(1888PressRelease)
January 19, 2008 - Ventura, CA - With Florida’s renewed interest in exercise and fitness, thanks to the new requirement for P.E. in elementary schools passed by Florida Legislature after the prompting of Governor Charlie Crist, more and more classrooms are implementing fitness programs. The results are extremely encouraging as students add additional exercise during morning announcements, recess, during P.E. classes, and even sitting at their desks or waiting in lunch lines. What teachers and parents are discovering is that these students are not only enjoying these exercises, but often taking these fitness ideas home and asking to do them there as well. It’s working.
The good news is that there are program options available that can even further increase student’s learning and increase mental health and wellness. One such program is Dr. Paul Dennison’s Brain Gym® program, http://www.braingym.com. The Brain Gym program is a movement-based system that optimizes brain activity, while integrating the mind and body. The Brain Gym movements have been proven so effective that many schools across the country now offer Brain Gym in their classrooms, as more and more parents and teachers request it for their children. The lessons taught are profoundly safe, simple, can be done anywhere, and work well for all ages.
One example is Margate Elementary in Margate, Florida. The Brain Gym Instructor there, Nichole Galinkin practices the Brain Gym Program four mornings a week with approximately a dozen children with ADHD. The program was so successful, that Margate’s Principal, Sharon Schmidt, suggested a daily school-wide Brain Gym Break. This has lead to the school sharing the Brain Gym program over morning announcements with the rest of the Margate students doing two to three new movements once a week as part of the new mandated P.E. Requirement. Galinkin reports receiving an extremely positive response from the students and states, “Students excitedly break out in Lazy 8s and Brain Buttons whenever they see me on campus.”
When students feel better physically, they perform better academically and enjoy learning more. The program uses easy-to-do developmental movements to "wake up" or "relax" the brain. Students experience increased levels of focus, organization, communication, self-confidence and positive attitude towards learning resulting in 20 to 50% higher test scores. Parents and clinicians benefit as well, as it directly impacts readers’ motor, cognitive, behavioral, emotional, visual, and reading skills. Students will discover they can learn faster and more easily, be more focused and organized. start and finish projects with ease, and reduced stress, and overcome learning and behavior challenges. Brain Gym is also an effective tool to share with individuals with learning challenges such as ADD, ADHD, Asperser’s, or Autism.
Educators will have the special opportunity to explore the Brain Gym program at the upcoming Brain Gym Seminar, Discovering Balance for Daily Life, February 1-4 in West Palm Beach, Florida taught by the author. This seminar is a 32 hour workshop that includes the 26 easy and enjoyable targeted activities to integrate the brain/body systems to bring rapid and often dramatic improvements in concentration, memory, reading, writing, listening, organization and comprehension. A separate book signing will follow on February 2nd at 5:30 p.m. open to the public.
Come and engage with others who believe movement is the key to whole brain learning and overall better health and well being. For more information please contact Dr. Patty Shackleford at 352.475.3311 or drpatty ( @ ) pkconceptsinc dot com. Stop by the Brain Gym site today to learn more about the Brain Gym Program, http://www.braingym.com. Dr. Dennison’s latest book, Brain Gym and Me: Reclaiming the Pleasure of Learning is available on Amazon and other leading bookstores. Dr. Dennison is also available for media interviews by contacting publicist Diana Ennen at diana ( @ ) virtualwordpublishing dot com.
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