cerebral palsy

[teej]

Does anyone have any experience working with a child with Cerebral Palsy?

The parents of a 12 yr old boy with Cerebral Palsy, ( he is also medicated for a learing disorder) contacted me to teach their son. I have met and evaluated the young man. I have arranged to work privately with him on a weekly basis.

If you have any experience in this area, I would like to contact you. [go to my profile and send me a private message]

Also, I cannot teach him the standard Kenpo curriculum, but I feel I can improve his balance, coordination, and teach him to protect himself. I want to reward him as he progresses with some kind of belt system and certificates.

Does anyone have any ideas for wording a certificate. ie, different levels of self-defense maybe? If any of you have taught special needs students, how did you approach this?

Sincerely,
Teej

 

[Michael Billings]

[font=&quot]I have worked with a wide variety of challenged students. I use a different criteria, but the same goals as for any kid, i.e. learning some self-discipline, some self-esteem building, and improved physical dexterity and flexibility. You have to be very careful with stretching, and joints, and it is a slow go. I used lots of stripes with a different color-lengthwise stripe than I normally do, but acknowledged and rewarded effort and small accomplishments with certificates and stripes.

The material was the same as my kid's program, but broken down into smaller increments, and I gave some latitude for method of execution due to the actual physical limitations of the various kids I have worked with.

The specifics vary with the limitations of the student, but part of the trick is educating yourself regarding their condition, which you are doing; and creating a curriculum which they can experience success with. Working with special students can be frustrating as a teacher ... but also enormously rewarding as a teacher.

Good luck and kudos for taking this on

. Our Kenpo Senior Advisor, Professor Bob White has a great reputation for working with kids from all walks of life, you may want to ask some advice from someone with a lot more years teaching experience than me.

Oss,
-Michael
[/font]

 

[Kenpomachine]

We got one partner with cerebral palsy in class a few years ago. He had to learn exactly the same program we learnt (take into account that we have fewer techniques per belt than the regular program). He was slower learning them, he didn't look as crisp as us, but he sure had power and remember well enough the techniques he liked. His main problem was that he was lazy, not his cerebral palsy. Oh, yeah, his other problem was that he didn't control his power very well. But he enjoyed teaching newbies what he knew.

He reached brown belt, and our instructor was going to test him for an honorary black (this guy has put the same effort as all of us, even if he didn't reach the standards for BB). Then, he left. I don't know if it was really he hasn't time to come to class or he got scared.

You can find an article about the benefits of teaching kids with special educative needs in my website. It was written by a student of Pedagogy (I don't know the exact name in english, but is the university degree that prepares you to be a teacher) specializing in the subject.

 

[teej]

Thank you Mr. Billings,

Could you give me contact information to reach Professor White if you have it? If you don't want to post it, please send me a private message.

Yours in Kenpo,
Teej

 

[Andrew Evans]

I'm glad I ran across this tread.

A couple of friends of mine in St. Louis operate a school that is just for children with cerebral palsy. I believe they are affiliated with their local cerebral palsy hospital.

Anyway, their organization is Fighters with Courage and Power and the website is http://www.fighterscp.org

Andrew

 

[Michael Billings]

Thank you Mr. Billings,

Could you give me contact information to reach Professor White if you have it? If you don't want to post it, please send me a private message.

Yours in Kenpo,
Bob
Teej

Here is the link to Prof. White's profile. I do not have his direct email, but you can email his listed MartialTalk email http://martialtalk.com/forum/member.php?u=2666 or find one on his Home Page at: http://www.bwkenpo.com/

 

[shesulsa]

My son is autistic with CP leanings - the rigidity, hypotonia and jerky movements all point to that.

He also learns what everyone else learns except lethal moves (give alternatives) and I use the opportunity to increase his flexibility and his strength - slow go.

I would lean towards an honorary dan as well - he works more than the other kids do.

 

[Les]

My son is autistic with CP leanings - the rigidity, hypotonia and jerky movements all point to that.

He also learns what everyone else learns except lethal moves (give alternatives) and I use the opportunity to increase his flexibility and his strength - slow go.

I would lean towards an honorary dan as well - he works more than the other kids do.

I used to have a girl in my kids class who had cerebal palsy. She was required to meet the same standards as all the other kids, but obviously, it took her longer to reach each level.

Once I overheard a child of equal grade saying how much better he was than her because she "couldn't do it properly". I took him to one side and gave him a roasting straight after the class.

A week or so later the girl wasn't at class due to a medical appointment, so I took the opportunity to sit the whole class down and explain to them how much harder she had to work just to keep up with them in class.

It was obvious to me that many of the others had no idea what a challenge it was for her to train at all.

She went on to take second place at a national tournament in the self defence section, beating me into third place.

She doesn't train anymore, having grown up and moved to another area of the country.

Les

 

[Les]

I currently have a 14 year old female student with Aspergers (sp) syndrome.

She has a memory problem which makes it hard for her to learn the syllabus, and also hard to teach her too.

If I teach her a technique, she'll work with it and seem to be internalising it, but if I give her 10 minutes working something else and then say "Now show me that technique" she'll say "Which technique?"

But when she gets it right, I really feel a sense of achievement.

After about 15 months she is about to test for her Orange Belt, although she doesn't know it yet.

 

[shesulsa]

Les, I don't know if you know this - most don't - but Asperger's is kind of like Autism.

Can I give you some suggestions to help her memory and understanding?

1. If your techniques have names (ours have numbers), have her recite the name/number of the technique right before she does it - every single time.

2. Have her run through her material in the same order for a while. For example; we have, in each rank, four basic exercises, one short form, one long form, a kicking combination, falls and techniques. I have my son always start with the basic exercises followed by the short form, then we work techniques (all he knows, once each), the long form, kick combo, and falls in that order every single time. Then we concentrate on one thing and we do it over and over and over. I ask him to say it aloud before he starts.

3. Change things ever so slowly and slightly with her, the order in which she does things. For example, I'll have my son work his basic exercises last and start with the second thing. Doing this over time will help her memory access issues (we're training the brain and mapping new synapses here).

4. Work her up to where she can do what you call out. Assign her a coach - one of her classmates to call things out for her so she can practice that (for testing and general development).

5. PATIENCE. You are doing an incredible thing for her...don't give up!
artyon: