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intro and looking for some direction

justforbaby626justforbaby626 member
in Special Needs

Hi everyone,

I am a yoga teacher looking to create a program for special needs children/teens.

My experience with special need children is really limited, except for my niece who 7. 

What I am hoping you ladies can help me with... I want to be professional and educated on this process, this program.  I have the yoga experience. Do I begin by speaking with a doctor- can you recommend and dr's that would be willing to speak with me, what questions do I ask the parents, how do I reach these parents without being offensive or intrusive?

If you find this post any of the above- I truly apologize.  I figure a lot of you out there would would have really really valuable advice. 

Thanks in advance.

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Re: intro and looking for some direction

  • ToastieSimonsToastieSimons member

    I would start with a physiatrist and a physical therapist (maybe contact the local early intervention for some names of PT's who are used to working with children).

    You're going to have to be specific when you say special needs.  Do you mean behavioral issues?  or physical disabilities?  I would think that it would take a long time to be experienced to help children with true physical disabilities such as hypertonia/hypotonia, etc.  

    You would need to basically do one-on-one classes to help with physical disabilities. 

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  • Assembly_ReqdAssembly_Reqd member

    I agree about finding a physiatrist or PT to help you. Nate's school for the deaf has a "Movement Therapist" who says she uses yoga poses with the older kids to help them learn some calming moves and stretches. Mainly to help them learn where their body is in space and how to self-sooth through meditation/yoga.

    I think if you have a class that is open to SN kids and their parents to learn yoga moves together you will get and idea of what works and what doesn't work. Maybe advertise the class as a "Learning Lab" and offer cheaper rates until you get your system down and get feedback from parents.

    Another option is to contact your local Early Intervention and ask to talk to the person who plans the Family Support activities. Maybe you can do a few events though them at a library. They would have the resources (i.e. family contact info) to get you some appropriate participants. They probably will not give you names, but if you co-plan an event with them they could invite the right families to come.

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  • malcivarmalcivar member
    imageAssembly_Reqd:

    I think if you have a class that is open to SN kids and their parents to learn yoga moves together you will get and idea of what works and what doesn't work. Maybe advertise the class as a "Learning Lab" and offer cheaper rates until you get your system down and get feedback from parents.

    I love your idea both from a learning perspective and a "I would really like to do that with my kid" perspective, though I think Chris would be bouncing around instead of meditating at first but I think some kids could really benefit from it.

     A friend of ours found some YouTube videos of yoga for kids and now her daughter does them every night before bed.  She's said it's really helped her little girl get relaxed enough for bed.  Last time we saw them, it was around the daughter's bed time and Chris seemed really curious about what she was doing and even did a downward dog and then said "I got it!"

    Much luck to you in this endeavor! 

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  • justforbaby626justforbaby626 member
    Thank you all so much for your advice!!! 
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