Supporting Educators and Parents
Supporting Educators and Parents
We first learn about our world through our bodies, through our senses and movement. Children naturally learn through play. The physical aspects of learning, indeed the physical development and skills required have often been ignored in our educational systems. When they are addressed, many learning challenges disappear. And children under the age of 10 are primarily kinesthetic learners.
In order to learn, we need to feel safe. We need to be able to control our bodies first, then learn how to regulate our behaviour. Academic skills require balance, fine motor and eye control. If these skills are not mastered before we learn to read and write there will be stress and extra effort will be required.
We can address these learning requirements through specific movement activities that assist natural development and the integration of primitive reflexes. The activities are both effective and playful. They assist with focus, self-regulation, comprehension, organization and coordination and communication, as well as calming the system and reducing stress. Learning becomes easy and fun.
The expressive, creative potential of movement is another focus of the training we offer.
Drawing on 50 years experience onstage, 32 years with Brain Gym® and 25 years teaching as an artist in residence in Canada and overseas, Dana provides teachers and parents with tools to empower students to self-regulate, overcome challenges and reach their potential.
- Professional development for staff
- Workshops at teacher’s consortia and conventions
- Workshops in schools for students
- Individual student dominance profiles
- Preschool workshops and Professional Development
Explore Our Courses
This course is the gateway to the Movement-Based Learning Program known as Brain Gym®. Experience whole-brain integration through whole-body movement! Learn the 26 Brain Gym activities, Edu-K’s Five Steps to Easy Learning, and Dennison Laterality Repatterning as you discover an exciting tool for reaching personal goals.
The course assists participants to be aware of the wide diversity of dominance patterns and how they differ from one’s own, leading to deeper understanding and more effective inter-relationships in the home, school and workspace. It is based on Dr. Carla Hannaford’s extensive research in the field of dominance profiles and their relationship to learning.
This workshop is designed for early childhood educators in daycare, preschool or kindergarten and at home settings. Learn the 26 Brain Gym® movements, games, self-awareness and stress management techniques that enable children to learn with ease.
This course for educators and parents of children ages 4-8 provides movement activities to develop coordination, balance, control and language skills. Learn activities combining developmental movements, dance, nursery rhymes and poems to create rich, diverse, movement experiences.
Did you know that movement opens the door to learning? Learn the 26 Brain Gym® movements that address the physical aspects of learning, reduce stress and facilitate learning with the whole brain–body system.
Want to combine Language Arts and movement? This workshop explores the relationship between words, images and movement. We will work with the dynamics of our voices and bodies, creating movement from poetry in a way that enhances both, experiencing how the expression of our voice emerges naturally from our moving body.
Explore the developmental movement patterns and the primary reflexes as a foundation for learning and self-management. This work has had a profound effect on both my dancing career and daily life, and I have made extensive use of it teaching children and helping seniors to move with better awareness, balance and coordination.
Do you have students or children who have difficulty with self-regulation, balance, coordination or focus? Did you know that un-integrated developmental reflexes and movement patterns may be the cause? Learn movement activities that can be done anytime standing or seated in the classroom or home to master these challenges.
