Karate, Karate, Karate

I can not say enough good things about the benefits of martial arts for children. In recent weeks, we have seen some major breakthroughs for Alex, most notable in his balance. All children would benefit from pursuing a martial art, but children with balance issues (and I have read, also children with ADHD and other attention issues) benefit considerably. Until a couple weeks ago, Alex was unable to bend both knees forward to pick up something or do a frog jump. His left leg always bent in, which made his balance poor and did nothing to strengthen the leg. Alex's karate instructor realized Alex's posture when bending would prevent him from moving forward in his karate. So, he began a series of isolated drills and stretches and repeated practice to get the bent leg to stay straight. Once Alex felt the correct posture a few times, he understood what he had been doing wrong and began to self-correct. He now bends correctly all the time. He is so proud of himself for this major accomplishment that he practices it frequently, further strengthening the leg and the synapses of the brain.

I don't know if there has been any research on the frequency and timing of therapy in disabled children, but our observation is that when we do therapy (like karate and swimming) in the morning, Alex is in good spirits. He then naps, and during his sleeping period, he synthesizes the morning's lessons (research HAS been done on the benefits of sleep for children to process what they learn). When we try therapies in the afternoon, Alex is cranky, even if he has napped. He has a small morning window in which he is well-rested and able to happily participate in lessons. For children with physical limitations, their caloric expenditure is many times a child without these limitations, and so they are exhausted by early afternoon (or lunch time, even, in Alex's case). Knowing this, we take extra care and attention to scheduling Alex's daily activities so that we have success.