GYMBOX for children with special needs

By: Dana Azulai
Developmental accompanier in the Verdi method, Hydrotherapeutic yoga guide for young ages. 
A mother of two children with special needs.

 

Body awareness The recognition and understanding of the different body parts at the time of their movement against a fixed space and a changing space. It is important to initially check the level of body awareness, the reason being that if it's lacking, one of the systems we'll work on may cause frustration. Exercising  for enhancing body wareness:  Laying out a sheet on balls in a GYMBOX pool, laying the child on his back in way that the feeling of the ball's curves enhances the awareness to back part of the body, in the front part we start with the contact. We start with a slow and deep contact, we pass all over the body from the feet to the head, every part is touched deeply for a couple of seconds (without forgetting to state the part we're touching) and then released, and then we go on to the next body part… soles, legs, knees, belly and chest, hands etc… In the same way as before, it is important to conduct the touching with other kinds of contact such as hovering contact, patting contact or finger contact. It is desirable to conduct the contact directly with the skin, without clothes.  We'll pass over the body parts with which we want to stimulate sensory feelings  with the help of sensory objects such as brushes, sponges and certain ball objects.

 

The crossing system  With this system we cross the middle line, afterwards we conduct rotation (separation of upper body and lower body with a semi-circulation of the body) which enables us to turn over the child.    In many cases we'll discover that unlike with normative babies, children with disabilities have difficulties with crossing the middle line and conducting rotations. Most of the movements are involuntary and accompanied with tension and an enhanced tonus. Other movements such as turning-over or crawling are conducted as one piece and with great effort, movement planning isn't always existent and therefore many times the movement ends with frustration and crying. Exercises: Handing out toys/balls in a challenging way: We'll lay them hanging above the body center in a way which will give them no choice but to bring the hands close to the body center. Handing over the toys diagonally while encouraging the opposing hand to extend in the game's direction. Stretching the body in rotation, shoulder and chest are stretched to one side and the leg-hips to the other side. We'll put the children in the GYMBOX in a sitting posture. In the GYMBOX we'll add balls and even use supporting cylinders for children who are sitting bent-down or have difficulties sitting. We'll hold an empty box behind the child and ask him to fill the box with balls from the pool in a way that they'll have to rotate in order to turn around and lay the balls in the box.

The vestibular system: The balancing system has an important function even if the infant/child can't walk. Children with a problem in this system experience every movement change (especially rotational movements like turning over) as a difficult and even frightening episode, in order to mitigate this feeling this system should be stimulated gradually. In the GYMBOX there are many pieces and parts which can serve us in our purpose: The 'mushroom' should be used, it would be laid on the belly and we would gently tilt it sideward's while mildly supporting the child's body, simultaneously the child is supposed to make an effort in order to hold his body contrary to the movement. The too halves of the purple circle can be attached into one circle with a hole, the child would be placed with half his body inside the circle and we would tilt the circle from side to side with the child in the middle. A game can be handed to the child at the same time.

Strengthening of the shoulder belt, the arms and the upper body: It is recommended to use the GYMBOX's cylinders and the slide's slope. We'll tuck a little cylinder under the arm pit in order ease the load on the chest while laying on the belly so that the arms would be more available for playing. A bigger cylinder will be used in order to roll the child while holding his/her feet or hip during the rolling-over (forward), we want the child to send his hands in the forward direction and to lean his body weight against them