Throughout my work I utilize a tool-box of various techniques and approaches. In the following I will outline what these methods are about and how I use them.
If you have any questions please feel free to get in touch. I will gladly answer any of your inquiries, just contact me!
Educational Kinesiology
I am a trained kinesiologist and “Brain Gym” and “Touch for Health” are parts of my toolbox. Movement and learning are closely intertwined, and movement exercises can be incorporated in classroom work at any age, modified to the developmental needs of the children and young people . Also, the exercises can be an excellent tool for parents to share with their children.
The exercises can really make a difference in many learning situations and can change attitudes and learning styles as well. They have helped children take responsibility for themselves and their own learning processes.
I have used the exercises in class as well as individually and am prepared to share them with interested audiences.
The Masgutova Method
I came in contact with Svetlana Masgutova and her work in Australia and was deeply impressed, because I felt that here was a tool to use with children and really reach them on “ground level”. Throughout my professional life with children with special needs, I searched for therapeutic tools to make a difference and help them open new pathways for themselves.
Svetlana Masgutova is a well-known Russian neuro-psychologist and has worked extensively with children with challenges. Her field is reflex integration through movement exercises. She incorporates educational kinesiology as well as isometric exercises in order to help immature reflex patterns to develop and be integrated into the body scheme.
Many children with learning problems show retained immature reflex patterns that should have been integrated during infancy. These unconscious movement patterns keep children from academic learning. Once overcome, children often show drastic changes in their whole being.
Samonas
SAMONAS stands for Spectrally Activated Music of Optimal Natural Structure and is a system of sound therapy which uses the virtue of sounds and extends their beneficial qualities through special features. It combines classical music and sounds of nature. The special value of this therapy lies in the spectral activation of the sounds, the quality of the recording technique itself and the material used for the CD’s , all of which makes for a warm and rich sound, maintains the natural qualities of the instruments and the space of recording.
The method was developed by Ingo Steinbach and incorporates latest findings from brain research as well as an understanding of other methods of sound therapy like the work of Dr. Tomatis. It is now being taught and applied world-wide.
I use the music CD’s individually or in the classroom for their beauty and their multiple potential purposes. Used individually, the children listen with headphones and show a number of reactions, especially emotionally, but also their breathing, their skin colour and general attentiveness can be immediately affected. Long-term changes can be observed in a balancing effect on the motor, as well as on the soul level.
An individualized listening program is combined with other methods of learning support and applied in or outside of class or at home.
Extra Lesson
“Extra Lesson” is a system of exercises in movement, drawing and painting to help children with difficulties in writing, reading and arithmetic, mainly used in the Waldorf schools.
This method was designed by Audrey McAllen, a former British Waldorf teacher. It is based on a spiritual scientific understanding of the different stages of a child’s neurological and movement development and comes from a fundamental anthroposophical background. Training in Extra Lesson is now being offered as a field of academic study in many countries world wide.
The children are usually taken out of the classroom and worked with individually over a period of time.
I am a trained Extra Lesson practitioner and use the exercises as part of my system in the classroom or individually in addition to other methods.
Coach On The Road 