory issues reported by the parent became triggers for a sensory evaluation. Even gifted children can have academic challenges if they have severe sensory integration problems.
Increasing the gross motor core strength, integrating retained infant reflexes, and decreasing sensory defensiveness consistently helped:
  • Self esteem go up
  • Attention and focus improve
  • Impulsivity decrease
  • Weird mannerisms dissipate
  • Cognitive processing improve


Research

1.) 2005, Conveying the Message About Optimal Infant Positions (optimal-infant-positions.pdf; 221KB)
Our research, "Conveying the Message about Optimal Infant Positions" is in print from Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, Vol. 25, Number 3, Haworth Press. Since the "Back to Sleep" program started in 1994, many babies are positioned on the back both day and night. Our information supports other research that too much time lying on the back or reclined with pressure on the back of the head can cause flat spots making the head misshapen. Our programs help parents avoid or remediate flat spots and neck problems associated with flat spots. We found that many sessions of supervised play on the tummy for 1-2 minutes each starting the first 2 weeks after birth, positively affected gross motor skills of the babies in our study.

Developmental Presentations

Clumsy Child Syndrome and School Success
Physical Therapy Techniques for the 'Clumsy Child'" This teaching PDF will help new physical therapists understand how to get results with the minimally involved school age child. Appropriate strategies that emphasize developmental skill integration can give the school age child a better chance of academic success. The strategies have helped to integrate reflexes and build mature balance reactions and core strength. *Disclaimer: Parents reviewing this PDF should not use these techniques on equipment without supervision of a licensed PT.

Articles and Handouts from Ms. Jennings many years of lecturing:

Normal Development, First Year (normal-development-year1.pdf; 57KB)

With and Without Prone Positioning (with-without-prone-positioning.pdf; 94KB)

Residual Effects of Poor Reflex Maturation (Residual-Effects-of-Poor-Reflex-Maturation.pdf, 25KB)

Home Suggestions (Home-Suggestions.pdf, 12KB)

Learning Style Tips (Learning-Tips-for-School-Age-Students.pdf, 20KB)

Crossing Midline Exercises (Crossing-Midline-Exercises.pdf, 25KB)

Recommendation for Educators

Ms. Jennings recommends the teachings and learning strategies of Ms. Ann Anzalone, Teacher Consultant and Lecturer, for advanced information on how best to anchor learning and memory for all students. She has given in-services all over the country to help teachers understand that movement anchors memory. She has many suggestions for the classroom teacher, therapist, administrators and parents. Preventing academic problems is best, but one can never give up on a child's ability to learn.

Her contact information is: www.annanzalone.com 116 Hilltop Ave. Dayton, OH 45419 937-299-7706 email : a.anzalone@gmail.com

Bibliography of Intersting Books

Paul and Gail Dennison, "Edu-K for Kids!," California, Edu-Kinesthetics, Inc. 1987, ISBN 0-942143-01-9

Sally Goddard, "Reflexes, Learning, and Behavior: A Window Into the Child's Mind". OR. Fern Ridge Press. 2002.

Carla Hannaford, "Smart Moves: Why Learning is Not all in your Head". Virginia. Great Ocean Publishers. 1995.

Carla Hannaford. "The Dominance Factor, how knowing your dominant eye,ear, brain, hand and foot, can improve your learning". Virginia. Great Ocean Publishers, 1997.

Carol Kranowitz, "The Out-of-Sync Child, recognizing and coping with sensory integration dysfunction." New York, Perigre Books, 1998 ISBN 0-399-52386-3

Nancy O'Dell, and Patricia Cook. "Stopping Hyperactivity, A New Solution". New York. Avery Publishing Group, Inc. 1997.

Robert Melillo, DC, "Disconnected Kids, Groundbreaking Brain Balance Program for Children with Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia,and other Neurological Disorders",2009, ISBN.978-0-399-53475-1. New York, Perigree Books

Sally Goddard Blythe, "The Well Balanced Child, Movement and Early Learning", 2009, Hawthorne Press, ISBN 978-1-903458-63-1

12/26/2005 Autism Increases in US., National Autism Association

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