Just the Tip of an Iceberg

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Just the Tip of an Iceberg
Music and Movement Instrumental in Language
Development Maryann Harman, M.A.
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Moving with the Brain In Mind
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Life in the USA Today

• When do children have the opportunities to
  experience physically active play?
• What types of physical activities do we encourage
  in classrooms and in homes?
• What nutritional choices are children learning
  about in classrooms and in homes?
• What do children learn while playing?
• (Read-Childrens PLAY, The Roots of Reading by
  Ed Zigler, Dorothy Singer, Sandra Bishop-Josef)

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D8Physical Health and Development

• Gross Motor Skills
• Fine Motor Skills
• Health Status and Practices
• Progresses in physical growth, strength, stamina,
  and flexibility
• Connections between muscles and the brain are
  needed for the progress to take place
• Early Brain Growth and Movement

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D8Physical Health and Development

• Gross Motor Skills
• Fine Motor Skills
• Health Status and Practices
• movements that enhance early brain development,
  neurological organization, sensory integration
  (vestibular, proprioceptive, and tactile
  processing), visual processing, auditory
  processing, bilateral coordination, hand-eye
  coordination, and motor planning

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The Child is a Mind/Body

• The brain and the body can be thought of as a
  coordinated unit
• The brain supports all motor function
• Brain and muscles work together to execute any
  task

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Early Brain Characteristics

• The brain is divided front to back by the motor
  cortex
• There are motor functions in the front and back
  of the brain, making movement one source of
  stimulation that impacts all areas of the brain

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Early Brain Connections

• At birth 100 billion brain cells that communicate
  though tiny connections that form networks
• There are 15,000 connections for each brain cell
• By age three, 80 of the connections are already
  made, forming neural networks

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Neurons

• Nerve cells designed to send electrical messages
  from one part of the brain to another
• Or from the brain to different parts of the body
• Information travels through a neuron down a long,
  thin tube (the axon) as an electrical message,
  and across a gap (or synapse) to the next neuron.

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Axon

• An axon is a neurons long, extension cord
• It sends information on to the next neuron.
• Messages travel from the cell body along the axon
  as electrical signals
• Like electric wires, axons are long and thin, and
  can reach up to three feet in length.

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Cell Communication

• Dendrites are named after a Greek word meaning
  tree
• A dendrite, a branch like extension from out of
  the cell body, receives the messages from other
  cells
• The dendrites do not actually touch, but meet at
  the gap (called a synapse) to chat using
  chemical signals

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Early Brain Connections

• The young brain already holds billions of nerve
  cells (neurons) necessary throughout the lifespan
• The connections between neurons (called synapses)
  are formed by early childhood experiences.
• These connections can be retained or destroyed
  depending on their use.

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Myelin Sheath

• Myelin is a fatty substance that coats the nerve
  pathways
• It helps speed the transmission of electrical
  signals down the axon, allowing much faster
  communication from brain to muscles.

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Early Brain Networks

• The developing brain uses incoming sensory,
  perceptual, and movement information to define
  and wire the young childs brain
• Physical activity stimulates the body to create
  BDNF, which acts like Miracle Gro for the brain.
  (John Ratey, Harvard psychiatrist)
• Brain networks are strongest in early childhood

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Early Brain Builders

• Consistent, repeated, and multi-sensory learning
  experiences strengthen brain network connections
• They lead to gains in cognitive understanding and
  an increased ability to retrieve the information
  in new situations.

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Early Brain Builders

• Consistent, repeated, and multi-sensory learning
  experiences strengthen brain network connections
• They lead to gains in cognitive understanding and
  an increased ability to retrieve the information
  in new situations.

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Use It or Loose It

• Movement and physical activity are primary brain
  builders
• Brain cell connections and networks are pruned
  away as a result of limited stimulation and
  inactivity, or non use.

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Brain cells that fire together, wire together
6 months 6 years 14 years
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Brain Plasticity

• The brain has a very specialized ability to adapt
  or change based on the experiences it is exposed
  to, or lack of them
• Most adaptive during early childhood
• Lifelong ability of the brain to reorganize and
  maintain neural pathways based on new experiences

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Our brains have adapted to changing environments

• The early hunters
• and gathers

• New environments
• have modified
• our behaviors

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Cross Multiple Midlines

• left/right (x)
• top/bottom (y)
• front/back (z)

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Left Brain Right Brain Practice Using Both

• The corpus callosum the tissue dividing the two
  hemispheres of the brain
• Thick band of 200 250 million nerve fibers
• Important for transmission of information between
  hemispheres
• Physical movements crossing the midline need to
  be introduced.

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Food for Thought Omega 3 Fatty Acids

• Myelin - a fatty substance that coats the nerve
  pathways
• Nerve networks and branching dendrites need good
  fats and proteins to stimulate myelin production

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Omega 3 Fatty Acids Protection Properties

• Essential fats also protect our brains from
  neuro- degenerative diseases (Multiple Sclerosis,
  Huntingdons, Lou Gehrigs, etc.)

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Nourish Their Brains

• Glucose primary source of energy for the brain
• The brain of a 4-5 year old uses twice as much
  glucose as an adult.
• A healthy balance of fruits, veggies, protein,
  and whole grains supply glucose to the developing
  brain

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Feeling Down, Move Around

• Oxygen The brain requires more oxygen than any
  other organ of the body because of its high rate
  of metabolism
• Lack of oxygen impairs learning and attention
• MVPA needed to pump blood to transport oxygen to
  the brain.

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Feeling Down, Move Around

• Raised Heart rates produce the hormone ANP, which
  balances the neural transmitters related to
  exercise, the calming of anxiety and regulating
  the health of the body-brain connections.

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Water Their Brains
The bodies of children are 65 water, however
their brains are 85 water A childs brain
needs water throughout the day to function
properly. Because children metabolize faster than
adults, they can become dehydrated faster than
adults.
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BALANCE - vestibular

• What controls a persons motion awareness, and
  stabilizing abilities in shared space?

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The Body Trains The Brain

• Early and appropriate movement experiences build
  neural connections in the brain
• Balance, manipulation, rhythms, midline
  activities, vestibular activities,
  perceptual-sensory activities assist learning

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Music and Movement - Instrumental in Language
Development

• The ear is the most fully developed of the sense
  organs at birth

• In Howard Gardners eight multiple intelligences,
  music is the first of the multiple intelligences
  to become functional in a person.

• Only 10 percent of most kindergarten students
  can keep a steady beat. This ability should be in
  place by two to three years of age.

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Clap Your HandsTouch Your ToesTurn
Around Put Your Fingers On Your NoseFlap Your
ArmsJump Up HighWiggle Four Fingers And Reach
For the Sky
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Letters from INFINITY
a c d g j q u
b e f h k m n o p r s y
i l t v w x
Source-Lazy 8s Brain Gym by Dr. Paul E.
Dennison
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Rhythms and Manipulatives

• Children should be able to demonstrate rhythmic
  activities while seated before being expected to
  do rhythmic activities while standing or
  traveling
• It is challenging for a young child to use two
  halves of the body to do a single task
• The Hokey Pokey Is What It Is All About!

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Rhythms and Manipulatives

• March with hands touching knees and/or
  extended arms
• Handling manipulatives
• Balance beams with props
• Obstacle course with variety in surfaces,
  pathways, objects to step on and over

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Rhythms and Manipulatives

• Tapping LUMMI STICKS
• (pvc pipe-3/8 inch diameter)

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Music is the Foundation of Languages
Locomotion
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Music is the Foundation of Languages
Achy Breaky Heart
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Music is the Foundation of Languages
Macerana
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Music is the Foundation of Languages
Rockin Robin
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What else is going on inside the brain of a 3-5
year old child?

• Language areas are developing.
• Broca area for producing language
• Wernike area for comprehending words
• The basic vocabulary for movement and association
  to traveling and actions, effort, space,
  relationships, and nutrition is the foundation to
  establish at this age.

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Effort Awareness
(Effort Awareness) I am learning HOW my body
moves.
TIME Speeds Rhythm Slow
Beats Medium Cadence Fast
Patterns Speeding up Slowing down
FORCE Degrees of Creating
Absorbing Force Force
Force Strong Starting (Go)
Stopping
Medium Sustained
Receiving Light Explosive
Gradual
CONTROL Weight
Transfer Dimensions Rocking
Single Movements Stepping
Movement Combinations Rolling
Transitions Flight
Freeze
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Space Awareness
(Space Awareness) I am learning WHERE my body
moves.
Categories Self space Shared Space
Directions Up Right Down
Left Forward Sideways Backward
Pathways Straight Curved Zigzag
Levels High Medium Low
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Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
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Tell your muscles what to do
What My Body Can Do
Action Awareness
How My Body Moves
Effort Awareness
Where My Body Moves
Space Awareness
With Myself, others movers, objects
Relational Awareness
Self Regulated Control of Movement and Balance
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Enhance Learning with Activity

• Time to move, stimulate, discover, and learn
  while connecting the body and brain.
• Manipulatives for exploration and discovery
• What My Body Can Do
• Throwing/catching with foam noodles, mechanic
  rags, beach balls

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Academic Learning
Cognition
Daily Living Skills
Behavior
PERCEPTUAL and SENSORY MOTOR EXPERIENCES ARE
CRUCIAL IN PRE-K
Visual Spatial Perception
Auditory Language Skills
Attention Center Functions
PERCEPTUAL SENSORY MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Eye Muscle Control
Postural Adjustment STOP/GO
Eye-Limb Coordination
Voluntary Movements
Body Awareness
Ability to Screen Input
SENSORY MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Postural Security
Awareness of Two Sides of the Body
Motor Planning
Smell
Sight
Hearing
Taste
SENSORY SYSTEMS
Touch Feeling Nerves from
joints/muscles (Proprioception)
BALANCE Inner ear development (vestibular)
Reflexive Movements
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Opportunity Knocks!

• Early childhood is the most responsive and
  receptive time to learn fundamental motor skills
• Why?

• Capacity to learn and the motivation to practice
  motor tasks are high (PLAY)
• Young children experience great gains and
  improvement from the practice of fine and gross
  motor skills
• Skills and knowledge track into adulthood

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When I am moving, I am learning!!