Zone’in Workshops

Could Gym, Playgrounds and Exercise be the Answer?

Parents and teachers everywhere are struggling to find ways to manage Today’s Child in homes and classrooms. Either zoned out or hyper, today’s child can’t seem to behave and pay attention, much less learn. Sensory processing, motor coordination and attachment disorders seem to be the norm for today’s child, and parents and teachers are caught with limited knowledge regarding these developmental delays, and few coping strategies. The gaps in children’s skill level and literacy ability are widening, with education and health systems only beginning to glimpse what is actually happening to our children.

The advent of technology has caused profound changes in children’s development and their ability to learn. Delays in printing, reading and a decrease in the ability to pay attention are increasing at alarming rates, along with attachment and developmental disorders. As children spend more and more time connecting with technology, relationships are disconnecting, at a very rapid pace. North American children watch on average 6.5 hours of TV and videogames (TVVG) per day, and parents spend on average 3.5 minutes per week in meaningful conversation with their children. By the time children graduate from high school, they will have spent more time in front of a TV than at school. What children are not doing is moving, and movement is absolutely crucial for optimal attention, behavior and learning ability.

In order to help our children, we need to go back to the basics of our nature. For generations, human beings have engaged in heavy work, and sensory stimulation was nature-based and calming. We moved to survive; chopping wood, hauling water, plowing fields…listening, looking and smelling nature. Advances in technology and transportation have resulted in a physically sedentary human body that is bombarded with chaotic and complex sensory stimulation. While TV and computers may be compelling and interesting, burying our heads in technology is causing sensory deprivation and a “disconnect” from our worlds.

Cris Rowan, a Pediatric Occupational Therapist and Sensory Specialist states that poor school performance seen in children who use excessive TVVG is due to lack of movement resulting in the underdevelopment of the children’s neurological system. Rowan performs workshops and develops programs available to review at www.zonein.ca for parents, teachers and therapists addressing the negative effects of TVVG on children’s developing central nervous systems. Rowan lectures workshop participants on how impaired neurological development can affect a child’s ability to print, read, pay attention in class, and even play sports. Rowan explains how a child’s brain can be viewed as a large city, with “input lanes” to the brain being sensory nerves and “output lanes” to the body being motor nerves. Sensory input from a child’s environment develops in a “hierarchal” way, with the balance (vestibular system), touch (tactile system) and movement (proprioceptive system) sensory systems developing first. Higher level seeing (visual system) and hearing (auditory system) sensory systems develop later and integrate to become a fully functioning sensory system. When children do not get enough sensory stimulation to their balance, touch and movement sensory systems, they have difficulty learning through their seeing and hearing sensory systems, which are the sensory systems children need to use most for learning in school. As child’s neurological development is rapid in the pre-school years, early intervention regarding decreasing TVVG exposure is crucial.

As a society of parents, teachers and professionals, we need to work together to address how we can assist children to balance sensory stimulation with heavy work, to increase attention and reduce sensory overload (fright, flight, fight). To assist parents and teacher in TVVG reduction, Rowan has developed the TVVG Module, comprised of the TVVG Addiction Scale, the Unplug Challenge and the TVVG schedule. At home, a parent might allow one hour of “box time” (TV, video game, computer) for one hour of heavy work (bike up hill, haul wood, dig in garden). Schools could work toward increasing classroom-based resistive type movement through desk isometrics (hand push/pull), or through recess/gym activities (tug of war, climbing ropes). Schools could also reduce sensory stimulation by decreasing classroom visual and auditory “clutter”, creating sensory hideouts, as well as could improve children’s ability to attend by utilizing sensory tools and techniques for optimizing energy states.

Parenting and teaching styles of the past no longer seem to work for today’s child, causing frustration and apparent resignation of teachers and parents. While we know that watching TV results in obesity, aggression, addictions and detachment, little has been done at schools or in the home to address this growing concern. We must start listening to our bodies, if we want to successfully accommodate to recent advances in technology and transportation. We need to intersperse our daily lives with increased heavy work and need to moderate daily amounts of sensory stimulation to get back on track. Increasing necessary touch and movement sensation can be achieved by daily hugs, playful wrestling, nature games and by quite simply “reattaching” to our children! Now is the time to plant the seed for children to learn in a new and conscious way. Teaching children to be aware of their bodies, so they know who they are, creates a strong and healthy foundation for learning. Using their energy in positive and productive ways, children learn to create balance and wholeness of body, mind and spirit.

Biography
Cris Rowan, committed to easing the job of learning for children is a well-known speaker and author to teachers, parents and therapists throughout North America in the field of Sensory Integration, Learning, Attention, Fine Motor Skills and the impact of TV and videogames on children’s neurological development. Cris has a BSc’s both in Occupational Therapy and in Biology and is a SIPT certified Pediatric Sensory Specialist. Over the past decade, Cris has provided over 200 keynotes and workshops, published the monthly Development Series Newsletter, created the Zone’in and Move’in Educational Programs for schools and homes, and started Rowan Training Systems for registered Occupational Therapists. Cris chairs the BCSOT Pediatric and Sensory Integration Special Interest Groups, has written numerous articles for international journals, and is in the process of completing her first book A Cracked Foundation: The Damaging Effects of Technology on Child Development.

Reference Literature
Cotman C, Berchtold N and Christie L (2007) Exercise Builds Brain Health: Key Roles of Growth Factor Cascades and Inflammation. Trends in Neuroscience Vol 30 No 9, 464-472. This research profiles how exercise improves cerebral vascular perfusion, increases the production of neurogenic growth factor, and decreases inflammation with subsequent increase in the number and length of survival of nerve cells in the hippocampal region, implicated in learning and memory. This article also shows the positive effects of exercise on reducing depression.

Hillman C, Erickson K and Kramer A (2008) Be Smart, Exercise Your Heart: Exercise Effects of Brain and Cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience Vol 9 58-65. This article profiles the following studies: achievement in standardized test of reading and math was positively correlated with physical fitness scores; social isolation reduced positive effects of exercise on hippocampal neurogensis; exercise training improved depression; cognitive, physical and social engagement decreased the risk of dementia.

Learning Disabilities Association of British Columbia – Fact Sheet Statistics (2007) Learning Disabilities Fact Sheet. www.ldav.ca/info.html. This document states that 15% of the elementary population has learning disabilities, with reading deficits the most prevalent condition. 35% of the learning disabled population will drop out of school, 60% will receive treatment for substance abuse, and they will have twice the unemployment rate of the non-disabled population.

Mate, G (1999) Scattered Minds. A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder. Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, Toronto, Canada.

Mukaddes N, Bilge S, Alyanak B, Kora M (2000) Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Responses in Cases Diagnosed as Reactive Attachment Disorder. Child Psychiatry and Human Development Vol 30(4), 273-287. This study was conducted on 15 children with RAD who were misdiagnosed with PDD, and found that 66.6% of RAD children were exposed to 7.26 hours of TV use per day with age of onset at 7.16 months, and conclude that “excessive TV exposure might be a form of neglect that is specific for RAD patients”.

National Dissemination Centre for Children With Disabilities – Fact Sheet 7 (2004) Learning Disabilities. www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs7txt.htm. This document reports that one in five children have a learning disability requiring the services of a school-based special education team, and prevalence of LD children have increased 22% over the past 25 years.

National Resource Center on ADHD – Statistical Prevalence (2007) About ADHD. www.help4adhd.org/en/about/statistics. This report states that 7% of elementary children have a diagnosis of ADHD, with 61% of these children also having learning disabilities.

Pelligrini A. and Bohn C. (2005) The Role of Recess in Children’s Cognitive Performance and School Adjustment. Educational Researcher Vol 34 No 1, 13-19. This study reports that providing breaks over the course of a child’s school day enhances their ability to attend and learn. This study also reports that kindergarteners’ playground social behaviour was a significant factor in first grade achievement, and discussed that the playground may be the only area where “latch-key” kids get to socialize with their peers. This study support Zone’in premise that children learn first with their bodies, then their brain, and supports Zone’in recommendations that children should employ a variety of movement techniques to optimize learning.

Roberts D, Foehr U, Rideout V, Brodie M (1999) Kids and Media at the New Millennium: A Comprehensive National Analysis of Children’s Media Use. The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation Report, California. This report documents that children spend on average 6.5 hours per day of combined media use (TV, videogames, computers), and 32% of 2-7 year olds and 65% of 8-18 year olds have TV’s in their bedrooms.

Schilling D, Washington K, Billingsley F and Deitz J (2003) Classroom Seating for Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Therapy Balls Versus Chairs. American Journal of Occupational Therapy Vol 57 No 5, 534-541. This research found that use of therapy balls for students with ADHD facilitates in-seat behavior and legible word productivity.

Schmidt R and Lee T (2005) Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis. Human Kinetics Publishing, Illinois. This book reports the immense role that vision has in determining behavior, and states that 87.7% of behavior is driven by vision.