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A
Summary of a Brain Gym Research Project on Reading
Cecilia (Freeman)
Koester, M.Ed.
From Brain Gym Journal, December 2000
Given my deep desire to get Brain Gym into the
schools, as well as the enormous amount of conversation about the need
for longitudinal research on the effects of Brain Gym¨ on academic
skills, in 1998 I set out to do a year long research project at an elementary
school.
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Fifth-grade
students involved in the reading project do Dennison Laterality
Repatterning to improve listening and memory skills.
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To accomplish this task, I engaged the assistance of Brain Gym Consultant
Joyce B. Sherwood. The report for this pilot project offers data supporting
the finding that students in grades three, four, and five who used Brain
Gym throughout the year improved their reading test scores on a statewide
standardized test (the Stanford 9) twice as much as did the students
in the control group who did not use Brain Gym as a part of their learning.
These are remarkable results-both academically and statistically.
Having formerly worked as a classroom teacher in a special day class
for severely challenged students on this particular campus, I approached
principal Paul Jablonowski at Saticoy Elementary School in Ventura,
California, with the request to conduct this project with some of his
students. I received his consent and was met with open arms and great
enthusiasm for the project by the twelve teachers whose classrooms would
be involved. These teachers agreed to the following:
1. To meet for one hour after school every Monday throughout
the school year.
2. To do a minimum of fifteen minutes of Brain Gym each
day, integrated into the daily activities of the classroom rather
than
in a fifteen-minute block of time.
3. To allow students-selected by each teacher-to leave
class one time each month for a thirty-minute session of Brain Gym
within
a small group, facilitated by a Brain Gym Consultant.
4. To invite Brain Gym Consultants to do classroom consultations
a minimum of two times during the school year.
5. To allow students’ test scores to be gathered
for data comparison. An equal number of student scores were gathered
from
the school files to serve as a control group, with the permission
of the teachers in those classrooms.
Throughout the school year, enthusiasm and follow-through remained
high. All of the above agreements were carried out. We arranged a special
Parents Night which drew an astonishing crowd of 120 to inform the parents
about Brain Gym and explain how their children were using it in the
classroom. In addition, the participating classroom teachers papered
their walls with suggested Brain Gym materials, instructed students
in the task-appropriate use of the Brain Gym movements, and reminded
the young people about which Brain Gym activities to do prior to undertaking
a homework assignment. The teachers learned the Brain Gym exercises
and subsequently taught their students. As I passed through the halls
when we were only three months into the project, I saw children using
Brain Gym throughout the school day, even without teacher direction.
The students who continued to have difficulty with their reading skills
were seen by a Brain Gym Consultant in small groups of two to four.
In these groups, balances* were facilitated to remediate specific difficulties
related to such areas as attention and comprehension, fine- or gross-motor
coordination, or specific academic skills.
The results of this pilot project were phenomenal. Students'
self-esteem improved, the classroom climate became more calm, the students
reported how much easier their reading had become, and the teachers
expressed deep gratitude for this simple, effective tool that enhanced
their teaching strategies.
I also gathered test data from the Stanford 9. The following graphs
illustrate the effectiveness of the use of Brain Gym in the classroom.
Students in each grade level who experienced the Brain Gym activities
improved their test scores twice as much as did the students in the
control group who did not practice Brain Gym.
Given these results, I believe that all reading programs would benefit
by infusing Brain Gym into the school day. Whether the approach is phonics,
guided reading, or Reading Recovery, testing should inform instruction-rather
than the other way around. Let us use this research to inform ourselves.
We need to encourage classroom teachers everywhere to add Brain Gym
activities to their teaching strategies.
One grateful parent volunteer summarized community responses with the
following letter: "To Whom It May Concern: I am writing in regard
to the Brain Gym Program that is being taught at my child’s school. These small,
but effective techniques have helped my daughter excel in class immensely.
Her ability to focus, concentrate and complete class assignments increase
after each morning’s pace exercise. The class as a whole, in which
I volunteer two times a week, seems to calm down and show improvement
with listening as well as performing the days’ tasks.
I am sure as time goes by, the children will only benefit from this
Educational Kinesiology brought to our schools. Each day a different
exercise is introduced and children are evaluated individually to
meet their own specific needs in class. Getting in touch with your
mind through the body sounds fantastic. What a wonderful way to begin
a life‹positive,
healthy and strong. The perfect way to create a successful adult."
Fifth-grade students involved in the reading project do the Owl
to improve listening and memory skills.
A copy of the entire research report may be acquired from the author
for $20, plus postage, in U.S. funds. Orders of ten or more copies will
receive a 30 percent discount.
This report can be read to glean classroom ideas. It can also be shared
with administrators or used to replicate Cecilia’s study.
Cecilia K. Freeman, M.Ed., is a former classroom teacher and one of
the leading experts in the educational use of Brain Gym. Though her
specialty is working with children and adults who have special needs,
her love of all children compels her to also work with general education
students. She is the author, with Gail E. Dennison, of I Am the Child:
Using Brain Gym with Children Who Have Special Needs. Cecilia consults
nationwide, doing teacher in-services as well as teaching Brain Gym
for Special Education Providers, a course she developed for the Educational
Kinesiology Foundation. In honor of her research project on reading,
Cecilia has been designated a recipient of the Educational Kinesiology
Founders Award for outstanding research for the year 1999-2000.
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