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focus

FIDGET SPINNERS: A Crazy Craze or a Teacher’s Toolbox

July 26, 2017 By Leanne

Fidget spinners are currently all the rage in most households, schools and preschools in New Zealand. With some schools banning them and others embracing them what is the impact of these toys on children’s learning and development? Do our children benefit from such a thing, or are they just too hard to manage in a classroom?

Many schools have now banned Fidget Spinners (along with our childhood fun such as marbles, and bulrush), and some like Palmerston North’s Roslyn School are using them as teaching tools. So how do we know if they are beneficial or bust? Taking a look at how children learn helps us understand if they have a role in the classroom.

We all learn through different ways – these are called learning styles and they are separated into the broad groups of: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. Visual means we learn through seeing, auditory means we learn mostly through listening, and kinaesthetic means we learn mostly through moving.

In fact, all learning is based in movement from the time we are in utero until the time we die. To see, our eyes move and focus, our ear drums move when we hear and our body is in constant movement as we take information through all of our other senses. This is the one aspect of learning that does not change as we age we just become more sophisticated at doing it.

We as individuals will be more dominant in one of these methods. Visual and kinesthetic are the more prominent learning styles with auditory being the least. (Are you now questioning why so much of our educational system is based on listening? You are right to wonder, but that is another topic!)

Fidget spinners are the latest craze but they are not new in terms of teaching aids in the classroom. For decades teachers have allowed highly tactile, kinesthetic children small toys and manipulatives to hold quietly to help increase their listening capacity and focus on tasks. These have mostly been used with children with special educational needs particularly Autism and ADHD.
Yet, even now, big companies are utilising methods such as stress balls, walking meetings and a range of workspaces to benefit business productivity through movement! As adults, we are learning that movement helps focus and focus equal learning.

As a mum of four, with three boys, I fully understand the need for children to move when learning – do boys ever sit still? However, also, as a teacher, I completely understand how distracting it can be to other children when some children are fidgeting in the classroom! So how do we best meet each child’s needs, and also use their interests to shape their learning experience?

So do Fidget Spinners need to be banned? I don’t think so. I think that clever teachers can maximise them for benefits to both children and teachers. Does this take time and effort, absolutely! However, if children are showing such an interest in something it makes sense to use that interest to teach the curriculum. If we are trying to raise children to love learning the question we need to ask is why do we continually take away the things that they most love, such as fields, sports, arts, a range of games, and now Fidget Spinners?

If schools are open to finding ways to use this interest, the Inquiry learning method has the potential to do just that. It takes real life problems and interests and researches, teaches and creates methods of learning for that interest. Using Inquiry in the classroom is one-way Fidget spinners can move out of the ‘toy craze’ category and into the teaching tool category.

This is what we see in the example of Roslyn School.  Suggestions for schools could be to adopt an “if you make your own you can have one” policy, make them as part of the curriculum, or set boundaries around their use, such as only in particular lessons, or at particular times in the classroom.

Like any other item in a classroom Fidget Spinners must be used within the rules of the classroom and teachers can maximise their use to reward and change behaviour. This creates a win-win. Children are born to move and through movement, all learning happens. Fidgeting is just one way that children can expel pent-up energy so that they have the control to focus.

Another way to help children focus is to activate their vestibular system through spinning. Stand the children up, have them spin three times to the right with a ten second eyes closed count after, and then three times to the left with a ten-second eyes closed count after. This will satisfy the brain’s need for movement and allow the child to focus on the task in front of them.fidget-2363067_1920

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: attention, fidget spinners, fidgeting, focus, kinesthetic, learning, moving, playing in class, touching

The STNR (Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex)

June 4, 2017 By Leanne

There are many questions running through my mind about reflexes, some of which could become areas for research.  Particularly at the moment is the role of the STNR reflex.  The more assessments I undertake on children the more I am seeing this reflex still fully present.  Currently, I am working with a group of 4 year olds using the INPP “Wings of Childhood” Programme.  The children whom I chose to assess had displayed areas of balance insecurity and/or some evidence of Primitive Reflex involvement.  All the children assessed had at least partial evidence of the STNR, and some couldn’t even stay in the quadruped position.

The role of the STNR is to help the infant defy gravity and to fully establish the quadruped position for creeping.  It helps to break up the effect of the TLR and is thought to train the eyes in the skill of accommodation.  This reflex emerges about 5 – 6 months of postnatal life and should be inhibited by 11 months of postnatal life.  It is for this reason that its strong presence at 4+ years old is concerning.  This can lead to issues with upper and lower body integration which makes sitting at a desk extremely difficult and uncomfortable.  This then effects concentration and attention levels, as well as hand-eye coordination, vertical tracking, posture and strength to name a few.

Since my study in the INPP method, I have realised that I have a retained STNR myself.  Looking back on my childhood I can see the many times this has affected both my concentration and posture.  I was the child who always needed to lie on the desk to write.  I didn’t understand it then, but I now see that I needed to develop more extensor muscle tone.  As an adult, this need is becoming even stronger with the bending and sitting positions required more and more of me.

So, to help children while they are working through the process of integrating the STNR I suggest that they should be able to work in a position that is most comfortable to them.  If attention is drawn to their sitting position then the child’s cognition is taken away from the information they are learning.  This isn’t a long-term solution, however but would be helpful while a reflex integration programme is taking place. In addition to this, having them sit on a swiss ball or lie on the floor on their stomachs when relaxing will help to develop the much-needed strength in their back muscles.

Take it from me, living with an STNR is not easy. Not in school, not in university and not in work. If it is put to sleep the child no longer has to worry about their posture, how uncomfortable they are sitting, whether they are upright or not. They don’t need to eventually have back pain from poor posture all their life, not to mention that they will actually be able to sit still at school! Wouldn’t that please teachers! The STNR is linked by research to problematic, behavioural, and impulse control in the classroom!

I think we will all be better off without this reflex bugging us – your child included. Fill in the screening form to see if this programme will help your child.

Feel free to comment or add your findings to this discussion as well.  Happy sitting!IMG_6764

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ADHD, cant sit still, convergence, eyes, focus, hyperactive, hypo, learning, posture, Sitting, STNR, Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex

Reflexes and the Eyes

June 1, 2016 By Leanne

Our eyes are essential for learning – especially in the classroom.  We track (left to right) both when reading from a book and from the board.  We need binocular vision to adjust our eyesight from close reading range to further distance – board range.  Our eyes work overtime in the school system and it is not uncommon to notice that children at times cannot cope with what they are being asked to do because their eyes tire.

So why do some children’s eyes tire so much more quickly than others?

Initially of course, eye tests and glasses may be needed – but that is not the whole answer to the problem.  Reflexes impact our eyes to a very large degree. Especially for young children.  Our primitive reflexes (automatic movements) should be ‘put to sleep’  by 4 years of age.  It is then that our Postural Reflexes take the lead.  However, if this isn’t the case, then the Primitive Reflexes that were there to train our body, brain and eyes are still impacting our eyes!  (Read my previous post about the ‘poltergeist’ if you need more proof). In other words they really don’t have full control over their eye movements, and they need it!

The STNR reflex for example impacts our binocular vision.  That is the adjustments of long to short distance and visa versa. I was very much that child. I saw the ball coming  . . .then oops . . . didn’t quite see when it was near to me. This is not only embarrassing for children but they just don’t understand it!  I mean they try really hard to catch that ball . . . . they just can’t see where it is to catch it.
This is exactly how reflexes work.  We don’t have FULL CONTROL over our body movements.  For a child, in school, this is not an easy thing. Their eyes tire, their bodies are tired from holding themselves together all day. Then they come home to more demands. They are frustrated!  They don’t know how to fix it  – but the good news is . . . IT CAN BE FIXED.

There is definitely hope for this child.  Their body and brain can communicate properly so that the right messages are getting to the right place at the right time. This reflex that hinders the proper control over their eyes can be ‘put to sleep’.  They need a Reflex Inhibition programme.

Without Limits Learning offers consultations and assessments that will help your child’s eyes, coordination, learning abilities. Don’t wait.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: attention, cant see, eye control, eyes, focus, glasses, see, seeing, STNR, Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex, vision

A quick snippet . . .

January 26, 2016 By Leanne

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

To get us all thinking about how the brain is impacted by the movement of the body here is a quick reference chart on some of the reflexes that impact our ability to learn.

Remember Primitive reflexes aren’t always the bad guys.  We need them when we are young – but when we get past 4 years old they should have done their dash.  I mean, who wants to see a 10 year old try to suck on his sandwich!?

In all seriousness, if children do continue to have a few of these Primitive Reflexes going on after 4 years of age it does become very difficult for them to focus on academic learning and sports.

Anyway, check out the chart, post a comment or two, or contact me now if you think some of these symptoms sound like your child.  The good news is your child doesn’t have to stay this way!

Happy reading!2089870_orig

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: attention, behaviour, coordination, focus, learning, meltdown, reflexes

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