more speech from (?)...Music /karate /swimming..and dolphins (again)

[Guest guest]

I just found this interesting article about http://www.menc.org which

may be of interest to all of us who have children with communication

challenges. I still am a strong believer in multi sensory therapy

together with traditional therapy -and here is another which as an

artist I love. According to the National Association For Music

Education website -those students with music education did better

overall on SAT scores than those not in the " arts " , raised IQ etc.

http://www.menc.org/publication/articles/academic/resource.htm

http://www.menc.org/information/advocate/sat.html

Just a good informational and fun site to explore -with your child.

For example you can find lots of child friendly activities at

http://www.menc.org/guides/charguid/charopen.html and a link to

http://www.sesameworkshop.org/music/ the Sesame Street music works

(and it does!)

On another note (parden the pun) I just wanted to comment again that

I highly recommend karate for any child with communication challenges

for a number of reasons. It helps strengthen coordination, motor

planning, confidence -an all around great gross motor activity that's

lots of fun and very social. The place my two boys go to is

extremely supportive of any child with challenges and they shadow the

children that need more assistance. Almost weekly they are rewarded

with certificates, cards -and of course they had to earn their white

belt too (some places just give them -I like the way they do it)

They teach the children discipline and repect as well. Many of the

karate movements are done together with verbal sounds and if the

child can't make them it doesn't matter. Any attempt is rewarded.

Has anyone had any bad experience? (I guess even so could be the

school -maybe just like anything it's finding the right one?) I also

have Tanner in swimming and he loves that too -it's great but I think

the karate is awesome and again encourage all of you to check it out

for both girls and boys. At Tanner's last IEP -it's agreed by all

he's doing amazing, and I'm so excited to share this with you.

I have to return a few calls from the Dolphin Therapy place in

Florida who want to share information on the Dolphin therapy with

us. They say it has helped children with speech and language

issues. Is anyone from the Keys area? (I wouldn't mind Tanner

swimming with dolphins even if it didn't help -it would be great if

it does though! I always loved Flipper.)

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