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first implemented it experimentally years ago, while working
as a reading specialist with students who have learning disabilities.
Parents of children who are not succeeding in school usually
try "everything" they know of to help their children to
learn. By the time they find me, their children are burned out
by teachers and school, have low self-esteem, are two or more
grade levels behind their peers in reading and/or math, have
deficits in vocabulary and spelling, and are generally totally
turned off, and/or are noted by school teachers to be behavior
"problems." They come to me because their parents drag them
to 'try once more.' And they're not happy.
What I notice is this: they want to move. They are not allowed
to move in class. They are supposed to 'sit still' and 'be
quiet' until it is 'their turn to talk.' And I also notice they are
not usually very confident or physically fit (or they are very fit
and can't stop fidgeting) — one or the other.
So I tell them that they are in control of their bodies and
that I am going to move with them. I give them something to
squeeze (a nerf ball or squish ball of some sort). I give them
a peppermint (so they can suck on it). I do whatever it takes
to engage their senses and energy so they can focus on text.
They hold one side of the book, I hold the other. They move
left, I move left.
Examples:
• A student I just taught this summer could not read unless
we were lying on the floor on our stomachs with the book
in front of us — and he was kicking both of his legs knee
to ankle up and down, rhythmically. Thump! one foot hit
the floor. It came back up and thump! The other foot hit
the floor.
• Another kid leaned back in our tilt-and-turn rocking
chairs, put his feet on the desk (above his head), and
rocked back and forth, upside down, while holding his
side of the book as I held mine, rocking in tandem beside
him.
Both of these kids made astounding progress. I think it was
because they had the freedom to move as they needed to, as
they were learning.
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