In-Service Workshops - Introduction to Brain Gym

A half-day or full-day workshop on Brain Gym© makes a great In-Service program. Teachers come away with tools they can use in their next class to help their students achieve more easily--and they have a good time while learning. The comment below is typical of what educators say time and again after a Center Edge program:

“Usually workshops are tiring. After your workshop I felt energized, and couldn’t wait to use what I’d learned!”

Each program is tailored to the needs of the school and the educators. Educators in a typical Introduction to Brain Gym workshop will:

• Experience key Brain Gym movements and how to incorporate them into the school day
• Gain new perspective on learning challenges, and personally experience how movement activates the potential of the brain
• Learn how to notice when certain movements will be helpful, and how to get the most out of them
• Understand the principles at work behind Brain Gym
• Experience how stress affects whole-brain communication, and how movement returns us to whole-brain learning
• Come away with tools they can use the very next day to help students of all ages overcome learning problems and achieve more easily

During in-service workshops like this one in Kingman, AZ, Kathy teaches the principles of Brain Gym then gives everyone practical experiences of using the movements so they can take their learning back to the classroom.

Brain Gym introductory workshops can be tailored to meet specific needs. Here are some examples of schools and agencies which have benefited from an Center Edge in-service workshop on Brain Gym:

Central Consolidated School District, Shiprock, New Mexico -- Full day workshop for teachers of the healthy pregnancy program, and infant through pre-kindergarten children. Main points: Four key developmental movement stages of the infant, how their complete development leads to mature, integrated movement patterns and therefore cognitive ability, common practices that impede full development, and specific actions that can be taken to encourage full development. Six key infant reflexes, how to know if they are “retained” past infancy, what specific cognitive and behavioral challenges result (i.e., lack of coordination, learning disabilities), and how Brain Gym activities help move children of all ages smoothly through the infant reflex continuum, supporting true learning readiness.

Arizona Department of Education “Early Learning Institute” - Two half-day workshops for groups of 80 early grade educators. Main points: basic Brain Gym movements and how they support the developing neural system of the young child; how lack of specific kinds of developmental movement affects eye teaming and success as a reader, and how Brain Gym movements can help; how retained infant reflexes impair a child's ability to learn easily and naturally, and how movement helps overcome these blocks; methods of incorporating playful elements of Brain Gym movements into every class day; personal experience of the fun of movement, and how we are more effective learners after experiencing the integration of movement.

Scottsdale School District "Early Childhood Institute" -- Two-hour workshop for 28 preschool-through-third grade teachers. Main points: the basics of Brain Gym movements and how they support the developing neural system of the young child; experience improved reading through using Brain Gym movements.

Creighton School District -- Full day of instruction for ten P.E. teachers who work with children in grades K through 8. Main points: how to incorporate key Brain Gym movements into P.E. activities; experience how Brain Gym movements boost sports performance; experience direct correlation between physical coordination and "academic agility" in learners; how the P.E. program can support brain function and therefore academic excellence.

Sierra Vista, Arizona: Village Meadows School -- Two half-day workshops on the basics of Brain Gym for K-6 teachers and aides, followed by a Residency Day, a full day of demonstrating the use of Brain Gym with individual students in a school setting. Main points: the use of specific Brain Gym movements to directly address challenges in focus, organization, and attention; the relationship between body coordination and reading/math/handwriting ability, and how to improve both coordination and academic skills simultaneously, through the use of simple Brain Gym movements.

Therapy Rehab Services -- Two-hour workshop for occupational and physical therapists employed by a contract agency that provides services to many local elementary schools. Main points: Developmental issues behind the challenges that OT’s and PT’s are asked to remediate; how Brain Gym movements and processes can help children with developmental challenges to become more ready to benefit from typical OT and PT remediations.

Queen Creek, Arizona: Walker Butte Elementary School -- Full-day workshop for 25 teachers of K-8. Main points: Typical issues experienced by “challenged” learners, and their direct correlation to lack of communication between specific brain structures; the use of specific Brain Gym movements to develop and maintain full communication between all brain structures; specific eye-teaming challenges of learners who do not read easily and why specific Brain Gym movements help them; how to introduce Brain Gym movements to learners of all ages to generate interest and promote their use as a personal self-management tool.

Phoenix Unified School District -- Half-day workshop for 15 literacy coaches. Main points: The mechanics of literacy (symbol recognition and decoding, eye tracking, comprehension, focus, etc.) and how each element can be improved through the use of Brain Gym movements; understanding need for communication between specific structures of the brain, how stress can inhibit this communication, and how Brain Gym movements can release stress and help us return to whole-brain functioning; how to determine if a learner leads with his/her left or right eye, the implications of “left-eye lead” on ability to scan a line of print (left to right), and how Brain Gym movements resolve that challenge by helping both hemispheres communicate with each other more fully, promoting more effective eye teaming and left-right tracking.

“This workshop gave me a completely new understanding of what’s going on behind the problems my students have in school. Now I not only see how to meet their needs more directly and effectively, I have the tools to help them be successful.”

School “Residency Day”

A Brain Gym Residency Day offers schools a full day of on-site Brain Gym consulting. This can include any combination of:

• Direct student services: working one-on-one with students with specific learning or behavior challenges
• Classroom demonstrations: the use of Brain Gym in classroom settings to help accomplish specific academic goals
• Staff support: coaching teachers or support staff in their use of Brain Gym with individual students or in particular school settings

For more information see the article, "A Brain Gym Residency Day" on the Center Edge Articles page.

© Copyright Kathy Brown 2010. All rights reserved.

Brain Gym is a registered trademark of the Educational Kinesiology Foundation/Brain Gym International.
Please visit the Brain Gym® website at www.braingym.org.