University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, February 3. 1987
7
Students improve motor skills with a HOP, SKIP and a JUMP
Doug Abel, 7, concentrates on guiding a soccer ball around cones in an activity designed to improve coordination
Elementary school is a special place where children and playtime go hand in hand.
Unfortunately, playtime becomes a nightmare when little bodies are unable to swim.
An 8-year-old boy was plagued with this problem. He was unable to cut with scissors, draw with pencils or crayons, trace figures, hop on one leg or jump.
He was referred to the University of Kansas Perceptual Motor Skills Clinic in Robinson Center, in the hope that his motor skills might improve.
Remarkably, they did. The boy was unable to do one jumping jack when he came to the clinic, but by the end of his 20-week therapy, he could do five to 10 in a row.
Robert Ayers, Bonner Springs senior in therapeutic recreation, was the student therapist assigned to the 8-year-old's case. He helped change in the boy's skills since the first therapy.
"My child had an excellent attitude about improving his skill level and also was very bright," Ayers said. "Initially, he just wasn't in control of his body."
Ayers' client was just one of 25 children, ages four to 10, accepted each semester in the clinic's enrichment therapy program. The children work on therapy designed to correct their unique perceptual or motor problems
Each child works with a student therapist under the supervision of clinic director Jan Fisher, who is also an assistant professor of health, physical education and recreation.
Children are usually referred to the clinic by physicians, teachers, counselors or school psychologists.
The young students in the program usually have some sort of body awareness problem. Fisher said. They are not conscious of their body parts in relation to their surroundings and thus do not have the normal coordination for children their ages.
In one exercise, children draw pictures of themselves. Frequently, they draw cms and legs sticking out the side of the head or neck. Fisher said.
The children are tested to help therapists assess gross and fine motor skills, visual perception, body awareness and how they work together.
After the child has taken the tests, therapists make a developmental profile detailing how well the student performed.
With this profile, she said, the therapist had a better understanding of why a child is not doing well.
"Then we work to make the children efficient, not proficient," Fisher said. "We want to teach them to control their own bodies."
The therapy could make a considerable difference in whether a child advanced or was held back a year in school, she said.
Physical developmental problems can hurt a child's social or academic progress, she said. Also, teachers or parents sometimes think a child is acting awkward on purpose.
The children work hard because of the excitement of improving body skills, Fisher said. None of the children are embarrassed about performing their required tasks.
"They run down the hall and fly into the office when it's time for their therapy session," she said. "They almost become depressed if they find that their therapist is unable to meet with them."
Fisher said she took great care in matching the personalities of therapists and students. Once therapists are chosen, they devise 20, half-hour therapy sessions with their child.
The therapy sessions focus on four or five developmental areas at a time. Fisher said
"We are responsible for creating our own lesson plans." Ayers said. "We think them up by ourselves and learn through experience that works best."
Fisher said, "It's very rewarding for student therapists to discover that they are responsible for changing the skill level of one of the children. Then they can say, 'I was the one that changed that.'"
At the conclusion of each session, students take part in a relaxation period. The focus of the therapy is to enable the children to bring their bodies under control.
The children lie on mats for two to four minutes and listen to their therapist relay images of things that make them relax or contract their muscles.
Sometimes the children pretend they are snowflakes or mashed potatoes while concentrating on relaxing their muscles. One favorite is to pretend that they are puffy clouds gently floating to Kansas City, Fisher said.
"Then lightning or thunder comes out of our clouds, and we contract our muscles very hard."
This technique enables the students to leave the sessions in control of their bodies and with new confidence in themselves. Fisher said
The rewards of the clinic are great, she said, especially because children can finally get in contact with what their bodies want to do.
Above: Students and therapists pretend to be animals in a zoo as they flex and extend muscles during a relaxation exercise.
Left. Jill Trowbridge, 6, works on her catching skills and eye-muscle control.
Above: Therapist Robert Ayers, right, Bonner Springs senior, helps Doug improve his motor skills in a game of pick-up sticks. Right: Jill follows footprints on the floor, which are designed to help improve upper body control and balance.
Photos by Brenda Steele Story by Jennifer Wyrick