Yoga Adjustments for Children with Special
Needs by Tracey Maclay
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Children can benefit
from doing something different that a typically developing child can do.
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Groups of older
children can incorporate drawing, planning of own classes. Children can draw
the poses before they do them on the day, for example, on a white board or
paper. Make a sequence of their own.
Take a ‘pose of the day’ to take home.
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Yoga breathing and
mantras work well to work through any pain or discomfort they may have to go
through.
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Teaching family
classes, can also help with siblings and parents involved and all sharing the
experience.
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Plan a class as you would for a
typically developing child, however be ready to be flexible. Children may want to focus first on what they
have done before, practised or feel confident in and what they felt was the
most fun!
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Adapt the pace to suit the child’s
needs, temperament and age. Learn as
much as you can about these needs from parents and carers.
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Simplify cues with less talk and
explanations, more action.
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Stick to the ‘routine’ of the class as
much as possible.
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Be aware of any triggers which may
bother a child or may be distressing in the environment for them – noise,
smell, light, closeness of other children.
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Use props and visual cues as much as
possible – picture cues, poses, rule reminders, story board cards.
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Children with limited movement will
benefit from breath work, visualisation and supported seated poses or adapted
physical movements.
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Review and share with parents the
positive developments, however large or small and listen to feedback.
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And as always…see each child as
competent and capable!
Yoga for children on
the Autism spectrum.
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Children with
auditory processing difficulties
may find some music
distracting. They may prefer
the more soothing
sounds of Tibetan bowls or simple
chants like: ‘SO HAM’ or Yoga Nidra music.
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Use Sequential
routines: Start practice with similar warm ups and sun salutation each time and
finish in the same way.
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Make movement
enjoyable: teach ‘play’ through movement Eg. imitate an animal with a child with ASD.
Simplify, repeat and reinforce good behaviour.
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Put children with
behavioural issues with children with more severe ASD behaviours.
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Keep children active,
but don’t over- do the poses as this will bring stress to system rather than
focus and calm.
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Be mindful that lots
of visuals in the room can be distracting for the child with autism.
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Consider ways to
include their specific interests into the yoga class eg. Dinosaurs, games with
rules.
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Be flexible in your
plan. They may be particularly tired one day and need extra Savasana and
relaxation poses. School days can be
tiring and they may not be sleeping well.
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If they are super
tactile sensitive or have allergies, steer away from eye pillows with lavender
on their eyes and use on their stomachs or not at all.
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Use props but put
them away as soon as used so they won’t be distracted by
them.
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Use a fit ball or
yoga barrel to support in back bends. They love the feeling of rocking and
rolling often and heart opener poses.
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Break poses into
smaller, achievable steps and use gestural cues if parent uses same and
introduce new ones for yoga class.
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Use technology apps.
Occasionally for visual support.
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Remember: action,
rest, action. Children are built for short bursts of energy, then rest, not
like adults who have more endurance.
ž Visual cues provide a lot of
structure.
ž Yoga picture cards
ž Use signs as cues:
ž ‘STOP’ sign
ž ‘RELAX’
ž ‘Eyes on me’ visual.
ž Re-direct to slow breathing if you
can sense an outburst coming on. Hold up a finger with each breath or slide
finger up and down each finger.
ž Do some familiar calming poses.
ž Notice physical sensations together
at times of calm. Notice where tension
is held when feeling stressed. Practice
squeezing their hands and different parts of their body then going floppy to
recognise the feeling of being tense and changing to calm.
References
D. Freeman, 2009, Once Upon a Pose, Trafford
Publishing , Canada. Sumar, S. Yoga for the Special Child and website: www.specialyoga.com.
