Special Classes For Special Needs

By Nancy K. Crevier

“My hope is that more activities will come from this for our kids now and in the future,” Carmen McLeod told the late Newtown Bee sports editor Kim Harmon in an interview last fall. Ms McLeod, the parent of a 6-year-old special needs child, was referring to the success of the Newtown Basketball Association’s Newtown Hoopsters program for special needs children that took place this past fall and winter.

“Jack Shpunt and Keith Kling were very helpful, and by doing the basketball program, I hoped that it would open doors, sort of lessen the ‘fear’ that there might be around offering special needs programming,” said Ms McLeod recently. “It can be difficult to keep special needs children engaged during an event,” she added. “But at basketball, there was no competition, no pressure. It was just about having fun.”

Her hopes for more special needs programming have been somewhat realized, thanks to the cooperative efforts of her daughter Kelly’s occupational therapist, Natalie Kaiser, Graceful Planet owner Kat Barton, and Parks and Recreation program director Roseanne Reggiano. For the past month, Kelly has joined several other special needs children in a yoga program, and is looking forward to trying out a special T-ball program later this spring.

“With yoga, it all just came together. Natalie is Kelly’s occupational therapist, and she had mentioned to me that she wanted to do a special needs yoga class. So I told Roseanne and she got on the phone, made contacts with the leads, and got the ball going,” said Ms McLeod.

Along with Ms Kaiser, Ms Reggiano contacted Kat Barton, who had taught other Parks and Recreation-sponsored programs. “I had met Natalie at Graceful Planet,” said Ms Barton, “and I knew she worked with special needs kids on a regular basis, but I had never done a program like this before.” Ms Barton, who has taught yoga for seven years, has found this to be a growth experience for herself and is pleased with the progress she has seen class members make over the past weeks. “There has definitely been an improvement in the relaxation,” she said. “Every week they get a little better and are more focused on the breathing than they were.”

Having used yoga therapy in her private practice, Ms Kaiser, who is in her first year of working for the Newtown School System as an occupational therapist, thought a yoga program would be a benefit to children who could most use it in a community setting. “Kat and I had hoped to do it as an after-school program at Middle Gate, but we missed the deadline,” she said. “It was coincidental that Parks and Recreation called us about this class.”

There is no doubt that teaching yoga — or any activity — to special needs children takes different skills than when working with a traditional group of children, said Ms Kaiser. “Special needs children learn visually,” she explained, rather than with listening skills. “You need to use a lot of repetition, very specific music, and sensory integration sequencing.” In the yoga class, held Monday afternoons at Hawley School, she and Ms Barton also use counting to hold the yoga postures. “It helps the children have an end goal,” she said. With each class, they have learned better ways to reach the group that includes children of varied ages, capabilities, and disabilities. Using individual picture books and specific sequences that Ms Kaiser designed for this class, reward stickers, and a picture/checklist to outline class rules, the instructors and volunteers are better able to direct the class in a calm atmosphere. The reason that Ms Kaiser and Ms Barton are so willing to go to extra effort to make the class work is simple: “Yoga has huge benefits [for special needs children],” said Ms Kaiser.

At a recent yoga session, children and volunteer assistants followed a series of verbal and visual instructions for breathing exercises, followed by rhythmic clapping and a name chant as the class began. With quiet music playing in the background, the nine students sang, “I am safe, I am bold, my own spirit I can hold,” as they clapped, one of several songs with a positive message that the children sang during the class.

The energetic atmosphere eased into a mellow mood as Ms Barton and Ms Kaiser guided the youngsters through stretches, each movement accompanied by counting and gentle verbal cues.

Laurie Eckler’s son, Kevin, looks forward to the weekly yoga class, she said. “It is great that there is finally something [for special needs children],” she said, and, like Ms McLeod, hopes that more will be added to the offerings in town. She attends the class with Kevin to offer assistance when he needs it. “He seems a tiny bit calmer when we leave [class], but mostly he just likes being here,” she said.

“I feel that yoga is the ideal match for children with special needs. Yoga addresses many of the holistic goals of body, mind, and spirit that occupational therapy as a profession addresses,” Ms Kaiser said. “The most clear-cut benefit of yoga for special needs children is in the strengthening of the body,” she explained. Strength and endurance correlate to functions such as fine motor skills and also correlates to sensory input that regulates arousal levels, she said. Changes in position of the head as yoga positions are practiced benefit balance and attention because yoga impacts the vestibular system that regulates arousal, attention, balance, and shares common pathways with language development, according to Ms Kaiser. Focused breathing is utilized throughout each workout, and is a life skill that the students can use to help manage stress anywhere, anytime, she noted.

Other yoga instructors in Newtown have also addressed the need for special needs classes. At Santosha on Route 25 in Hawleyville, yoga instructor Amy Colber now offers a class Friday afternoons for children between the ages of 7 and 10. “These are presently kids with social disabilities,” she said, “such as ADD [attention deficit disorder], ADHD [attention deficit hyperactive disorder], or OCD [obsessive compulsive disorder],” Ms Colber said.

While there are no classes for children with physical disabilities, Ms Colber has taught yoga to a 9-year-old girl who had suffered a stroke. “She had issues with her neck and head, but we got her strong enough to do a headstand,” said Ms Colber, touting the strengthening benefits of practicing yoga.

Yoga teacher Karen Pierce teaches at area gyms, but in her private practice has been working with two children suffering from hip dysplasia, arthritis, and sensory issues. “I definitely believe in yoga as a therapeutic practice,” said Ms Pierce.

There are many benefits beyond the physical and emotional benefits of yoga, said Ms Kaiser. “Yoga as a class offered through Parks and Recreation also incorporates social skills and social interaction outside of the school environment,” Ms Kaiser said, and these are the aspects that excite Ms McLeod.

 “I would say that before the basketball program, 90 percent of these kids had never taken part in a sport. There was nothing for them,” said Ms McLeod. The yoga and T-ball are great, she said, and the continued success of the classes has encouraged her to look to a future where soccer, karate, or swimming classes will open up to special needs children in town. “Anything where the kids can be together and interact is wonderful,” said Ms McLeod. “We are open to all kinds of disabilities. Kids and parents know what they are capable of and we don’t ask. We take them for what they are.”

Anyone interested in coaching special needs programs in Newtown can contact Carmen McLeod at 364-1181. “I will be glad to help anyone set up a program and ease any concerns they may have about issues around special needs,” she said.