YIA Mentor Artist Hannah Dworkin
Brain Dance at Marindale Early Intervention
“I FEEL my brain getting smarter! I feel my head getting bigger!” “B” from Meriam Granger’s pre-K language immersion class after her third session with “Brain Dance.”
Brain Dance was developed by Anne Green Gilbert, and it is comprised of eight types of movements based on the developmental stages of a baby goes through during the first year of life. The steps are: Breath, Tactile, Core-Distal, head-tail, upper-lower, body side, cross lateral and vestibular. There has been quite a few encouraging studies about the use of Brain Dance with students of all ages. I have been using it in variations in my VSA classes this year. Each of my classes have very different ability levels, and I found myself adjusting it to fit each scenario. Below are ways in which I found it most effective.
Class of autistic students age 3-5:
This group thrives on routine, so the key to having brain dance work with this class was to introduce it early in the 10 week residency and practicing it daily. I gave the steps to the teacher, and she made sure to reinforce the movement.
Class of students with limited mobility:
This class was challenging because they were not able to move their bodies enough to participate in brain dance, so we all, classroom teacher and aides included, were very hands on. We helped them manipulate their limbs and as needed, and listened to gleeful shouts when we spun their wheel chairs at the final stage of the dance.
Class of language delayed preschoolers:
There were two important things to keep in mind with this group. First, they were very young, so keeping the pace up was essential. I also used high energy, fun music to keep them engaged. I also needed to be very clear with the language I used. I needed to keep in mind that they needed me to use simple vocabulary to describe and demonstrate each movement.
YIA Mentor Artist Hannah Dworkin
Thank you to the Marin Community Foundation for their generous support of this and all of our programs serving students of different abilites!
